Genealogy Chat

Hi, just wanted to update on this, For some reason, I wanted to double check the english and welsh death index for 1926, so I did last week, thinking I might have missed the entry, I know I didn't miss any when checking the Scottish indexes, and I double checked through those about 3 times. Anyway, I found an entry for a death of a Henry Chapman, aged 47 in the York registration district, in the March qtr. of 1926, so I sent off for the certificate. I rang York registrars up this morning, just to let them know Henry's wife's name, in case she might have been on the certificate, but there was no wife's name on there apparently, and some sort of post mortem was carried out. So, i'm wondering now, maybe the unknown male I found registered in 1926 who died on the Ellenga aged 48 could have been the same Henry Chapman whose death is registered in York in the same year aged 47. I'm obviously thinking this now because a post mortem's been mentioned and if this is my Henry Chapman, he would have been a marine stoker, the family was constantly moving all around the country. Anyway, sorry for the babbling, just wanted to get my thoughts down. Any thoughts on this from anyone? Has anyone ever come across the death of an unknown male on a vessel, and their death has been registered in this country also following a post mortem? Any advice, or useful information would be appreciated Thanks

Just been on the National Maritime Museum's website, apparently there was a return of deaths for crewmen from 1914 to the 1960s and returns of deaths for seamen from 1920 to 1938. The only thing is, wouldn't these returns be included in the GRO marine deaths index which i've already looked through? Would anyone know this before I perhaps start a search through these other returns? Oh, here's the address for anyone else interested in merchant seamen (don't forget to remove the brackets): http://www(.)nmm(.)ac(.)uk/server/show/conWebDoc(.)588/viewPage/1 Thanks John

Thanks for the reply Rodney, I have requested a search through one of the registers of merchant seamen at Southampton (I think off hand it was the 4th or 5th register) in the past for both this Henry Chapman who i've posted about, and another 2 times great grandfather on another line who I believe was also in the merchant navy, but nothing showed up for either of them in there. Just updating to say that the records searched were the central index register of merchant seamen from 1913 to 1941, via Southampton City Archives. Anyone else interested in this index can find details at the following link (don't forget to remove the brackets): http://www(.)southampton(.)gov(.)uk/leisure/archives/collections/records-of-merchant-seamen(.)asp#0 Unfortunately, the registers before 1913 don't exist. Thanks for that anyway though Rodney.

A good one John, But these two unknowns could have come from any of the ports these vessels visited.Being a marine stoker could there be any records of him at, I think Southampton, where the merchant services records are kept (google could be portsmouth). Try it. rodney

I've been searching for a death of my 2 times great grandfather for some time now, him and his wife were registered at an address in Edinburgh in 1925 and 1926, but then my 2 times great grandmother was registered alone at different addresses after 1926, and she remarried as a widow in 1935. I searched through deaths in Scotland, England, Wales, overseas, and at sea under the name of my 2 times great grandfather, but absolutely nothing, then, I thought i'd check the GRO marine deaths indexes and overseas deaths again yesterday only searching for an unknown male, instead of under his name and there were 2 possible unknown males, 1 who died in 1926 on the Ellenga Vessel aged 48, and the 2nd who died on the Rua Tong vessel in 1929 aged 50. The only thing is, how would I go about confirming that any of these 2 unknown males is my 2 times great grandfather? By the way, I thought i'd check the marine deaths as well, because at the birth of my great grandmother in 1905, my 2 times great grandfather was a marine stoker. I've checked the register of shipping and seamen for merchant navy records for the time, but he doesn't appear. Could anyone give advice please? Thanks John

Hi all, see below