Family story - fact or fiction?

[welshjo]

I am trying to find some information on family stories that my grandmother used to mention. She died some time ago so I can't ask her for further details.

1) She (her name was Maisie Jones - formerly Daniel) and her young son John (born 1938) were "buried" in a building following a WW2 air raid and had to be dug out - would there be any newspaper reports of this locally.
2) She had a baby had died David (born approx 1939) who was buried in the grave of a soldier in a local cemetery. The name always sounded like Nechells?
3) The family (her parents family) owned a shop, possibly a fish shop, that may or may not have also received bomb damage. It is believed that some family may remain in the area but we have since lost touch.

Any help or pointers on where to look/start would be gratefully received.

Regards

[casalguidi]

Hi Welshjo

If you know the area, you can search the Commonwealth War Graves site by cemetery (location) to see if you recognise any of the soldiers names as possibles http://www.cwgc.org

There were probably newspaper reports of damage at the time but often these were heavily censored.  Also, many areas have now had books and other information published about their areas during WW2.

Casalguidi

[jim1]

Hello Welshjo
There are books on local history of areas of B'ham including Nechells.I would have thought they would cover the war years:
 http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.virtualbrum.co.uk/amazon/covers/Moseley.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.virtualbrum.co.uk/amazon/tempus.htm&h=657&w=459&sz=65&tbnid=SM3wsYOwyisJ:&tbnh=136&tbnw=95&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMoseley%2Bbirmingham%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D</a>
Hope this helps.
Jim

[Gardener]

Not much help (and may not be the right one) but perhaps you don't have this

Birth
David L Jones, maiden name mother Daniels, Birmingham 6d 462 Sept qtr 1939

Death
David L Jones aged 0, Birmingham 6d 316, Sept qtr 1939

  Not sure really as the mother is Daniels

[welshjo]

Yes - I think that's the baby.
Any ideas how I would find out about the burial - as he probably wouldn't be listed on the stone of the soldier.
The story goes that the soldier died around the same time and the soldiers family somehow found out that my family didn't have the money to bury the baby/buy a plot so offered to let him be buried in the soldier's grave. My mum always said she remembered her mum showing her a piece of paper which sort of backed this up - but it has been lost over the years - if it was details of the burial - any ideas where I could get a copy?

Regards

[welshjo]

Does anyone have any ideas which local newspapers (if any) may have covered any story in the area in WW2?

Regards

[jim1]

Hi
The B'ham Central Library have the back issues of the Evening Mail on microfilm
as you will have a specific date (when you get the death cert.) you can ask for a search
if you can't get there yourself.There is a charge for this service.
 http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=2108&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5396
Jim

[welshjo]

Thank you

[slewi4]

Hi WelshJo,
The missing piece of paper may have been the reciept for the burial from the undertaker. Have you checked to see if records of local undertakers are available in the records office? It might also be worth phoning the undertakers to see if they still have records.
If the Army paid for the soldiers plot, they may have no knowledge of the baby being buried there too, but the cemetery may have a record. You should also find out how the Army buried its soldiers in the UK - did they provide funds and allow the family to arrange it, did they sub-contract local undertakers, did they have their own burial company? The commonwaelth war graves commission could probably tell you.
The story doesn't mention a joint funeral/burial, so I would assume that the baby was buried first - either earlier that day, or the day before. The logic behind this assumption is that if the Army was involved in the soldier's burial, they would stick around until the grave was filled, and its unlikely that anyone would then re-dig a filled grave for another burial.
If you can find the soldier, you can find the cemetery, plot and date needed to confirm this story.
Good Luck