Find Ancestors

Perhaps it was just a moment of forgetfulness!

Before our younger son was born OH and I discussed names and there were two or three that we liked. His second name was going to be Duncan, with a couple of others as close second choices.

OH registered the birth and put Richard. I thought no more of it until some time later when a letter from my mother (we were in Ghana at the time) asked "what happened to Duncan?"

Oops! :-) :-)

Informant was W Richards, father.

Annie

You've got the birth cert........who was the informant?

Presumably he would have had to supply proof of age when he joined the RAF and I would have thought they would have had to use his registered name. I've even checked the London Gazette to see if he changed his name legally. There is another possibility. In these parts at that time anyone could register a birth and often the grandmother/father did it and chose a name they wanted which was not always the choice of the parents. My husband's grandmother was always known as Ruth Elizabeth but had been registered by her grandfather who put Emma on the cert against the wishes of her parents. No-one was aware of this because there was no compulsion to buy the cert. Her real name was discovered when she needed a birth cert to prove her age to work in the munitions factory. By this time she'd been married for twenty years, the marriage was declared illegal and they had to do it again. Maybe someone wanted Terence named after a Kenneth in the family but we haven't found one yet.

Annie

One can choose to be called whatever one wishes, as long as there is no intention to deceive or defraud

We now have Terence's/Kenneth's birth cert. He was born Kenneth William Richards on January 31st 1924. His parents were William and Annie Richards nee Sullivan. This certainly looks like our man but why the change of name? Curiouser and curiouser.

Annie

Yes and if you notice in the newspaper article it gives the address for William and Mary, his parents, as Single Cottage, Old Cardiff Road. I looked this up on the 1939 but, unfortunately, Single Cottage wasn't there then. I looked at every house in the street just in case!

Annie

For our interest re Terence's death - some of the posts on this link:

http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=38187


And a mention here:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=592315890886786&story_fbid=2591017541016601

I hope I'm not boring you now but I was rooting about for anything to tell me whether the son was Kenneth or Terence. We knew he was shot down and killed over Germany in 1945 but I found documents saying he was murdered by civilians after they saw him parachuting down. Apparently, there was an eye witness account and an investigation after the war. His body was never found. I've now sent for his birth cert in the hope that we can determine what he was really called. His birth record says Kenneth so that's what I've had to order. This story has so many twists and turns!

Annie

Thanks for letting us know, Annie.

An update for you as you were so kind helping me. I sent for a PDF of William's birth. He was born in Blaenavon on 10/4/1893. His parents were Henry and Mary Ann Richards (maiden name Richards). He is the only one with that name born at that time so it looks like he's our man. I've also sent for the birth cert of Terence or Kenneth to establish which he was but that has to be a cert not a PDF so will take longer.

Annie

After all your help I may have found a link. I just need a few missing pieces to pull it all together. My hubby's gt.gt. grandfather was Edward Miles who had a child, Richard, with Hannah Richards. They never married but we have Richard's birth cert where Edward is named as the father and the child was registered as Miles. Edward later married a Jane Meredith and I think she and our William share an Ann, possibly Thomas and then Richards, a couple of generations back. This is all a bit tentative but there are a few similar names in there. There is also the name Jesse George and a Jesse George Penny was in the part of the family who settled in California. The Merediths also had a farm on the mountain very close to where the Sullivans lived. I'm looking at it now! Richard Miles had a daughter, Adeline and I've also found another Adeline who would be a cousin to this one. I realise all this may be coincidental but it's the furthest I've got so far, thanks to you.

Annie

Sorry, this is a bit long!

Patricia married John T Gooding in 1955 in Newport.

They travelled to the USA in 1958 with their baby son. Address at that time was 59 Sutton road, Newport.

Teresa married Horace R Smith in 1947 in Newport.

Deceased
Name: Ann Richards
Event Type: Obituary
Event Date: 13 Jul 1987
Event Place: San Diego, California, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 93
Relationship to Deceased: Deceased
Birth Year (Estimated): 1894
Birthplace: , , South Wales
Death Date: 13 Jul 1987
Death Date (Estimated): about 13 Jul 1987
Death Place: East San Diego, ,
Newspaper: Evening Tribune
Affiliate Image Identifier: 134C2385580060F0
Spouse and Children
Patricia Gooding Daughter Female
Marcella Smith Daughter Female.

Parents and Siblings.

Catherine Roach Sister Female
Bridget Buckley Sister Female

dont know if this helps.?

Ann Richards
in the California, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1959
Name: Ann Richards
Birth Date: 24 Aug 1893
Birth Place: Eben Vale, Monmouth, Eng. [ Ebbw Vale on image ]
Age: 67
Arrival Date: 29 Jan 1961
Port of Arrival: San Francisco, California, USA
Airline: PAA

US address: c/o Pat Gooding, 2341 San Juan Avenue, Walnut Creek, California.

Permanent address: 12 Belwood Close, Clifton Estate, Nottingham, England.

There is no outward bound to 1960 for Ann/Annie Richards that matches her birth year.unless she left alone after her children were born?

In that case, he wasn’t born in Risca. He was born in Blaenavon

Yes, the DNA connection lady has the relevant cert naming him William Meredith. Meredith is also a name found elsewhere in the family but as a last name.

Annie

THIS is the RISCA William - NO second forename

RICHARDS, WILLIAM WATERS
GRO Reference: 1893 M Quarter in NEWPORT MON Volume 11A Page 252

RICHARDS, NAOMI WATERS
GRO Reference: 1891 D Quarter in NEWPORT MON Volume 11A Page 228

Marriages Jun 1870 (>99%)
RICHARDS Henry Newport M 11a 264
Waters Elizabeth Newport Mon 11a 264

The mother of William Meredith Richards was MARY ANN, nee Richards, as per info posted

Do you have any documentary proof that the man who married Annie Sullivan had the second forename Meredith?

The 1901 census in RISCA is NOT William Meredith Richards' family