'brick wall' in tracing birth record for late 1890s.

[bobinks]

Hi - can anyone help?

I have a marriage and death certificate for my great grandad, and also a birth registration for his daughter (my grandmother) along with her marriage certificate (where he is named on it). I don't know his mum's name although she was known to family as 'ninny' but we think probably just a version of 'nanny'. I have his dad's name but no other info. He was an only child. He is buried in a single grave with no other family. I've no idea where he was born, but can work out the rough date. He is described variously as 'ex RAF' 'ex Army' and a 'driver' (again related to volunteer work for the army in WW2).

He has a really common name and there are 1,000s of returns when I search for his name and approx date of birth. Is there any way I can focus my search with such little info - and can the RAF/army link be a possibility, although I have no records of service, medals or anything.

Any ideas on where to search next would be great!

Ninny is sometimes a diminutive form of "Innocent". It may have been a traditional family name or a Victorian flight of fancy.

Do you have access to ancestry? That can help. It sounds like there could be an outside chance of finding a ww1 record there ?

Often in this scenario siblings can help but you haven't got that option.

Let me read your post again, I'm typing on my iPad andcantread the detail .

His military records (if they still exist) would have a birthplace on them.

Ok is there an address on his wedding certificate? Who are the wedding witnesses? That may help you locate where he was living at the time of marriage.
Can you do a 1901 or 1911 search using his name + fathers to narrow the field. Or a search for his father marrying if it's a more unusual name. Check for a parish baptism in the area where he married?
Often with searches you need to go up/sideways.
If you want to pm me with what you have I'll happily take a look for you.

Thanks for your suggestions. I have an address on the marriage certificate but no-one has any idea who the two witnesses are. They were married in 1919 so just after 1911 census. How can the address help? How might I use the witness info? There is a different address on his daughter's birth certificate (1919 also).

I have a Find My Past subs but there are literally thousands with his name and same DOB. Will have a go using father's name too and also 'Innocent' as suggested.

I'm a bit dubious about the army connection - we have no memorabilia that relate to this (which seems unusual) and can you actually be RAF and Army within a few months of each other?! But if I wanted to search army/RAF records how would I start?

Sorry for more questions...

Hi, if you PM me with the details on all the marriage and death certificates etc I'll have a look for you if you like - I've come up against a brick wall in my own research and could do with a new challenge!

Have you got his actual date of birth (and where from?) because if it is from his death certificate the date may have been a guess, depending on who registered the death.

If you have the marriage certificate you'll have his father's name and occupation.

Have you tried a search for him AND his father on the 1911 and 1901 census? Try adding another household member in the search. This should at least narrow your search down.

Use a search which limits his potential birth year to a small range.

Then start looking at occupations of his father. Again this should narrow it down again.

People don't generally move about too much, so start with records in the area they were married.

It should be possible to narrow it down to a much smaller number.

Use both the 1901 and 1911 census in case there is a transcription error.

Let's hope his name isn't John Smith!