There were nine members listening to the talk “What can I find out about my great-grandmother?”
We each have four great-grandmothers and they are far enough away for much to have disappeared into the mists of time. Alan chose his father’s maternal grandmother and showed what a methodical approach could reveal, and how. Stating with his grandmother’s birth he looked at the GRO birth registration which gave her mother’s maiden name. Her eldest sibling’s birth year pointed towards her parents’ marriage date and, armed with the names of bride and groom, the marriage could be located in FreeBMD. A copy of the marriage certificate could then be ordered giving (usually) the bride’s age and her father’s profession. The next census after the marriage should confirm the age sufficiently to locate the birth certificate. Unfortunately, in this case, although the birth was after the introduction of civil registration there was no birth certificate – in early years the system relied on the Registrar discovering the birth – but the baptism record also gave the date of birth. A search on Ancestry helped in locating the death registration.
Locating the family in each ten year census revealed where the family lived and who the children were and, approximately, when they were born. Searching for the houses on old maps gave some idea of what sort of housing the family occupied. This was not made any easier by London County Council changing many road names between 1900 and 1939 to avoid duplicates! Google Street map gave pictures of the houses – if they survived.
It was unfortunate to find no reference in local newspapers to events involving the family, not even an obituary. Neither were there any family stories passed down to add to the picture. However the information available and consideration of it as a whole did provide a background to hs great-grandmother’s life.
Next month’s talk has yet to be decided. It will be followed by a ‘Help your Neighbour’ practical session.
Alan Swindale