Genealogy Chat

Hi there,

I'm very new to this and just pulled together my family tree over the weekend with help from grandparents. I have hit a bit of a wall at my g,g grandparents on both sides as I don't have dobs.

Any suggestions on what the next step would be? I managed to find what I think are one side's relations as they had an unusual name, the I have lots of Smiths and Cooks and the name is so popular it's difficult to narrow down.

Thanks in advance for any help out there!

Lesley

You could guestimate when they were born based on g grandparents age etc, and try to narrow it down to a few years worth of bmd records to start with.
Do you know when they died?, death records will give you either an age or dob or the deceased.
Post up a little info on your gg grandparents, and let us take a look, may help to point you in the right direction.
Karen

Before jumping too far back and investing in subs for sites to search census etc i would confirm things you have been told, starting with the most recent generations and working backwards one generation at a time.

It's amazing how memories of dates, places and even names etc can be slightly wrong and unless you confirm details then you could very easily follow the wrong family lines.

Read Tips for Newbies.

Thanks all for your quick replies! I appreciate the help and advice. I will read the tips for newbies.

In case you are interested and can advise further, details that I have already so far are:

My great grandparents are James William Cook born 2/7/1904 and we think he died 1964 but I havent found details of this yet. He was a merchant seaman. His wife Elizabeth Jane Holland born 3/7/1900 and died 20/5/1983. They were married on 21/6/1930. They lived in the Stepney, London area.

Jame's father was Joseph Cook who was a coal porter and lived at 20 Emily Street, Tidal Basin, Canning Town. (all from g.grandparents marriage cert).

He was married to Agnes Gilman (or Gilan) and has an address of 12 Thornton Street, Canning Town E16 connected to her, but I'm unsure where these details have come from originally, my nan gave them to me so I need to check where she got them from.

That's as far as I have got on that side and really want to track Joseph and Agnes. I found some Agnes Gilman's, but I've no way of knowing if it's the right one.

On the other side, parents of Elizabeth Jane Holland, I have the following information:

Her mum was Sarah Ann Shepheard, born around 1878 and died age 66, so around 1944. She lived at 39 Elser Street, Tower Hamlets.

Elizabeth's father was James Holland. I have the least info on him and he is probably the one I really want to trace typically! He owned a fishstall in Whitechapel and had the nickname gypsy! Maybe that's why I'm struggling to find him!

I did find a whole family of Shepheards with a Sarah A Shepheard on the census, but I'm not 100% sure it's her.

Anyway, that's everything I have. Sorry for the long post! I don't really want everyone to do my work as I'm sure I'm just missing simple things to get this moving forward!

Thanks everyone!

L

This looks like Joseph and Agnes marriage reg:

Marriages Jun 1893 (>99%)
Cook Joseph W. Ham 4a 186
Gillman Agnes W. Ham 4a 186

Joseph and Agnes in 1901:
1901 England Census
about Joseph Cook
Name: Joseph Cook
Age: 26
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1875
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Agnes
Gender: Male
Where born: West Ham C Town

Civil Parish: West Ham
Ecclesiastical parish: St Luke
County/Island: Essex
Country: England

Street address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status: View Image

Registration district: West Ham
Sub registration district: Canning Town
ED, institution, or vessel: 27
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 324
Household Members: Name Age
Agnes Cook 25 - b West Ham C. ???
Agnes Cook 4
Elizabeth Cook 1 month
Joseph Cook 26

Address is 16 Poplar Street, West Ham

Wow! Thanks!!! I see I've been spellling Gillman wrong!! Thanks so much for that. So I assume I would be able to get a copy of their marraige certificate from West Ham registry office and possibly find information on their parents?

Order the certificate directly from GRO using the reference information given by Potty. Will cost you £7, and all being well, will get it within a week (roughly the time frame that I am finding at the moment)

Potty, I'm amazaed you found something so quick and just goes to show my ignorance of the information available to me. I really appreciate you finding that. My nan will be so pleased when I tell her.

Christine and Karen, thanks also for that information. Would much prefer spending £7! Hope it will bring more information. Thanks everyone.

PM from Lesley:

Hi Pam,

Thank you for your help with Joseph Cook and Agnes Gillman. I was trying to bring up the same information you found on the census, but am not having any luck. I thought if I searched on Joseph Cook and 1875 as his est dob it would bring up the same census information you found, but it's not coming up and so now I'm questioning whether I'm doing this right! I did happen to find Joseph Cook in 1891 though, aged 16, unfortunately the writing is quite poor, so I cannot figure out the others listed with him.

Thanks again for your help.

Lesley

Lesley,

Where were you looking for the census info?

Potty: I searched on GR under the 1901 census.

Ann: Thanks for that, very interesting if it is her, the dates seem to be right. Gives me a whole new list of family members! I have Elizabeth Jane's birth details already, but thank you for that.

Lesley

Hi Ann,

I bought the annual subscription, I didn't realise that people would be kind enough to do this research! I had no idea. It's funny you mention Franklin, as I contacted someone else who let me view their tree. They have Joseph listed as Hannah's brother but no other details on him, so was difficult for me to confirm it was him. Again, the dates all seem about right. Somehow I need to check whether this is him.

Thanks again for taking the time to look for this.

Lesley