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St Chads Birmingham Lookups

Thank you Louisa. Yes, I have looked at the 1911, and also had it checked by a friend - we cannot find any member of the family except Michael who was in the Army. We cannot even find the people who were lodging with them. All very strange. We have assumed they were in Ireland, if that is at all possible, visiting relatives.

Shortie
 
Hi Shortie
Just a few ideas, as you have reached a sort of brick wall with this line of Birmingham / Irish family history research.

As you cannot find the family in the Birmingham 1911 census, a search of the Irish 1911 census may give you some further info if they did indeed travel back to Ireland. This is the link to searchable census records at the National Archives in Dublin:
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Also you say that the family were Catholic but are you sure about that or do you think that was the case because they were Irish or their names were Patrick and Michael. In mixed religion marriages you should also search the Church of England or Church of Ireland records of baptism as these were considered to be neutral churches in these cases.

Also remember that the Irish in Birmingham would have had to travel via a port such as Liverpool or Bristol so also search the 1891 census in these places as well as the 1891 census in Birmingham to try to locate each of the parents before the marriage, just in case there are other Irish family members or friends from the same area in Ireland travelling / living in the same area together in Birmingham which was sometimes the case and you may be able to track your family through these links.

The Liverpool Family History Society or Manchester family history society has indexed many of the records for the Irish in England and there is further info on the Genuki site about Liverpool including links to a Liverpool Genealogy forum this is the link: https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Liverpool/

The army / death records for Michael should also give a next of kin and an address for them.

Hope this helps
Louisa
 
Thank you Louisa, this is quite a help. I don't intend to go back very far, as they are not my own family, I am doing this for my son in law. I was assuming they were Catholic because the father came from Ireland, lived in an Irish Community off Digbeth and later Skinners Lane, and also the mother, although born Birmingham, was an O'Hara. I was just lining up places for research for when I am able to go into Birmingham to actually do the research. I did realise they would have had to come into England via a port, so have not just concentrated my search on Birmingham, however, I cannot find him at all. My first endeavours now, seeing as I cannot find the GRO entry for the son's birth (we know his actual birth date), is to get the parents' marriage, (which came some years after the first son was born). I thought after researching for more than eleven years, I would find this one easy, but not so! As for poor Michael, I have his parents address from the CWGC web site, which concurs with that on the Electoral Roll which I got via the Forum, so I know I have that right.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Shortie
 
Hi Shortie,

Sometimes children were known by their baptismal name which may differ from the name they were registered as for example, someone by the name of Mary Teresa may have been registered as Mary with Teresa added at Baptism but is known as Teresa. Hope that makes sense!
Macca
 
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Very true Macca - My Mom's name at Baptism was Mary Beatrice but the Beatrice (My Grandmother's name) was changed to Winifred when the birth finally got registered.
 
Hi Macca, yes, it does make sense. Don't know if it would apply in this case, unless it only applies to some of the family - we have got them in 1901 but after that nothing. Father died in 1913. I am trying to do a little on the other side of the family too. Got them in 1891 but before that seemingly nothing.

Makes me wonder why I bother, but I still do!

cheers

Shortie
 
Shortie may also help to look at passenger lists to see if they had gone to/from England at any point which may help.
I have had the same problem with my dads family, gran was Irish and really struggled to get any history but finally picked her up on incoming passenger lists.
Sue
 
Sue, thank you for reminding me. I had given this a slight thought a few days ago, but then it just went out of my head. I did think that a trip to Ireland for all of them might have cost a packet - and he did not have a good job, he was a builders' labourer in 1901. I had thought that perhaps one of his parents had died and he paid a visit - we may never know, but I shall look through those too.

shortie
 
Hi Folks

I am wondering what it's like at St Chads Archives as i am looking for a copy of a marriage cert from there of 1828, and i know you have to make an appointment to go there
Has anyone been there at all and is it on the same lines as Birmingham Library.
Would a catholic marriage cert of that time, tell me anything that is different from a C of E cert of that time frame
Or by chance is anyone going that would be kind enough to look it up for me

Brummagen_lass
 
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