Genealogy Chat

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My main brickwall is my great grandmother, Sarah Maria Foster, nee Standen. I can't find the record of her birth or death, though I have managed to get her marriage certificate. Her birth was pre 1837, but I knew her death had to be somewhere between 1873 (when my grandfather was born) and 1891, when her husband was shown as Widowed. She seems to be missing from the 1881, although her husband is shown as Married on that census. I tried again today to find her death on FreeBMD, but nothing came up, so on the window which says "Sorry, we found no matches", I clicked on "The whole index hasn't yet been transcribed - see here for which years have been transcribed." Scrolling down to the deaths, it showed quite clearly that very little has been transcribed for 1879 and 1880, and virtually nothing for 1887. Armed with this information I invested £5 in the 1837 site and searched those three years. In September 1879 I found the right name and the right area (unfortunately age at death wasn't given), so I've sent for the certificate, and am keeping my fingers crossed that I've found my great grandmother at long last. Jan.

Hi Jan, Sarah Maria Standen - on VRI Christened 30/4/1828, Tunbridge Wells. Father James Standen, Mother Mary Ann. Don't know if it's your Sarah as i don't know what area you're looking for but just thought it might help!! Tracey

Tracey, thanks for that, I think I've looked at all possible Sarah Marias. I know from her marriage certificate that her father was Thomas, and according to the 1841 census she was 23 and born in Sydenham. I've found a marriage between a Thomas Standen and an Elizabeth Brown in 1824 at Saint Mary, Lewisham, which is the right area, but I can't get confirmation or otherwise as to whether these are her parents. I read somewhere that many of the Lewisham records were destroyed, so I assume her birth record was amongst them. Jan.