Post by mlaverty on Nov 10, 2007 19:06:51 GMT -5
Harold Joseph RAY is my biggest brickwall.
He was my mother's father, but never married her mother. He is, however, listed on my mother's birth certificate* as if he and my grandmother, Rose Ellen WILLIAMS otherwise HILL were married.
Supposedly born around 1889, if his death certificate is to be believed. He is listed as being age 64 at the time of his death, in 1953*.
He was listed as a journeyman butcher on my mother's birth certificate, and indeed followed that occupation in both Moss Side, Manchester in the late 1920 through at least the end of the 1930s probably halfway through the 1940s, and possibly worked as a butcher in Eccles or Pendleton in the later 1940s. He was employed as a boiler fireman at an electrical instrument makers when he died.
According to my mother, he did not serve in the Great War because he was under 5'2", was blond, and had blue eyes.
He would have been listed in the 1931 census, which is unavailable.
He did not live with Rose Ellen WILLIAMS otherwise HILL for very long--perhaps two years.
My mother was one of twins. Her twin died at a very young age.
My mother remembered that when she was around 12 or 13 years of age, a woman came to her mother's door, and announced that she was the wife of Harold RAY. She however, called herself 'Mrs. Baker'. She had with her a daughter, older than my mother, looking to be around 18 years of age. My mother later learned that this daughter had apparently married a GI, subsequently killed in the war, and had died herself giving birth.
I am hoping that the eventual release of the 1911 census may help shed some light on this mysterious man who is my grandfather.
*Have certificate
He was my mother's father, but never married her mother. He is, however, listed on my mother's birth certificate* as if he and my grandmother, Rose Ellen WILLIAMS otherwise HILL were married.
Supposedly born around 1889, if his death certificate is to be believed. He is listed as being age 64 at the time of his death, in 1953*.
He was listed as a journeyman butcher on my mother's birth certificate, and indeed followed that occupation in both Moss Side, Manchester in the late 1920 through at least the end of the 1930s probably halfway through the 1940s, and possibly worked as a butcher in Eccles or Pendleton in the later 1940s. He was employed as a boiler fireman at an electrical instrument makers when he died.
According to my mother, he did not serve in the Great War because he was under 5'2", was blond, and had blue eyes.
He would have been listed in the 1931 census, which is unavailable.
He did not live with Rose Ellen WILLIAMS otherwise HILL for very long--perhaps two years.
My mother was one of twins. Her twin died at a very young age.
My mother remembered that when she was around 12 or 13 years of age, a woman came to her mother's door, and announced that she was the wife of Harold RAY. She however, called herself 'Mrs. Baker'. She had with her a daughter, older than my mother, looking to be around 18 years of age. My mother later learned that this daughter had apparently married a GI, subsequently killed in the war, and had died herself giving birth.
I am hoping that the eventual release of the 1911 census may help shed some light on this mysterious man who is my grandfather.
*Have certificate