Find Ancestors

My grandfather William Peerless ,apparently went to South Africa after separating from my Grandmother Rosina Peerless ( nee Stokes). Nobody ever heard from him again.Does anyone have any info or is related to him.Would like to know what happened to him,and if he had anymore children?He was born in 1907,married 17/08/1931,Tottenham London had 3 children with my Nan ,Rose ,William & Shirley.The youngest was born in 1937.,but he had already separated from my Nan, His last address was 85 Cannons Rd,High street , Ware Hertfordshire.
It was afew years befre he went to South Africa , for the peanut trade ,and he was never heard fom again. His Father had his own butcher's shop , but he never made any contact with his family ,his youngest sister died only afew years ago ,Lucy.
On his marraige certificate ,it states that he was a mineral water salesman.

For refrence, as no first name is given for grandfather.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Sep 1931 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peerless William C Stokes Edmonton 3a 2141
Stokes Rosina C Peerless Edmonton 3a 2141


Or age.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Births Mar 1907 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PEERLESS William Charles Edmonton 3a 576

What year was William last heard of please?

The only "Peerless" on passenger lists on Find my past up to 1960 seems to be in 1935,and as the last child was born in 1937 it would not be him I would have thought.

Message 1 from susan

From Susan
Hi Vivienne,My grandfather was born in 1906 ,married my Nan 17/08 1931 Holy Trinity Church Tottenham.He was a mineral water salesman on his marriage certificate.His Faher had his own Butcher 's shop.My Aunt ,the youngest child was born in 1937,but I don't think he went to South Africa until later,altough he separated from my Nan before my Aunt was born.My mum thinks he may have changed his name to Pearson.He was apparently going out to S.Africa for the peanut trade.

****************************************************************

Message 2

From Susan
Last address I have of my Grandfather, is on a petition from the courts ,85 Cannons rd, Ware ,Hertfordshire. many thanks
*************************************************************
What was the petition for please,divorce?

Susan..
To reply on here please use the purple "reply"button at the top of the post next to"bookmark this"
The submit button will be under the message you write.
viv

Just a sparation order ,stating how much he had to pay for the children. dated 21st October 1937 county of Middlesex , Edmonton.

There is a marriage in 1949 in buckinghamshire of a William C Peerless to a person with the surname Elliot,the first name has not been transcribed but I can find it I expect ,if you want it.

Now ,there are only 2 births of a william C Peerless that would fit that marriage.
Your grandfather and this man

Births Dec 1917 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peerless William C Newton A. 5b 110
****************************************************************

So it may be either of them,but I would think it was worth investing £7 to see if it is your grandfather.

You will find the references for the marriage on ,,,freebmd,,,

Would this make it easier to find where my grandfather went , as my Mum thinks he changed his name. His father was James William Peerless ,
address 63 Scales rd Tottenham in 1931.
Other siblings were Joan ,Sam ,Jack , Nellie and Lucy .His mother was Nellie (Helen)
Thanks Sue

I have searched deaths in england and wales for him under Peerless and Pearson between 1984 and 2005 which have been transcribed,but he does not seem to be on them.

Why does your mother think he changed his name?

There are trees on Ancestry with him on them,are they all related to you?
Have you searched trees on here to see if anyone has him in thier tree?

Yes I have searched on here but to no avail,
His youngest sister Lucy , who died a couple of years ago , told my Mum ,that he said that he was going to change his name to something like "Pearson", but we do not know for sure.

We're not even sure if he came back from South Africa. Have no idea as to how we can find out? My mum is 77 now , she would dearly love to know what happened to him.

As i said earlier ,the only " W peerless" I could see on outward passenger lists up to 1960 was in 1935 and that was on his way to Malta.
But Find my Past is now playing up on me so I am unable to check again.
I will try again tomorrow.

I have searched incoming passengers on ancestry and he does not seem to appear on them under either name.

Are you certain he really went?
The marriage in buckinghamshire in 1949 may or may not be him,but is worth looking into I would have thought.

Hi Viv, thanks for looking,have spoken to my Aunt's daughter ,who last visited him in Chertsey Surrey,not sure of the year,but thinks his name was changed to either Mills or Miles. Will try to find out some more.
She definetly thinks he went to South Africa. He was with a new woman,she is trying to find out her name.
Many thanks

When you have all the info you can get I will search some more for you.

The" about"year he went and the new ladies name would be a BIG way to maybe finding him for you.

Hopefully this time Find my Past wont be playing up.

Hi Viv,
Have spoken to my Grandfathers niece.She said that he had a solicitor
adopt him when he was about 40 ,to change his surname to Miles or Mills.
He lived with a lady called Ivy Akers in Chertsey Surrey , where Evelyn (my Mum's cousin) visited with her parents , There were 2 boys living there ,she thinks their names were Ronnie and Billy , but she's not sure whether or not they were my Grandad's boys.
She thinks that he was going to South Africa to work on a Groundnut Scheme , but they never heard from him again , possibly 1947 ,as Evelyn thinks she was about 14 when he left. I'm hoping that this may help .
many thanks ,Sue

Hi Vivienne,
I was wondering whether or not you read my last messaage ,or whether
you have been unable to find any information for me, I appreciate your help
Would it help if I upgraded .thanks Sue

I had gone offline when you posted last night.

An upgrade on here is a waste of money as the the records you will need are not on here but on,, Find my Past or maybe Ancestry.
And this site only sends you to other sites for records anyway,

Find my past you can buy credits for ,but Ancestry you need to subscribe to.

I will have a look on both again.
viv

Hi,
Thank you for being honest,forgot to add my Grandfather was born in January 1907

So Viv has invited me to this party -- I had in fact had a good read of it before up to all but one message on the first page, and head-scratching hadn't got me anywhere.

Don't know the geography - could this death be the right Ivy Akers? -- google tells me Chertsey is in Surrey Northern registration district.

Name: Ivy Ruth Akers
Birth Date: 4 Apr 1912
Death Registration Month/Year: Apr 2003
Age at death (estimated): 91
Registration district: Surrey Northern
Inferred County: Surrey
Register number: NSF12
District and Subdistrict: 757/1F
Entry number: 130


If she wasn't married, there's a birth to match:

Births Jun 1912
Akers Ivy R Norris Ware 3a 1453

but there are also Ivy R Akers marriages in 1938 (Collier) and 1941 (Smedley). (There were 4 Ivy R Akers-s born in 1912 alone, believe it or not.) One person at GR has the Ware-born Ivy in her tree.

If Akers was a married name ... whole nother impossible ballgame, I fear. FreeBMD shows one Akers + Ivy R marriage, 1936 in Birmingham, unlikely? Ancestry can't be searched by given name + spouse's surname, and FreeBMD is incomplete for the years we'd want.

There are no births with surname
Mil*
Pee*
Pea*
and mother Akers. (If Akers was her married surname, that would not be her surname on a birth record.) Also no marriages with those combos and wife Ivy Akers.

Found a William Peerless who looked possibly promising, but there is a Peerless marriage to that mother's surname that accounts for that birth.

Can't find any pair of Ronald & William with surname Mil* Pee* Pea* or Akers.

And now my eye is boggling ...


BT online shows a listing for an I. Akers in Weybridge, on a search for Akers in Chertsey. I wonder? Nope. 192.com shows it to be an Ian.

I think my best and only suggestion at this point is to get that Ivy Akers death certificate and see whether it has anything to tell. If it says anything useful - if by some miracle the informant of death was a son Ronald or William - more research could be done.

I have searched on and off today,but have turned up nothing on any passenger lists that would fit him.
I am sorry.