Genealogy Chat

My late father-in-law had an elder half brother known as Fred. 'Fred' was the product of my husband's gran's first marriage in 1903 to George Pearson. In 1917 she remarries (status widow) and has 2 further children. I'm ok with these - the youngest b.1920 was my husbands dad. However I've trawled (and so have others on here) all Pearson births from Sep Q 1911 (I think that's when mothers maiden name was included in the register) and there are NO Pearson births with mothers maiden name of Garrard. So where do I go from here? Did I just imagine it but is someone (ancestry perhaps?) busy working on including mothers maiden names on searchable things pre 1911. Maybe a search of the registers would be helpful - I would start with St Olave (as most other things seem to be there) but from Yorkshire that's just not that easy. How much would it cost for a search. I have doubts as to whether 'Fred' was his actual name. Thanks to those on here who have tried before but this one's still a niggle at the moment! It would mean a lot to find this man.

Any idea how much older Fred was than your father in law? It's possible that the first husband wasn't the father. Maybe it might help to find death of first husband? Or maybe its been misindexed as Pierson?

Bridie, it is not ancestry who are working on that index, but the GRO. Ancestry do not have access to the certificates and nor does any other commercial website; it is only the GRO and local register offices who can add extra information from the certificates onto the indexes. Some local BMD sites have put mother's maiden name on pre-1911, but unfortunately there are no local BMD sites for London. And you cannot search through the certificates yourself either (imagine the mayhem if they let people do that! Though some people say it used to be allowed, when family history wasn't so popular...) Between 1901 and 1911 is tricky, and with a common name like Pearson and a first name which could be anything really, there will just be too many for you to choose from. Perhaps you can find out if the first husband left a will. Hopefully he would have named any children in it, though sometimes it just says 'any children' or something like that which is no help. Worth trying, anyway. Or perhaps some other relative left a will which named him? Sorry I can't really think of anything else at the moment. Kate. P.S. Oh, I just realised you probably meant the parish registers, hmm, that could take a long time for that area, and he may not have been baptised anyway.

I never met FIL but MIL who he deserted in 1975 always believed 'Fred' was about 6 years older ie b.1914 ish - hence the search and double search of the registers. However gran died and left all 3 children - youngest only 8 and from what I've found they more or less fended for themselves with FIL lying about his age in order to join the navy. Definitely Pearson - even OH remembers that much - although I've not considered alternative spellings on the Pearson surname. Haven't got George Pearson's death cert. - just assumed he was killed in the war. Thanks for the input.

Thanks Kate I was beginning to think I must have dreamt that the GRO are adding details to available searches. Sometimes the lines between what I've found and what I think I've found become a bit blurred, lol. Parish registers for St Olave then? Just not feasible for me to do. What about a blanket seach for the birth registers via GRO for say 1903 - 1911 for a male Pearson birth with named parents? Do I need to keep buying lottery tickets to fund that one?

Just to refresh. I had an inkling that 'Fred' may have married in Chatham. OH remembers a Kent link and ex navy would fit. Found a photo 1940's/1950's? of a chap resembling FIL and his bride taken by a Chatham photographer. Christine Cocks on here kindly pointed me in the direction of the local parish registers site and I trawled for many an hour at marriages from 1939 - 1954 ish for various Chatham churches but didn't strike gold. He had a son - b.1950ish who OH also remembers. Not certain on his name either. Why did I start OH's line?? Off to bed now. But I will check in tomorrow sometime so please don't think I'm being ignorant if I don't reply tonight. I do appreciate all the help and advice people give on here.