Next Steps

[pbean]

Hello – I’ve been plotting out my family history for about two months now and everything has been pretty accessible online.  I’ve now reached a curious black hole in one section of the family tree which has stoked my curiosity but I seem to have exhausted online resources.  I’d like to know if anyone has any advice as to the next steps I should take.

It started with a marriage certificate between Andrew Lawrence Shields and Maude Burke in 1919, and I’m trying to track the path of Andrew.  I know his age at the time of marriage (24) his profession (farm labourer), residence (Fernhill Cottage, Kenilworth), father’s name (Andrew) and father’s profession (farmer).  The marriage took place in Palmers Green and I have no reason to believe they left London. 

Andrew and Maude had a child, Maureen, in 1928 but it has been suggested by my family that Andrew may not have been the real father.  Maude then remarried in 1942 and my family say that Andrew was deceased by this point.  I can’t find a record of his death.

I’ve been looking at a Shields family from Glasgow that matches well (Andrew Shields born abt 1895, father Andrew).  They then turn up on a census in Wallsend in 1901.  In Glasgow and Wallsend Andrew (father) is a caulker working in the shipyards.  So now I need to make a leap to Kenilworth, Warwickshire in 1919 where they’re farming.  It seems a bit of a leap.  And here I hit a dead end.

Thanks for reading through this post.  If anyone has any suggestions what I should do or where I should go next I would be grateful.

[lizdb]

Have you found the birth of the Andrew Shields that appears on the census (father Andrew H Shields) on Scotlands people, to see if he has the middle name of Lawrence?

Can you find any of them on 1911?

[chempat]

Have you tried to find them in 1939 - to see if he is still alive then?

What was Maude's name on second marriage?

Thank-you

Added:
Maude Shields/Jones in Wembley in 1939 with one other person, locked record - presumably Maureen.  So Andrew not living with them then.

[Spidermonkey]

Just putting this out there - there are attestation papers for an Andrew Lawrence Shields bn 27 May 1893, father Andrew in the Canada Soldiers of the First World War index on Ancestry.  His profession is given as farmer.

When he joined, on the 5th May 1917, he was not married.  He gives his religion as Roman Catholic, height 5ft 8.5, dark complexion, brown eyes, light brown hair, and has an upper plate (teeth)

[avm228]

Maude's second marriage seems to be to Arthur H Jones, Sep qtr 1942 Hendon (her surname indexed as Shields or Burke).

Back to Andrew and Maude: there's a Shields/Burke birth registration of a daughter in Warwick in 1920.  Given the Kenilworth connection, could this be a daughter of the family?

She may have married in London (Pancras) in 1956, though I can't be sure.

Being cagey as to her name given that we don't know whether she's still living, but easily found on FreeBMD.

[avm228]

Just putting this out there - there are attestation papers for an Andrew Lawrence Shields bn 27 May 1893, father Andrew in the Canada Soldiers of the First World War index on Ancestry.  His profession is given as farmer

Interesting! He was said to be born in "Winfleet", Ontario (presumably Wainfleet).

[avm228]

A passenger list for the Corsican, a Canadian Pacific ship departing Liverpool for Canada on 6 Aug 1920, shows the following booked to travel (3rd class to Quebec):

Andrew Shields, Joiner, 26
Maude Shields, Housewife, 23
Infant Shields (female), 2 months

Their names are struck through, so it appears they did not board the vessel.

Similarly, an A Shields, 26, carpenter was due to travel 3rd class to Quebec on the Minnedosa, departing Liverpool 1 October 1920, but his name is struck through on the passenger list.

[LizzieL]

Could be  a coincidence but there's a soldier's record in Britain in 1915 for Andrew Shields age 19 on attestation (occupation turner), father Andrew, but living in Salford

[chempat]

A Maude Shields living in Wembley Hill Road in 1937 - if he was Canadian would not show on ER so not helpful?