District name W.Ham

I tried the system a bit with the data of my uncle and aunt. Indeed
everything can be found "easily" if he hadn't choosen to have a mother
with the surname of Smith :-( and the probable marriage of his parents
was in 1911 (the first year counting backwards where the surname of the
partner is not given anymore in these indexes). As I do have his
birthdate and -place I think I've got the correct family, but before
ordering originals I would like to confirm the abbreviation for the
district given. As this is W.Ham, which I suspect is the area of greater
London as e.g. given in
someone is willing to confirm or correct this assumption. It concerns
the parents:
Starling, Stanley W.; W.Ham; 4 a 157 Mar Jul - Sep 1911

CWatters...

Ronella is almost as rare as smith is common.

FreeBMD has just three Ronella births but one is a Smith in London.. Perhaps
related?

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
Births Sep 1861 (>99%)
Garver Ronella Mary Elizabeth Mile End 1c506

Births Dec 1867 (>99%)
Fletcher Ronella Jane Liverpool 8b178

Births Sep 1887 (>99%)
SMITH Ronella Ethel M St. Geo.East 1c362

Richard van Schaik...

I was delighted to see her fistname as I had to sort 32 pages of Smith
in the last half of 1911 to be more or less "certain" that she was "it".
What I did was look for all possible marriages before the birthyear of
my uncle (in the birthindex his mothers surname is given as Smith) by
setting 1916 ą 5 years. This gave two possibilities for his surname in
1911 and luckily none lateron on the combination of Starling and Smith.
For the two in 1911 only one coďncided with a marriage Smith, but I may
still be at the wrong marriage. Allthough the names of the first two
children (again only based on surnames) do give me high hopes that what
I found is correct. It (Ronella) is indeed a rare first name, I now have
my orders for copies and am trying to write something to my uncle about
these findings. Maybe he wants to give me also some extra information,
but I first wanted to convince him and myself that I could find the
data. This as my other uncle is delighted with what I found for the
branches of my parents, but does think that if I'm going further with
his Swedish wife this would make matters misty. Well I'll oblige but its
still my hobby ;-).

I do have still a lot of work to do on the Dutch / French / German
results found thusfar, so this part will evolve only slowly. But I do
think that I have at least to find something similar as I have for the
wive of my third uncle (that last one is fathers-side, the others
mothers-side).

To come to your question, I really don't know yet. But will try to find out.

Best wishes for 2007,
Richard

Richard van Schaik...

Got my s-mail today partly ....... 75% perfect hit and 25% pending (why
would that be?, they ask for a 5 - 10 days delay?*). At least I got the
most important ones and it seems the marriage index had a slight typo.
She was Ronella Ethel Masters Smith age 24 on 18 Sep 1911 making the
last one you mention a very likely match for her birth. Her fathers name
looks like Robert Croye Smith, but I'm a bit uncertain about the second
name yet (will compare better tomorrow with some examples). His (her
fathers) occupation ....... Traveller, that is what I always would have
liked to do. Constant vacation and being paid for it :-D.

Tomorrow I'll continue with the next step in searching, but I'll wait on
this bill (and last birth cert.) before ordering again (or I'll have to
eat less ;-) ).

* My entry was Starling, Ronella A.M.; (Starling x Smith); W.Ham; 4 a
534; Births Apr - Jun 1913, and as far as I can see I didn't make a
mistake in that one (printed the order).

Smith, Ronella M.M.; W.Ham; 4 a 157 Mar Jul - Sep 1911
and the three found children from "this marriage" (Lots to confirm yet).

SJP...

W.Ham I would guess as West Ham in London

Richard van Schaik...

Would fit even better as the birthplace of my uncle was given to me as
London. I just couldn't find this as district (maybe overlooked it) on
(also not now with this info).

Cheers,
Richard