Genealogy Chat

I have found that brick wall and now have a headache cos I keep banging my head against it!!! I am trying to find the Tonks family who lived in Aston/Birmingham area who had in their family John (father) Lily (mother) Frederick (son) and Frank (born 1912), I have explored loads of sites posted many messages and joined ancestry.com but to no avail. This now makes me truly believe my father-in-law was brought by the stork as none of his family seem to be out there, Can any one offer any advice or where to go next (except Birmingham records office - I live in Essex!) Many thanks Donna (with bad head!!)

Donna, Try the gooseberry bush - it's softer! These rellies get harder the more recent they are!!! maggie

If you can find John on a census then you'll have an idea of his date of birth. Have you looked on the 1901 census for John & Lily? I had a look with Aston as a key place-word. If they married very young, this could be Lily: Image Name Age WhereBorn AdministrativeCounty Civil Parish Occupation Lily Tonks 16 Warwick Birmingham Birmingham Aston Iron Corrugater There's this John Tonks, but he wouldn't be married, so then the Lily, above, wouldn't be his wife but a sister. Also, the birth place description isn't worded the same way, so they're probably not from the same household. John Tonks 13 Bham Warwicks Birmingham Aston or John (with a twelve-year age diff'ce, possibly not a husband for Lily, above): John Tonks 28 Birmingham Birmingham Aston Rubber Worker If you've got Frank's birth cert, you must have his mother's maiden name, so you could find her on the 1901 census? Christine

sadly we dont have Franks birth certificate. We have his war records but they haven't helped much in gaining the knowledge of John and Lily. As you say it's much harder tryng to find those who are relatively young. many thanks for your help though and I won't give up - the stork must have dropped Frank off somewhere!!!!

Normally I like to extol the virtues of the Local BMD sites (findable via http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/), but the West Midlands site hasn't been updated since 9 Dec 2003. It's fine as far as it goes but... Perhaps you'll have to chase a different bit of your tree until they get their act together and you can find what you need on the Local site. If I have any inspirations, I'll try to remember to find this thread and add another reply! Christine

Firstly thank you all for your replies. The only names I have are: John Patrick Tonks (father) Lily Tonks (mother) Frederick Tonks (son) John Tonks (son) I think! Frank Tonks born in Aston Birmingham 16 March 1912 I have Franks WW2 records but they have different dates of birth and addresses, Frank could have lied to gain entry into the army early. We have no birth or death certifcate for Frank,and only now his parents first names. Could anyone tell me of a good cd rom to buy so that could go thru the records instead of £5 a time on the government web? Many thanks to you all

Donna, As you have Frank's actual date and place of birth, I would suggest you buy his birth certificate. That will give you the maiden name of his mother, so you can find their marriage. Wendy

there were a lot of Tonks from Birmingham around that time. Births Mar 1906 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonks Frederick Charles Birmingham 6d 194 Tonks Harry Birmingham 6d 126 Tonks John Birmingham 6d 165 Tonks Richard Harold Birmingham 6d 152 Births Sep 1906 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonks Frederick Birmingham 6d 41 Births Jun 1908 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonks Agnes Catherine Birmingham 6d 95 Tonks Edward Birmingham 6d 57 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Sep 1908 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TONKS Gertrude Evelyn Birmingham 6d 124 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Dec 1908 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonks Alice Amelia Birmingham 6d 58 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Jun 1909 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TONKS Florence Birmingham 6d 91 I think you have the right town anyway.LOL

One of these must be the dad !! Births Mar 1874 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonks John Patrick Birmingham 6d 182 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Births Dec 1876 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonks John Patrick Birmingham 6d 40