William James Gibbs b. 1852

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Looking for a birth record on William James Gibbs born in November 1852 in Stratfor-Upon-Avon.  Having terrible time finding anything as he emigrated to Dunkirk, NY, USA in about 1856 and so he is not born for the 1851 census and is in America by the 1861 census.  I have no parental names, only that his obituary says he was very proud to have been born in Shakespeare's home town and that he emigrated at about the age of 4.  Hoping someone can give me anything that might lead to further information!  Thank you. 

[Harold1066]

Looking on Ancestry BMDs there are two William Gibbs, whose birth was registered in Stratford Upon Avon.  Details are as follows:

1852 - Apr/Jun
District:    Stratford Upon Avon
County:    Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire
Volume:    6d  Page: 263

Or

Oct/Ded 1851
District:    Stratford Upon Avon
County:    Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire
Volume:    16 Page: 384

I would probably go for the later one since the month is right and he could have easily got his birth year wrong. Especially if this is based on on the age given in the Obituary.

Just extended the search 4 years either side and no addtional ones except one in 1845 which is too late for you.

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Those sound promising!  I am searching Ancestry.com BMD records and I still can't find either one.  Guess I am still learning, just started!?!  Did it list parent names?  I will keep trying, at least I know what I'm looking for!  Thank you so very much for the lead!

[Harold1066]

For the two entries below I did the following:

In Ancestry - select "Search" and select the subset "Birth, Marriage & Death, including Parish Records"

Then opened the link:  "England & Wales BMD Index"

Then opened the link: "Births 1837 - 1915 (transcribed by FreeBMD)

In the search fields I entered the following information (if a field is not listed below it was left at the default):

First Name: William
Surname: Gibbs
Year: 1852
+/- 2  (i.e. search 1850 - 1854)
District: Stratford Upon Avon


Entering the first name as William James results in one additional entry for a James William Gibbs - Registered: Jul/Sep 1853 in Stratford Upon Avon, Vol: 6d Page: 423

The BMD is a searchable database of General Register Office Index sadly the index does not include details of parents or exact date / place of birth for that information you need to order the Birth Certificate (cost £9.25 & postage) from the GRO (their website is:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/faqs.asp)

supplying the information from the BMD index.

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THANK YOU!  That's exactly how I was searching on Ancestry.com but I'm still not finding it?  Strange, but thank you for giving me what you found.  I will order a birth certificate ASAP, that's great news!

Many thanks again!!

[Harold1066]

I wonder if the difference is I'm using ANCESTRY.CO.UK and have only a subscription to the UK records.

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I wondered the same thing.  I'm getting several William Gibbs results, but am not finding the ones you found.  I'm searching UK records only, but from the USA.  This is good to know though! 

I wonder if I might ask you a quick question since you have been so kind?  Any chance you have an idea on the odds of information transcribed from census records are in error?  I have found a Gibbs family on the Stratford-Upon-Avon 1851 census that match a family on a ship immigration record from 1856 when my great great grandfather emigrated.  Then I find a family with all the same member names living in Dunkirk, NY, USA where my g-g-grandfather moved to.  Dunkirk is a small city.  I feel confident this could be them, but the ages of the children on the ship record are all a couple years off from the UK and USA census records for this family.  I imagine errors could easily happen, but the ship record says William is 10 months old rather than 4yrs old.  I can't imagine one would mistake a 4yr old for an infant so I have sadly thought this must not be them.  Still, it's the only possibility I've found and it seems beyond coincidence that all the family member names would match.  What would you think?

[Harold1066]

I have come across census records where the adults appear not to age at the right rate but normally the children to.  You say the ages for the children in the 1851 match the later US records.

One possibility is if Williams age in the US records tie in with the ship record is it simply a case of did the "older" William die and so they have named the next son William.  I see that a lot in my tree (worse was the family that had two living daughters - Eliza and Elizabeth)  Also I have come across an instance where the children took up their second names, i.e. Mary Ann became Ann.  Without something tangible from the records, be it the Birth/Death certificates and or Baptism / Burial records all is speculation.

Don't discount it being two separate families:  Remember families from the same area in the UK would probably all emigrate out to the same area in the USA.  Therefore it is quite feasible that more then one Gibbs family from Stratford ended up in Dunkirk.

For example

1.  Emigration as part of a scheme:   I  have a connection to a family that emigrated to Canada as part of a mass emigration where the land was meant to have been purchased form them before they left England, unfortunately this was a con - the story I have has a happy ending in that this particular family stood up to the conmen and got something if not everything that had been promised.

2.  Following other members of the Family:  Another line although they stayed in the UK moved from Bedfordshire to Derbyshire - with these you can see through the census that one family moved and 10 years later another part of the family had joined them - in this instance we suspect, although we will never know for sure, that one part of the family moved and then sent word back that there was good work etc so the rest made the effort.

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Yes, that's what I was thinking and why I am hesitant to think this is them.  My Washigntons did that - some brothers emigrated from Littleport in Cambrideshire to Dunkirk, then some more kids and the father a few years later, then the father goes back and brings the rest of the family a year after that.  I have considered myself lucky to have foudn William's name, as we did not know it previously.  Unfortunately this is my grandmother's line and she and my grandfather divorced around 1950 and he never spoke of her, she lived very far away and was not in touch, and of course now anyone who knew anything has passed.  I did know he was from Stratford and then I found the obituary naming his children so I definitely found him.  I suspect I may never be able to confirm anything further back.  But I am very inexperienced at this, so I hope perhaps one day I will find something more conclusive!

You have given me an idea, however.  There are only 2 families with the last name of Gibbs who have members born in England and living anywhere within all of Chautauqua County, New York on the 1860 US Federal Census.  One of them has the William that seems to possibly be mine.  Perhaps my next step will be to do some research on the other Gibbs family living in the same town but born in England and see if they come from Stratford-Upon-Avon!

Ok, I will not take up any more of your time except to express my many thanks and gratitude for your help and suggestions!