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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Ringrose on Thursday 12 April 18 12:19 BST (UK)

Title: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Ringrose on Thursday 12 April 18 12:19 BST (UK)
Don’t give up hope.About 15years ago I sent for the death cert of my gggrandfather Richard Light .When it arrived I put it to one side because although the date 1875 coukd fit I didn’t think his death as a Che,lsea Pensioner He was on trial at the Old Bailey in 1842 for bigamy twice over and sentenced to 7years transportation.Put onthe hulk York in Gosport I found from National Archives he had been pardoned Censuses show he was in the Westminster Chelsea areas and just a labourer.
Chelsea Pensioners records appeared on Ancestry.....and there he was ...birthplace correct and the info that he had served at Waterloo,
My day was made
Ringrose
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: angelfish58 on Thursday 12 April 18 12:28 BST (UK)
You must be so chuffed. It just goes to show that eventually  the last piece of the puzzle just falls into place.
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: nanny jan on Thursday 12 April 18 12:30 BST (UK)
Great news!   

I'm hoping a marriage cert will end my almost  12 year search for a 2xgt.grandmother.....just have to wait now for it to arrive!

Patience........   ;)
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: frostyknight on Thursday 12 April 18 15:40 BST (UK)
Great result Ringrose  :). I hope you get the desired result from the cert Nanny Jan.
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: iluleah on Thursday 12 April 18 15:44 BST (UK)
Wonderful news! Just shows you if you keep digging you find the treasure in the end ;D
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: BumbleB on Thursday 12 April 18 16:51 BST (UK)
Well done - I've always said that "they'll be found when they want to be found"   :D
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Melbell on Thursday 12 April 18 20:06 BST (UK)
I'm very pleased for you Ringrose!  I too have had a very recent success after about 20 years of searching for the death/burial of one of my 3xGreatgrandfathers.  Better still, this was with help from a fellow Rootschatter (MaxD) whose assistance I acknowledge here once again.

It's a great feeling, although in my case, there are still some loose ends to tie up and new questions raised.  And I still don't know what happened to his wife.....

Melbell  :)
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Hickers99 on Thursday 12 April 18 22:07 BST (UK)
That’s great. I recently found my wife’s grandmother after about a 40 year search! She only lived 60 miles away and died in 1986. She had a daughter, my wife’s aunt, who we didn’t know existed until a few weeks ago!
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Ringrose on Thursday 12 April 18 22:15 BST (UK)
It’s a wonderful feeling when you finally break down a wall.Ive still got lots of gaps to fill in.Some records I’ve found but I’ve no way of finding proof that they are right so I’ll keep searching for the right answers.Am waiting for some counties to put more records on line.
Patience...
Ringrose
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: coombs on Thursday 12 April 18 22:35 BST (UK)
Well done Ringrose. The more that come online, the greater the chance of smashing down brickwalls. I can understand being careful by discarding a candidate due to surprising info that makes you sceptical, but then finding out from other info it is the right one after all.
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Jill Eaton on Friday 13 April 18 15:42 BST (UK)
Congratulations! ;D

Just goes to show that we shouldn't give up looking.

I've recently discovered the death certificate for a great uncle. He only died in 1992 in Kent, England. I thought he had emigrated to America! I hadn't even been aware that siblings of the grandmother who died long before I was born were still living at such a late date. Wish I'd met him.
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Finley 1 on Friday 13 April 18 15:45 BST (UK)
We must keep on and this just shows it..  Well done :)

xin
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: Sloe Gin on Saturday 14 April 18 21:30 BST (UK)
I won't repeat it here, but for those interested here is how I eventually tracked down a great-great aunt who had been something of a "wild child". 

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=426900.msg5873025;topicseen#msg5873025

Among the things illustrated here:
People don't always tell the truth on census forms.
People who say they are married may not be.
Marriages sometimes take place a lot later than you expect.
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: iluleah on Saturday 14 April 18 22:11 BST (UK)

Among the things illustrated here:
People don't always tell the truth on census forms.
People who say they are married may not be.
Marriages sometimes take place a lot later than you expect.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D You are correct.
I looked for my great grandparents marriage for years, then when the 1911 was open to research it stated married 23yrs! But where I could never find out, it was only when I was researching one of their children's marriage I happened to see they got married a few weeks later AND after the 1911 census AND later found it was just one week after his first wifes death ( who I thought had died some 25  years earlier)
Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: gazania on Sunday 15 April 18 08:11 BST (UK)
Wonderful news - congratulations!

I recently made a huge breakthrough.  The key was a tiny obit in an obscure OZ country newspaper that had just been indexed.

My greatgrandfather and his family migrated to Brisbane, OZ, during the 1880s.  All we knew about him was that he was born in Cork, with a very common surname.  We believe any surviving family papers had been burnt on the orders of the coroner on the sudden death in the 1930s of his eldest daughter.  Family story said that he had a brother, name unknown, who was a scripture reader in Liverpool.  Using the censuses of Liverpool, I built up a profile of a likely brother, called William.

My g great grand father also died suddenly while talking to his landlord and this was reported in several newspapers, saying he was originally from Cork.  Then an obscure country newspaper reported he was born in Glanmire, Co Cork.  There he was with the baptism of three sisters and that led to the baptism of another brother, Thomas, in Tipperary.  This Thomas must have been the witness on G grandfather's second marriage in Kent.  (He moved around alot )  I still have not found the bapt of William, the likely brother living in Liverpool.

But then I found a detailed newspaper report of a wedding in Kent of a son of Thomas, where the cousins from Liverpool attended and they were from the family of said William, the scripture reader.  So all these little pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place.  I have been in touch with relatives, There are descendants in Perth, WA and Canada.

So please, never give up. Gazania



Title: Re: Gggrandfather Found after 15years
Post by: coombs on Sunday 15 April 18 12:58 BST (UK)
Shows how much of a life line those witnesses to weddings can be.