Genealogy Chat

Hi Gail, It does seem to be that not all births are registered, however it could also be that we have just been given defunct information. Everything needs to be checked and doublechecked. This can be ery tedious but it is excellent when you eventually find a connection. I spent last night trawlling through marriage records on 1837 and cannot find any record of Frederick Chipperton Seniors marriage! EEEEEk another dead end! C'est la vie! Alison

To Alison Page....I wonder if this can be the reason I can't find details of James Blears b. 1861 in Salford, were all the records destroyed??

Hi Alison - It was a leap year!!! Went to Google and typed in Leap Years.. Well done in finding him. Regards Margaret

It arrived!! Frederick Chipperton's father was called....Frederick! A Porter. No clue to his mother but i do have a year of birth now. He was 29 when he married in 1884 therefore b1855 and not 1857. Wonder if this was a leap year? How does one find out?! Off to scour familysearch - AGAIN! Alison x

Well done Alison. I can imagine how excited you are. It just shows you, you must never give up! Regards Margaret

Hi i'm back with another update! I have just found a record of Frederick's marriage on 1837 and sent off for the certificate. Hopefully that will give me a lead on his parents and therefore another generation back! Alison

I've had the same problem. Have record of marriage and traced the parents' marriage and the recorded birth of their elder child but not the one I am interested in. I plan to visit the parish soon to see if I can trace him that way.

Let's hope this classic has a happy ending! Alison

If Jane Austen is following this thread there will soon be a new Classic! I hope you find him. Please keep us updated, your story is fascinating. Jim

Thanks again Amanda, I wait with baited breathe to see if anything can be found! Alison x

Amanda you're a diamond! Any help that you can get would be very gratefully received. I've said it before and i'll say it again: GC people are the GREATEST! Alison x

Thanks Amanda They sailed into Melbourne and Fred was buried there. I have asked one person in Australia to see what they can find out but no reply as yet. I'm keeping everything crossed! Alison x

Bad news i think. I found this on a website just now: 1854: 26 Apr census destroyed 1857: 29 Mar census destroyed 1861: 7 Apr census destroyed 1871: 2 Apr census destroyed 1881: 3 Apr census destroyed 1891: 5 Apr census destroyed 1901: 31 Mar census destroyed Apparently there was no call for them to be kept! What a tragedy! Alison :((

Bingo - found a record of their arrival in Australia on http://proarchives.imagineering.com.au/index_search_results.asp the Unassisted Shipping Index. Thank goodness - i was beginning to think that they were ghosts! Index of Inward Passenger Lists for British and Foreign Ports 1852-1899 Family Name First Name Age Month Year Ship Port Fiche Page: CHIPPERTON FRED 34 DEC 1886 ELLORA B 475 1 CHIPPERTON MARY 32 DEC 1886 ELLORA B 475 1 There is hope for us all!

Thanks everyone for following this story and offering suggestions. I wonder if there is an Aussie census online that i can access. Perhaps i had better launch a new message that asks our Australian friends. First i will Google! Alison

Well that explains why he's invisible in 1881 (in the Buffs) 1891 (in Australia) and 1901 (in a better place). Wasn't expecting this to work, IGI coverage normally fades out before the 1850s, but I tried IGI as a last resort, and it's got the baptism. Birth 29 Feb 1852 not 1857 (better!) But still no matching entry in the GRO index, so it looks like they really didn't register the birth

I think it is odd too Robin so i asked my great uncle again. This is what he said: My father was born on 20th February 1886 as the only child of Frederick Chipperton born on 29th February 1857 (I agree there is something wrong here!) My grandfather enlisted in the 45th Brigade (The Buffs) (with whom I have been in touch to no avail) on 5th October 1876 and was discharged from the lbn East Kent Regt. with rank of Coporal. According to his paybook which is stll extant, he had a brother Charles and a sister Jane - neither can be traced. on 3rd August 1884 he married Mary Ann Cooper and gave as his residence 12 Little Barlow Street Marylebone (bombed and redeveloped) My grandfather, his wife and my father (then about three years old ) emigrated to Melbourne (Australia) where he died on 3rd December 1894 said to be aged 42 on his death cert. but probaly only 37. My grandmother returned to the UK and settled in London. She died in at 59 Maple Road, Penge, Lewisham on 2 October 1897 All this sounds convincing so i really do not know where to go next! Any more suggestions anyone! Alison

Actually the sailor was Frederick Thomas Chipperton (birth registered 1864 Oct-Dec) -- Ancestry have mistranscribed the T as a J. Looks like he's got a son Frederick in 1901, who looks like the Frederick James J who shows up on FreeBMD 1891 Sep If your guy isn't the sailor, then his birth cert isn't the only thing missing, he's nowhere to be found in 1881 or 1901 either. So it's like there are 2 Fred Chippertons (a name that's as rare as hen's teeth), and one of them pops up everywhere you look (even gets shown 3 times in the 1881!) and the other one is permanently invisible. This is getting a bit far-fetched. In the 1860s, if a child died, and many still did, it was still common practice to re-use the name for a later child. Is it possible there was a Frederick James who died and then a brother called Frederick Thomas who was actually your ancestor?

Thanks folks, I have tried all possible routes and suggestions that i can think of but to no avail - perhaps his birth was just never recorded. Funniloy enough i am now having trouble tracking his death and burial in Melbourne too. He sure is a tricky customer! Alison

Alison Although he was born in February, his birth may not have been registered for a number of weeks, in which case he will be shown in the April quarter of that year. Just a thought, since I have made that mistake myself.