I have quite a lot of information from certificates on my husbands grandfather but cannot find him or prove where he originated from. I will try and explain the problem. I have a marriage certificate which reads:
13th March 1903. The Zion Chapel, Lower Oxford Street, Swansea
Arthur Chester BROWN 27 years, Bachelor, Merchant Clerk, 30 Dillwyn St. Swansea and Agnes Mabel KENNEY 25 years. spinster. same address. I also have a birth certificate for my husband's father:
Arthur Barron BROWN born 21 July 1903 St.Marks Street, Leeds. Father Arthur HERBERT Brown, bookkeeper. Mother A.M.Brown. I know that the middle name of Chester is correct because that is the middle name of my husband - so the conundrum is did Arthur change his middle name somewhere along the line. He signs his marriage certificate A.Chester Brown.
On the marriage certificate his father is shown as Walter Henry Brown - of Independent Means and the father of Agnes Mabel Kenney is John Henry Carver Kenney (deceased).
I did a search for Walter Henry Brown and also Arthur Herbert/Chester Brown. No luck with the Chester but I did locate a Walter Henry Brown on the 1880 census for New Jersey. The family originally came from Suffolk, and probably migrated about 1880 because they were not on the 1881 census. On the 1891 census for Bath there is Walter Henry Brown with a son Arthur Herbert Brown born in Greenville, New Jersey. Question - is this the Arthur I am looking for. I don't know where else to look for this family, or how to prove who is who. I think the name Chester is American and maybe he thought it sounded better than Herbert!
I should explain that my husband was told that his father was an orphan and it was only when I began researching family history that I checked army records and got details of his parents and sent for the birth certificate. I have no idea why he was orphaned out - am open to suggestions
Sorry for such a long winded first entry. Mo
