My Dad has been searching for Decades - THOMAS

[tssenior]

My Dad has been looking for his Grandad for all of my life (43 years). We live in New Zealand, and the last anyone saw of him was when he divorced my great grandmother and left his 2 children, which was around the late 1920s. There are no records of him in NZ since then. He is on no electoral rolls, there is no death record etc. I suspect he took off overseas. I have found a man that lived in Australia with the same name, and he has no record of a birth, and his parents are unknown. I would like to discount this man from my search before I get too excited! His death notice was in the Northern Star (Lismore) newspaper from NSW in Australia on 27 May 1983 (he died 24 May). I have asked for a copy of the death notice so I can read it (and hopefully it mentions an age that he died or parents names etc) but they have told me to be patient, it may take months! Does anyone else on here know how I can get any information on this man? The name is Leslie Joseph Thomas. I look forward to any replies. Kind regards, Sue.

[middlesbrough]

According to the NSW Registry of BDM Leslie Joseph Thomas died 1983 and his parents were William John and Mary Agnes.
Good luck.

[Dundee]

Looking at the electoral roll for Middle Pocket, his wife was Ruth Imogen (died 1994), and they married in 1945 in NSW.  He was a Union Organiser.  If this man was born after September 1915 in NSW then you will not find a record of his birth online as they are closed for 100 years.

Debra 

[Billyblue]

Hi Sue and welcome to Rootschat

You say you have asked for a copy of the death notice.
I am presuming that you got the information from RYERSON INDEX?
If there was an age listed in the notice, it should be recorded on the RI. [it's not]

Who have you asked?
State Library of Qld has this paper even though it's from NSW.  I'll be going into SLQ next week (DV!)    for other Ryerson lookups and will order it in for you and transcribe the notice.

Regards
Dawn M

[Dundee]

.... the last anyone saw of him was when he divorced my great grandmother and left his 2 children, which was around the late 1920s.

Is this them?

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01g5d/

Divorce records from the New Plymouth Supreme Court are on restricted access at the Archives in Wellington though they are only closed for 60 years.  These would be worth looking at as they sometimes contain information that may not have been passed on (for example, the suspected whereabouts of the respondent).

http://archives.govt.nz/research/guides/personal-identity  (scroll down)

Debra 

[tssenior]

I don't know how to reply to individual comments sorry. I now know that the Leslie I was tracking in Australia is the wrong man. Back to the drawing board!! Thank you Debra for that divorce notice, yes that is them. Leslie Joseph Thomas married my great grandmother Grace Violet Price in 1918 and then divorced. They had two children, one was my grandmother and the other died tragically from drowning. When the son died, Leslie was apparently seen at the cementry gates, but no one has ever seen him since. My Dad seems to think he disappeared so he wouldn't have to pay child maintenance. Would Inland Revenue have records dating back that far of him working? I can't seem to find any record of him ever leaving the country but I understand it was easy to change your name back then. So frustrating that someone can just disappear! Thanks for all the replies 

[Billyblue]

Sue does your latest post mean you don't need the DEATH notice from the Lismore paper?

Dawn M

PS People reply to individual comments in various ways.  You'll soon get used to it.
   If you are replying to a post just made, like I am, then it is usually obvious to people.
   Or, if you want to reply to various posts, you can put it all in one post with names in front of each bit, as in:  Debra/Dundee  Thanks, I"ll look into that
                        Dawn /Billy Blue   ... That would be good

If you want to include part of a previous post, when you hit reply you get them all printed under the reply window, so scroll down to the one you want and click on "Insert Quote  at the RHS and it will appear in the window and you can reply underneath it.

Cheers

[wivenhoe]

Use ARCHWAY to find WW1 record for Leslie Joseph THOMAS 10 / 544.

Has copy of his birth certificate, and marriage certificate...copies produced at Aug and Sep 1975.

Also death certificate 2003 for daughter.

Copy of BC has 31 July 1894, parents Frances Mary PARMENTER, father George THOMAS.

Likely marriage for parents -
1881 / 1865 CARMENTER Frances Mary  m. THOMAS George

[tssenior]

Thank you Middlesbrough for clarifying who the Australian Leslie Joseph Thomas' parents are. That is the information that I needed to discount him from being the same man that I am looking for. Dawn/Billyblue, I found the Ryerson Index had the death notice and I wanted to look at it myself to see if his age or parents were mentioned. I did get a copy of that notice this morning, and his parents were as Middlesbrough said, so it clarifies that this man in Australia is not the Leslie Joseph Thomas that I am looking for. Thank you Debra/Dundee for the newspaper clipping, we have never seen that so my Dad was very grateful. Obviously Leslie didn't turn up to court for his divorce, but the divorce was granted because it says on their marriage certificate that we have.  I checked the archives link that you also sent Debra and there is no record that we haven't seen on there, but thanks. I have his birth certificate, all family tree around him, his WW1 records, his marriage certificate. He had 2 children (1 died from drowning, the other was my Nana) but when he left my Gran in the late 1920s there is no record that proves that he ever existed beyond that time. It is very frustrating!! No one has ever found any record to say that he lived past that time, but no death certificate has ever been issued either. I have found him on no passenger ships.  Because he was a war veteran, does anyone know if they were entitled to a pension in New Zealand? I have read that they were but haven't looked into where I would go to see if he got one yet. Thank you Wivenhoe for the link to Archway, I will see if there is anything different on there, but from the info you quoted it is the same as what we already know. We know that he is long dead (he'd be 121 otherwise) but I just want to find out where he is for my Dad's sake. My Nana (that's the daughter you talked about Wivenhoe, she died in 2003, I was with her) died never knowing what happened to her Dad. My Dad has spent decades looking for this man, I would love nothing better than to find out for him and put an end to this mystery. Thank you all very much