Hello Pauline, how great to find a relative, our mums would have been cousins, I wonder if they ever met, she was Elizabeth always known as Betty.
I am down in Plymouth at the other end of the country.
I do know that Philippe was from the Alsace Lorraine area of France, but don't know exactly which part and growing up my mum had always told me that when he was 14, he ran away from home and ended up in Scotland.
He was born around 1853 and looking at the history of the area, when he was 14 this was when Germany invaded and it became Prussia so maybe that was why he left.
I have a copy of his marriage certificate to Elizabeth McDowall 1877 in New Luce, Wigtownshire and his death 1920 Ayr and on them, his parents are Philippe Maurer, a Grain Miller and Madeleine Muntze. If you don't have these I could scan them and email them to you.
Do you know much of Philippe and Elizabeth's family, there were 11 children, if not then I have details of their births and marriages.
I also have your grandfather James service records from WW1 and his brother Philip John and quite a lot on the McDowalls going back quite a way.
I haven't been able to find out anything on Philippe and Madeleine or whether they stayed in Alsace Lorraine.
Can I ask which cemetery your mum and grandad are buried in, I have been trying to find where our gr/grandad is buried but with no luck.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Maureen.
