Having trouble with finding ancestor records
Hi everyone
I am about at my wits end trying to find any information on my great great grandfather (John Williams LRXH-DWB) before he immigrated to Australia in around 1875. I have his death certificate which names his father as John Williams - Gentleman, and his mother Lucy Lewis (maiden name). I have searched and searched to try and find something that may start me off on the correct path but as yet I have not been able to find anything. (I am pretty green at this but I didn't think it would be this difficult) Is there anyone out there that may have some suggestions or insight as to how I can move forward.
Thank you in advance.
Regards
Samantha Williams
Answers
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Hello Samantha.
Maybe FamilySearch Wiki can help you learn more about how you can search for John Willims's ancestors in England. Here is the link to the page for the area he came from:
You can also search for information/records at findmypast. There is a direct link to findmypast on the person page.
There is also a specialized Community group for England Genealogy: https://community.familysearch.org/en/group/45-england-genealogy-research
Kindly,
Anne-Kathrine Henriksen
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I've been checking for records in Find My Past, Ancestry, FreeREG and FamilySearch and couldn't find a John Williams / Lucy Lewis marriage. A search on census records did not produce any results, either. Nor did any of the many GRO indexed records for a John Williams with mother's maiden name Lewis seem to match.
Either I missed something or this is one of those cases where records of an individual / family just prove to be very elusive.
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@SamanthaWilliams41 I took a look at John Williams, PD LRXH-DWB. There were two images for marriage records. The information on parents and birth places were very different between the two records. Which do you feel is correct and why?
1 Marriage to Sophia Elderkin- Born London, Middlesex, Parents: Henry Williams, Louisa Brown
2 Marriage to Emily Julia Seidel- Born Bristol, Gloucester, Parents: John Williams, Lucy Lewis
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Good morning Karen
I appreciate your time in having a look at the information on John Williams.
This has puzzled me also. Sophia was John's first wife. They had moved to Cooktown (Aus) and she became ill and subsequently passed. Emily was a helper in the home while Sophia was ill, and from family information, I believe Emil (John and Emily's first born) was born out of wedlock so consequently John does not appear on Emil's birth certificate. Sophia passed not long after the birth of Emil and I believe John and Emily were married before the birth of the second child.
As for the difference in the birth and death certificate, I am at a loss as to why there is a difference of parents.
Do you have any ideas how I may be able to move forward to work this one out?
Kind Regards
Samantha Williams
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@Anne-Kathrine Henriksen I appreciate your assistance. Thank you for your time.
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@Paul W Thank you for having a look. Yes it appears to be one of those relations (lol) As you may be able to see from a previous response to Karen, John's birth certificate and death certificate list different parents which is going to be difficult to ascertain which is the correct set of parents.
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Are there no records from his time in Australia that give you an exact birthdate?
I see quite a few possibilities in the GRO Birth Index. But it would narrow it down if you knew an exact birth date.
Are there any known siblings or relatives?
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@karenrasmussen Yes that would be great if I could narrow down the exact birth date. I have sent an email to a family member of one of Emil's children in the hope of getting to the bottom of this difference in information. Fingers crossed something comes of it. Thank you again for your help
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