How to trace Achille Grijson born about 1890, father Edmund Grijson, farmer?
Achille married Olive Platt on 22 January 1916 in Lancashire, England. He was thought by his wife's family to have been from Sweden. However, on their marriage certificate his occupation is recorded as rubber worker "Late Lance Corporal in Belgian Army" .
I can find no records in England for either of them after their marriage.
Thank you for any advice anyone might offer on how to track them.
Answers
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It would be very helpfull if you can publish the marriage-certificate,or provide the dates on it.
When and where was he born?.. does his name spell Grijson,or Gryson,as i would spell the latter.(but Grijson is possible)
If i make a search string out of Gryson and 'korporaal' i fiound many hits , but not for
Achille.
Do you have any more info, at all?..;do not hesitate to post it.
Finding him in Lancashire in 1916(during ww 1) and having the rang of corporal,is very suggestive to the idea that he deserted the army...in Belgium.
If you have a birthplace and a year of birth for any of them, that would make a starting
point.
Adrie
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Okay, found it anyway, according to his obituary he died in the municipality of Houthem in Henegouwen,Komen-Waasten(Flemisch or Cominnes-Warneton/French)They use both languages there, it is called a faciliteitengemeente.It was completely demolished by the Germans in WW1, and also attacked with nerve gas.Apparently (according to the obituary he was a war invalid) ;(Gas)? probably, so he was not a deserter.
Olivia is called a 'Dame' on the obituary.
https://www.arch-poperinge.be/images//bidprentjes/G/gryson/wm/b6759e02e2768b46e310e3cce95f08ee.jpg
"Houthem"
https://www.villedecomines-warneton.be/loisirs/tourisme/office-du-tourisme/decouvrir-la-ville/patrimoine-architectural/houthem.jpg/viewHe died on 18 okt 1959 , 61 years ago. Do you like to have a translation of the obituary?
Adrie
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Hi Adrien, I'm unsure how to get a translation of this?
Thanks for all your help,
Chris C
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I will translate the obituary by the end of this week,i'm short of time the coming days as i'm in a fishing session.Do you like some info about Houthem? (if he is buried there , it is likely that he was born there and went back after the war.)It is not a certainty however.But if that is the story,and 1860 is his year of birth he will be in the Census documents,
and in the Parish registers there.
They are availiable at this forum for free, as a service,but a quick search showed that Houthem is absent
Maybe due the fact that Houthem was demolished by the Germans in WW1?..Also possible that the name was changed or that it is not digitised yet.
Adrie
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I misunderstood and thought I needed to do something myself to get the translation. Hope you enjoy your fishing session. No rush. I appreciate all you've done already.
I'd like to explain my interest in Achille.
He is not my direct line, but is connected to it through his wife, Olive Platt. She is the great aunt of a cousin, Derrick, I knew nothing about until 2018, when I did a DNA test. He was a starred cousin match with me. We discovered that we grew up in the same area, Failsworth, Lancashire, but his family had moved before I was born so our paths never crossed. We have forged a great friendship, share many memories, he has become like a brother to me. I have been able to put him in touch with other cousins.
It's only recently that he's told me about Achille, and the unsolved mystery of what happened to him. It is a puzzle how he ended up in Failsworth, and how he married Olive in the middle of the war.
Derrick asked if I'd help him track Achille. I've forwarded all you have sent so far.
Thank you again, Adrien,
Chris C
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The obituary card is not really interesting to translate.
But it does say that Achille was the widower of Dame Olive Platt, so she must have died long before him , Maybe in England, i did not find her here.The card also names Ichtegem as place of birth for him , but i did not find him in the catalogue's that are present here on the forum.
As the birth location is probably not very important to you,I will give them only pro-forma.Ichtegem; Eernegem,and Bekegem-but again,
i did not find him where he was supposed to be in the timeframe.
The obituary also names him as war-invalid.
But i found something else on the web availiable in one of the surrounding province; West_flanders (West Vlaanderen)
Basically the page is about a deed from the birth register in Prestwich
(Bury)GB,concerning the marriage on 22 januari between Achille and Olivia; so they have married that day in England.That deed is presented here at the census desk to legalise it for Belgium.
The Repository holding this deed is 'Gemeente Ichtegem'.
This makes it a certainty that they also resided in Ichtegem.
It tells he was the son of Edmund Gryson,from Wijnendale.
It tells he was a corporal.If you go to "aanvraag inzage", the page will link to the next step,where one can request to gain acces to the dokument itself as it is in the public domain.They will present it then at their reading room in West Flanders.I do not think they will send
you a scan, but asking can be done in the lowest box.
Feel free to use English,most Flemish people master it.
He probably ended up in Gb, being a war invalid,having expertise in rubber work,they all headed for this endevour,the demand was extremely high , and Belgians were skilled via the colony in Kongo.
They also had acces to the rubber.So they were embraced.
https://mashable.com/2017/01/14/women-workers-of-wwi/?europe=true
pay attention to Lancashire.
Adrie.
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Some considerations about Olive Platt, altough i did not find her place of death yet.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7H6M-VW2
Olive Platt, Tottington lower end-Bury age 4 in 1891 so born in 1887(est)It should be her.
Also to be found here, first result.
And in a later census named as baker assistent/confection, age 24 and single
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWB3-S62
Birth,
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2FS7-6RW
These birthplaces do not match with the one you
placed in Family tree.I think only the age matches,(est)! And more or less the location.I leave it to you to reconsider or change.
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Thank you, Adrien, for all this information you have researched in behalf of me and my cousin Derrick.
We hope to find out what happened after Olive moved to Belgium, and when and where she died. I can find no death for her in England but will search again. You said she may have died a long time before Achille remarried, is that because you found a 2nd marriage date for him?
I am sure that Olive was the daughter of Enoch Platt and Eliza Gittins, because of the birth registration source I've attached. Also, Olive's older brother, John William, (my cousin's grandfather) was on the staff at the rubber works in Failsworth, where Achille probably worked, which was less than half a mile from Cooke Street, Failsworth, where the Platt family were recorded on the 1901 & 1911 censuses. Olive probably met Achille through her brother. The rubber works was also very near to Minor Street, Failsworth, recorded as the residence of Achille and Olive on their marriage certificate. Both censuses give Tyldsley as Olive's place of birth. Tyldsley was in the Registration district of LEIGH, given on the birth registration.
I know this area of Failsworth very well, and remember the smell of the rubber works in my childhood! My father was a rubber worker in another rubber works close to our home. I was very interested in the connection between Belgium and the Congo, and how Achille came to be a rubber worker in England. Everything is adding more pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.
I will pass on all you have researched with my cousin, who will be as delighted and grateful to you as I am,
Kind regards, Chris Chadwick
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Thanks, okay , i'm fine that you have the correct Olive, and the birthlocation.Yes , the question about the remarriage, indeed, apparently he became olive's Widower, and remarried another woman.
That is suggestive to the idea that she died long before that date.I did some search for Olivia Gryson, but to no gain.I'll keep it aside.
The reason to have men among the woman's in the rubber works had to do with the fact that gasmasks
were in the first stages of development, and woman do not have a beard,the mask seals itself quite neat to their necks, not so for men,airs or gas leaks along the hairs.
The connection for the Kongo's rubber and Belgian's acces to the resourses made their case.
The number of Belgians in England during that time was massive.
Adrie
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@ Chris
Oliva Platt died in Houthem-Ieper on Januari 1938 day not specified aged 44 years,
But as the Poperinghenaar was a weekly publicaton and that edition dates 6 febr, so she should have died the last days of Januari.
Echtgenote van Ach. Gryson (spouse of Ach Gryson)
Under "Burgerstanden"=>"Houthem-Ieper"=>"overlijdens ..(deaths).
Her obituary was published in the =>
De Poperinghenaar, page 4 (newspaper)
http://www.historischekranten.be/issue/DPO/1938-02-06/edition/null/page/4
(Right corner above.)
And in the =>
De Halle (Newspaper) page 5
http://www.historischekranten.be/issue/DHA/1938-04-03/edition/null/page/5
The age here is 42 yrs old.
Take care.
Adrie
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