Thread: Any advice on a death record search?

I am researching my husbands line and found his great grandfather, great grandmother and their children in the 1911 census. I downloaded the record and discovered that along with their 2 sons (one being my husbands grandfather) they had a third child who was deceased.

I realise that its a bit of a long shot in trying to find a birth or death record as my mother in law had no idea about this child and I dont know where/what year this child was born. Add to that their surname is Martin.....

This might be completely impossible as I dont know the childs first name...or if it even had one.



However, despite knowing that I was searching for a needle in a tremendously huge haystack, I tried a search in the same districts as the other two children were registered in (their births). The search had to span 20 years as there was a 10 year age gap between the two children that were alive. Im even guessing first names...

I have an ancestry subscription, have looked at their christening records as the records show the fathers name - nothing.



Am I completely kidding myself with this? Is there anything else I should/could be doing?

Or should I just wash my hands at this one?



Thanks

Perhaps the child was stillborn? These were only registered after 1927. But the person who filled in the fom may have considered the child as having been born and died.

Hi Missus,



Please can you give us more info, ie your ggrandfather and ggrandmother's names, also their two sons names and years/areas of birth.

Slizzy, yes, more info, of course...sorry



Great grandfather: Harry Wild Martin

Great grandmother: Margaretta Florence (Bletcher)

Son 1: Harry Gordon Martin b1891 St George in the East

Son 2: Francis Richard Martin b1901 Bow



Jeuel, yes, it could be that the child may have been stillborn. Also it may have been born before Harry - if Francis (who is husbands grandfather) didnt know about this child (as my mother in law said, he never mentioned having a deceased sibling) Im guessing it was born a long time before Francis?



Thanks

Hi Missus,



Given the dates, and area born ..........it does seem a mammoth task. Mother's maiden name wasn't indexed until 1911, therefore all Martin's born from say 1890 - 1911 in the London area, are in the frame. I don't see how you can establish the child without buying countless certificates..........unless you can find a record in parish registers. Sorry I can't be more help,

Slizzy I totally agree - a mammoth task indeed. I really dont have a clue how I will narrow it down....

Thanks for replying though, much appreciated

HI



If you have any evidence that the family remained in the same area, maybe looking through parish registers for Baptisms?



If you can find the 2 brothers at the same church...maybe...just maybe you may find the deceased sibling. Another long trawl, but not as expensive as buying certs!!



Just as an added thought, maybe your grandfather wasn't told about the death of his sibling.....in the olden days some people kept it all under wraps....and didn't want to discuss it.



My Grandfather told my dad a lot about his family...which my Dad passed onto me etc etc. ALthough my Grandads Mum died when he was about 6yr old (in 1886) his father must have told him all about her, as that information was passed down. However it was nly about 6 months ago that I found that Grandads eldest sibling was a Twin.....unfortunately the male twin died at c 6 months old. This info wasn't passed on.....maybe if they didn't talk about it...it was as if it hadn't happened?!



Good Luck with your research.



Loz

People often don't seem to remember. My grandmother always said she couldn't remember her own mother, though she was 11 when her mother died.



Memories are notoriously unreliable as well. I've often recalled something and then found that my old diary, or my brother, contradict what I thought happened or when it happened!