Hi everyone,
Just a little background about where I am in terms of my search before a few general questions:
I`m relatively new to all this, and have only been searching since last October; my grandmother is Scottish, so tracing back her tree has been relatively simple (if expensive!) by using Scotlands people.
The problems I have are the other three English branches (Maternal Grandparents and paternal grandfather). Because of divorces, I really know very little about them apart from a few names. I`ve taken steps to try to find out more by subscribing to ancestry (Oz version- thanks again Glen), and ordering my grandparents marriage cert. to hopefully find out the first names of his parents (whom my Nana only ever called Mr and Mrs Keen!).
On the other side, the commoness of the name Cook, and in particular,William Cook in Newcastle is making me rip my hair out!
So:
1) According to the birth index, my paternal grandfather is listed as Frederick Keen with the other surname as Hannell. I`ve been searching high and low for a marriage between Keen and Hannell with no luck. What I`m wondering now though is: is it possible that the parents were unmarried? I never considered it as I thought it was all a bit taboo.
2) According to the IGI there were three other Keen/Hannell births in Amersham, all girls. Off the top of my head they were 1911, 1923, 1925 and 1927(my gf). I feel this would rule out the unmarried theory IF they are all related. I had pretty much dismissed the first one being relevent, but with the advent of the War, I guess its a possibility.
3)As far as the Scotish side has gone, I`m into the OPR`s and Irish immigrants. I`ve got some possible leads from the IGI on the Irish members. Can anyone offer any advice on how to follow this up as its a little sketchy to say the least.
I`ve forgotten what else I was going to ask, but any tips on where I can go from here would be much appreciated. With the lack of censuses and living relations I guess it might just be an expensive lucky dip of buying certificate after certificate. Oh well, apologies for the novella, I`ll get the hang of this soon!
Craig
Just a little background about where I am in terms of my search before a few general questions:
I`m relatively new to all this, and have only been searching since last October; my grandmother is Scottish, so tracing back her tree has been relatively simple (if expensive!) by using Scotlands people.
The problems I have are the other three English branches (Maternal Grandparents and paternal grandfather). Because of divorces, I really know very little about them apart from a few names. I`ve taken steps to try to find out more by subscribing to ancestry (Oz version- thanks again Glen), and ordering my grandparents marriage cert. to hopefully find out the first names of his parents (whom my Nana only ever called Mr and Mrs Keen!).
On the other side, the commoness of the name Cook, and in particular,William Cook in Newcastle is making me rip my hair out!
So:
1) According to the birth index, my paternal grandfather is listed as Frederick Keen with the other surname as Hannell. I`ve been searching high and low for a marriage between Keen and Hannell with no luck. What I`m wondering now though is: is it possible that the parents were unmarried? I never considered it as I thought it was all a bit taboo.
2) According to the IGI there were three other Keen/Hannell births in Amersham, all girls. Off the top of my head they were 1911, 1923, 1925 and 1927(my gf). I feel this would rule out the unmarried theory IF they are all related. I had pretty much dismissed the first one being relevent, but with the advent of the War, I guess its a possibility.
3)As far as the Scotish side has gone, I`m into the OPR`s and Irish immigrants. I`ve got some possible leads from the IGI on the Irish members. Can anyone offer any advice on how to follow this up as its a little sketchy to say the least.
I`ve forgotten what else I was going to ask, but any tips on where I can go from here would be much appreciated. With the lack of censuses and living relations I guess it might just be an expensive lucky dip of buying certificate after certificate. Oh well, apologies for the novella, I`ll get the hang of this soon!
Craig
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