Genealogy Chat

Apologies in advance for the long message ! <p> I'm just starting out with Genalogy and, whilst things on my grandfather's side seem to be coming along well, I'm sort of stuck when it comes to my Grandmother's parents. <p> I know, from her birth cert that her parents were Sidney Frank Barnard and Lily Emily Quantrill. I'm also pretty sure that, although the family eventually moved to Norfolk, there are connections in Lincolnshire (Gedney in particular) which I initially thought was just on Lily's side, but could well have been the case with Sidney as well. <p> My grandmother was born in 1927 with her oldest and youngest siblings born roughly 10 years either side of that. (My mother can remember seeing photos of Sidney giving my grandmother's youngest sister away - which would have been in the 50's - and he wasn't really really old, so have to assume he was pretty young when he and Lily had their first child in 1917 ish). <p> Now, after all that background : <p> Given that I haven't got a huge amount of detail to go on, what are some of the best options to try to pin this pair down ? There is an outside chance that neither were quite born in time for the 1901 census, but, assuming they were : <p> There is a Lily Quantrill listed, from Gedney, aged 5 - this seems a likely candidate. The only likely Sidney Barnard (ie young enough to have still been relatively young in the 60's) is a Sidney Barnard, aged 4, in Normanby Lincs. (This is perhaps more of a long-shot - as I say I wasn't sure that he hailed from Lincs - and Normanby is a fair way from Gedney for the 'courting' to have happened !) <p> So, as I say, how do I go about trying confirm these two names in the frame ? Any advice appreciated. <p> Unfortunately I don't have any details of when and where they got married, although I suppose given their ages and first child in 1917ish it would have been somewhere between 1913 and 1917. What's the best way of tracing their marriage ? At least if I could do that, I could get a copy of the certificate giving me their fathers' names which I could compare with the listed heads of household in the above census entries. <p> Any advice ???

Simon, I would start with searching 1837 online for the marriage of Sidney and Emily. You say you think the eldest sibling was born around 1917, so start with that year and work backwards through the quarters (if you think you've gone too far back then you can go forward to 1918 etc etc) . Quantrill is probably the easiest name to search through as I wouldn't imagine it is that common. When you get any hits for Emily Quantrill then check the same quarter and year for your Barnard. If the volume and page numbers match you probably have a hit. You can then order a copy of the certificate which will give you their ages at marriage and their fathers names and occupations Zoe

Cheers Zoe - that's definitely the sort of steps I've got in mind. However - does anyone know of any other sites / sources similar to 1837online ? They only accept payment by credit card - and I aint got one ! (Why don't all these types of site offer a postal voucher type service ?!)

Hi Simon, I had a few credits spare on 1837 online, heres what I found: Lily and Sidney got married in the December Quarter of 1915, The Ref No. is Walsingham 4b 919, if you want to send for the Certificate. Regards Gail.

simon there are quite a few quantrills in the 1891 census in norfolk.do you know roughly wat year lily was born.there is a lilt age 3 and a lily aged 15. susie

Wow, many many thanks Gail - that's extremely helpful and generous !! Simon

Simon, I am not sure how far you live from your nearest library but most 'big' libraries have the BMD for England. They are called GRO index and are free to look at.