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Hello Marlene,
I assume when you say that Joseph's birth is not registered you are
referring to the civil registration. This is possible since the civil
registers had been in use for less than a year when he was born and people
were not fully familiar with the process. Underreporting was a definite
problem in the first year or two of the system.
On the other hand, how did you request the record? I am not convinced that
mail requests for older records receive proper attention. Before my second
cousin and I started to cooperate on our common lines, he had requested a
death certificate for our g-grandfather, and was told that no record
existed. Although this first request had given only an approximate date of
death, it was quite close to the actual date which was well within the date
range that should have been searched. When we started to pool our research
efforts he mentioned this problem to me. I was able to supply the exact date
of death from some of my grandmother's personal papers, and he wrote again,
this time giving the exact date of death. Again the answer came back
negative. A few years later I was in London and able to get to St.
Catherine's House for some quick research. There was great-grandfather's
death record right in the index with his name spelled exactly as it had been
given to the clerk and with the date exactly as I had it from my
grandmother's records. It still astounds me that anyone could have missed
this record -- twice.
Even if the clerk is diligent in searching for the record, there are other
reasons that it might not be found. The date or the place could be off, or
perhaps he did have a middle name after all. I would advise a second opinion
on the existence or non-existence of this record. If a personal trip to
England is impossible, hire a genealogically-trained researcher to check the
indexes again.
Don't give up hope.
Regards,
Clark Bagnall
-----Original Message-----
From: Marlene Bumbera [mailto:mbumbera@leland.Stanford.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 12:38 PM
To: CLIFFORD-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: JOSEPH CLIFFORD, b. 1838
Listers:
My g-grandfather, JOSEPH CLIFFORD (no known middle name) was born 28 April
1838. His obituary in 1919, in California, states that he was born in
CHATHAM, KENT. ENGLAND. His birth was not registered. I am seeking the
names of his parents, and information on siblings. Family lore has it that
he had a sister (name unknown).
I have searched the written census records of 1841 and 1851, and did not
find the family, but I may have missed them due to the poor condition of
the census pages. Most church records available to me end in 1837. I have
checked the St. Mary's parish record, which does extend to 1959, with no
results.
Joseph Clifford left England @ 1854; settled and married in Saint John, New
Brunswick, Canada where he remained until 1869. The family then relocated
to Oakland, California, where he lived until his death. His US
Naturalization Questionnaire which would have answered questions regarding
his family were destroyed in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
I am hoping that there are enough CLUES IN THIS MESSAGE (I apologize for
its length) that someone might see a family connection, and contact me.
Any help with locating this family in England will be greatly appreciated!
Marlene Clifford Bumbera
mbumbera(a)leland.stanford.edu
Listers:
My g-grandfather, JOSEPH CLIFFORD (no known middle name) was born 28 April
1838. His obituary in 1919, in California, states that he was born in
CHATHAM, KENT. ENGLAND. His birth was not registered. I am seeking the
names of his parents, and information on siblings. Family lore has it that
he had a sister (name unknown).
I have searched the written census records of 1841 and 1851, and did not
find the family, but I may have missed them due to the poor condition of
the census pages. Most church records available to me end in 1837. I have
checked the St. Mary's parish record, which does extend to 1959, with no
results.
Joseph Clifford left England @ 1854; settled and married in Saint John, New
Brunswick, Canada where he remained until 1869. The family then relocated
to Oakland, California, where he lived until his death. His US
Naturalization Questionnaire which would have answered questions regarding
his family were destroyed in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
I am hoping that there are enough CLUES IN THIS MESSAGE (I apologize for
its length) that someone might see a family connection, and contact me.
Any help with locating this family in England will be greatly appreciated!
Marlene Clifford Bumbera
mbumbera(a)leland.stanford.edu