Genealogy Chat

I would like to find out more about my great grandad,(henry george laker born 1869) I would like to find his birth and find him on the census,
My uncle has given me lot's of info on him but it all starts later on in his life.
I know he was posted to canada in the army where he met and married mary bishop born 1874, they then had a daughter maud letita laker 1896, they moved back to england early 1900's.
we have letters maud recieved from family in canada as she wanted a copy of her birth cert but couldn't get a copy as the local church burnt down, we have another letter from the army asking her for payment for info on her birth so i do have an army number for henry but as i'm not his next of kin i can't get his army records, i think my uncle would have to do this, is there any way i can trace him back?
thanks
sarah

Well if you are going to do your family history you should think about a sub to ancestry.co.uk - which is what most of us use to trace people in the census.

You can check out the 1881 census for this chap free on ancestry.co.uk or familysearch.org

freebmd gives you births, marriages and death references and you use those to buy certificates at £7 from GRO online for the information they give to follow the line further backwards.

Thanks for the reply,
I have a sub to ancestry and there is a few henry lakers and it looks like he never used his middle name there is 2 born in the same year and the same area.

You haven't mentioned where this man was born.........these are the results in 1871 for Henry Laker born 1869+/- 1 yr

Henry Laker Thomas,
Charlotte abt 1870 Stowting, Kent, England Son Stowting, Kent


Henry Laker Henry,
Ann E abt 1868 Wandsworth, Surrey, England Son Wandsworth All Saints, London


Henry Laker Peter,
Emily abt 1869 West Grinstead, Sussex, England Son West Grinstead, Sussex


Henry Laker George,
Mary Ann abt 1870 West Grinstead, Sussex, England Son West Grinstead, Sussex


Does any of these seem likely?

Reg

Army records that early are not restricted to next of kin, you should be able to find them at The national Archives. It will mean visit to Kew, or get someone else to go for you, or employ a researcher.

Jennifer

Do you know where in Canada Maud Letita (Letitia?) Laker was born?

Vital stats records are kept separately by each province. Her birth isn't in the easy Ontario records at Ancestry. About half the other provinces have searchable databases on line. You could try all of them, but knowing which one would be a boon. ;)

More important is the province they were married in. Ontario records, for example, name both parents of both parties. If you could find the record of the marriage, it might give you that info.

Meanwhile, have you searched at FreeBMD for their births?

http://www.freebmd.org.uk

Maud's is an impossibly common name, but you might have better luck with George.

Have you checked for a possible birth reg'n?

This one is on FREEBMD

Name: Henry George Laker
Year of Registration: 1868
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
District: Horsham
County: Sussex, West Sussex
Volume: 2b
Page: 295

Reg

Hi Reg,
I have no idea where he was born, he settled in Nottingham when he married but I have no idea where he was before, There are lots of lakers in west grinstead.
I found a christening of a henry george laker 1868(year out) mother emily, But how can i comfirm if he
is mine?

Well, little sazzle, if you noticed my post, it might give you an idea of how to confirm which is yours. Let me know if you need directions for searching in Canada later today.

The advice from Kathryn about finding the marriage would seem to be the best line to follow.......once you know his father's name, you can make an informed search on the censuses

Reg

Do you have his marriage certificate to Maud? That will give his age, his fathers name and occupation, the witnesses and his place of residence.

From that you should be able to find him with his father in the census.

jennifer, thank you for that I ddin't know that i could get early records,

kathryn, sorry i'm so slow in typing your message wasn't there when i looked,
the letters we have are addressed to nova scotia, I have not looked for there marriage, I do not have the full ancestry membership so couldn't look.

Wakee wakee, Heather! ;)

They married in Canada -- which is why I've asked what province, and offered to give directions to the sites to search for the marriage if it's a province that makes searchable databases available, or to all the provinces that do if the province isn't known.

Those provinces are, btw

Ontario (at Ancestry)
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
and I think Saskatchewan; have to check my bookmarks

The info provided is different from English certificates, but sometimes more detailed.

Here you go:

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

I have to get some work done, so I'll let you do the searches!

I believe you have to download a viewer to see the actual record.

SORRY i gave you his daughters name as his wife!!
i have amended my 1st post henry george married mary bishop and they had a daughter maud letitia,

Kath, do you want reporting again or what!? LOL, I have to admit I only scanned the question, Im supposed to be typing a very long complicated survey report at this very instant!

And yes, I see now and yes, you need to get that info littlesnaz otherwise you will go round in circles.

Thanks everybody I have found the marriage of henry and mary on that site you gave me and i was able to view the details, no waiting weeks for a cert to arrive so i have the names of henry's mum and dad.
I'm off to view census info.

Again thank you for guiding me.
sarah

How lucky was that - well done Kath, eh?

I hate all those provincial websites -- each one is different, and some of them are just plain lumberingly annoying -- the BC one never loads, and has been known to crash me.

But once you do find something, you usually find more than you expected! Except for BC ...

We can't access recent records here, but the records that were kept and are made available are a lot more useful than the English GRO generally.


So little sazzle, don't you wish all your ancestors had been born in Canada? ;)

Mine were all born in England, of course ...