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Hi

you seem to know some things about him but do you know if he ever used a middle name?

Yes Tempest, thats him.
The informant was my uncle, he wouldnt have known the exact deatils either.

My grandfather wanted to keep something a secret.

Janey, its so frustrating!!!!, He told my mum snippets of info but she never thought to ask too much more. I Think she felt that he had secrets which he didnt want to guve up.

Sometimes he used the middle name Franklin. He named his eldest son John, aperently after his father.

another family story is that he was fluent in German, although my mum never heard him speak German.

He also was very clever and knowledgeable, had beautiful had writing

Charlene, I don't suppose your mom can recall anywhere in Acocks Green he took her to or talked about.

I'm only a couple of miles away. I don't have much knowledge of the area but if I can help in anyway.

Jill

no Jill, she was a little girl and i have no knowledge of the area at all

It has taken me years to unravel my gr-grfather and I am by no means done! If you feel like reading 8 pages of the tale, go to Trying to Find and put Monck in the surname filter box, and you'll see the Ernest Augustus Monck thread. That was the other thing. From and after c1879 he was Ernest Augustus Monck, married my gr-grmother as that, emigrated to Australia and then to Canada as that, had kids as that, was known to his grandchildren as that ... but was born Ernest Augustus Hill -- but, that is, kept his given names even while hiding from the military all those years.

The Monck, it transpired eventually, was a middle name of his Hill sister. Still don't know why.

So you never know, "Charles Franklin" might turn out to have some significance.

i was hoping that it would be obvious once the 1911 census became avaliable, no such luck.

So the marriage certificate -- you're going to get it?

My gr-grf apparently carried all his secrets around in a locked case, promised to his eldest granddaughter (my mum's cousin) when he died. He died at the home of a different son, and that daughter-in-law burned the whole lot.

i can get the marriage cert, but i dont believe it will tell me anything else as he changed hi name before hi met my grandmother

Well, as I hoped I'd explained -- my gr-grf had changed his name before he met my gr-grm but there was still valuable info on the marriage certificate, e.g. -- it might still tell you something. So let us know what it says!