Debelle Family

[Fingy]

I am trying to help a friend find her ancestors but she has very little to go on , the only things she knows is that the family name is Debelle , her mother lived in Heeley as a child in the early 1900's & she thinks they came from Sheffield .....anyone got any ideas where to start please as it would be much appreciated.

[lizdb]

Well, the first thing will be for your friend to look at her own birth cert. That will give her a full name for her mother, and a maiden name if she was married. Using freebmd you can then look for a marriage, if the parents were married.  Does she know approx when her mother was born? Again freebmd can be looked at for the mothers birth, once we have a full name and an approx era.

[Pennines]

What an unusual surname -- and one which may be prone to mistranscribing.

Between 1837 and 1915 -- there only appear to be 3 birth registrations for that surname (spelt correctly) -- all in different locations viz;

Ashton under Lyne
Manchester
South Shields

From 1916 to 2005 this number has increased to 27 -- various locations, but none in Sheffield.
As has already been suggested you will need to work backwards from your friend's parents' details on the birth certificate -- and perhaps be prepared for variant spellings as you get further back to census records.

[Pennines]

I have just remembered that I have come across the surname of Depelle in West Yorks. I don't know if this will be significant at some point -- it maybe worth bearing in mind. Perhaps the surname started out as one thing and morphed into the other.

It actually sounds French.

[Fingy]

Thanks lizdb & pennines for your replys, I think my friend & I will first proceed down the road suggested by lizdb & get as much info as we can from her mothers marriage certificate & work backwards down the female line, not the usual way to do it I know, but we can but try.

Also pennines suggestion that it sounds french may be another  place to look too.
I will let  you know if we find anything out ......fingers crossed !!

Thanks again for giving us a start ,

Barbara

[Dalum]

There are a number of people called DEBELL or DE BELL in the databases at http://www.sheffieldindexers.com/

Hugh

[Fingy]

Thanks a lot Hugh for the info about Sheffield Indexers , I will investigate.

Barbara

[mmm45]

Barbara
Theres a Dabelle lad from Sheffield on WW1 service records
George and Henry is his dad Unstone,Sheffield.

Ady

[Fingy]

Thanks Ady for this info, another branch to be investigated, no news yet but it always take some time before you hit a rich seam !!
This has been a very productive source of info, plenty to look into & Ancestry have a free w/end this w/end so that can only be a help.
I will keep in touch.

Barbara