Genealogy Chat

Please see below posted on behalf of my distant cousin:

My Auntie Kath passed away in September. She lived to the ripe old age of 97. She was married to my Dad's brother, David (actually Wilfred David, but always known as David).
Their son, Ian, who is my age, has lived in Germany for the last 40 years.
Amongst his Mum's family photos, he came across the one attached and asked
me if I knew who these Fowlers were. As you can see, they died very young
and within a day of each other. My understanding is that the boy was probably born in Doncaster and the girl in Basford near Nottingham. Do you have any thoughts on who they were?

Don't know how to attach photo, so brief summary

picture of a grave, headstone reads:

In memory of our dearly beloved children
Brian Russell Fowler
who passed away 28th March 1939 aged 6
Irene Fowler
who passed away 29th March 1939 aged 13

Their deaths were registered in the Don Valley and their mothers maiden name was Smith

Any one who can help shed any light?

Regards Linda

Brian's birth reg - quite a few Fowler/Smith births in the area around that time. Brian's birth cert would give his mother's full name to help find the parent's marriage:

Births Dec 1932

Fowler Brian R Smith Doncaster 9c 1220

A possible marriage:

Marriages Dec 1922
FOWLER Thomas Smith Basford 7b 571
Smith Rebecca Fowler Basford 7b 571

How are you connected to the Fowlers? Maybe we can trace forward to these children if we have some details of your Aunt.

Welcome to the boards, Linda

If we could have Kath's maiden name, and who she married, it would help.

I think I've got the couple

Kathleen Hill & Wilfred D Fowler
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1947
Registration district: Scunthorpe
Inferred County: Lincolnshire
Volume Number: 3b
Page Number: 1001

(full names are so important, yes!)

so the children were perhaps niece and nephew of Wilfred David?

he died 1994 Scunthorpe and Barton-upon-Humber, born 1919

Births Jun 1919
Fowler Wilfred D Hunt Gainsbro' 7a 956

probable siblings after 1911

Arnold E 1912
Norman W 1913
Morris C 1915
Essie L 1920

all born Gainsbro'

none of the brothers seems to have married a woman named Smith (although if one married a widowed woman, her first married surname would show on the marriage in the index but her birth surname would show on her children's births)

a brother born before 1911 perhaps

Arnold (1948), Morris (1939) and Essie married in Scunthorpe reg dist; Norman (1938) married in Thorne

http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/scunthorpe.html

Created : 1.10.1938 (out of Glanford Brigg, Thorne, Gainsborough, Goole, and Caistor registration districts).

so it seems the family stayed relatively put

but I can't identify a Fowler-Hunt marriage before 1911 that would seem to fit, to find the parents in the 1911 census and see whether they had an older son ...

does your cousin know who his father's uncles were? or since your cousin's father was your dad's brother ... your father's uncles?

of course the relationship could have been more distant, the children's father could have been a cousin of your father / your cousin's father

there is a series of 6 Fowler-Smith births in Doncaster from 1924 to 1934 who seem very likely to have been to the same couple

so a 1922 marriage as suggested above seems quite plausible ... and matches this birth

Births Jun 1925
Fowler Irene Smith Basford 7b 367

and possibly also a birth in 1923 (but there is also a Fowler-Smith birth in Basford district in 1917, that would match a marriage in 1916 perhaps)

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

search for births in Doncaster district and Basford district with surname Fowler and mother Smith ... I won't put the names here because some could be living


I would say that all in all your cousin needs to get the death certificate for one of the chlidren

Brian's at least should name his parents, I believe

it sounds as if there may have been an accident or a fire or something along that line, and the certificate would also state the circumstances

one last thing, do you already know the other family member who has Brian (1933 in that tree) and Irene (1926 in that tree), and also other Fowler-Smith children, in their family tree?


sending a private message to Linda to explain about replies in threads :-)

Thanks to every body for your help and suggestion



Regards Linda