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So you obtain her certificate. Through GRO please. Don't go paying more for it than you have to. (And you probably already know that).

just found an entry on freeBMD, for frances reay 1934 ,aged 70 , which would fit witn her d.o.b of 1863.

Thanks Aunty Sherlock,you're a star , will try and find her in death records but no idea when she died.

Oh heavens. I am not thinking straight. You now know that Frances was his mother. You need her death certificate. I can't see where you said you had it. If you get the dc you need to be cautious about how much notice you take of the info it contains, and who gave that info. Sometimes people who don't really know the deceased give the info for that certificate.

Alo I'm not certain what info your dc contain. But it should give you whether she was married, and any childen (I think).

Aunty Sherlock,
You're right , I shouldn't give up. I'm sure James had a sister , cos mum has spoken of an aunt iny , or that's what they called her , and when we asked who she was , mum said she thought she was her dads' sister.Iny or eny ,could be short for catherine or christine or similar.

Oh you haven't even begun. Don't give up now. Look to see if they had any other children and if the name of the father is there. Check the children's marriage certificates and see if the name of parents in on those records.

I had the same thing but in reverse. Knew the name of the father but when I received certificate it was not there.

To jansmith and Aunty Sherlock
Have now received birth cert for james and as we suspected frances was his mother, but no father was named so he was prob illigitimate. Thanks again for all the help. I guess I have reached the end of the line on that one, unless anyone out there can shed some light. I live in hope.

I have come across lancelot before , however I don't thimk he was part of my family....well not as far as I know. Thanks for message.

Aunty Sherlock, yes i also suggested that if people are not known rels.

Will be good to know if its the right cert!!!!

Just ran a GR tree search for both James and Frances. There are matches there. It would be worth a try at contacting those people.

nudge for later

Have ordered cert . thanks again.will keep you posted.

Have you tried sending a message to all those with Frances in their tree ?(search trees on this site)

A few James's there as well

you could try that birth cert asking for a check on her being the mother. If it is'nt they refund part of the fee £3/£3.50. If it is then they will send it.

And thanks yes that looks promising for his bc.

Yes ,I had thought of that. I wonder if frances was his mother.So annoying not knowing.I know there are relatives out there but they don't seem to wantto know. Perhaps there are too many skeletons in the closet!!!!

??i wonder if Frances is his mother and he used John as a fathers name as he does't seem to have one

This could be the birth cert as this is the registration district for where he was born
Name: James Reay
Year of Registration: 1887
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: Lanchester (1875-1938)
County: Durham
Volume: 10a
Page: 300




http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/
link for ordering certs. £7 if you think it is the one use the details above

Thanks , will do that now.

Hi Winnie, Do you have James birth certificate. Apply for it through GRO it only costs seven of your pounds. You don't need to know his parents names just approximately when and where he was born. GRO is General Records Office. Goggle it.

You could also start at the other end and check out records at the cemetery where he is buried. Don't know if you have the same cemetery search indexes over there as we do. However there must be some sort of records available.

Thanks jansmith for all your hard work. We definitely have the right family , I have found these records before (exept the 1911 one , which is very useful) I still don't have james' mothers name or the date of his death. His mum must have died v young , maybe in childbirth.