Born in Iowa but listed as a British Subject

[JulieCairnduff]

I have come across an ancestor who lists his place of birth, on a number of english census returns, as Iowa, United States of America but states he is a British subject.  Does mean he would have become naturalised (did this exist in 1951) or is it more likely he was born to English parents, living in Iowa?

[aghadowey]

Do you mean 1851? If you could post name and date, parents, if known, etc. might be possible to find them in Iowa or somewhere else in U.s. records to figure it out.

[JulieCairnduff]

Oopps sorry, yes it should be 1851.

George Silvester Coombe appears in the 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 England census, listed as born in Iowa around 1851. He lived in the London area. George married Mary Elizabeth Hawkins in 1877, in London.

[JulieCairnduff]

I just found George in the 1861 census, in Pershore, Worcestershire. He is listed as the grandson to the head of the household. It is a pity I don't know his parents names to help verify if his mother is in the house also.

[aghadowey]

Glad that you found George in 1861.
Statewide registration of births in Iowa didn't start until 1880. Some state kept county records before state registration began but hard to know where to start without having a place in Iowa.

[jorose]

http://www.combs-families.org/combs/records/ia/lee.htm
 - shows an Edwin Coombs b. England in Iowa in 1850. He's a bricklayer, which seems to fit with family occupations?

Pershore parish records post-1812 are not on the IGI. George's marriage certificate would give his father's name, and then parish records would confirm Edwin's relationship with the family you found in 1861.

[JulieCairnduff]

I think Edwin is most probably George's father, and this is them in the 1850 Iowa census. I found Edwin Coomb in the 1841 england census living in Worcestershire. The names of the family members are similar to those of the family i located in the 1851 census.