Genealogy Chat

This is an ongoing problem... my father inlaw never knew his father. All he knows is that his name was Peter Smith and in 1963ish he was living at 111 Nechells Park Road, Birmingham. He never married his mother and later got with another woman (dont know if they married) and had two girls. We believe he later went onto live in Canada. So he wants to find out anything he can. Some kind person did some electoral register searches and this is what they found.....

1955 - Samuel Smith, Maud Smith 1956 - Samuel Smith, Maud Smith 1957 - Samuel Smith, Maud Smith, Kenneth F Smith, Beryl Smith, 1959 - Samuel Smith, Maud Smith, James Smith 1960 - Samuel Smith, Maud Smith, James S Smith, Adriana Smith 1961 - Samuel Smith, Maud Smith 1963 - Maud Smith 1964 - Maud Smith 1965 - Peter Smith, Maud Smith, 1966 - Peter Smith, Maud Smith, 1967 - Peter Smith, Maud Smith, 1968 - Maud Smith, 1969 onwards - new occupants Ive tried taking each of the boys names and working back 21 years and looking for births with the same maiden name (ie Kenneth approx 1936, James approx 1938, Peter approx 1944) and looking for a marriage of a Maud and Samuel (Approx 1930 -1936). But no luck. I realise that Maud could be the mother or even the grandmother and Samuel could or could not be the dad or grandfather. Its getting to the stage now where even if I found it, i wouldnt realise as all the names are melting into one. These are some of the births Ive found for the males in the register: Kenneth (checked 1935-37 Birmingham births): Maiden names found: Harris, Barnedall, Willis, Phelps, Crampton, Kain, Hopwood, Parsons, Jordan, Cox, Bushall, Johnson, Gibbe, Eaton, Thompson, Ford James (checked 1937 - 1939 Birmingham births): Maiden names found: Allsop, Kelly, Kelly, Chambers, Parkes, Garbett, Smith, Smith, Hyland, Nicholls, Smith, Bates. Peter (checked 1943 - 1945 Birmingham births): Maiden names found: Smith, Mitchell, Cooke, Elsmoore, Godfrey, Smith, Page, Matthews, Williams, Darby, Thomson, Jones, Parkes, Vickes, Price, Ayres, Humphries, Rayworth, Davies, Tullett. Can ANYONE find any connections? Its doing my brain in and I cant find any other other information. My father inlaw would love to have any information he could get. Ive tried messaging anyone on here with similar names/places but no luck and looked on friends reunited for people living in that street around that time that might know the family connections. PLEASE, anyone???? x Deb

Have you tried looking for Kenneth F Smith and James S Smith in the birth indexes, rather than just Kenneth Smith and James Smith? I don't think there would be so many Kenneth F Smiths as the other names, so it might be a place to start. But really, with Smiths, it does get very tricky. Kate.

Oh, and have you tried looking for Beryl and Adriana in the births? I don't think there would be too many Adrianas. If there is no birth entry for her, perhaps you will find that one of the sons married an Adriana, I know there would be loads of marriage entries to check but at least there would only be a few quarters to look through in the year or so before her name appears on the register. Kate.

Its confusing isnt it. Theres so many options. No James S Smiths for 1935-39 in Birmingham No Kenneth F Smith for 1935-37 in Birmingham No Adrianna Smiths at all for 1938-40 either No marriages of a James S Smith for 1959-60 at all. Only 5 marriage for a James Smith in the whole of 1959-60 for Bimingham, none with the right middle name and none that married an Adriana. No marriages for Kenneth F Smith for Birmingham for 1956-57 at all (just incase he married the Beryl). Thanks,

All that occurs to me is that perhaps the family moved to Birmingham from somewhere else, but really, with Smiths, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, isn't it?! Kate.