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Our resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Rita Young:
‘No matter how much I have tried for the last six years, I cannot find a birth certificate for my grandfather. Others have also looked but to no avail. I have his marriage certificate, which my new-found cousin has confirmed, but then the trail goes cold. His name is James Silcock. He married Emily Kelly on 7 April 1901 at St Polycarps Church, Netherfield Road, North Everton, Liverpool.
His father’s name is on the document but there’s no name for the mother so I cannot progress. An official told me his age may not be what it seems! This church is no longer there and I cannot get to the city to check. What can you recommend I do now? I am just about to call it a day after so long.’
Stephen says:
‘Dear Rita – thanks for writing in.
You don’t mention the name of James’s father, so I have not had a great deal to go on. From looking speculatively at census returns from 1871 to 1911 and trying to reconstruct families of this surname, however, I wonder whether your grandfather James Silcock was the son of William, a stone cutter or mason.
William Silcock (sometimes shown as Silcocks and once, surely erroneously, as Simcock) married Lydia Jane Moylan in West Derby registration district in 1870 and had, according to the 1911 census, no fewer than 18 children (although 10 of these had died prior to that date). I believe that your James may have been one of the eight survivors. Most of the children were born in Bootle or West Derby but at least two were born elsewhere – one at Shorncliffe near Folkestone in Kent, and one at Fort George (near Inverness) in Scotland.
I do not think it is a coincidence that these two places are army bases – rather, it is likely that William was working on an army contract. This leads to the possibility that James was born away from Merseyside. He only appears with the family in the 1891 census, where it is recorded that he was born in Liverpool. If so, it would seem possible that he is the James Edward Silcock whose birth was registered in the June quarter of 1882 in West Derby district.
If the marriage certificate in your possession states the father to be William Silcock, I would suggest that you apply for a copy of the 1882 birth certificate to see if it is indeed the right one.
Incidentally, although Lydia’s census entries suggest she was born in various places in Lancashire or Yorkshire, it is likely that her parents were Irish, which could complicate matters if you come to research her line.’
If you’d like to send your question to Stephen, please register or opt to receive newsletters in ‘my account’. Stephen only has time to answer a couple of queries each month but if yours wasn’t answered this month, you could be lucky next time!
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Please note: This post has originated from a news feed from an external website.
Family Tree Forum neither endorses nor is responsible for the views of the author or any other content.
From Rita Young:
‘No matter how much I have tried for the last six years, I cannot find a birth certificate for my grandfather. Others have also looked but to no avail. I have his marriage certificate, which my new-found cousin has confirmed, but then the trail goes cold. His name is James Silcock. He married Emily Kelly on 7 April 1901 at St Polycarps Church, Netherfield Road, North Everton, Liverpool.
His father’s name is on the document but there’s no name for the mother so I cannot progress. An official told me his age may not be what it seems! This church is no longer there and I cannot get to the city to check. What can you recommend I do now? I am just about to call it a day after so long.’
Stephen says:
‘Dear Rita – thanks for writing in.
You don’t mention the name of James’s father, so I have not had a great deal to go on. From looking speculatively at census returns from 1871 to 1911 and trying to reconstruct families of this surname, however, I wonder whether your grandfather James Silcock was the son of William, a stone cutter or mason.
William Silcock (sometimes shown as Silcocks and once, surely erroneously, as Simcock) married Lydia Jane Moylan in West Derby registration district in 1870 and had, according to the 1911 census, no fewer than 18 children (although 10 of these had died prior to that date). I believe that your James may have been one of the eight survivors. Most of the children were born in Bootle or West Derby but at least two were born elsewhere – one at Shorncliffe near Folkestone in Kent, and one at Fort George (near Inverness) in Scotland.
I do not think it is a coincidence that these two places are army bases – rather, it is likely that William was working on an army contract. This leads to the possibility that James was born away from Merseyside. He only appears with the family in the 1891 census, where it is recorded that he was born in Liverpool. If so, it would seem possible that he is the James Edward Silcock whose birth was registered in the June quarter of 1882 in West Derby district.
If the marriage certificate in your possession states the father to be William Silcock, I would suggest that you apply for a copy of the 1882 birth certificate to see if it is indeed the right one.
Incidentally, although Lydia’s census entries suggest she was born in various places in Lancashire or Yorkshire, it is likely that her parents were Irish, which could complicate matters if you come to research her line.’
If you’d like to send your question to Stephen, please register or opt to receive newsletters in ‘my account’. Stephen only has time to answer a couple of queries each month but if yours wasn’t answered this month, you could be lucky next time!
More...
Please note: This post has originated from a news feed from an external website.
Family Tree Forum neither endorses nor is responsible for the views of the author or any other content.