Find Ancestors

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you all - been away for a few days, and spent some time at National Archives! Thank you all, for your help.

Following Janey's post, I did some experimenting on FreeBMD. She's right abt not needing 3 characters
Their rules are different for Surnames and Forenames

FORENAMES
I'm assuming I never check "Exact match on first names"
FreeBMD implicitly adds a * to whatever name I enter, so J and J* get the same hits.
An initial * is treated differently -it is used to match with any first name, then the rest of the search field is applied to names after the first, so **p gets:

Births Sep 1837 (>99%)
FENAUGHTY Edward Joseph St.Martins in the Fields 1 63
FENAUGHTY James Joseph St.Martins in the Fields 1 63
Matthews Thomas John Poulton St. Martins in the Fields 1 65
[I restricted myself to this RD in 1837q3 - there's only 23 births total]


Here, *j and **j get these same 3 hits, but a search for **t gets

George John Thomas St. Martin in the Fields 1 65
Matthews Thomas John Poulton St. Martins in the Fields 1 65
Walker Sarah Clement St. Martin in the Fields Middx. 1 66

while a search for *t gets only

George John Thomas St. Martin in the Fields 1 65


SURNAMES
I don't know what soundex does with wildcards - I think it just ignores them. Their help page says don't use them with soundex:
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/search-help.shtml
Soundex tends to ignore vowels, so if your wildcards stood in for vowels, I think it wouldn't matter (NB a soundex search for fnght gets the twins again)


A search for f* gets the above Fenaughty twins, and a search for *y gets them plus

MEALEY Alice St.Martin in the Fields Middx. 1 63
MILKHAY Owen St Martin in the Fields 1 63

You never know what you'll learn when you idly read a thread -- thanks, mgnv, I didn't know Ancestry had changed that and it makes a huuuuge difference!

But for FreeBMD, in fact you can use a wildcard * anywhere to stand for anything. For instance, search for any events for Monck, given name E*, in 1884, and you get all of them.

You can also use it to stand in for a first given name and search on the second given name, for instance if you want to find every Hill with second given name Hoare (just to use examples from my own tree), search for surname Hill, given name "* Hoare".

Just reread my post of 28 Dec, and see I left out URL. Second sentence should read:

The general gateway for Canadian sites is:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html

Sorry abt that.

If searching on Ancestry/FreeBMD, you can search for Warn* and it'll pick up all names beginning with Warn (* is a wildcard character, and matches any arbitary # of characters including zero characters). On FreeBMD, you can't use a wildcard in the first 3 characters - Ancestry used to have this rule, but they've now relaxed it to say you must use 3 non-wildcard characters somewhere in the name e.g., Wa*s is OK)

EDIT Both the first and last characters cannot be wildcards for Ancestry. For FreeBMD, see Janey and my later posts.

I'm still trying to trace the marriage of Henry George Warnes and Ada Smith (see previous post). Whilst I realise that given names were often misspelt in the records, is it possible that the surname could also be misspelt - i.e. should I try looking under Warner or Warns? Any help appreciated, thanks.

I have a real puzzle - Henry George Warnes (B. 25.08.1893) joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Valcartier in September 1914. There is a US border pass dated 24 April 1920 showing he entered USA via Sarnia and stating that he was single at that time. However, the 1930 US Federal Census says that he was married when he and his wife Ada (also English born) migrated to Michigan, USA in 1919. I have been unable to trace a marriage record either in UK, USA or Canada. First child was born about 1922. Is it possible that at the time of the border pass, he was married, but was travelling alone - he appears to be going just for 3 weeks? It's so frustrating not to be able to fit the puzzle together. Would be grateful for any guidance as to where I could look next. Thanks.

I think I have been up the wrong garden path! Harry was single when he crossed from Canada to USA (Michigan) in 1920. I have tried to find Ada Smith on worldwide birth records but not having a lot of luck. Also, I know maths was my worst subject at school, but I am getting very confused when ages don't tie up with years - if you see what I mean. Need a break and a glass of something!

Only on for a minute here but first instinct is DO NOT START A NEW THREAD !!!!!

This info will help people to trace her - stick with this and ask for more info on what you need.

Will come back when I can.
Dea x

I'm not sure if I should be starting a new thread here - perhaps someone would let me know. I am searching for some more info on Harry Warnes' wife, who was Ada Matilda Smith. I have found her on the 1901 census living as a boarder (age 5) with a few other unrelated people (wonder what the setup there was?), but I can find no records of her marriage to Harry. Harry joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1914, and I am at a loss to find out where and when they were married. Could anyone give any guidance please on avenues to explore? Thank you.

Thank you so much for all that information - this is really interesting stuff! Unfortunately have to be at work today - can't wait to get home and start looking this up. I really need to retire!

It looks like Henry went to Canada first. The general gateway for Canadian sites is:

You can drill down there to:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-130-e.html

There, you can see how to buy Henry's service record.
It looks like he's in the 2nd Field Ambulance, which was part of the Canadian 1st division.

Parenthetical note: The basic unit in WW1 was the infantry battalion. A CEF bn had 1200+ men, split into 4 companys. 4 bns were combined into a brigade, 3 bdes into a division, and 4 divs into the Canadian Corps.
At each combination, specialized units were added. The CEF had a substantial # of other troops, incl cavalry units, a dozen railway & tramway operating & construction bns, 100 forestry coys, 18 hospitals and 4 M*A*S*H* units (or Casualty Clearing Stations, as they were then called).

To deal with the wounded, each coy assigned some men as stretcher bearers. Their primary job was to carry the wounded back to the Regimental Aid Post, usually situated fairly close to the front line.
The ambulance coys, possibly with help from a reserve unit, took them from the RAP to a CCS, then at a later time they'ld be transferred from a CCS to a hospital - these were often located in the Channel ports or the UK. The medical services were integrated, so an ANZAC CCS might specialize in head injuries, a CEF in gassings, and a UK in gunshot wounds, so there'ld be some attempt to make the appropriate transfer.

http://www.cefresearch.com/matrix/Nicholson/Appendicies/Appendix%20B.pdf

The day to day activities of the "2nd Field Ambulance" Coy were noted in their War Diary.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/02015202_e.html
(Battalion & higher infantry units kept WDs).

Nicholson, G. W. L. 1962. Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919. Queens Printer and Controller of Stationary, Ottawa, Canada.
http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/oh-ho/detail-eng.asp?BfBookLang=1&BfId=22


Valcartier, just W of Quebec City, was the main training camp in Canada.
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/training-val-e.aspx

Thank you Dee. Have taken out the free trial, but the way things are going it will probably turn into a lifelong membership! The actual documents are great to see - although I'm having trouble printing them out from the Ancestry site at present - prob just a temp glitch. Thanks again for your work. x

Marilyn,

you can tke a 14 day free trial out at Ancestry.co.uk

Here's henry's WW1 pension records;

British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920
about Henry George Warnes
Name: Henry George Warnes
Estimated birth year: abt 1894
Age at Enlistment: 18
Birth Parish: Nth Heigham
Birth County: Norfolk
[Nth]
Document Year: 1912
Regimental Number: 918
Number of Images: 9


There is a letter in them about him leaving for Canada.



Dee x

OOOhhh Marilyn

Tissues coming over - this is what this is all about!!...... enjoy !!!

Dea Xxx

I have now been onto the Canadian Soldiers of WW1 site - and have been able to print out his Attestation Paper for joining the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. I had no idea he went to Canada before moving to USA. Pass the tissues! Thank you everyone. x

marilyn,

You might also try....Norfolk baptism project
Not all places transcribed yet...but quite a few are
Kay

No apologies necessary Marilyn,

You are new and don't know how these things work!

What happens when you ask for info is that we 'researchers' take a look and if we want to try to give you accurate info, we don't just look at your question but we try to follow the family up and down the census's, checking the connections and all the children and siblings and marriages and deaths until we 'understand' the family and are as sure as we can be that they connect.

Therefore - any info on other members of the family will save us a lot of time and effort.

It does help if we have all the info available on one thread.

Dea x

Kids are wanting their supper.... be back soon.


Dee x

That's the one Dee - same address as 1911 census!!

Dea x

Looks like his Attestation papers;

Canadian Soldiers of World War I, 1914-1918
about Henry George Warnes
Name: Henry George Warnes
Birth Date: 25 Aug 1893
Birth Location: Norvich, England
Relative: Charles Warnes
Regiment Number: 33208
Dated 23 Sept 1914

Occupation was Shoe maker

Address for next of kin is 165 Armiss??? Syreet, Norwich.


Dee xx