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Trying to find Downey

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Helen

Helen Report 31 May 2007 16:44

Hi I am trying to trace relatives of John Daniel Downey d.o.b approx 20/02/1929. His father Daniel(deceased) played either a saxaphone or clarinet in bands around Sreatham and London. His mother was called Helen(deceased)Her maiden name may have been Bamsey.They lived in Plymouth Devon, Where I believe John was born, although he lived in London and then Crawley, West Sussex. Has a brother Robert, who still lives in plymouth and was a taxi driver. I also belive he spent some time in Denmark and may have fathered two children there. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, Helen.

Helen

Helen Report 22 Oct 2014 22:37

UPDATE 22/10/2014

I was almost correct with the details
John went to Holland not Denmark and fathered 2 boys, I am in contact with one.
he also fathered 2 girls in Plymouth who I am in contact with.
but we have one more sister that we want to find
John Daniel Downey born 1929 in Plymouth married a Phyllis Barbara Bickell Born 1925 in Plymouth Devon in 1953 they had a daughter in 1954 called Sharon R Downey born in Tiverton Devon. Her mother remarried a William Vosper in 1961 so she may be known as Sharon Vosper.
I thought I was1of 3 but I am 1of 8 and we really want to find the missing sister.

I have also found a marriage for a John D Downey to a Violet Kathleen Brown born 07/01/1926 in Croydon Surrey, they married in Islington in 1955. They had a Son Keith A Downey born in 1956 in Willesden Middlesex, so he could be another brother!!!!
Violet died in 1969 when Keith would have been 13 years old, so he may have been adopted.
Also if anyone has any information on John Daniel Downey 1926 last whereabouts known is USA your help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks Helen Dunne Nee Downey.

Choccy

Choccy Report 22 Oct 2014 23:03

PM sent with possible address for Sharon Downey


AnnCardiff

AnnCardiff Report 23 Oct 2014 08:26

????????????????

Name: John Downey
Event Type: Immigration
Event Date: 1953
Event Place: New York City, New York, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Birthplace: British
Ship Name: Georgic
Birth Year (Estimated): 1926
Affiliate Publication Title: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1897-1957 , Affiliate Publication Number: T715 , Affiliate Film Number: 8299 , GS Film number: 002321745 , Digital Folder Number: 007264590 , Image Number: 00891

AnnCardiff

AnnCardiff Report 23 Oct 2014 08:31

???????????

Name: John D Downey
Event Type: Immigration
Event Date: 1956
Event Place: New York City, New York, United States
Ship Name: New York
Affiliate Publication Title: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1897-1957 , Affiliate Publication Number: T715 , Affiliate Film Number: 8697 , GS Film number: 002322143 , Digital Folder Number: 007266612 , Image Number: 00150

Helen

Helen Report 27 Oct 2014 10:02

UPDATE
The Sharon Downey I mentioned married to Coles is not our Sharon .
John Daniel Downey DOB 20/02/1929
Last whereabouts Cambriidge Massachusetts USA 1970
Thanks for all the help :)
Helen

Helen

Helen Report 13 Nov 2014 17:44

Hi
I am still looking :-) :-) :-) :-)
John's father Daniel Downey was a saxophone player and he played in some of the big bands around the UK .
Any information would be gratefully received
thanks Helen

Helen

Helen Report 22 Nov 2014 19:51

UPDATE 22/11/14
still looking for lost sister!!!
John Daniel Downey(parents Daniel Downey and Helen Elizabeth Bamsey) born 1929 in Plymouth and Phyllis Barbara Bickell (parents Alice Carse and William Charles Bickell) born 1925 married in Plymouth Devon in 1953.
They had a daughter in September 1954 called Sharon R Downey born in Tiverton Devon.
Her mother Phyllis married a William J Vosper in 1961 so she may be known as Sharon Vosper.
Phyllis and William went on to have 2 sons Andrew Vosper born 1963 and Nicholas John Vosper born 1966.
Please help us find our sister Sharon
Thanks Helen x

Helen

Helen Report 15 Dec 2014 22:39

UPDATE 15/12/14

We have been in touch with the Vosper family and they are not aware of Sharon so we now believe she may have been adopted sometime between 1954 and 1956. There is no record of an adoption in Devon .

We also believe that John may have married again in 1955/1956 to someone in the Croydon area.
any help would be gratefully received.
thank you
Helen x

Helen

Helen Report 10 Jun 2015 22:42

Update 10/6/15
we are still looking for our lost sister Sharon Rose Downey born Dunmore house, Bradninch Devon
26th August 1954.
she was adopted sometime before 1956.
she has 10 possible siblings that would love to meet her .

Jacqueline

Jacqueline Report 11 Jun 2015 16:33

Are you on the national adoption contact register?

If Sharon is aware that she was adopted, and has any interest in finding birth family, she may be on there

Helen

Helen Report 16 Dec 2015 21:40

thank you Jacqueline, yes i am registered on the contact register.



it is possible that John Daniel Downey travelled to New Zealand and Married a lady called Pauline they may have had a daughter called Faye.
He may of died in 1974.
any help would be gratefully received.

JoonieCloonie

JoonieCloonie Report 17 Dec 2015 02:33

Helen, since you first had him in the US and now NZ, can you give a little idea of where the info is coming from?

'it is possible', 'may have' ... is this because someone with the same name has been found with these facts, or because someone with knowledge has given you the info?

in the first case, it could be a bit of a goose chase for others to go hunting for the person

in the second case, it would be a question of how reliable the info might be, to be basing searches on


also it would be good to acknowledge replies, like Ann's passenger records

... and again, is that where the 'it is possible' about him emigrating to the US came from - a possibly coincidental name in records - or was this based on info received?

JoonieCloonie

JoonieCloonie Report 17 Dec 2015 02:48

have you found the possible son Keith?

http://www.freeelectoralroll.co.uk

there is an electoral roll listing that matches his details perfectly

192.com shows it as current only to 2013, but it could be worth trying

two marriages two years apart would be a little unusual, if not impossible unless the first spouse had died in that time

Kathleen's death is registered as Brown, so perhaps this was your John and the second marriage was irregular?

have you obtained the certificate for that marriage? technically, if the GRO was aware of impropriety, a certificate would not be issued, and that would be your answer

of course if it were issued, it might be inadvertent, but certainly there would be enough info on it to identify your John, likely even if he was obfuscating (e.g. by determining that the father's name give was false, if no birth to such a father could be found)

I would prefer to delete this link once you have seen it:

http://www.checkcompany.co.uk/director/8883015/MR-KEITH-ADRIAN-DOWNEY

correct dob

you do know that two members of this site have him in their trees?

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/tree/results/downey/keith?memberkey=0&yearofbirthrange=1

JoonieCloonie

JoonieCloonie Report 17 Dec 2015 03:07

he 'may have' died in 1975 ... I think that is a certainty, as long as we are not going in a circle (you have not taken the date of birth from this death record)

https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz

1975/29105 Downey John Daniel dob 20/2/1929 age at death 45Y


if this is your John

Births Mar 1929
Downey John D Bamsey Plymouth 5b 284

and you have the birth certificate to be sure of the birthdate, then yes, he died in NZ, barring a bizarre coincidence of names and birthdates


but NZ records are not available recently enough to show the possible marriage and birth you mention, so you must have info from some other source


and right at this moment the NZ BMD site decided to have a server problem so I can't check anything else there

but the question, when you find these 'possible' marriages deaths etc., are you obtaining the certificates to verify that they relate to your John?

Helen

Helen Report 30 Apr 2016 15:56

Hi
I must apologise as i have only just seen you replies, as I did not receive any notification.
it is now confirmed that John died in 1974 in New Zealand I have the death certificate.
on the certificate it had Pauline Downey as his spouse but i am not sure if they did marry, her maiden name is Moore and she emigrated to new Zealand from the UK.
i do not think Fay was their child as she would have been too old .
Thank you for the information on Keith I am not sure if he is a half brother but i will write to him.
so far I have found 6 wives/partners off John and 8 children. I am still trying to find Sharon Rose Downey who was adopted in Devon about 1954.
thank you for you interest and any help would be appreciated
Regards Helen

JoonieCloonie

JoonieCloonie Report 30 Apr 2016 16:04

Helen, if you want to receive notices of replies in your threads, read my 'researching' line. :-)

(and make sure your email address in your account here is always current in case of replies in the future)

Coming to the site and clicking on 'my threads' is the alternative method (which is how I saw your new reply here) - particularly doing that within a day of posting a message since that was when I added my posts in Dec, within a few hours of yours.

Helen

Helen Report 30 Apr 2016 17:25

Thank You
I have written to Keith I will let you know if I hear anything.
Helen