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i am in search of relatives but dont really have anything to go on, all i know is my dad is brian clements and he has two brothers philip and john, my grandfathers name was john ferguson clements (1919)ish and he married my grandmother ellen mccarthy and are from wales, if anyone knows anything that may help then please contact me, thanks suzanne x

Will send a birth by pm.

sorry only just realise that id left the location out but thanks for bringing it to my attention, still getting used to this site as you can probably tell, thanks again x

Name: John F Clements
Spouse Surname: Mccarthy
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1940
Registration district: Swansea
Registration county (inferred): Glamorgan
Volume Number: 11a
Page Number: 2855
Find Spouse: Find Spouse

Certificate will give you father's names

John Ferguson Clements
Birth Date: 4 Jan 1917
Death Registration Month/Year: Aug 1995
Age at death (estimated): 78
Registration district: Swansea
Inferred County: Glamorgan
Register number: A115
District and Subdistrict: 8971A
Entry number: 54


Probable birth

Clements John F Martin Swansea 11a 1902

thanks for the info, its sad that i dont know anything about this side of the family, my grandfather, my dad and his two brothers are about all i know, and i know my grandfather had a brother albert but thats it, thanks again suzanne x

You're not alone, Suzanne. I started out knowing the names of 7 of my 8 gr-grparents, and where some of them came from, but no more than that. What you get now is the fun of finding it all!

Just adding what RR left out there: the date --

Births Mar 1917
Clements John F Martin Swansea 11a 1902

Martin is his mother's surname.

So now, go to FreeBMD (it's free as it says, and it's fast and easy):

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

and search for other births with the surname Clements and mother Martin. The ones in Swansea are very probably his siblings. I'm not going to copy them here because it is infinitely more interesting to find them yourself.

There's an Albert, so that's another indication you're tracking the right John.

The earliest one is 1912, so then search for a marriage of surname Clements to surname Martin, say 1900 to 1912. You'll find one in Swansea.

But to be sure you are tracing the right people you really do have to have your Frederick's marriage and birth certificates to start -- to make sure the age and father's name match. You order them here:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

Then you can look in the 1911 census to see who is living with his parents -- whether there were children born before 1911. (That's when the index started including mother's surname.)

http://www.1911census.co.uk/search/tnaform.aspx

Meanwhile, with his siblings' and probable parents' names, you can search trees here at GR to see whether anyone has those people in their trees. ... Unfortunately, it seems not. But you can put all the names you find in your own tree, so anyone who searches for them will find you.

You can also start searching at FreeBMD for the marriages (or unfortunately, sometimes, deaths in childhood) of John's siblings.

But you do want to confirm with certificates that you're searching the right person.

And by the time you've done that, you'll be hooked. ;)

thanks janey thats great help, i just had a look on freebmd and his picture came up as soon as i typed in his name, just wondering if i commit to the payments they ask for and want to cancel can i do that at any time, thanks again for your help you have put me onto the right track now x

Hi Suzanne, sorry, but you've lost me there!

FreeBMD doesn't have pictures, and doesn't charge payments. ;)

That must have been another website, but I can't think what it would have been.

Anyhow, I'll give you a boost with the 1911 census.

Searching for William Clements living in Swansea with Elizabeth Clements, to match the 1906 marriage, and then for Elizabeth Clements living in Swansea with William Clements:

CLEMENTS WILLIAM 1881 30 Swansea Glamorganshire
CLEMENTS ELIZABETH ANN 1885 26

and then searching for any Clements living in Swansea with Elizabeth William Clements:

CLEMENTS BEATRICE 1910 1


So, in addition to the births you will find at FreeBMD if you search for all Clements births in Swansea with mother Martin, there was a child born before 1911.

Births Mar 1910
CLEMENTS Beatrice Margaret Swansea 11a 1157

I don't see a definite marriage for her after 1925ish, i.e. there isn't one in that particular area.

So that's an example of how to trace people like your grandfather's siblings forward -- at least how to find *possible* marriages etc. for them.

Since you don't have access to Ancestry without paying, I've looked for the brothers' deaths too (their surnames would have remained the same).

Name: Joseph Robert Clements
Birth Date: 25 Apr 1914
Death Registration Month/Year: Jan 1993
Age at death (estimated): 78
Registration district: Swansea
Inferred County: Glamorgan
Register number: A101
District and Subdistrict: 8971A
Entry number: 146

Albert you may know about; the other brother's name is too common to pinpoint a death. And there is another sister.

You still need to do the search to find all your grandfather's brothers' and sisters' births and names, at FreeBMD. ;)

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

Janey,, re what Suzanne has said below about charges and picture...I bet she has inadvertently clicked on the Ancestry advert at the top of the Freebmd site ? ( I did that when I was starting out ) and filled the search in there.

Suzanne if that's what you did , go back on to Freebmd, ignore the ad' at the top, and scroll further down to thesearch boxes :)

yes rr thats exactly what i did, i found the right page now but its all still confusing lol, thanks both x

I always forget that -- yes, I did the same thing many years ago too! I use Adblock in Firefox now to block out the stupid thing (except it won't delete the search boxes) so I never think of it myself now.

It won't be confusing as soon as you do it once, Suzanne.

Just follow my easy instructions to search for

births
surname Clements
mother's surname Martin

-- the same as your grandfather in the record Rose gave -- and pick out the births in Swansea. Or, before you search, select Swansea from the list of districts on the right side.

And search for

marriages
surname Clements
spouse's surname Martin

selecting Swansea for district. To see the name of the other spouse, you click on the page number beside the Clements name you find.

You may want to subscribe to Ancestry at some point, but you can start with the info here and the info you can get at FreeBMD.

Unfortunately, nobody here at GR seems to have any of the Clements-Martin children in their family tree.

aha! There is a tree with John Ferguson Clements on Ancestry, complete with photo.

well ladies im a complete computer illiterate, ive spent most of the evening on bmd and just keep hitting a brick wall, the only thing i have managed to find is a list of my grandfather and his siblings, im still none the wiser of my gr grandfathers name or gr grandmothers name except her surname, im am sure there are a few skeletons in this part of the family which just intensifies my curiosity all the more as you can imagine, but for now my eyes are burning from staring at the screen for so long lol, hopefully i can sleep on it and push forward tomorrow, fingers crossed for me x

Have a good sleep Suzanne , it's very tempting to keep going till your head spins once you start :)

Come back if you need help :)

im totally bamboozled im obviously doing something wrong cos i cant find anything lol, i really should do a computer course or something

It will come with practise Suzanne :)

What are you stuck on?

i must be doing something wrong, im typing in my grandfathers name and yr of birth and district, the only thing it is showing me is his name, when i press info nothing different comes up, id be happy if i could just find my gr grandparents names but cant even find them x

Suzanne is this what you are seeing?

Births Mar 1917
Clements John F Martin Swansea 11a 1902

What you need to do to confirm John F Clements parents is to get his birth certificate from the GRO you can order online at http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content
using the details given in my previous post...

the details Janey posted for 1911 census of William and Elizabeth do look likely,( they are also the names listed on the tree on Ancestry) but you can only be 100% sure with the certificate

( quotation marks added late, sorry Janey !)

"CLEMENTS WILLIAM 1881 30 Swansea Glamorganshire
CLEMENTS ELIZABETH ANN 1885 26

and then searching for any Clements living in Swansea with Elizabeth , William Clements:

CLEMENTS BEATRICE 1910 1 "