Genealogy Chat

My G/G Grandfather's name is Percy Edgar Smith he married Lucy Holder.......I have all their details the only thing I need help with is.how to try and find him in Australia.....he left my G/G Grandmother to join the Australian Army when his children where young. The 1st being born in 1893 and the last one in 1900. I don't know what part of Australia he went to or when he left exactly! How would I even begin to look for him??? Any ideas?? I think this is going to be a hard one!!------------------------I just thought I would give an update on this message,I was fairly new to Genes and the whole buisness of searching for Family members when I asked for help, as the info I was given said that Percy Edgar Smith was married to an Agnes I must admit I let the trail go cold until yesterday, I was pointed into the same place and I took the time to read through all of Percy's war record's only to find it WAS my Great-Granfather and infact he was a bigamist. I'm yet to find out more about him, but my best tip I could give anyone is follow up any leads you might get as in mycase you just never know what you could miss. I'm over the moon about this find as I thought I would never find him :) Happy hunting Julie:)

Izzy-wizzy-lets-get-busy.......were his parents Arthur and Jessie, by any chance? Reg Number Last Name Given Name(s) Father's Given Name(s) Mother's Given Name(s) District 17214/1933 SMITH PERCY E ARTHUR T JESSIE SYDNEY The above is a death in New South Wales in 1933. A miracle if it's the right man!! LOL Merry

Hi To establish his age, which may identify him in Australian records esc, is this him in the 1901 Census age 35? Greenwich London View Record Percy E Smith abt 1866 Bath St, London, England Head ; Occupation: Iron Works View Record Lucy Smith abt 1871 Fuiddington, Gloucestershire, England Wife View Record Jessie Smith abt 1893 Sheperds Bush, London, England Daughter Adart W Smith abt 1896 Kingston on Thames, Surrey, England Daughter View Record Grace L Smith abt 1898 Greenwich, London, England Daughter View Record Percy J Smith abt 1900 Greenwich, London, England Son

Julie - I have just wasted my time over on the Records Office board looking up the exact same record as Merry has on here! Could you please just post your requests on one board or the other, not both! Kate.

Sorry Kate, still new to this so wasn't sure if I put the message on the right board, thats why I then put it on here. At least I now know!! :)

Anne, yes you have the right person

Is this his birth - parents? Sooo -ooooo close to Merry's find! PERCY EDGAR SMITH Birth: 08 NOV 1866 Christening: 27 JAN 1867 Christ Church Greyfriars Newgate, London, London, England Parents: Father: SYDNEY ALBERT SMITH Mother: JANE !Anne

Anne this seems to ring a bell!!! His fathers name is sydney ( just looked at an e-mail from a new family memberI found)

Kate< I have just deleted the other message on the other board so there is no more confusion. Once again I am sorry to have wasted your time,

Hi Merry thanks for looking for me, I have since found an e-mail I got telling me his dads name was Sydney

Hi Julie Then this looks like the lad in 1881 (off LDS 1881 Census) Dwelling 3 Dymock St Census Place London, Middlesex, England Family History Library Film 1341016 Public Records Office Reference RG11 Piece / Folio 0074 / 13 Page Number 26 Sydney SMITH Head M Male 38 Exeter, Devon, England Glass & China Dealer Jane SMITH Wife M Female 36 Liverpool Thomas S. SMITH Son U Male 16 Leeds, York, England Scholar ****Percy E. SMITH Son U Male 14 London, Middlesex, England Scholar William H. SMITH Son Male 12 Liverpool Scholar Lillian SMITH Daur Female 9 Liverpool Scholar Ada SMITH Daur Female 3 London, Middlesex, England Scholar Charles E. SMITH Son Male 1 London, Middlesex, England Emily SMITH Daur Female 6 m London, Middlesex, England

Anne, Thank you so much for your hard work!!!!!! Now I hopefully can work out where in Australia he went, Thank you, Julie :)

Unless he changed his name or dropped his middle name, he doesn't seem to have died in New South Wales, then! Merry

Got to go out now,will check back later

Julie - just to clear up any confusion, that 'Sydney' in the record Merry found is the name of the district in New South Wales where a Percy E. Smith died, not the name of a person. Kate.

Hi all, I have just gone through this all again. I've realized I'm still no closer in finding Percy in Australia......................or am I?????? Sorry to frustrate anyone but it don't take much to confuse me!!!!! One day I will understand how this works! Lol. (Fingers crossed)

No, you aren't, but unfortunately NSW is the only state that has their BMD records available to search online free. I think one other state has them online but you have to pay for that one, Victoria I think. Kate.

I found this in the Australia National Archives site - I wonder if worth following up on - it appears to be some sort of service record for someone born in London (check) who was in Queensland and whose next of kin was W(ife?) Agnes Smith. http://naa12.naa*gov*au/scripts/ItemDetail*asp?M=0&B=1787202 [Replace * with a dot) Title Smith Percy Edgar : SERN 2707 : POB London England : POE Brisbane QLD : NOK W Smith Agnes Series number: B2455 Title: First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 Access status Open Location Canberra Barcode no 1787202 I don't know what POE means 'Place of Embarkation' perhaps? I could well relate to the same man Merry found, too I suppose. You can request a digistised copy of this item, but I don't know what that means you recieve - perhaps someone else will know? Anne

Hi This probably relate to the one found in Nat Archives - place of Embarkation is Brisbane which is in Queensland - and wife is right. http://www*awm*gov*au/database/nroll*asp http://www*awm*gov*au/database/awm8/index*asp Embarkation records: Percy Edgar SMITH Service Number: 2707 Rank/Calling: Private Unit: 4 Pnr Bn [Pioneer Battalion] - 2 to 11 Reinforcements (April 1916 - August 1917) Ship Name: HMAT Seang Choon Ship Number: A49 Date of Embarkation: 19/09/1916 Place of Embarkation: Brisbane Nominal Roll further states he: Enlisted 10/2/1916 RTA (Returned to Australia) Service end: 6/6/18 PDf view of Embarkation states he was 42 yr old and so makes him born abt 1874; was Church of England, was a Concrete Packer and wife was Agnes Smith, they lived at time of embarkation at 257 Boundary Street, Spring Hill Brisbane QLD. So seems 10-12 yrs too young - but wouldn't dismiss out of hand, as it wasn't unheard of for the men to fudge the age when enlisting? Maybe a goose chase, maybe not! I can't find a Percy Edgar born in London ca 1874 on FREEBMD (but it may not be complete there) - there was one born 1878 Hackney. Your one's birth appears to be listed as Percy E in London City Dec Qtr 1866) Anne

I have requested several digitised copies of records form NAA. It's really easy. All you do is click the button next to the relevant record to request a digital copy to be made. Then you wait for several weeks. On the front page of the records section of the NAA it always says how long the current wait is. Once the time has elapsed you just log back in, go back to the record you're interested in and hey presto a copy of the actual image is waiting for you. You can print it, save it whatever you want - all for free. Good Luck, Helen