what should I do now
1. Make sure you contact that person on GenesReunited. It is your best hope in my opinion
2. Buy the marriage cert Marriages Mar 1908 BIRDWHISTLE Austin St Asaph 11b 438
It will tell you more about the man. What is job was, where he was living, who his father was, perhaps his age. You can buy the cert online from the General Registrars Office using that reference
3. If I were you I would buy the other marriage cert Austin Birtwhistle March qtr 1906 Glossop 7b 1120 . He may or may not have been bigamous but this would help establish whether it is the same man. The probability is that it was to Mary Emily Griffiths who died aged 23 in June qrt. 1906 in Stockport registration district.
See the other thread where mersey-view has eloquently deduced that the marriage was to Mary Emily Griffiths. You can use that lot to show that is it is the same man then he did not marry bigamously the second time in 1908. Again you would need the death cert to be certain.
4. I would buy the birth cert of Births Sep 1878 BIRDWHISTLE Austin, Ashton 8d 545. Seems to be the only man in the frame. It will give you his parents
5. And the 1941 Marriage of an Austen B is also worth getting, as there is a sporting chance that he is a son of your man Marriages Apr/Jun 1941 Austin Birtwhistle married Roe Nthmbld. S. ref10b 792.
I am a bit baffled by this one in as much as I cannot find another Austin B born in records. So either it is your man marrying again at the age of 63 (possible) or in is a completely different man whose middle name was Austin, and that was what he used in life.
6. You are trying to establish here if there is one or two Austin Birtwhistle/Birdwhistle born at about that time. Putting it all together, and allowing for the rareness of the name, my working hypothesis would be that there was one man, who married twice. First wife died. Then get the certs to either prove or disprove that hypothesis.
7. Look for other siblings, I assume that the " possible daughter registered in St Asaph district in Jan Q 1915 under the surname BIRTWHISTLE (mother HUGHES) who has middle initial L." found by Manchester-rambler on the other thread is your Grandmother. Look for other children of the marriage is you do not know of any. The three I see using a wildcard search in FreeBMD are perhaps someone else gere can add to that
- Winifred L Birtwhistle Birth: Jan/ Mar 1915 - St Asaph, Denbighshire, Flintshire
- Mary Ellen Birdwhistle Birth:Apr/Jun 1908 - St Asaph, Denbighshire, Flintshire (in 1911 census)
- Sarah Rossley Birtwhistle at Llandudno in 1910 (in BMD and 1911 census)
8. Again as a working hypothesis Edwin Austin B, born 1853, married 1873, is probably the father of your man. The birth cert of Austin would tell you, and if it is get those two certs too.
9. You could get the marriage cert of Winifred L, Birtwhistle who married Hughes Jul/Sep St.Asaph 11b 393. Personally I find it is always as well to check what you have been told!
10 You could find out exactly what he was doing by reading the War Diary of the 1st Battalion Cheshire regt, which will have a day by day account of battalion life from Aug 1914 when they mobilised, till April 1916 when he was discharged. It will not be likely to mention him by name, but will tell you to the yard where they were every day. You can read it free in National Archives at Kew, or pay someone to copy it for you.
In addition the person on GenesReunited may have trees that can help
And if you have never ordered certs before online, go
to this link and use a credit card to buy, you get them a few weeks later.
Genealogy is not a cheap hobby, but you are well on the way to solving the family riddle
