Mystery - Sydney james Peterson -COMPLETED

[elphaba]

I am helping a friend out who is researching her father in law and his family. Sydney first appears in 1940 when he marries in Kalgoorlie in WA and says his parents are William John Peterson and Ann Thomas. On his enlistment papers in 1941 he states that he was born in June 1908 in Moonta, SA. There is no Sydney James Peterson born in 1908 in SA and the only other one on the index is born in 1916 and is not the man my friend is looking for. I have been looking throughout Australia but had no luck to date for either his birth or locating the parents.
Sydney spent the rest of his life in WA with his wife Marjorie  and his children. I can not locate any other Peterson's from Moonta and am wondering if this is a smokescreen and whether his name is even Sydney James Peterson!!
Any ideas would be welcome!
Carolyn

[Neil Todd]

Have you found his Parents in SA? There is always the possibility that he was adopted. You wont find his birth then under his name?

Did his parents have other children?

Neil

[Neil Todd]

Umm This is a Possibility.

1908 804/297 Sydney Harold  TAYLOR No Father listed, Mother Caroline THOMPSON TAYLOR

Neil

[elphaba]

Hi Neil
Thanks for your thoughts. It is hard to know where to go especially if Peterson is not his birth name although we have no information yet to suggest this is the case. I have tried looking for the parents and so far have had no luck although I haven't been able to view Victoria yet.
There is another Sydney James Peterson in the electoral rolls in NSW who I am going to try and find out more about although he appears on the roll at the same time my friend's father in law appears here in WA on the roll!!
There is very little known information to go on. According to my friend Sydney said his siblings were killed in WW2 but he is the only Peterson born in Moonta from all the Peterson records I have checked. So either his siblings were born elsewhere (Haven't located any with the same parents), they had a different surname or there weren't any!!
Carolyn

[CassT]

Hi

On the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial site there are 18 Peterson's who were killed in WW2.  Maybe you could check their  details at the War Memorial site maybe you might find some clues to find the siblings

Cass

[regross]

Hi

I assume that you checked the records using alternative spellings?

Petersen  Pederson etc  found some with father as William others mother as Annie.

Do you know what state/servicee they enlisted in?

Found births listed in SA to William/Wilhelm Peterson and Annie Louis H/Emsley in the right time frame.

Carl Wilhem Herbert 1902
Hilda Louisa May 1905
Stanley Valfrid 1907
Charlie 1909
Clarence George 1910



Robyn

[elphaba]

Hi Robyn
I did locate the Wilhelm and Annie combination and wondered if there could be anything in it too!! It is probably the closest I have found for the parents so far. If it's correct then it's a case of Sydney changing his first name perhaps! There are so many uncertainties it's amazing.
Sydney did enlist in WA. My friend isn't sure why he would have moved to Wa although he was a miner in Kalgoorlie for many years so it could have been the work.
Many thanks
Carolyn

Hi Cass
I have checked out the WW2 nominal roll site and loked into quite a few Peterson's but I may just have to comb through them extremely carefully in order to find a link. Then of course it may be that the surname Peterson is a complete red herring!!!
Cheers
Carolyn

[mum mum]

Hi
The Australian Birth Index on Ancestry has Sydney James Peterson born SA 1907-1916, no parents listed, Page 307?? What is the Australian Birth Index, I thought they were just records of the BDM registers.

mum mum

[Essie]

BMD records in SA before the CD era were on microfiche in series grouped in years such as 1907-1916, 19xx-19xx, 19xx-19xx. 

Essie