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Dear sir/madame,

I am currently in the early stages of trying to research my great grandparents, Joseph Bradford and Flossie Skinner, However the information i have got is extremely limited.

The only information i have on the pair is that they lived in Brewood, Staffordshire, and my great grandfather died at in his late 30's early 40's sometime after the Great War, due to injuries he sustained while serving.

They had a number of children, including my nan Dorothy Alcock (nee Bradford) who was born on August 23rd 1922. My nan married my Grandad Bertram Vicor Alcock in 1949 (approx).

Other children include Winnie and Kathleen, unfortunately i do not know the names of any other siblings.

Im sorry for the limited information.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated

If you could give me any help or information I would be extremely grateful.


Ben

This is your great grandparent's marriage:-

Name: BRADFORD, Joseph J
Registration District: St. Thomas
County: Devon
Year of Registration: 1919
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
Spouse's last name: Skinner
Volume No: 5B
Page No: 137

Name: SKINNER, Flossie
Registration District: St. Thomas
County: Devon
Year of Registration: 1919
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
Spouse's last name: Bradford
Volume No: 5B
Page No: 137

If you buy the certificate it should give you both father's names and also the approximate ages of the bride and groom so you can look for them in the census records.

Kath. x

This is possibly Joseph's death:-

Name: BRADFORD, Joseph J
Registration District: Cannock
County: Staffordshire
Year of Registration: 1945
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
Age at death: 48
Volume No: 6B
Page No: 479

and possibly Flossie's death:-

Name: BRADFORD, Flossie
Registration District: South Staffordshire
County: Staffordshire
Year of Registration: 1980
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Date of Birth: 22 March 1896
Volume No: 30
Page No: 1113

Kath. x

This could possibly be Joseph in the 1911 census:-

BRADFORD, John Head Married M 43 1868 Sheet Stacker Iron Works Sedgley Staffordshire
BRADFORD, Emily Wife Married
19 years F 45 1866 Sedgley Staffordshire
BRADFORD, Mary Fellows Daughter Single F 16 1895 Helper In House Work Sedgley Staffordshire
BRADFORD, Joseph James Son Single M 14 1897 Weighing In Boiler Works Sedgley Staffordshire <<<<<<<<<<<<<
BRADFORD, William Henry Son Single M 8 1903 School Sedgley Staffordshire V
BRADFORD, Elsie May Daughter Single F 3 1908 Bilston Staffrodshire V
TILT, George Boarder Married M 43 1868 Horse Driver Birmingham Warwick

5 children born to this marriage. 4 still alive and 1 has died.

Address:
47 Parkfield Road Ettingshall Near Wolverhampton

Reference:
RG14PN17129 RG78PN1054 RD369 SD7 ED18 SN58

Kath. x

It looks as if your nan was called Doris and not Dorothy. This is the marriage:-

Name: ALCOCK, Bertram V
Registration District: Cannock
County: Staffordshire
Year of Registration: 1949
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Spouse's last name: Bradford
Volume No: 9B
Page No: 202

Name: BRADFORD, Doris
Registration District: Cannock
County: Staffordshire
Year of Registration: 1949
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Spouse's last name: Alcock
Volume No: 9B
Page No: 202

Kath. x

Kath.... wow thanks for all the information, thats amazing..

How do i buy the certificate and do you know of any of his decendants are still living.

Ben

You can buy the certificate online from the General Register Office at this address:-

www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp

It will cost £9. 25p and you use the district, volume and page numbers given above.

Kath. x

Thankyou Kath.... thats excellent, my nan will be thrilled.

Do you know anything about there ancestors or any other descendants etc

These could possibly be Doris's siblings (perhaps the parents were on the move from Devon where they married to Staffordshire where they ended up):-

Name: BRADFORD, Kathleen L M
Registration District: Bridgnorth
County: Shropshire
Year of Registration: 1919
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's Maiden Name: Skinner
Volume No: 6A
Page No: 849

and:-

Name: BRADFORD, Lilian D I L
Registration District: Cannock
County: Staffordshire
Year of Registration: 1926
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
Mother's Maiden Name: Skinner
Volume No: 6B
Page No: 785

and:-

Name: BRADFORD, Winnie G
Registration District: Cannock
County: Staffordshire
Year of Registration: 1929
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's Maiden Name: Skinner
Volume No: 6B
Page No: 699

There are also a couple of others in Shropshire but not sure if they are all from the same family. You would need to check these out.

Kath. x

Sorry Ben. I do not know about the family. Just doing look-ups for people on Genes.

Your best bet would be to buy the marriage certificate for Joseph and Flossie and find their father's names and go from there.

You could check out "search trees" on here to see if anyone has these people in their tree.

Kath. x

Hi Kath, that could certainly be a possibilty because i know that my Great Grandad was not from Staffordshire, I also recall that Nan had another sister who was adopted by her grand parents and they lived in Devon so this is all rings true.

I cant thank you enough for your help.

Sorry for asking a silly question but how do i find the people in Shropshire to establish if we are related??

Thankyou Kath.... i will do that..

These are the other two births that could be siblings of Doris:-

Name: BRADFORD, William J R
Registration District: Wellington (Shropshire)
County: Shropshire
Year of Registration: 1921
Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
Mother's Maiden Name: Skinner
Volume No: 6A
Page No: 1211

and:-

Name: BRADFORD, Dorothy V M
Registration District: Atcham
County: Shropshire
Year of Registration: 1920
Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
Mother's Maiden Name: Skinner
Volume No: 6A
Page No: 1090

As I said, all of these could be siblings or none of them.

It seems strange that these is a Dorothy (which you gave as your nan's name, but the marriage to Bertram is definitely for Doris.

Kath. x

Going by the place of marriage, this could possibly be the birth entry for Flossie.


England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
about Flossie Skinner
Name: Flossie Skinner
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1896
Registration district: St Thomas
Inferred County: Devonshire
Volume: 5b
Page: 33

Possibly Flossie with her parents in the 1901 census:-

SKINNER, William J P Head Married M 29 1872 Navvy
Littleham Devonshire
SKINNER, Elizabeth Wife Married F 36 1865
Littleham Devonshire
SKINNER, Flossie Daughter F 5 1896
Littleham Devonshire

Address:
Castle Cottages, Littleham, Exmouth

RG number: RG13
Piece: 2028
Folio: 8
Page: 8

Kath. x

I deleted "Flora" in the 1911 because i found a birth entry for her.

This looks like Flossie's parents in 1911 with another daughter but Flossie is not on this record:-

SKINNER, William Head Married M 39 1872 General Labourer Exmouth Devon
SKINNER, Elizabeth Wife Married F 46 1865 Littleham Devon
SKINNER, Dorothy Daughter Single F 5 1906 Littleham Devon

2 children born to the marriage. Both still living.

Address:
Castle Cottage Littleham Exmouth

Reference:
RG14PN12576 RG78PN722 RD270 SD1 ED5 SN99

Flossie must be somewhere else in 1911 but I can't find her just yet.

Kath. x

Hi Kath...

My mistake Nans name is definetly Doris not Doroty....

Prickly holly and Kath how do i determine which is my great grandmother. I am confident that her name is Flossie Skinner, so it may be possible that the people prickly holly has found could be my great garndmothers cousins etc.

Again can I just thankyou for your help, my nan will be thrilled when i show her this.

Prickly holly how would i get in contact with the living skinners??? and do you have any idea where Joseph Bradford and Flossie Skinner are buried.

Ben

Kathleen, just to let you know there are two threads running on the same subject.

When you get Flossie's marriage certificate it should name her father. If it names William as her father then I'd be pretty sure that the birth that PricklyHolly found in Devon in 1896 will be the correct one.

If you buy the death certificates for Joseph and Flossie you will see where they died and the first place to look for there burial place would be to get in touch with the local council for the area and ask for the Cemeteries Department. Most cemeteries have their burials on computer these days and once you have the exact date of death from the certificate they should be able to tell you whether or not they are buried in one of their cemeteries.

Kath. x