Genealogy Chat

Thanks are always welcome! You now need to buy that marriage certificate to go further back - it will give you both fathers of the bride and groom and other information. It will cost you £7 at GRO online - use the reference given on the details. 1938 Dec Quarter Heywood 8c 1044

You're very welcome Susan. Good luck with your research!! Dianne xx

Is it ok to say thanks to all of you that have advised me about finding details on my grandfather, Frank Whitley?? I hope so!! Thanks to you, I now know who my father's mother was.

Hi Susan A bit of information to get you started: Kevin Whitley's birth was registered in Jan Feb Mar Quarter 1940, Heywood 8c 1047, mother's maiden name Hargreaves. Frank Whitley married Lily Hargreaves Oct Nov Dec Quarter 1938 Heywood 8c 1044. Hope this helps. Dianne xx

Well, you now have his birth (several times! LOL) and his parents marriage ref. - so time to start buying a certificate as above. To get some practice though, you may want to go to the ancestry full bmd index and see if you can also find these entries yourself.

I see that your father passed away in 1991 did he move with his father when he remarried? Name: Kevin Whitley Birth Date: 30 Nov 1939 Death Registration Month/Year: Mar 1991 Age at death (estimated): 51 Registration district: Richmond Upon Thames Inferred County: Surrey Volume: 14 Page: 1592 Georgina.

Susan said the grandad moved to Kent.

Susan your dads birth was registered in the march quarter 1940 & his mothers maiden name was Hargreaves the ref no is 8c-1047. Georgina.

Just realised we are talking after 1911 - so have looked up your dads ref for you as after that date mothers surname is shown. The birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1940: Kevin Whitley Mother Hargreaves Heywood 8c 1047 You should be able to use that info to track down his parents marriage and buy their marriage cert. Was he an only child or did he have older siblings? If he is the only or eldest then I would suggest you track down a marriage looking back from 1939 a few years. It will be a case of looking through ancestry quarter by quarter looking for his fathers name and hopefully finding just one in that period. You could look on the index for the mothers surname with a matching ref. same as Franks. Then buy the cert from GRO online using the ref you find - its £7 - never pay more, there are some scam sites who will charge up to £25 a cert and all they do is order it from GRO themselves.

as Heather says you might be able to discover bits and pieces from papers that are in the family, if you can't do that then you can fill in the blanks by ordering a few certificates to give you names, dates and places. This is important as it helps you step back further and be accurate. It is suprising how quickly you will build up a lot of information and keeping track of your findings is important hence Heather mentioning the Family Tree Maker programme. By starting off on the right foot then you will reap the rewards later, losing a scribbled note is annoying and it is strange how the bits you want to know are always the first to go missing!!

First thing to do is get dads birth cert - is he still alive - can you ask him, if not, you have to look up the reference on the bmd index on ancestry and buy the cert for £7 from GRO online. Once you have his mothers maiden name on that cert you can then look for his parents marriage and buy their marriage cert (unless dad has that somewhere?) That will give his grandfathers names and occupations and where his parents were living at the time of the marriage. Hopefully at that point you will have two mens names and occuaptions and the area and they will both turn up on the 1901 census. You then move backwards through births, marriages and deaths certs and census to trace the ancestry. At this point, Id strongly recommend if you are just starting to get yourself a good tree program - and a sub to ancestry, which gives all census from 1901-1841 and the full bmd index plus parish records, etc. - at the moment there is a very good deal on dockland ancestors - google for the site, click on the shop and then enter genealogy software - for £25.99 you get the full Family Tree Maker program plus extra discs plus a free sub to ancestry for three months - the sub alone is worth about £20, so its a bargain. In this way you will be keeping all your info correct and together from the start. Without an ancestry sub you will be floundering - I dont know how anyone can do any research from home without it.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to assist me at all please? My dad was born in Heywood, Lancs on 30.11.1939. His name was Kevin Whitley. His father was Frank Whitley. Apparently, Frank came back from WWII and found his wife with another man, so he took my father away from her. My father was cared for by an aunt Sarah (presumably my grandfathers sister). Unfortunately, that''s all I know on the paternal side of things, although my grandfather did remarry and moved down to Kent. If you would be able to point me in the right direction, I would be very grateful. Many thanks and best regards, Susan