Can you help me pls - I am stuck

[botheritagain]

Hi, been doing my family tree for a couple of months using Ancestry but am now at the limit of my knowledge and don't know how to find people who are proving difficult. I only know how to use ancestry and I'm not sure I am using it correctly as it can't find people I want. I try Free BLD without much success. Where else should I look for the two following sisters please????

Eg I want to find Beatrice Digby. Born 1906 in London. Hanover square district. Parents Walter and Helen Digby. I found her birth and her 1911 residence and then NOTHING. My relative says Beatrice married Stan and had three children. I can find no records. I can only find one death record in 1982 in Colchester and it's under her maiden name and we have no connection with that town so don't think it's the correct person.

I'm also trying to find her sister born same location 1908 called Mabel. All we know is she married an American called Jack and went to live in Texas, possibly in the 1950s but dates unclear. She may also have had a first marriage in London to another rich man. Name Unknown. I can't find anything on her. I have the worldwide version of Ancestry and I don't think I'm using it properly.

Can anyone help please with using your more experienced heads to find more info on these two sisters? And if you do, can you help me on how I go about taking all this a step further to track down tricky people?!

Actually additional proof we have the right Stanley in the marriage to Ethel is that the parish marriage record shows him as age 21 which fits with his birth date in 1899 (in the 1939 register). His birth date also matches with his death registration in the last quarter of 1975 in Havering.

What I can't find is any record of Stanley's birth in the entire UK (1899 according to the 1939 register) or of him in the 1901 or 1911 census. It's possible he came from somewhere outside the UK.

It looks as if Stanley and Ethel had 4 children. Maud E born 1922, Frank A and Stanley V born 1929 (presumably twins) and Roy J born 1934. Stanley died later in 1929 which would explain why he isn't in the register. There is a blocked out entry in the 1939 register which could be Maud.

I hope that helps! It would still be good to order some certificates to double check all the assumptions though it fits together well. You might also find out Stanley's place of birth from that.

I'm happy to do any more searching you would like. I personally prefer Findmypast to Ancestry in most instances as I think it narrows the search results more logically. But occasionally Ancestry is helpful because it throws up a wildcard by ignoring your search criteria! The GRO index is good for checking births and deaths and Free BMD for marriages as well. There is also Free reg which has some parish records that are not on Ancestry or Findmypast but it's a bit hit and miss depending on what areas have been transcribed.

Sorry when I say Stanley died in 1929 above I mean the twin boy called Stanley not his father.

@Saker this is so interesting, thanks v much. I don't have sub to findmypast.
Yes please, do keep digging.

Can you list the certificates / wills I should order to prove this is what happened?

I think if you ordered the marriage certificates for Beatrice and Stanley and Ethel and Stanley you could compare the details of Stanley in terms of age and his father in both to confirm it is the same person. In fact the transcription of the parish record of his first marriage is available on Ancestry search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61700&h=4063621&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=aEL1189&_phstart=successSource so you might not even need the first marriage certificate. You would be able to see if he is listed as a widower on the second certificate which he should be if he was previously married to Ethel. And you could see if there's any mention of Beatrice's maiden name, Digby.

It did occur to me that we are starting to get close to people who might still be living in the details being discussed here. If you prefer me to I can ask Mumsnet to delete my posts with details about the names and marriages etc.

@saker yes I agree, I will ask Mumsnet to take out the names.

The link in the previous post won't work as I am not a member. Any chance you can PM me ?

@botheritagain I will PM you. Sorry I thought you had a subscription to Ancestry.

Oh! I do. Sorry I don't know why the link didn't work.

FreeBMD has a marriage for a Stanley Lacey and a Beatrice Lacey in 1970. Maybe they married after years living together as husband and wife, perhaps after wife #1 died?