RootsChat.Com

Hi
I have a print out of the marriage certificate between William and Edith and I thought it said chair maker(the writing is hard to read) but on an actual copy of the certificate between him and Agnes McDougall it does clearly state chain maker so I presumed that it was the same occupation...there was a very big factory in Hulme during that time making chains so it all seemed to make sense. William and Edith had 11 children sadly 5 died in infancy. They were all seperated as children going to family members and Styal..the last surviving child died in March this year and that was James  This was the whole point in my search of William Henry to try and get a photograph to show James. Edith died in child birth when James was 1 years old so he didn't know his Mother and again there were no photographs...he was led to believe that his mother died during his birth but I was able to prove that she didn't and just that small piece of information gave him a great sense of relief. James was my Father in Law and was a wonderful man and I really did try to get a photograph of his Father before he died and I admit that I was deeply upset that I didn't but I am more determined now to find out as much as I can in memory of James

wow thank you all so much I will order the 2nd William Downing certificate and get in touch with the army )) it would be so nice if there is a photograph of him somewhere )) XXX

He was married 3 times and I have copies of 2 of the marriage certificates....his Father was also called William Henry Downing

Ive been researching my family tree for 18 months now...I applied to the GRO for a birth certificate and a death certificate for my Grandfather William Henry Downing (Hulme)..I need the birth certificate so I can contact the army so they can give me details of his service in the hope that there might be a photograph as no one in the family knows what he looked like. They sent me a copy of his death certificate but couldn't give me a birth certificate as they said there was too many William Henry Downings born around the same time and couldn't be certain which was my Grandfather. No one in the family knows his birthday so I'm really stuck Has anybody got any ideas of where I can go from here please? Thanxs XXX

thank you for that  it dosn't make our research easy does it? also what made me believe CD hadn't been married was that on the marriage cerificate the Fathers Surname was the same as CD's AND IJ !!! I think now that that information was wrong too