My grandfather the "enigma"

[Mick73]

Hi all, i'm new to this site however i have been looking up my family history for a while. During my searches through my family i have been bamboozled by my grandfather, i can not seem to find any evidence of his birth!! I have found that he married in 1923 to Margaret cardwell and that he died in 1939 aged 50. So after deducing that he was born in or about 1889 i have looked on numerouus sites and census years but to no avail.If anyone can shed any light on this i would be very greatful. His name is Sylvester George Oliver and he was married and died in Blackpool. I have also looked at the possibility that his name might have been altered in some way during the course of his life but that doesn't seem likely.
    Thanks in advance....Mick

[jc26red]

Hi Mick and welcome to Rootschat,

As your grandfather was 50 in 1939, he should appear in several census returns which will help you locate his birth and perhaps a WWI record.

[jc26red]

There are quite a few trees on Ancestry that has a Sylvester G Oliver bor c 1868 which is a bit earlier than you mention?

forgot to add, he was born in the USA!

[PrueM]

Do you have his marriage certificate, and if so, does it mention his father's name?

Welcome to Rootschat, by the way 

[jc26red]

ah... Prue has just beaten me to it, asking about the marriage cert 

[jc26red]

nothing much is coming up for a sylvester G Oliver apart from one in the USA b1889 but he was non-white and another one who lived in London 1933-1939 with a different woman.

He may well have used a different first name, my mum does!

[avm228]

He does seem to be an enigma. It looks as though he was not born with the names he used at marriage, at least not in England & Wales.


"Sylvester George" was an unusual combination of names. There is a Sylvester George Delaney born East Ham, Essex whose birth was registered in West Ham registration district Dec qtr 1888 who may be worth tracing just in case there was a change of surname for some reason.  He was in the household of his stepfather Thomas Gates in 1891 (RG12/1340/43/33) and in a reformatory in Hertfordshire in 1901 (RG13/1304/104/3) but is tough to trace post-1901.
 
FreeBMD also shows a small number of boys registered with given names "George Sylvester" around the relevant time (though none with surname Oliver). It was common to switch the order of given names around, and to use first and middle names interchangeably, so don't rule that out.

[stanmapstone]

Don't forget the age at death is given by the informant and could be incorrect.

Stan

[stanmapstone]

As avm228  suggests he could have changed his name.

Stan