Genealogy Chat

Hi, I have been tracing my fathers family, because he never mentioned them. I have found my grandparents names and census in 1901, but what do I do about tracing forward to find if there are any living brothers/sisters of my fathers? Is it a case of just going the ledgers at the FRC? (I Have been before) or is there a website to get rough details first before going and searching and ordering certs? I know there were about 13 children, but because they were all born between 1902-1915, they wont show up until the 1911 census which I cant get hold of yet! any help would be greatly received thanks.

Try Family Relatives. it has the GRO index records 1866-1920, and is fully searchable. If the last child was about 1915, then by that date the mothers maiden surname will appear on the index, so if you already know that, you will be able to pick up the last couple of children with more certainty. The ones between 1901 and 1912 will not have the mothers surname on the index, so it all depends what the surname is and if they moved around the country, as to how tricky it will be to pick them out. Good Luck Sarah

Familyrelatives is indexed up to 1920 and after late 1911 the mothers maiden name is included. I have some credits, so if you can give me the surname and possible place I will have a look and see what I can find. If you would rather not put the name on the board, email me

Hello, thanks for replying I'm tracing DEVINS - in the Southwark area, London. I think i've found alot of the children, but as you say, of course the maiden name is not on the earlier ones, so not sure if they are the same family. My father is George Albert b1914. So am I correct: I have to go through the ledgers year by year to find marriages and siblings? from 1920 forwards? the reason is I would like to find possibly any brothers alive (i doubt it as my father has been dead 20 yrs now) but failing that cousins so that they might tell me about my fathers family. Many thanks for your help. I will try that website now.

Forgot to mention: My grandparents names were Louisa and Thomas Devins. and the maiden name was ELBORNE (which is on my dads birth cert)

Ancestry has the death indexes 1984-2002. These are all the Devins, below. Maybe when you have found the births 1901-1915ish, some of the males may tie in with these deaths? If you then get the death cert for any that fit, you may find the informant is a cousin of yours! Note, the decd's date of birth is included in the death indexes (or the dob given by the informant when the person died, be that right or wrong lol) Name Death Registration Month/Year Age Birth Date District Inferred County CATHERINE DEVINS Jun/85 74 17 SEP 1910 Wigan Greater Manchester DAVID GEORGE DEVINS May/86 75 31 AUG 1910 Brentwood Essex FREDERICK JAMES DEVINS Jan/85 69 21 JAN 1916 Waltham Forest Greater London IVY MAY DEVINS Dec/85 73 7 JUL 1912 West Somerset Somerset JOHN DEVINS Dec/89 58 0 1931 Manchester Greater Manchester JOHN MADDOCKS DEVINS May/90 69 3 SEP 1920 Derby Derbyshire KIERAN HENRY DEVINS Sep/92 86 23 JUL 1906 Greenwich Greater London MICHAEL JOSEPH DEVINS Jan/88 51 22 JUL 1936 Hillingdon Greater London PETER JOSEPH DEVINS Jun/87 72 12 JAN 1915 Sefton South Merseyside ROSE MARGARET DEVINS Aug/90 59 26 DEC 1930 Barking and Dagenham Greater London BERNARD JOSEPH DEVINS Jul/97 29 May 1930 Keighley West Yorkshire BERTIE DEVINS May/01 4 Sep 1915 Dacorum Hertfordshire DORIS ENA DEVINS Feb/01 7 Jul 1906 Southend on Sea Essex GERALD DEVINS Apr/00 3 Oct 1925 Cardiff South Glamorgan LILIAN DEVINS Jan/00 29 Dec 1902 Brent Greater London MICHAEL WILLIAM DEVINS Jun/00 9 Mar 1934 Brent Greater London PAMELA DEVINS Jul/93 22 Mar 1946 Bristol Avon Sarah

Many thanks for the info, unfortunately it seems like maybe two of them were relations that have sadily died, but hopefully i can trace their decendants for info. Many Thanks for your help!!!

Sherry The other alternative, but it may well be costly, is to do a calculated search on 1837. If you have some of their births then you can guess when you think they may have married, then search for children of the marriages. Long winded, and as I say it can prove to be rather expensive. Victor

I searched Family Relatives 1912-1920 (as that's the bit with both parents surnames on it) and there were four births appeared. Both surnames are pretty unusual, but if all these belong to the same couple, they have moved around a bit!! (South Molton is in Devon, whilst the rest are at least all close to where they married in 1894) 1 Devins Frederick J Elborne Camberwell.1d 1454 Birth Q1 1916 2 Devins Georgea A Elborne South Molton.5b 67 Birth Q4 1914 3 Devins James Elborne Southwark.1d 79 Birth Q1 1919 4 Devins Mary J Elborne Lambeth.1d 506 Birth Q3 1912 So now you will need to try and fill the gap 1901-1912 - have fun!! Sarah

Hi - If your family were regular church goers and stayed in the area then you might be able to track them down via baptismal/christenings from church records. My family went to the church at Dockhead, Bermondsey. I was looking for the baptismal records of my fathers siblings which I found PLUS those of my grandmother's siblings (the bonus here was that the baptismal certificates gave the maiden name of my g.grandmother) PLUS mine and my siblings PLUS my mother's who converted to catholicism (sp). It is well worth an inquiry, and you never know your luck. Rita

Hi Thanks for all the info. Yes I did have those children already, but the George A is my dad, it must be a typing error because he was definately born & registered in Southwark on the cert. There are another seven children between 1902-1912, but I dont know if they all belong to the same family? So is the only way to obtain all birth certs now??? Unfortunately from your earlier message you can see that Frederick J Devins died in 85, a year after my dad died, which is a shame. BUT James Devins is not listed on the deaths - so could it be he is still alive?????? it would be great if he is. Rita :- I doubt that they were church goers, but I will check out that line as well, you never know!! Many thanks for all the help people.

Hi Sherry, I will send you a list of all the living Devins.

Sherry Have you thought about electoral rolls. I found my grandfather using this method plus my grandfathers brother I didn't know existed. You will need an address for this method though. Good Luck Kate :)

Hi Sherry, I have replied to you regarding this thread with my offer of help for your research in Southwark. Apologies I believe you might have received the same email three times but Genes kept logging me out every time I clicked on 'submit' so I was not sure if you got each message.