Searching for records of father Albert Edward Williams

[Troyb]

This is my first attempt to use Roots Chat.  I am searching for any information at all about my father Albert Edward Williams who was born in Birmingham - Warwickshire on December 11, 1886  He changed his name to Albert Edward Baker after he immigrated to Canada with Margaret Griffiths in approximately 1920.  His profession was a baker.  He had 5 children in Canada.  I am the only member of their family remaining (75 years old) and I am desperately seeking any information about my father.

[pjm99]

Troyb,
How sure are you about the birth date? FreeBMD does not have any Albert Edward WILLIAMS shown registered in 1886. It does have one for 1885 and two in 1888.

What information are you hoping to discover?

Regards
Peter

[MargP]

Hi Troyb and welcome

Was Albert married to Margaret when they left England, and do you know what area of Birmingham he was born, was he in World War 1,if he married in Canada do you have his marriage certificate, did he mention any other area's he had lived in in England, Williams is a very common name in England and we need to pin point something we can identify him by, sorry for all the questions

All the best Marg

[Troyb]

Dear Peter ..
Thank you very much for your reply.
I guess it is possible that he could have been born in 1885 or 1888.  The date I have was given to me by my oldest sister near the time of her death.  Over the past 10 years I've written a book on our family history but it was very difficult to gather any information about my father.  My hope would be to discover he might have some distant relatives still living.  Unfortunately ours was not what you would call a close family.
During my research for the book I discovered many unknown living relatives on my mother's side in Wales. I was able to contact them and establish wonderful friendships.
Some information has led me to believe that my father actually never married my mother and that he might have already been married in England before he immigrated to Canada with my mother.  Hence the reason for him changing his name.  I guess we might all have some skeletons in our family closets.  Looking forward to hearing from you. 
Roy in Ottawa, Canada

[avm228]

Hello Roy and welcome

Since some records (e.g. migration records) may list the couple together, can you tell us a bit more about Margaret - birthdate, birthplace, any previous marriage etc? Do you know whether they actually travelled to Canada together?

Anna

[avm228]

What sort of height was Albert?  Sounds an odd question, but I have found a 1918 Army record for an Albert Edward Williams b Dec 1886 who was a biscuit baker for the Navy and Army Biscuit Manufacturers in East London.  He sounds promising if the height matches as he was 4ft 9in (and rejected from full Army service on that basis).

[MargP]

Hi Roy

Thank you for the PM I will post what I have found so far on here so other people can pick up the information and maybe able to add to it.

I have found on the 1901 census all living in Tewkesbury
Mary Driscoll b 1859 Tewkesbury, Bakers and Grocers Shopkeeper
Kate Williams b 1880 Ashperton Hereford Niece
Albert Williams b 1887 Warwickshire Nephew (could this be where Albert trained as a Baker)

I have also found a marriage for

Albert E Williams to
Elizabeth Driscoll
Oct Qtr
Bristol
Vol 6b
Page 284

Marp

[avm228]

I have also found a marriage for

Albert E Williams to
Elizabeth Driscoll
Oct Qtr
Bristol
Vol 6b
Page 284

That's a good find - the marriage took place in the Oct-Dec qtr of 1914.

[emarbe]

On the 1911 census, the Albert on the 1901 isn't shown as being born in Birmingham.
The biggest problem is that there are quite a few Albert Williams' in (Warwickshire) and it's possible one or several had a middle name.

Ideally we need a bit more information to try and isolate this man.

Mike