Genealogy Chat

hi all i am having problems locating info about both of my grandads due to the lack of family knowledge about them. my dads dad is harold joseph beatty - married agnes gilman (b1921). i have been told that my grandad had a brother called gerald and a sister called molly. i am not even sure where they were born but know they grew up in dover with a family called penn (head = Charlie). my mum and dad think that my grandad was just a bit older than my nan. what is the best way to find info - should i research all the beattys in dover and try to link them with that - or is there some better way. my other grandad is shown on the 1901 census as adopted child of a couple called epps in kent. his name was edward marwood. how do i go about locating his birth relatives. one other thing, my nan believed she was married to a canadian during the war and had 2 children only to find out later that he was already married. can't find any details of this marriage - would records have been scrapped if it was illegal. would the canadian's name show on my uncles' birth certs. grateful for any help thanks michelle

Wow, erm 1. I would say, get Grandads marriage cert and see who his dad was then you would be able to research the right line of Beattys. You could just get his birth cert but may aswell do the marriage and see about gran at the same time, eh? 2. If your nan thought she was married at the time, then I would have thought yes, the canadian bigamist would be named on her kids birth certs. 3. If your other grandads birth name was Marwood, you can get his birth certificate. I will leave any better ideas to the super sleuths.

1) Decide when it's likely Harold J Beatty married Agnes Gilman (from the birth dates of their children if known.......). Do a year each way from the first child and then work outwards. 2) Buy their marriage cert to establish dob's and father's names. 3) If you know when they died and it's after 1969 their death reg's should show theeir dates of BIRTH too, which might help, though they are not always correct, depending on who registered the deaths! 4) For any event that happened before 1866-1920 inc, consider buying units on Family Relatives as this is the best site for BMD's in this time frame. But do read the searching methods BEFORE you begin!! 5) Other granddad......Look to see if there was a birth reg for Edward Marwood. If not then you may have to do a lot of research on his adoptive parents......most adoptees were family members in those days. There was no legal adoption process until 1927. 6) A bigamous marriage would not be removed from the GRO indexes. If the correct channels had been followed (to make it viod) then if you asked for a copy of the cert from the index ref you would be told that the cert was not available for issue. The name of the Canadian would show on his child's birth cert if they were married or were pretending to be married. If they were not pretending and were not married, then his name might not be on it (and the cert would be in her previous surname. Exhausted Merry!! x

Could this be your Harold J. Beatty.......born 1913? Name: Harold Joseph Beatty Death Year: [1991] Age: 77 Birth Date: 17 Sep 1913 Death Registration Month/Year: Feb 1991 Registration District: Chester and Ellesmere Port Inferred County: Cheshire Inferred Country: England

thanx for advice don't think that hjb is mine -mine was 64 when he died in the 80s

interesting question though -- whose surname do your uncles use? Mother's, stepfather's or bigamist's? If the story is correct, they'll be in the index under the bigamist's surname

good point robin - they use my nan's surname. i wonder whether they didn't actually get married but 'planned to' then when the war ended and he went back to canada she found out he was already married??!!

What about this birth?? It's the only one between 1915 and 1920 and happens to have the right middle initial! Surname Forenames Mothers maiden name District Page No Event Quarter Year Beatty Harold J West Newton Abbot.5b 132 Birth 1 1917 Marriage of parents: Marriages Mar 1904 Babbage Frederick William Newton A. 5b 247 >>>>Beatty John Newton A. 5b 247 Brimilcombe Edith Maude Newton A. 5b 247 >>>>West Annie Elizabeth Newton A. 5b 247 Merry

Thanks Merry this is difficult isn't it when you lack vital info. where is newton abbott?? i have searched 1837online from 1939-1942 for the marriage of harold joseph beatty and agnes dorothy gilman - can't find anything. i chose these years as my dad is the oldest and was born oct 1941. my dad's great auntie told me that nan and grandad were married in swindon cos it was during the war and that they went to the wedding in the midwife's car!!!! - not sure if that's what she meant though. another bit of info that i have just remember but not sure if its useful - the family penn that brought up my grandad also brought up other kids surname coe who were supposed to be cousins of my grandad - not sure if they were real cousins but my mum says one of them is the spitting image of my grandad so this suggests they were real cousins. so <thinks out loud> presumably my grandads mum/dad was brother/sister to their mum/dad??!!! back to the search.....

Sorry, too p****d to take in your whole post, but Newton Abbott is in Devon........ Merry

Hi all i think the marriage and birth merry found in newton abbot is my grandad. i found his death on the new ancestry records - died 1981 born 28 feb 1917. so i now know where he was born and who his parents were. what should i do now - how can i investigate how he ended up in Dover living without his parents???!! grateful for any advice. thanks michelle