keelingtom
New Member
Hi all
I have come up against a brick wall in my family research and wonder if anyone can assist at all.
I’m researching my Great Grandfather, Frank White, who lived in Birmingham. He died in 1937 in Birmingham, and had seven children (5 lived) with Susan Sylvia Gamble (1882-1936, b. Leicester). I can't find any evidence of their marriage, so it’s possible he had a previous marriage and didn't marry Susan.
His name is Frank on every record we have such as baptism, birth certificates of his children, and his own death certificate, but could have been Francis given that he named his first son Francis.
The children were:
Francis Edgar 1916-2001
Reginald 1918-1919
Sylvia Susan 1919-2005 (my grandma)
Bernard Reginald 1920-1996
Norman James 1921-2004
Margaret (Margery) 1923-1923
John Henry 1925-1989
The first address they lived at together in Birmingham was 203 Bolton Rd (1916). They later lived at 70 Henley St, and then 5 Smith's Buildings Sparkbrook (1920-1935), back of 35 Henley St. Their neighbours William and Nellie Nutt, as well as Thomas Nutt, are mentioned on baptism records as attending with the parents. The house Frank eventually lived in was Nansen Rd, Sparkhill (Susan died in Leicester in 1936), which my Grandma inherited; her siblings, the four boys, serving abroad in WW2. My Dad and his siblings grew up there and I remember it well as a kid in the 1980s.
Frank was a fish seller, listed on various birth certificates as 'fish dealer' 'fish hawker' 'master fish dealer' 'fish salesman wholesale retired', all working on his own account. One entry on a baptism record lists him as a traveller (1916), the next one in 1918 says mechanic (odd?) and then it’s fish all the way.
We have no proof of where Frank White came from. While his death certificate said he was 74, making him born 1863, the 1921 census states he was born around 1875, in Bristol. I do not have any additional source available to verify either. There is an idea in the family of a Somerset link, (poss Shepton Mallet) but this has not been proved. There is also a possible link to Leicester, where Susan Gamble was born (she also died there in 1936). He could be from anywhere, to be fair, including Birmingham itself.
Any ideas what to do next? Thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice is gratefully received.
Regards
Tom
I have come up against a brick wall in my family research and wonder if anyone can assist at all.
I’m researching my Great Grandfather, Frank White, who lived in Birmingham. He died in 1937 in Birmingham, and had seven children (5 lived) with Susan Sylvia Gamble (1882-1936, b. Leicester). I can't find any evidence of their marriage, so it’s possible he had a previous marriage and didn't marry Susan.
His name is Frank on every record we have such as baptism, birth certificates of his children, and his own death certificate, but could have been Francis given that he named his first son Francis.
The children were:
Francis Edgar 1916-2001
Reginald 1918-1919
Sylvia Susan 1919-2005 (my grandma)
Bernard Reginald 1920-1996
Norman James 1921-2004
Margaret (Margery) 1923-1923
John Henry 1925-1989
The first address they lived at together in Birmingham was 203 Bolton Rd (1916). They later lived at 70 Henley St, and then 5 Smith's Buildings Sparkbrook (1920-1935), back of 35 Henley St. Their neighbours William and Nellie Nutt, as well as Thomas Nutt, are mentioned on baptism records as attending with the parents. The house Frank eventually lived in was Nansen Rd, Sparkhill (Susan died in Leicester in 1936), which my Grandma inherited; her siblings, the four boys, serving abroad in WW2. My Dad and his siblings grew up there and I remember it well as a kid in the 1980s.
Frank was a fish seller, listed on various birth certificates as 'fish dealer' 'fish hawker' 'master fish dealer' 'fish salesman wholesale retired', all working on his own account. One entry on a baptism record lists him as a traveller (1916), the next one in 1918 says mechanic (odd?) and then it’s fish all the way.
We have no proof of where Frank White came from. While his death certificate said he was 74, making him born 1863, the 1921 census states he was born around 1875, in Bristol. I do not have any additional source available to verify either. There is an idea in the family of a Somerset link, (poss Shepton Mallet) but this has not been proved. There is also a possible link to Leicester, where Susan Gamble was born (she also died there in 1936). He could be from anywhere, to be fair, including Birmingham itself.
Any ideas what to do next? Thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice is gratefully received.
Regards
Tom
