RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: yelkcub on Friday 05 July 19 14:55 BST (UK)
-
I have posted before on my so far fruitless search for my paternal grandfather who went off-radar in 1932. I'm now convinced that he changed his name, officially or unofficially. Does anyone have any tips / advice on what steps I should / could take? What would an experienced genealogical sleuth do? Does anyone have experience of successfully picking up traces of a disappeared ancestor?
-
Do you know his exact date of birth and where he hailed from, this is just a thought but if you enter his full date of birth on 1939 you will have a choice of people who come up
Louisa Maud
-
My Aunts first husband was killed in WW2, when my Aunt remarried after the war her new husband changed his surname to hers by deed poll. If you google deed poll you may find some information.
There were various legal ways of changing your name over the centuries but not everyone went down that route.
Colin
-
Hi
If he was born C1893, then why isn't this him? . . . . .
Death 1944 Dec Littlebro' 8e 65 Tom K Buckley
( 17 November 1944 according to a tree owned by a name similar to yours ? )
Surely it's worth getting the death cert ( if you already havent )
He appears on 1939 Register
Ray
-
Hi
If he was born C1893, then why isn't this him? . . . . .
Death 1944 Dec Littlebro' 8e 65 Tom K Buckley
( 17 November 1944 according to a tree owned by a name similar to yours ? )
Surely it's worth getting the death cert ( if you already havent )
He appears on 1939 Register
Ray
I think it is Chris/Chriss that is missing, Tom K Buckley is his brother
Birth Mar qtr 1896
Buckley Chriss Rochdale 8e 55
-
Many thanks for informative and helpful replies so far received. It is Chriss that I'm searching for (after a long gap in my family history work). I actually traced a son of Tom Kershaw B, who told me that his father never mentioned having a brother, yet Chriss and Tom appear together in all the relevant census returns. Makes me wonder whether Chriss had done something unspeakable, to cause his alienation from his birth family, as well as from his wife and son.
I will certainly follow up the suggestion of trying the 1939 data with Chriss Buckley's date of birth (21 December 1895, Rochdale, Lancashire) ... and any other suggestions.
Again, many thanks to all.
-
... noting the BMD record as 'born March Q 1896'. His birth certificate is as stated in my previous post. I suppose his birth was not registered until the January of 1896.
-
I have found that when people change their name sometimes the new name has a link to their pervious identity. Using the birth date you provided I noticed there is a Jack Kershaw on 1939 Register who's date of birth is definitely 21 December but frustratingly the year is not readable on the image! Intriguingly the neighbours are Buckleys.
Probably a complete red herring but you never know.
Pinetree
-
Take a DNA test, - and see who pops up on your Match list!
Romilly :)
-
'Red Herring' or not, it will be worth investigating. As I've been taking a [long] break from family research I'm not enrolled in any of the websites offering access to official records. I'll be going to the library tomorrow to work from there, and the 1939 will be my first enquiry.
DNA test also an interesting suggestion.
-
... noting the BMD record as 'born March Q 1896'. His birth certificate is as stated in my previous post. I suppose his birth was not registered until the January of 1896.
The GRO index does not say he was born March qtr 1896, that is when the birth was registered. As he was born 21 December it is common for births around Christmas /New Year not to be registered in the appropriate quarter.
-
Free index to 1939 says that a Harry Kershaw, born 1894, is in the household with Jack.
Birth of a likely Harry Kershaw was registered March 1894, Oldham, mother Ayton. Parents seem to be Arthur and Emma.
Harry had an older brother Walter, who married Lily Bridge, 10 June 1911, image on FamilySearch
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8965-FH3Y?i=515
Walter seems to have died in 1931 age 41, registered in March quarter, Oldham, 8d 1445
Probate for Walter, died 8 March 1931, one of the administrators was Harry Kershaw, carter
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=kershaw&yearOfDeath=1931&page=2#calendar
Wife Lily may have died at the same time as there is a death of a Lily Kershaw age 42 in Oldham on 8d 1444 (but a lot of Kershaws there!)
There is a birth of a Jack Kershaw, mother Bridge, March qtr 1920, Oldham. Possibly could be the chap who died in 1963, age 43.
So a worry is that it might be Harry's nephew with him in 1939 :-\
-
Have you eliminated Chris Buckley, 26, father Charles, married Mary Horsfall, 3 June 1922, at Whitworth St Bartholomew?
A postem on FreeBMD says "These are my father's parents. Chris disappeared around 1932. If anyone knows anything of his life after 1932, I should be grateful to hear."
Oh dear! :-[
I have posted before on my so far fruitless search for my paternal grandfather who went off-radar in 1932.
-
Just a thought, but I couldn't find a birth registration for my grandfather's brother, known as Harry, who was also listed on census info as Harry! Eventually, about 2 or 3 years later, I remembered that Harry is a shortened form of the name Henry! I changed the search for his birth record to using the name Henry, so it might be worth your while to change your search using that name instead of the name Harry.
Added - when I eventually found his marriage record, his name was recorded as Henry! 👍
-
Apologies for having taken so long to respond to recent replies (for which I am most grateful). I've just returned from the library, having used their access to the 1939 register, following a suggestion made in this thread. There is, as far as I can see, no promising record that could refer to my paternal grandfather, Chriss Buckley. However, I am excited by the suggestion made here, that Chriss might have used Kershaw as an assumed name. I had already thought that he might have taken his mother's maiden name, Hunter, but I can see that Kershaw is a possibility worth pursuing. Kershaw was a surname important to this family: Chriss's paternal grandmother was Sarah Kershaw, and two of Chriss's siblings were given Kershaw as a middle name (Sarah and Tom). I don't think that the Kershaws so far examined by contributors to this thread are likely contenders, but I will be checking them out thoroughly in the next few days. An added complication here is that two quite independent pieces of family lore suggest that when Chriss left his wife and son, he went to Northern Ireland, to Limavady, to be precise. Whether he did, whether he stayed there ... who knows? And, of course, the 1939 record for Northern Ireland is not available online––apparently FOI requests can be made, but an address has to be specified. The search continues, and if any member has further suggestions for how to proceed I shall be grateful to try them. I have googled Kershaw and Limavady and found a couple of names: on Monday I'll try to contact the people concerned to ask if they know of a forebear who might, just might be Chriss ... thanks again to all who have contributed.
-
That is a few steps forward, good luck
Louisa Maud
-
Thanks, Louisa M ... must leave no stone unturned!
-
No, keep beavering away, I am sure you will find something worthwhile
LM
-
Thought I would post an update for those kind list members who have shown an interest in this thread. I was excited by the suggestion that Kershaw might have been my missing grandfather's assumed name: it made a lot of sense. So, I googled Kershaw and Limavady, located an individual's email address and fired off my enquiry. The person concerned was good enough to email me back with enough detail to remove his family from my search. He also told me that his was the only Kershaw family in the small town, and that the family had no history in the town which would coincide with significant dates in my grandfather's story. Back to the drawing board, but I feel quite energised to have been once again on the case.