Genealogy Chat

Hi, can anyone give me an idea of where to go next? I am trying to find a death for my 3 x great grandfather Griffith Owen(s) I have tried all the usual places (UK BMD, death indexes, IGI etc) and drawn a blank, I know he was born in Wales but moved to Liverpool where he married Margaret Richards on 14 Feb 1834, and had 2 sons Griffith in 1837 and Edward in 1839. In 1841 Margaret had moved back to Wales (Bangor) with the children and was on the 1841 census as a widow, I believe that Griffith senior was a mariner, that is stated on Edwards marriage certificate of 1867, and I wonder that he may have died at sea, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have you looked through the actual complete index on ancestry for the death? Ive got a mariner who never turned up in any death records so I know how you feel. On familyrelatives.org you can search free for deaths at sea but they are currently updating the site. Findmypast has deaths at sea but pay to view. Having just scanned freebmd - there are a lot of Griffith Owens dying in the right time period, some in Wales and some in the border counties - have you reason to discount all of those?

Hi Heather Yes I have been through the complete index on ancestry for the years 1834 - 1842, I did 1834 onwards in case the children were not his but just took his name, as can happen, but nothing there.

Well you mean 1837 dont you as registration didnt start til late 1837! There are so many and of course prior to 1860 odd they dont give an age at death which makes it very hard to know which one may be yours. As the wife was in Wales in 1841 there is a good chance the death will be there.

Why have you discounted all those in the death index/on freebmd?

I haven't discounted all the ones in the indexes, in 1840 there was one XXVII 107 ordered death cert not the right one this was an infant, 1839 none, 1838 two, XXVII 294 and XXVII 99, did not order the 99 one as it was in Festiniog ordered the other one, wrong one again, I now have three which are wrong and will be posting them on the thread for unwanted certs, the 3rd one was for a death in Liverpool again not right, I am not looking for someone to do all the hard work for me I am looking for ideas of where to go next. Heather, no I didn't mean 1837, the IGI started way before that and I have checked on there too

Ah you meant the IGI not ancestry complete index. Its a problem with so many choices isnt it. Pity they didnt put the age at death on from the very start. Without buying every single cert that could be a match for this guy, I dont think there is anything else you can do sadly. Someone is offering look ups on findmypast on records board but again you could end up with several possibles in just the deaths at sea.

I suppose there is always a chance that he didn't die but just left his wife and kids for someone else and she moved back to Wales with the story he was dead to save face, after all we can't take everything written on the census reports to be correct, and yes it would have made it easier if the age at death was on the index,

Deaths at Sea on Find My Past are from 1854 to 1890.

So they would be too late anyway. Guess this one is going to have to wait Carol!