Genealogy Chat

I am searching for cousins that I know I have, but don't know where to start looking. My uncle had 2 boys that we know of but unsure of their names etc. I have 2 names my uncle could use. So where do I start. Fairly knew to all this searching. All my other trees are pretty much done with my own searching and then finding family and using their trees. But this one has me stumped

You start by finding the marriage of your uncle, then look for births using both surnames

If your uncle fathered children without being married to their mother, it will be less easy.

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

What was your uncle's birth name and birthplace?

Is he alive?

Freebmd only goes upto ca 1990/91

Better to go to the GRO Index, which has mother's maiden name for all births beginning on July 1 1837, and goes up to 2004. You can also search Deaths from 1837 to 2019

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

Click on Order Certificates Online

Scroll down to Register or Log In ............ you have to Register, but it is free and is safe

Click on Log In

Click on Search the GRO Indexes

Tick Births



So do as Erika said ........ get uncle's marriage from Freebmd, then go to the GRO site to search for births.

Were the marriage and births in England and Wales, or elsewhere?

Do you know if your uncle has died?

The GRO site shows births in England and Wales only, with mother's maiden surname, from 1837 to 1918, and then 1984 - 2004.

For births in England and Wales 1919-83, you need FreeBMD.


For deaths in England and Wales, GRO has deaths 1837 - 1957, then 1984 - 2019.
From 1958 - 1983, again you need FreeBMD.

By the way, you say you're getting info from other people's trees.
Be very careful with that - not everyone researches accurately, and info on someone's tree should always be taken with a pinch of salt unless they have actual records to prove it.

Thank you all for your help. I will try and explain the problem I have :

My Uncle Dennis W Lawson was born 12/5/1931 To mother Nellie Lawson (my grandmother). In Pancras London.

She later married Thomas Wilfred Wilson April 1933

They went on to have to other Children Doreen Helen 07/05/1933 Peter 08/08/1935. in Fulham, London.

My mother Doreen was evacuated to Buckinghamshire (later called Milton Keynes) when she was 9 to an Aunt. Peter went to Scotland and Dennis Stayed in London.

My mother went back to London at age 12 where sadly her mother died. Her father Thomas then remarried to Freda Sibley 1947. 6 months later he disappeared never to be seen again.

My mother went back to Bucks and the stayed there the rest of her life.


I remember seeing him once where he said he was married and had 2 boys.

He went under the name of either Dennis Wilfred Lawson or Dennis Wilfred WIlson.

I do not know if he is alive

I got one marriage which I think was him as it stated Lawson/Wilson to Ethel Taylor in 1954

But that is all I have. Me and my 2 siblings are the only 3 left in this family so there is no one that I can ask for help

Glad you found your way back.

Marriages Mar 1954 (>99%)
LAWSON Dennis W TAYLOR Lambeth 5c 3000
Taylor Ethel L Lawson Lambeth 5c 3000
Taylor Ethel L Wilson Lambeth 5c 3000
Wilson Dennis W Taylor Lambeth 5c 3000

1939 isn't helpful

24 Chesson Road, Fulham, London, England
Nellie F Wilson 03 Sep 1913 Female Daily Domestic Married 94 1
The record for this person is officially closed. x 3

ErikaH I have deleted the item you said about

I would think that the 'either/or' for his surname when he married would be because he named Wilson as his father, but gave his actual surname for himself.

The way to be sure is to get a copy of the cert. It would also have the benefit of providing you with his wife's details

I know the birth year is wrong - but there isn't a birth in 1924 in England/Wales for a Dennis W Lawson

LAWSON, DENNIS WILFRED 1924
GRO Reference: DOR Q3/1987 in LAMBETH (2411A) Volume 14 Page 46

Not alive, I'm afraid.

Dennis Wilfred Lawson
in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
Name: Dennis Wilfred Lawson
Death Age: 63
Birth Date: 12 May 1924 [ Day and month as stated by Diane.]
Registration Date: Sep 1987
Registration district: Lambeth
Inferred County: Greater London
Volume: 14
Page: 46

His death cert might give some clue depending on who the informant was - hopefully his child.

Assuming he lived his life in London after marriage, there are no Lawson/Taylor births in London after 1954.

There are, however, a number of Wilson/Taylor births in Lambeth 1954 -61 - though I don't know if they're relevant or not.
For what it's worth, Dennis's was the only Wilson/Taylor marriage in Lambeth 1944-54, where the Wilson was the husband.

Just found a second marriage 1983 in Lambeth

Odds are second wife would be informant on death cert

She MAY have re-married in 1990

No trace of her thereafter

Dennis's first wife also may have re-married , but the cert would be needed for father's name to confirm

However, this death would fit all the info

First name(s) ETHEL LILIAN
Last name STERLINI
Gender Female
Birth day 10
Birth month 8
Birth year 1935
Age -
Death quarter 3
Death year 2000
District Croydon
District number 2251B
Register number B89B
Entry number 140
Date of registration mm/yy 0900

Name: Ethel L Taylor
Registration Date: Jul 1935
[Aug 1935]
[Sep 1935]
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district: Lambeth
Inferred County: London
Mother's Maiden Name: Stead
Volume Number: 1d
Page Number: 387

Two Sterlini/Taylor children born in Lambeth

The 1983 marriage is interesting.

Either Dennis was using alternative forenames as well as an alternative surname, or else two women with the same somewhat unusual name married in Lambeth in the same quarter.



The only other record I can find of the same name as the possible 1990 husband is a birth in Ireland in 1957 .

Looking at ALL available info, the births of Dennis's children would be expected to be between 1954 and 1959

There are two male births for Wilson/Taylor in Lambeth in the time-scale

There is also a female birth in the time/area

I must have been only half awake, AG

Didn't notice the different forenames on the marriage - the cert would seem to be essential

Birth of one of Wilson/Taylor sons tallies with one of them - almost

EDIT

NO......... a man with that name married in 1975

That possible son appears to have married in Lambeth in 1975, although, sadly, the wife has since died.

Two possible children of the marriage - on freebmd

That 1924 dob on death reg has to be wrong, because Nellie would only have been 11yrs old when she gave birth.