Finding my aunt and long lost family

[Qwackers]

Hi , I would love to find my long lost family . I never met my aunt , and all I know is that she was born in Pemberton , Wigan in 1916 , her name was Phylis Eccleston her mother Ann Eccleston nee Grimshaw . I don't know where she went to live when her mother died . As the family were quite young . I do know that . In the early fifties she lived in the Leeds area , as I vaguely remember my father taking us to see her . There are a few marriages in the ormskirk area , which could be her as some of our relatives came from that area . But I would love to find out who she married and if she had any children in Leeds or Yorkshire area . She was the youngest of the family , my father William being born in 1908 . Any help would be most gratefully received. Thanks

[Merry]

This looks promising:

Marriages Mar 1936

Eccleston Phyllis Rotherforth Pontefract 9c 139
Rotherforth George Eccleston Pontefract 9c 139

1939 Register:

17 Sackville Street , Leeds C.B., Yorkshire

Phyllis Rotherford dob 04 Nov 1916 Female Waist-band Machinist Married

There is one closed record after hers, which is probably their dau registered Q3 1937. I have not posted her name as we don't add details on these forums of potentially living people.

[Merry]

Name: Phyllis Rotherforth
Death Age: 39
Birth Date: abt 1917
Registration Date: Jun 1956
Registration district: Leeds
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume: 2c
Page: 382

[ElizabethHerts]

So this is the birth registration:

First name(s) PHYLLIS
Last name ECCLESTON
Birth year 1916
Birth quarter 4
Registration month -
Mother's last name Grimshaw
District Wigan
County Lancashire
Country England
Volume 8C
Page 213
Record set England & Wales Births 1837-2006

[ElizabethHerts]

Merry, you beat me to it! I was just about to post what you have!

[ElizabethHerts]

There was a daughter:
First name(s) xxx
Last name ROTHERFORTH
Birth year 1937
Birth quarter 3
Registration month -
Mother's last name Eccleston
District Leeds North
County Yorkshire
Country England
Volume 9B
Page 358
Record set England & Wales Births 1837-2006

I have omitted her first name in case she is still living.

[Qwackers]

Thanks for all of your help , I will try to look at Yorkshire B.M D

[Qwackers]

Hi I have found a girls birth in Leeds with the mother as Eccleston. So I will try and search for her marriage etc , thank you

[Qwackers]

If anyone can find her marriage , maybe in Leeds I would be grateful. Thanks

[Merry]

I already looked for a possible marriage and/or death plus fairly up to date electoral rolls, but couldn't confirm any particular entry was hers.

Did you already know anything about her? If not, then you don't know that she stayed in Leeds, or that she got married or that she isn't still alive. If she didn't marry and is still alive then there won't be any further GRO entry for her after her birth reg.

I was trying to establish which George might be her father. The problem is that he has no middle initial on the marriage record but that doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have another forename at birth or death. Having said that, I did wonder if the George b 1913 in Pontefract district (same district George and Phyllis married) and who seems to have died in North Wales (Rhuddlan District) in 1987 might be a strong contender. If he is the right George he doesn't seem to have left a will (neither did Phyllis).

[Merry]

I can't find the 1913 George on the 1939 Register, so he may well have been in the Services at that date.

I did wonder if they had separated as there only seems to be the one child? Do you remember Phyllis having a husband when you visited her?

EDIT: There is a George Rotherforth listed in the Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942 on FMP:

Army No. 1466774 George Rotherforth Transfers to other Corps: Transferred to CMP 1.7.41

I think CMP is Corps of Military Police, but I'm not well versed in army acronyms!

[Qwackers]

Hi merry , I'm sorry I didn't know much about the family as my father never spoke about his siblings and I don't know anything else . There are a few marriages of rotherforth which are potential ones , but it is picking the right one. But thanks for looking

[Qwackers]

Hi. merry , I can't remember , seeing anyone and it's all very vague , sorry it isn't any help .

[Merry]

Another thing.....

After the death of Phyllis Rotherforth there is a marriage in 1959 in Leeds district for a George Rotherforth. I had already looked for further info on the bride to see if she gave any clues, but didn't find anything. However I just entered her married name (pretty uncommon) into FMP and specified Wales only and the name turned up in the electoral rolls for 2002-3 at an address in Rhyl where it was reported she had lived for 25 years+. So, as Rhyl is in Rhuddlan district it is very likely this is the widow of the George who might have been Phyllis's husband!

I looked for her on the 1939 Register as I was hoping to find her future marriage to George marked on there, from which I might have got further clues, but couldn't locate her, most likely because she was perhaps born after 1916 and is either still living or died too recently for the entry to have been opened by FMP. She doesn't seem to have died within the range of the available GRO indexes on Ancestry and I did also look at the Probate Indexes up to date and there was nothing there either.

I've run out of ideas for the moment lol

[Qwackers]

Hi , I have found two marriages , which could potentially be George and Phylis's daughters . One in 1956 and one in 1961 . How can I find out which is the right one ? Thanks

[Merry]

The only 100% way to be sure would be to buy the marriage certs, but I would say the 1956 one is more likely to belong to the woman born in Sheffield in 1936.

Both of those women would appear to be spinsters at marriage as there are births in the following years with the correct mmn and the name combinations are probably fairly uncommon (though I've not actually looked for other marriages with the same surname combinatons - rare ones do sometimes come up more than once because of two brothers marrying two sisters or similar). The other marriage (1961) is followed by children born in Leeds district, so that looks promising.

[Merry]

Sadly the youngest son seems to have died in a road accident in 2002 (google). I looked at him first because his name seems the least commonplace. You might find other clues via the various reports about the accident and obits etc.

[Merry]

I think that's probably enough info on this open forum, so if you want any other questions answered regarding potential living relatives perhaps you could send me a personal message :)

[Qwackers]

I have found four potential siblings of the daughter of Phylis , don't know if they are related to each other , these are from the potential marriage in 1961 in the Leeds area . So can look from here .

[Merry]

Don't you mean four children for Phyllis's daughter? It's the youngest one I was referring to in my last-but-one post.