Author Topic: Value of employing a researcher  (Read 1278 times)

Offline gnorman

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 12:23 GMT (UK) »
Thank you all for your responses.

The two graves I am looking for are for two married couples - I have death certificates for all 4 but cannot find any graves nearby and there are no obituaries or wills that I can find either. I know at least one of the two is unlikely to have a headstone but to find any record of the graves would be enough for me.

Thanks, Luke

Offline JenB

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #10 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 12:38 GMT (UK) »
Are you willing to give details?
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Offline PrawnCocktail

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #11 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 12:45 GMT (UK) »
The snag with church burials is that they frequently have no idea where anyone is buried, unless there is a readable headstone.

And that can be modern as well!

When we came to inter my mother's ashes a couple of years ago, the idea was to put them in beside my father's. But he died some 30 years before my mother, and at the time it turned out that the church had kept no record of where they put his ashes (or even that he was there at all)! It was a church in a city, where most people were buried in the municipal cemetery, but Dad had been given special permission to have his ashes buried in the tiny churchyard, as an long time congregant and ex-PCC member, but we couldn't at that time put a plaque anywhere.

The church was very apologetic. But where I thought Dad was, was in a completely different part of the churchyard to where they were currently burying ashes - under a particularly nice-looking bit of lawn! So we compromised on as close as we could get.

So good luck with your search, but you may need to accept there may not be an answer.
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Offline gnorman

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 13:12 GMT (UK) »
The four people in question are Michael and Ann Egan and Mark & Elizabeth Dale (Mark does actually have a will but it gives no help)
here are their death certificates;

ANN EGAN
Date and Place of Death: 14th September 1903, 11 Nelson Street, Failsworth, Prestwich   
Name and Sex: Ann Egan, female      Age: 57 years      
Occupation: Wife of Michael Egan, a bricklayers labourer   
Informant Name: Michael Egan, Widower of the deceased. Present at death. Of 11 Nelson St.   
Date of Registration:    15th September 1903   
Causes of Death: 1a. Strangulated Hernia, 7 days.

MICHAEL EGAN
Date and Place of Death: 2nd February 1909, Culcheth Hall, Newton Heath, North Manchester   
Name and Sex: Michael Egan, male      Age: 54 years      Occupation: Labourer   
Informant Name: Catherine Ford, daughter, 86 Oldham Road, Failsworth         
Date of Registration:    3rd February 1909   
Causes of Death: 1a. Bronchitis       

MARK DALE
Date and Place of Death: 2nd December 1923, 9 Sun Street, Oldham
Name and Sex: Mark Dale, male         Age: 63 years
Occupation: General Labourer, Cotton Spinning Mill      
Informant Name & Qualification: Agnes Maddon, daughter, present at death
Informant Address:   9 Sun Street, Oldham      Date of Registration: 3rd Dec 1923
Causes of Death: I. Chronic Bronchitis (Acute Attack), no P.M

ELIZABETH DALE
Date and Place of Death: 24th July 1917, 9 Sun Street, Oldham
Name and Sex: Elizabeth Dale, female      Age: 50 years
Occupation: Wife of Mark Dale a Cotton Mill Labourer      
Informant Name & Qualification: Mark Dale, Widower of deceased, present at death
Informant Address:   9 Sun Street, Oldham      Date of Registration: 25th July 1917
Causes of Death: I. Cerebral Haemorrhage, 9 Days   
II. Hemiplegia (paralysis on one side)




Online Josephine

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 13:15 GMT (UK) »
Thank you all for your responses.

The two graves I am looking for are for two married couples - I have death certificates for all 4 but cannot find any graves nearby and there are no obituaries or wills that I can find either. I know at least one of the two is unlikely to have a headstone but to find any record of the graves would be enough for me.

Thanks, Luke

Luke, when you say you can't find any graves nearby, what sources have you checked? Have you called or written to all of the cemeteries (both council and churchyard) in the town or city where the individuals lived and/or died? Have you contacted any funeral homes that might still be in business to see if they have any records?

This is something that you could do or that you could hire someone to do; I guess it depends on whether you have the time or inclination to do it and whether you can afford to pay a researcher to do it for you.

Money is always an issue with me, plus I enjoy the challenge and have the time, so I try to do as much as I can. If my husband had been interested in tracing his own family tree, he'd probably have waited until he could pay someone to do it, because he has a lot less free time and doing this type of research doesn't appeal to him.

Here's another personal example. I knew the city in which my great-uncle had been buried because my mother told me a story about accompanying my grandfather to a cemetery in that city to look for his brother's grave. (I don't know if he found it.)

I didn't have my great-uncle's death record or an obit (he died in the 1950s or '60s). I didn't have any luck with the cemeteries. I wrote to all the funeral homes in that city and was lucky to get a response from one of them. They had a record of my great-uncle's burial, which included his parents' names (confirming it was the right guy) and the name of his common-law wife. He doesn't have a tombstone, so his grave won't show up in any listings (in print or online) of monumental inscriptions.

Regards,
Josephine
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Offline KGarrad

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #14 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 14:07 GMT (UK) »
Have you tried Manchester City Council, and their burial records search?

https://www.burialrecords.manchester.gov.uk/
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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #15 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 14:07 GMT (UK) »
I went to the Yorkshire Archive in Bradford armed with my ancestors death details and spent an hour looking up their burial records which are not available online.

Additionally the local FHS may have a database of burial records so they may be able to help.

Check with the Council Bereavement Services to see if they offer a lookup service and what their fees would be.

Offline JenB

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #16 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 14:12 GMT (UK) »
Scans of the records of most of the Oldham Civic Cemeteries are freely available to view on Family Search (you need to register first which takes a couple of minutes.)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1482833
A camera icon beside a record indicates it is free to view.
There are an awful lot there.
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Offline KGarrad

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Re: Value of employing a researcher
« Reply #17 on: Tuesday 10 November 20 14:16 GMT (UK) »
Also available directly from Oldham Council:
https://adt.oldham.gov.uk/BacasWeb/GenSearch.aspx

My son-on-law's family were from Oldham ;D
I found the Oldham registers were very useful!!
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