Genealogy Chat

I am having trouble in finding my Grandmother's birth registration. Her name is Mary Katherine Ehlers sometimes known as Katherine Mary. She was born in West Ham to Luda & Augusta Ehlers c1879. Luda & Augusta were born in Hanover, Germany. I have searched the records office to no avail - can anybody point me in the right direction as to where German imigrant's children were registered.

If she was born in West Ham she should have been registered there. But it's possible that the surname was misspelt by the registrar (always a possibility with foreign names). Or maybe her parents were unaware of the law and never registered her.

If these are your people in 1881, the birth is more likely to have been 1877. Name: Luda Ehlers Age: 35 Estimated birth year: abt 1846 Relation: Head Spouse's name: Augusta Gender: Male Where born: Hannover, Germany Civil parish: West Ham County/Island: Essex Country: England Street address: 39 Bengeo St Condition as to marriage: Married Education: Employment status: View image Occupation: Laborer In Sugar Refinery Registration district: West Ham Sub-registration district: West Ham ED, institution, or vessel: 20a Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age Augusta Ehlers 30 Henry Ehlers 6 Luda Ehlers 35 Mary Ehlers 3 Have you checked years other than 1879? Reg

If they were born here then they would be registered at the local Registry Office. so you should be able to find it .after 1875 it was compulsory to register altho some still didnt for whatever reason. Perhaps her parents were newly arrived here & didnt know they had to register her or maybe her name is spelt differently

I have searched for 10 years either side of 1879 and found nothing. Also have looked under various spellings. Not sure where to try next.

Hi Carol Her parents marriage 1872 June qtr Bethnal Green. Luder Ehlers to Augusta Wilker. Maureen

There's a Luder Heinrich Ehlers registered Mar 1875, St George in the East, 1c 423 - could this be a brother?

Hi Have you found the Marriage details of the parents. I think they were married 2nd quarter 1872 in Bethnal Green Ref 1C 560 the spelling on FreeBMD is different for Luda. Ehlers Luder Bethnal Green 1c 560 KING John Bethnal Green 1c 560 SCOTT Emma Bethnal Green 1c 560 WILKER Augusta Bethnal Green 1c 560. Regards Jo

Perhaps these children are connected? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Jun 1882 Ehlers Katharine Louisa W.Ham 4a 129 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Sep 1883 EHLERS Andrew Fred W. Ham 4a 66 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Jun 1884 ------------------------------------ Ehlers Hedwig Bertha W.Ham 4a 175 Selena

Many thanks for all your replies. The marriage looks the right one. Not too sure about children - Andrew could be. All your help is much appreciated.

Looks like Katherine died age 1. Deaths Jun 1883 (92%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EHLERS Katherine Louisa 1 W.Ham 4a 50

This looks like Henry. Mar 1875 Luder Heinrich St George in the East 1c 423 Luder after his Dad and then Heinrich anglicied to Henry. on the 1881 states Henry & Mary born St George Middlesex which is St George in the East On 1891 there is Andrew as well in the family group Shirley

No sign of Mary tho have searched 1875 to 1879 on surname only and a couple of soundalikes but cant find anything.

A possible reason for not finding the reference in the GRO index is that is simply isn't there. Estimates vary but around 5% of events were never entered in the index because they were never passed on from the local register offices or were lost when the index was compiled. The record of the birth may exist in the local register office but not in the GRO index.

Many thanks for everyones help. I always thought that Luda & Augusta would have married in Hanover so that was quite a surprise and will get the certificate. I assume that West Ham comes under Essex and that the original records for Mary Katherine would be at Chelmsford.

Hi Carol,
If you still read this, Henry was my grandfather and I have more info on the rest of the family.
Katherine Mary is listed as Mary, Maria, Mary Catherine and Mary Charlotte . There does not seem to be a birth record but I do have a baptismal record for her.
Also for Luda's brothers and a little info about their father, Martin, in Germany.
As you know, Mary married into the Russell family.
Mike

Hi Mike and welcome to the boards.

In case Carol doesn't check her threads now, you could try sending her a personal message by clicking on the 'Send Message' under her profile.

Assuming she still has the same email address, and is able to respond, she will be informed that there is a message from you waiting on the site.

Good luck

Thanks, that's a better idea.

Just waiting for the bounce-back now!

Rgds,

Mike

Not sure if this is still the case since the 'makeover'...

It used to be that you could see if a message has been read or not.
Look in your 'sent messages'. If the message has still to be read, there used to be a closed envelope symbol next to it.
If it had been read, there wasn't.

Apart from the usual - changed email address, illness, death - at this time of year people are away or tied up with children.

Fingers crossed you get something back soon.