Genealogy Chat

I am at a brick wall with one of my rellies at the moment. He is John Forshaw and died in WW2,He got married and had 1 Child (my Grandad) Thats all i know of him. I was going to order his marriage cert and was wondering if it would give me any other info about him?(hope this doesn't make me sound stupid, but i've never seen a marriage cert).

It would tell you the grooms and the bride's father's names and their occupations. Where the bride and groom were living and their profession, age and whether they had been married before. You also would get some names of witnesses to the marriage. Hope this helps Anna x

Kelly, A marriage certificate will give you his wife's name at least! It will also give you the date, and maybe the names of both their fathers, occupations and possibly witnesses to the marriage. However, sometimes they didn't get married at all, they just pretended they did that woman assumed the man's name! I'm still searching for marriages which obviously don't exist! The other thing is, that you may come up with several possibilities for the person. Have you tried looking on census at all? That may help you track down more info. Good luck!

Hi Kelly Not silly at all. We all have to begin somewhere. A marriage cert will tell you his address, his father's name (and of course, that of his spouse) plus the witnesses names. It will tell your where he married etc. If you're sure of the date of marriage etc, then go for it. It's very exciting when you're waiting for the first ever cert to arrive and will, no doubt, set you off on a very interesting journey, not to mention your collection of family certs! Happy hunting and shout if you need any help. Patricia

Do you know which area of the counrty it was likely to be in that they got married?

Thankyou all for your help!!! Sorry forgot to mention i know who he married and researched her family, but i haven't got a clue to his parents or siblings/other family. This cert will probably be the first thing i need. Thanx again Kelly

Are there any details on the cwgc site? It often gives service number with which you could get his military records. Dea x

Do you know if he had a middle name? If not, then there were only two John Forshaw's who died in WW2 listed on the Commonwealth War Graves website. One of those two was a Canadian and the other was this one: Name: FORSHAW, JOHN Initials: J Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Sapper Regiment/Service: Royal Engineers Unit Text: 510 Field Coy. Date of Death: 11/10/1944 Service No: 2020917 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Row A. Grave 3. Cemetery: BLANKENBERGE TOWN CEMETERY This record doesn't give a lot of extra information such as age and next of kin as some records do, so you are a little unlucky there. (If this is him, of course!) There is also a record about the same man on Family Relatives: No Year Surname Forename Other Forenames Rank Number Unit Squadron Ship Volume Page No View Record Match Great War Record 1 1944 FORSHAW JOHN SAPPER 2020917 CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS 10 128 N/A I have not viewed this full record yet, but if you think he is your relative then I will do so!! What do you think? Merry

In case that one wasn't right.....here's the summary of all the J Forshaws killed in WW2: 1 FORSHAW, JAMES Able Seaman 20/06/1942 45 Merchant Navy United Kingdom Roman Catholic Allotment. SIMON'S TOWN (DIDO VALLEY) CEMETERY 2 FORSHAW, JOHN Sergeant B/64324 10/08/1944 23 Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, R.C.I.C. Canadian X. E. 12. BRETTEVILLE-SUR-LAIZE CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY 3 FORSHAW, JOHN Sapper 2020917 11/10/1944 Unknown Royal Engineers United Kingdom Row A. Grave 3. BLANKENBERGE TOWN CEMETERY 4 FORSHAW, JOHN CHARLES NOEL Squadron Leader 111102 27/04/1944 29 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve United Kingdom Joint grave 9. B. 24-25. RHEINBERG WAR CEMETERY 5 FORSHAW, JAMES PERCY Civilian 21/12/1940 34 Civilian War Dead United Kingdom BIRKENHEAD, COUNTY BOROUGH 6 FORSHAW, JOHN RICHARD WHARTON Sergeant 515321 17/10/1944 Unknown Royal Air Force United Kingdom Column 436. SINGAPORE MEMORIAL 7 FORSHAW, JOHN THOMAS Signalman 3658487 13/04/1945 25 Royal Corps of Signals United Kingdom Panel 2. GROESBEEK MEMORIAL Merry

I got marraige cert for my great great grandparents and it gives you loads of info to go on. It tells you where they lived, there fathers name and what the fathers occupation is. And then tells you what the grooms occupation is, and the brides occupation. Nicola

Sorry Merry got a bit distracted. This is the John Forshaw (Sapper) i would really appreciate you looking at the record for me

Doh.....all it gave was his death cert ref, which is what I already posted!! 1944 Vol 10 page 128. The army death certs don't have quarters, just the year. I don't know how much info he death cert would give you as I haven't seen a WW2 one. I have some WW1 certs and they give very little detail. You are probably best off getting the marriage cert and taking it from there! Merry

Thanx anyway Merry