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Hi everyone my name is Deborah (Debbie) Reynolds I was born in Hanover Germany as my dad was in the army /1965 I now live in Aberdeen Scotland my dad was John Gibson Reynolds1939 he was born in Aberdeen he passed away 2001 my Grandmother was Williamina (Forbes) Reynolds 1917 Scotland looking for any living relatives as I don't have much info to go on except I know I have more family on his side in Scotland Aberdeen and Dundee

Hi Debbie and welcome (back? :-) )

what is the 'anything' you would like to know? are you looking for your dad himself?

if so can you tell us when you were last in touch and where you last knew him to be? were your parents married and did they divorce?

Please use the Edit link at the top of your post to remove your dad's exact date of birth as the board rules do not permit that, for privacy and identity protection reasons ... just '1939' will do.

nobody 'out here' will know anything, except on the million-to-one odds that someone who knows him sees this message one day, but possibly someone could help you find him.

What are you hoping for?

What do you mean by 'anything'?

Please remove both actual birth dates - breaches site T&C's to include them.............and in any case, it's unwise, as the site isn't secure

I see you have your father in your GR tree.............so, unless he is deceased, it would seem that you are in contact with him

Debbie is it possible that this 1970 newspaper report relates to your dad?

http://tinyurl.com/kfuw3qg

no age is stated, it is in Aberdeen

too long ago to be any real help though


edit ... Jacqueline is saying that we are not supposed to put living people in our trees without their consent, something you may also not have thought of ...

the link you gave my for newspaper did not work Joonie

Worked fine for me

oh I found the link and yep that is the man himself,

so you know he was in Aberdeen in 1970 ... was he living with you and your mum?

if you answer questions it can help find information :-)

mainly, when you last saw him / where you last knew him to be

if he remained in Scotland you need records at scotlandspeople.gov.uk to see whether he (re)married or has died, and those records are pay-per-view so we can't really help much with them

do you know who his parents were, and whether he had brothers and sisters? have you ever been in touch with family members of his?

unfortunately his name is not uncommon without the middle name ...

He never remarried my mother Walrtoud Hopp died in 1970 and we were placed in care. My mum was German. My grandmother Williamina Reynolds maiden name Forbes never ever spoke to us sbout anything about family . My dad left our lives and never saw him for a number of years and still no one ever spoke on family

Well you said in your opening paragraph that he died in 2001

You should be able to get his death cert from Scotland's People website as well as his birth cert if he was born in Scotland

His birth cert will have his parents names

I think when Debbie edited her first post she added John's date of death and I missed it!

Debbie, you have Williamina Forbes in your tree as born in 1917 and there are four other people with that name and that date

interestingly scotlandspeople has no such birth but has 2 in 1916 and 4 in 1918 (1918 is always a possibility if registered early the following year)

are you certain of your Williamina's birth details?

her or your grandfather's death certificate might name a child if a child other than your father was informant

by narrowing the free search criteria at SP it seems the Williamina Forbes + Reynolds marriage was in 1939

if you are interested in more about your dad's family that certificate would name their parents

for the name Williamina Reynolds with other surname Forbes, and again going by narrowing the year range until we find it, the one registered death was in 2000, and it was in Aberdeen district ... but it seems you did know her since you say she never spoke about family ... but if your dad had siblings you would have known that much from her?

Did you know her at the time of her death? if not, her certificate might tell you something.

yes i just found out my grandmother and granddad were Married in1939 June I think Dundee , we have just obtained my fathers birth certificate but my daughter needs it for passport .not sure if her date of birth could be a few years over or under My mother died when I was young and there were so many things going on back then that I don't recall everything, My dad had a step brother Harry Reynolds a good few years younger and lives in Aberdeenshire but we never see each other and he does not like to talk of the past either . he had a daughter that was adopted so many obstacles, my dad lived in Lowestoft Suffolk and died there

Have you got your dads death cert ?

This looks like it if he died in Lowestoft but he isn't reg with his second name


First name(s) JOHN
Last name REYNOLDS
Gender Male
Birth day 21
Birth month 12
Birth year 1939
Age -
Death quarter 2
Death year 2001
District WAVENEY
District number 7531B
Register number B19C
Entry number 156
Date of registration mm/yy 0401
County Suffolk
Country England
Record set England & Wales deaths 1837-2007
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Subcategory Deaths & burials
Collections from Great Britain
(c) brightsolid online publishing ltd

From SP, cert info.

John Reynolds husband of Willimina )Forbes),his parents were,,,,Patrick Reynolds (dec'd 1939) and Winnifred Gallacher (dec'd 1939) who married 1901 in Edinboro,

2 people have a Winnifred in their tree bn 1879/1880 perhaps these people could lead you to more present day relatives and help with more details of past relatives,

Williminia Forbes parents were--William Forbes and Mary Jane Cunningham,

sorry KAY who married in 1901?

Debbie Scottish certificates are mines of information

Kay???? paid to see your dad's parents' marriage certificate it seems (maybe she would send you a copy?)

your dad's parents were Williamina Forbes and John Reynolds

their marriage certificate says

the groom John Sr's parents were Patrick Reynolds (dec'd 1939) and Winnifred Gallacher (dec'd 1939) who married 1901 in Edinboro

the bride Williminia Forbes parents were--William Forbes and Mary Jane Cunningham

so it was your dad's Reynolds grandparents who married in 1901

what Kay suggests is to contact the people who have Winnifred Gallacher 1879/1880 in their trees here at genesreunited

because they seem to be related to her (your dad's father's mother)

and there could be a first cousin of your dad living, for example (another grandchild of those same grandparents)

Thank you so so much for this info this is definitely my family

The only thing we can never ever find are my mothers family as they are German but have found out about my Scottish side thanks to you all

if your dad was in the Forces when they married you should be able to get a copy of their marriage cert which will give her age and fathers name .

Hopefully when they married she was a local girl to where he was stationed so that will give you the area .

German records are kept locally so you would need to look at where her local archives was for BMDS