Finding relatives of missing airgunner William Robert Louth of Hayes Middlesex

[MaureeninNY]

Nice memorial for Arthur Edward PARSONS:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01m56/

Obit for one sister:
http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oid=1002610

Maureen

[philipsearching]

Going back to initial object of this thread i.e. William R Louth born William Lowth 1920 Blandford, mmn Hull.

His father William was born 1885 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, son of Patrick Lowth bc.1852 Ireland and Jane Boyle/s bc.1855 New Luce Wigtownshire.

Patrick and Jane had 12 children.   

Have found in Private Trees on Ancestry some trees - 2 worth mentioning are Lowth Family Tree shown to have 9 attached records and Shea Family Tree shown to have 11 attached records both relating to William Lowth born 1885 - from what I can gather the only one of his children referred to is the Peter J. born 1928 (who married Shea).

Bearing this in mind, since Peter seems to be the 'source' of the Lowth family tree, and that he was William R Louth's brother - both spellings in the Scottish records although predominately Lowth - I'm wondering whether the submitter of this tree has present day information of Peter's descendants who are obviously 'kin' to William.

Perhaps worth contacting them directly via Ancestry?

Annette

I have just had one of those 'Duh moments' when I say to myself "Why didn't I think of that?".  That is aq brilliant idea.

Philip

[philipsearching]

Nice memorial for Arthur Edward PARSONS:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01m56/

I am sure the Sarnia Historical Society would be interested to know what David Van Coolwijk and the people of Muiden are doing.  They have a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sarniahistoricalsociety/  And there's a photo which David might get permission to use.

Putting together the info (MaureeninNY your superstar award is in the mail!) gives:

Arthur Edwin PARSONS (born England) married Olive Sarah CORNISH (born England)
Arthur Edward PARSONS born 26 November 1916, killed in action 1 May 1943
brother John PARSONS (died before 2017)
brother Thomas PARSONS born 13 July 1925 (died before 2017)
sister Gwendolyn (died before 2017)  (?m BAMBURY)
sister Shirley Helene PARSONS born 13 July 1925
Shirley married (1) Arthur Nash COLQUHOUN (d1955)
Shirley married (2) Angus James McKENZIE (d1993)
Shirley died 5 February 2017, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Shirley's daughter, grandchild named on obituary http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oid=1002610

As the obituary does not name a church, the next step would either be to search for Shirley's descendants (on facebook or similar) or contract the Sarnia Historical Society to see if they could mediate.

Can we say that's three completed, four to go?
The RCAF have beaten the RAF!

[David Van Coolwijk]

Why didn't I think of that...... the Sarnia Historical Society, I am going to contact them immediately!

Great work once again!

I probably found a chap who is related to Leon Hannam. It should be the grandson of Leon's brother..

I'll keep you updated..

[crisane]

I see there is information on Gordon Watson, Sergeant Pilot, RAF 1383608, on the Forces War Records site, but as I don't have a sub, I can't access it, other than that he was based at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire.  If anyone does have a sub, it might be useful to check what info they have on there.
Regards
GS

It just has the basic information-
Crashed at Muiden Holland, killed 1 May 1943, service number 1383608, Rank Sergeant, Nationality British 

[crisane]

Raymond Shepherd
Birth year 1922
Age    21
Death 1 May 1943
Number 929961
Rank Sergeant
Unit 77 Sqdn.
Regiment    Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Grave reference    Row E. Grave 81.
Cemetery or Memorial Muiden General Cemetery
Burial country    Netherlands
Son of Ada Shepherd, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

[fulliautomatix]

I've been helping David Van Coolwijk track down other crew members and seem to be getting somewhere with relatives of Sgt William LOUTH, Sgt Gordon WATSON and Sgt Leon HANNAM through a combination of ancestry and facebook. I'm struggling a bit with Sgt. Raymond SHEPHERD and Sgt Ian CRAWFORD though.
I've found some information on Ian CRAWFORD thanks to a photo here of a Glasgow gravestone that he is included on: http://scottishwargraves.phpbbweb.com/scottishwargraves-ftopic541-0-asc-241.html
This confirms him as the son of John and Jean CRAWFORD from Glasgow but due to the lack of Scottish records I've reached a bit of a dead end!  I can find the family on the 1901 census for Glasgow where there are 3 much younger sisters listed, and one of them, Maggie, is the mother of the William HILL who is also mentioned on the gravestone in the photo. Maggie was married in 1920 to a Salathiel HILL (1897-1965) but I'm not having much luck finding any living relatives. John and Jeannie must have had a large family as there is huge timespan between the birth of their first daughter (also Jeannie) in 1895 and the birth of Ian in 1922. From a tree on ancestry I have a bit more information on the family:

Father: John CRAWFORD (b. 1870)
Mother: Jeannie ? (b.1874)
Daughter: Jeannie B. CRAWFORD (b. 1894/5)
Daughter: Maggie H. CRAWFORD (b. 08-05-1896) m. Salathiel HILL in 1920 (d.1981)
Daughter: Janet B. CRAWFORD (b. 1899) (d. 06-12-1931)
_several other children in between!
Son: Ian Douglas CRAWFORD (b. 1922) (d. 01-05-1943)
Grandson: William HILL (b. 04-09-1921) (d. 07-07-1942)

Can anyone can take up the baton from here? Thanks for your help!

[philipsearching]

I'm struggling a bit with Sgt. Raymond SHEPHERD and Sgt Ian CRAWFORD though.

Greetings, and a warm welcome to Rootschat.

crisane has found a good clue with Sgt Raymond SHEPHERD's mother Ada in Great Yarmouth , so I will hunt around for relatives.

Have you contacted the person who posted the CRAWFORD tree on Ancestry - maybe he or she is a relative?

All the best
Philip

[philipsearching]

crisane has found a good clue with Sgt Raymond SHEPHERD's mother Ada in Great Yarmouth , so I will hunt around for relatives.

(modified)

There is a possible death for
Ada SHEPHERD age 82, Mar qtr 1965 Great Yarmouth vol 4b p573
This gives an approximate birth year of 1883 (ages on censuses, death records etc. are often inaccurate!)
The 1939 Register has:
Ada H SHEPHERD, widowed, born 14 Jan 1887
Address: 28 (street name redacted),  Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
Occupation: Laundry Worker Iron

Philip