Probably an impossible question

LOL!!! - So I don't mind if no one answers!!!

I have spent years trying to discover someone's identity.

I know the person's forename, his D.O.B. (in 1919), and his baptism date (I think).

But what I don't know is his surname!

Any ideas where I should start?

Thanks

[kiterunner]

Do you know where he was born? And where he was baptised?

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Do you know where he was born? And where he was baptised?

Sadly I don't have any idea where he was born, Kite - not even sure which country!

I had a clue as to the church where the baptism took place, but someone kindly checked the records for me and found nothing.

I just have a dated photo of the person in what apppears to be a christening robe ....it could really have been anywhere ( although quite possibly in the Manchester area.) The photo has a forename but no surname!

Thank you

Originally Posted by Olde Crone

Not an impossible question, but a nearly impossible task!

You could go through the GRO index for 1919, noting every instance of the forename you have. You could then try to marry or kill them off one by one from the indexes.

In theory, the last one left will be yours but as we all know in this game, theory and practice rarely match.

OC

Originally Posted by Nell

Erm - so what do you know about this person? I suppose you could trawl through all the birth indexes now they are transcribed for the quarter(s) he was born - I assume you could narrow it down by county if not registration district?

Or you'd need to check the baptism registers, though I suppose if his name was William or John you wouldn't know if you'd found the right chap.

Or - if he is dead, you could check 1984-2005 death indexes on Ancestry using his dob as a check?

Thanks OC and Nell.

I started trawling, but it seemed, as OC says, impossible!! LOL - it felt as though as was doing the family tree of everyone in the country!!

I then narrowed it done a bit by finding all the people born with that forename in that quarter by using Family Relatives... but even then, there were several I couldn't eliminate.

Nell, he is still alive ! And I know quite a lot about him, but as he is still alive, I can't say

[Margaret in Burton]

Joan

Have you tried FreeBMD just putting in the first name?

Originally Posted by Margaret in Burton

Joan

Have you tried FreeBMD just putting in the first name?

Thanks Margaret

Yes, I have tried that.

This person is a very close relative, and the whole thing drives me to distraction sometimes...particularly as I am sure the person knows the answers but won't tell me - LOL

[Olde Crone]

Not an impossible question, but a nearly impossible task!

You could go through the GRO index for 1919, noting every instance of the forename you have. You could then try to marry or kill them off one by one from the indexes.

In theory, the last one left will be yours but as we all know in this game, theory and practice rarely match.

OC

[Nell]

Erm - so what do you know about this person? I suppose you could trawl through all the birth indexes now they are transcribed for the quarter(s) he was born - I assume you could narrow it down by county if not registration district?

Or you'd need to check the baptism registers, though I suppose if his name was William or John you wouldn't know if you'd found the right chap.

Or - if he is dead, you could check 1984-2005 death indexes on Ancestry using his dob as a check?

[MargaretMarch]

I was trying to think of other ways of finding info about your EW and wondered if you knew what schools he went to and whether you could contact anyone through friendsreunited who are registered at those schools for the years concerned. Regardless of the birth cert name you might find someone who remembers EW with parents FW and BW.
It might also be worth joining the Cheshire FHS to see if there are any school records available locally to search.
Maybe someone on here or another forum might live in the area and can look for you if the records are not online.
Is the address where they lived still there? could there be anything we could look at (other than the 1921 census) that might give some clues.
Margaret

[MargaretMarch]

Another thought - have you found FW's WW1 record? that might have some info as they did look at BC's for children who were declared.
Margaret