Genealogy Chat

Hi can anybody help my great grandfarther was fostered by a family at birth and lived with them as thee son untill he got married.he also took there name at some stage not sure if this was done offical . but i do know my grandma was brought up with there name what i need to try to finn is his birth name how will i do this any help would be great cant even oreder birth cert as dont know surname i do know he passed away in june 1964

Nigella, would you be happy to tell us the names of his foster parents? You do not give dates but it might be possible to locate him in 1911 if he was being fostered then. A bit of a long shot as you do not know when he took on their name but worth a try.
Jan

hi i think his foster farther was called william stephens not sure on mothers name x

You really are up against it here., but there are still avenues to explore. You could do with your great-grandparents' marriage cert as a starting point - it will give your great-grandfather's age, father's name (presumably foster father) and with luck his address.
If you need help locating his marriage we will need the name he used and your great-grandmother's name, plus a rough idea of the year and place they may have married.
Jan

all i know is that i think they lived in devon maybe buckfastleigh not sure my mum has very limited info i do still have a great aunt but she knows nothing much at all .x

OK - let's come forward a bit to what you already know. I assume your great-aunt is your grandmother's sister? Then she will know her parents' names, yes? From this we might be able to trace the marriage, and then maybe move on from there.
Otherwise, you need to come forward even more and trace your grandmother's birth.
I know this sounds a bit of a palaver but you sometimes need to sort out more recent info before you can go back and find what you need.

Jan

unfortunately my grandmother was registered at birth as stephens as were her 4 sisters which we know was not his birth name but on his death cert he is stephens x

Nigella, it doesn't matter!!! What I am trying to do is this:

Find out the names of your great-grandparents (it doesn't matter that he used his "adopted" name, in fact it may help);
find their marriage;
from their marriage cert you can see see what your great-grandfather has put as his father's name (no matter if birth or adopted name) and also your great-grandfather's age and hopefully address.

If the address is there, it might be possible to look at the electoral register and see who was also living at the same address.

If you want any assistance then there is no way that I can see without the above information. If you want to keep it more private send me a pm with all the names etc and I'll happily have a look, though it would be better to put it all on here so others can also try to assist you.

Jan

HI I WILL TRY AND FIND THERE MARRAGE AND WILL GET BACK TPO YOU A S AP THANKS FOR YOU HELP I WILL CONTACT MY GREAT AUNT TOMORROW TO SEE IF SHE CAN COME UP WITH ANYTHING
NIGELLAX