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https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=828545.msg6926703#msg6926703
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https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=398310.msg2684143#msg2684143
Hi thank you for your reply! Yes I’ve asked before, but i don’t think I’m explaining myself that well this time (admittedly It’s something I’ve never been that good at!) so I’ll try again!
All I knew about my great grandad was his surname was French and that was all. It was only when I obtained my grandmothers birth certificate that I found out his first name was George. My grandmother was put into an orphanage after her father died when she was a baby and didn’t like me looking into it, so out of respect for her I didn’t look nor ask when she was alive. From her birth certificate I found out her mothers name too and from that I ordered their marriage certificate. That’s when I discovered George’s father was also George and was a coal miner.
For years that’s all I had to go by. I ordered a birth certificate which I believed was him but now I know more I’m having some doubts.
With the help of the above posts I was able to find George’s death certificate. There were two people with the same name, in the same area who died at the same time so with the kind help of others I managed to find the correct one (it was confirmed when the certificate arrived as the informant was his wife so I know I have the correct one).
Now my doubts stem from here. Before I had the death certificate I only had his marriage certificate which put his year of birth as 1883, therefore the birth I found and assumed was him was from 1883 in oldbury. The death certificate puts his year of birth as 1887. That’s my first concern. Obviously one of them is wrong but I don’t know which one. If we go with the 1883 oldbury birth it lists him as a coal miner for most of his working life. He lived in the midlands and also Yorkshire which would make sense with the coal mining. In the 1921 census I found him in a workhouse in the midlands. My next concern is how did he go from coal mining and the midlands/Yorkshire to London and a hotel cook in a matter of years (4). Could he have moved, changed career, got married, had three children (one died in infancy) all in a matter of a few years? I just can’t seem to get my head around that and that’s why I’m stuck. Would it be an easy transition from coal miner to hotel cook? Would someone who obviously didn’t have much risk a guaranteed income and livelihood to move to an area where he couldn’t continue his trade (unless there were coal mines in Southwark?)
I’m happy that I have the correct marriage and death certificates, it’s the birth I’m questioning. I don’t want to spend a lot of time and resources trying to locate his birth when the one I already have is correct. I’ve been looking at my tree for years but I’m still very inexperienced and I access ancestry and findmypast at the Library which only lets me have an hour access at a time. I’ve found from experience on here that people who are more experienced can often spot things that are seemingly glaringly obvious but which I don’t see at the time! I’m keen to find out about him as it’s clear dying in the workhouse he didn’t lead an extravagant life and I know he was buried in a mass grave. If I personally don’t look and find him he will be lost forever as other family members have no interest in it at all. He’s the only great grandparent I know very little about (his wife remarried after he died and had more children and I’m in contact with a granddaughter of one of those!)
I hope that makes sense? I just really want to make sure I’ve got the right person, but the little doubts stop me from being completely happy with his birth! I can confirm the marriage and death are the correct ones but I have nothing to tie the birth to and I can’t quite accept it as fact until I’m able to, that was the first piece of advice I was given on here, never believe it’s 100% unless you have proof.
Daniel
