Genealogy Chat

Is it the thing to post a question as a reply these days? i'm not sure why, but I'll give it a go - please see below....

I have been trying to find my gggrandfathers birth for so long and a couple of years ago some people were very kind on here in trying to help me, but suddenly I think I'm might be on to something, but would appreciate some less excited eyes - please. I will try and detail where I have looked so far - My gggrandfathers name on his marriage certificate was William Rhodes (as was the name on his childrens certificates). On his census entries for 1881 and 1901 (1891 missing) he gives his place of birth as Pirbright and Guildford and his ages would give him a birth of about 1850. I have tried for miles either side of 1850 on 1837online, with any permutation of the spelling of the name I could think of - nothing. I only had his fathers name from his marriage certificate of John. William married an Elizabeth Critcher from Sunninghill, Berkshire in 1873. I have Elizabeths 1871 census entry, but couldn't find Williams Rhodes. By some fluke one of my searches last month came up with a William ROSE in Windlesham (which is quite close to Sunninghill), born 1850 in Pirbright. Nothing showing for that name or location on free BDM, so i looked on FamilySearch. I had always assumed that as Williams father was John, that William would have an older brother called John, and a search for William Rose around 1850 in Surrey, came up with a William Rose, christened 29 Dec 1850 in Stoke-Next-Guildford, Guildford, only a mothers name - Ann. A search on the batch number also revealed a John Rose christened 22 Nov 1846 - same location and mother! I have searched the 1837online 1861 census for them - no luck and I've looked at 1837online births for 1849,1850 and 1851 Jan to June and can't find him - I've tracked John Rose down on FreeBDM and through the 1871 and his children on the 1881 census. I have today sent off to the the West Surrey FHS for a cd of the 1851 census index of Western Surrey, but my questions would be What do you think? Why can't I find Williams birth on 1837 online Strange for his name to change from Rose to Rhodes, the other way round I could understand? I really would appreciate any comments/suggestions from the formidable Miss Marples and Poirots on the boards these days

Looby My fourpennoth (and cheap at the price!) William and John are the two most popular boys' names in England. Every family has them. So it is entirely possible that the William and John you have found are nothing to do with your William. William Rose and William Rhodes could be two completely different people. altenatively, Rose/Rhodes could easily be misheard and misrecorded by somebody. BUT if the William Rose you found is yours, it is possible that he is illegitimate, that his mother married a Mr Rhodes after William & John were born and her children took on his name. This is not unusual. As for why you can't find him in the GRO indexes - well I can't find my gtgrandma's 2nd marriage there either. It is possible he wasn't ever registered - in the pre-passport and pension days, people weren't required to produce their birth certs very often. It's also possible he was registered but the copy of the cert got lost between the local register office and the GRO. Have you tried contacting the relevant office to see if they can find him? nell

Nell and Sarah Thanks for your interest. Guildford Record office were very helpful when I was looking for a Rhodes - i hadn't thought to go back to them, one gets so used to using 1837online these days. I hadn't realised it wasn't compulsory to register once it had been introduced, but John was registered 4 years earlier - perhaps I should send for his certificate

Steve Thanks for your reply, I'd had a good good look at the three entries you mentioned. They are difficult to read, but I thought they were possibly Keighley, Dudley and the first one something like Walstcourt?. I've always felt that Williams entries of pirbright and Guildford as his place of birth on his census entries had something about them, and i've searched the 1871, 1881, 1891 and I think the 1901 census, and the only Rhodes and there are so few entries either born or living in Guildford or Pirbright and none of them seem to fit, yet loads of Rose's in Pirbright and the surrounding areas. Its hard isn't it, even if I could find the William Rose's certificate and the father is John, I couldn't 'prove' it was my William. BTW, I don't have a middle name for my William, but his first son was William John