Mystery of Great Grandfather Mc Laven

[Ragna]

Hi there again 

Thought you might like to see the man that has given me & many of you so much grief in trying to find his Birth....I would like to introduce you to Mr Sidney George Frederick McLaven. (only got the picture yesterday so as you can imagine Im thrilled  )

If the image is not there, I didn't read the instuctions right and I will have to try again !

[Josephine]

Ragna,

Thanks for posting his photo!  Wherever did you get it?

He was a good-looking man with a kind face.

I keep thinking about him and wondering how on earth we can find him.

Regards,
Josephine

[hepburn]

    Is that a Jewish nose??

[Ragna]

Hi there

Well I spent the weekend at my Mums going through all the photographs and this one had been sent to her from our Canadian relatives along with some others of his sons (my granddad and his brothers) shes let me bring them home to scan, Im having a fabulous time  When I saw his picture I felt really emotional (silly i know)

My next step is to contact another of my Great Uncles children to see if they have any more information or any more photos.

Yes, he does look he has a jewish nose.  I wonder eh? Perhaps I need to concentrate on the Laven more ?

Ragna 

[M.T.H]

Hi folks,

Not sure if this will help as you might already have the info, but there is an entry for Sydney McClaven's son (Sydney Howard McClaven) on the CWGC site.

Son of Fanny and the late Sydney McLaven, of 16c, Sutton Buildings, Chelsea, London.

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=142793

Mick

[Ragna]

Hello MTH

Thank you so much. Yes we did find this a while ago and my Uncle infact visited his grave in Belgium last year. As you can imagine it was very moving as he had been the first one to ever visit it.

The dreadful thing about Sydney Jnr is that he had learning difficultes and my Granddad (His younger brother) was always fuming that he was ever allowed to join the army in the first place. I was fortunate enough to be able to get hold of the Diary from the Regiment and so can work out when he actually died. Such sad reading again 

Thank you again for pointing this out to me 
Ragna

[Josephine]

I'll just say that my Scottish rellies had big honkers and they definitely were not Jewish!   

My best friend in high school was Jewish (Dutch & German) and she had a small nose.

Frederick Sydney, etc.'s given names don't seem like Jewish names although that probably doesn't mean anything, either.

If only we could find him in one census, for goodness' sake!   

Come on, Mr. Laven-McLaven, where are you?!   

Regards,
Josephine

[Ragna]

Hi Josephine

Good point about the names and noses lol 

I have actually sat through the births on Ancestry.co. uk for pages and pages seeing if there was anything at all that could remotely be like him.

Silly Question but in that time when they went to get married, did they require their Birth Certificate. Reason I am asking is he put his fathers name as Edward McLaven but perhaps this was just made up if he did'nt have to supply any certificates.

Sydney Frederick and George do sound very english.

Sigh back to the drawing board ...

Ragna 

[Josephine]

Hi, Ragna   

I've read that they didn't have to provide any identification when they got married.  So, yes, people could lie about their father's names or give wrong information because they were mistaken.

I'm sure my Sarah Pope gave the wrong father's name on her marriage record and I curse her daily for it.     I just don't know if it was because she was mistaken, the clerk or minister made an error, of if she made it up out of whole cloth because she was illegitimate.

I sent away for the only birth that matched what I had in the census and it was for the wrong girl.  Sarah's birth might not have been registered, for all I know. 

Ever since finding out that my Barnett Barnett was Jewish, I wonder about the other families I can't track.  For all I know, Sarah Pope was Sarah Popeskizw or Popesky or Popoff.  (My head's about to pop off.)

It's good that you've trawled through the index pages on Ancestry; even though you didn't find him, at least you know for sure that he's not there.

If only you knew where he was born, you could inquire about baptismal records.

Have you seen this website:

http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/

Regards,
Josephine