William Redgwell - tips appreciated

[Jilly Jelly]

Hi all

I've managed to find my long lost great Grandfather - William George Redgwell, he left his family home in London when my Gran was about four and we never knew anything more about him until recently when I trawled the death records and found he had died in 1972 in Chester.   We'd always been told that he'd just walked out, but then we turned up some old letters from him to my g Gran in which he begged her to stay with him for the sake of their child, my Gran.  I ordered his death certificate and it turned out that he had remarried and was living in Chester having retired from a job as a record keeper for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.  He didn't divorce my great Gran and I can't find a marriage record for him to his second wife so I'm guessing they didn't actually marry and that she just carried his name.  I've also found out that he was cremated and his ashes scattered so there's no grave stone.  I want to find out as much as I can about him and I was going to look for a will but other than that have run out of ideas - any suggestions as to how i can find out more?

Thanks
Kathie

[celia]

Hello Kathie
bit dodgy this one isn't it I think then as now you can re-marry after having been separated for a certain length of time.I cant really cant see how anyone could say she was wife on a certificate when she wasn't.Could they get away with that?. How did you know he was cremated? So you know when he died and that he was cremated+ his wifes name and where he lived. Do you want to find out if he had any children,or do you want to track back up the tree.

Celia

[Jilly Jelly]

Hi Celia

It's all a bit of a mystery regarding the marriage really.  I trawled through marriages on Ancestry.com and found nothing between 1926 (I don't think he could feasibly have married before that, although now I think about it I will check!) and 1972 when he died.  I ordered his Death Certificate and so I know that he had a second wife and his address and former occupation etc, and Cheshire County Council's Registry people were excellent and sent me details of his cremation and where his remains were scattered.

I would like to know if he had any more children, although I'm aware that this is a very sensitive matter since they may well not have known about his former marriage and my Gran.  I just want to know as much as possible about William really as I think it's been such a mystery in my family for so long and it's a really sad story, my Dad and I wonder how he felt about never having contact with his daughter again and would like to 'get to know him' now if you see what I mean?!

I think I'll see if he left a Will, but other than that I'm a bit stuck!
Thanks
Kathie