Lost - William BAKER b 1895 Qld

[Ruskie]

Thanks Wendy. If you think of anything more you need looked up, just let me know. I'm not sure when I'll get to the Archvies but I will try for this week.

If anyone else who has contributed to your thread has any more ideas for lookups related to this family, let me know too please.

[heapsofus]

Ruskie, Can you check BDM's in the archives? Someone did suggest finding out if when Emily Baker remarried whether it mentioned if she was divorced or widowed. She married William Thomas Ford in 1903 reference no C608. He was a farmer in the Mt Whitestone district.  Just a thought . . .
Wendy

[Ruskie]

I'm afraid that you would need to buy the certificate to find out if Emily was divorced or widowed. The only information at the Archives is the indexes - which is what you already have. (also available on the Qld Justice site):
https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/mainMenuSubmit.m?main_menu=IndexSearch

Something that can be useful (probably not in this case, but keep it in mind for others) are wills and intestacies, because the death certificates are included with them. 

[mum mum]

Hi
You need to find out from the archives if there are records that are on microfiche that have not been digitised yet.
Specifically a record for William Baker, he appears on the list of Baker children, as I said before it should say what family he was adopted or fostered by.
mum mum

[Ruskie]

I will go back over the post MM, but yes, I would expect to look at fiche or film for these records. I think all of the digitised records are available online now - if they're not, then it'll be film or paper. 

[heapsofus]

Hi again,

just thought I would share what we have found out.  Harry (the one in the orphanage - he kept the name Harry all his life even though he was born John Thomas) enlisted in ww1 in 1915 under the name Harold Harry Baker.  He died in battle in France just a few months later. He listed his next of kin as Annie Louisa Metcalf his sister and there was a note on the page saying she was the only living relative. ALso a letter from her advising the necessary people that she was the only living relative. So obvioulsy Harry didn't know about William and Alfred was definitely out of the picture  - though yet to find a death for him.

Will keep things posted as I keep looking,

Wendy

[heapsofus]

We think we may have found William. 
After a few google searches we found a William Baker Searle born 6th Feb  1895 who was adopted by an Ellen Searle.  They were in NSW.  We emailed and found out that it was not known exactly where he was born.  He ended up in QLD, married in 1923 and stayed in Qld.  On the Qld bdm search page I searched for William Baker and the exact birth date of 6th Feb 1895 and his name came up with parents Alfred and Emily - so we think it may be him.  We are not sure how he got to NSW but he didn't stay there.  We also found a photo of William Baker Searle with his family aged 39 - we thought we noticed a few similarities between him and Harry's photo so decided to follow it up.  We still don't know what happened to Emily or Alfred during that time of William's birth.   We are still working on finding those details and your help is appreciated,
have a great day,
Wendy

[mum mum]

Hi
I can see the family tree and the photo on Ancestry, I wonder if William knew who his parents were, it seems that he retained the name Baker, so you would think that Ellen Searle must have told him who he was.
Does anyone have his marriage certificate to see what he said about his parents?

It makes you wonder why all those other researchers couldn't find any orphanage records for him, or maybe they weren't Rootschatters.

mum mum

[Ruskie]

Wendy, I'm sorry I was unable to make it to the archives this week, but will try to get there next week if you still require the information (considering your finds over the past few days).