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Hi, I'm quite new on here so please excuse my lack of expertise with this site and genealogy generally. My father was one of six siblings but I can only find 4 in the birth registers. His parents were married in 1904 and the oldest two children born in 1905 and 1907. The youngest two were born in 1920 and 1922 (the latter was my dad) but the above two siblings both seem to be missing. The family lived in West Ham for the whole period, which is where the others were born. Mother's maiden name was Smith. I only found one "Mary Birch" born in West Ham in Ap-Jun 1912 but it says mother's name Birch. Do you think this could be a clerical error or is it unlikely to be her? And there are no potential Helen Birchs that I could see.

Any ideas about why these two seem to be missing?

I'd be very grateful for any advice or help.

Thanks very much

Is this the marriage please?

Marriages Jun 1904 (>99%)
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Barber George James W. Ham 4a 2
**Birch William Samuel W.Ham. 4a 2
Holliday Emily Mary W.Ham 4a 2
**SMITH Sarah Jane W. Ham 4a 2

Dea x

Have you found the family on the 1911 census?
There will be no mother's maiden before about July 1911

What were the older childrens names?

Dea x

Hi, thanks v. much for all your quick responses. Yes, the marriage was William Samuel Birch and Sarah Jane Smith in June 1904. They were married in West Ham. William Samuel was born in 1880 and Sarah Jane in 1883 also in West Ham.
I've found the family on the 1911 census and it only consisted of the parents and the two oldest children (another William and Sarah) and they lived in Canning Town. This must mean Mary and Helen were born after 1911 (sorry not 1907 as in my title).

Dea, my posting just crossed. The older children were William and Samuel and the youngest two were Arthur and James (my Dad).
Thanks x

Perhaps it is me but I cannot see them on 1911.

Do you have the reference please ?

Dea x

P.S. - You also say the olders children were William + Samuel but in the previous post you say William + Sarah ?

Can you confirm their names and dates and places of birth please.

Dea x

Here you are Dea..

2 children born,2 living.

BIRCH, W S Head Married M 30 1881 Stevedore Labourer Essex Canning Town
BIRCH, Sarah Wife Married
7 years F 27 1884 Essex Canning Town
BIRCH, William Son M 6 1905 Essex Canning Town
BIRCH, Sarah Daughter F 4 1907 Essex Canning Town

Address:
5 Laurence St Canning Town E

Thanks Fanny,

I had just found it under W S Birch but it seems GR is having one of those 'cant post a reply on the thread' problems again so I couldn't edit to say!

Dea x

Hi Dea and FannybyGaslight. Yes the one you've found is correct. So sorry I meant William and Sarah.
I do appreciate all your help.
Christine

PS I think the dates of birth in the census are wrong though. I found them in 1880 and 1883 in the births.

Nellie is sometimes used for Helen and vice versa

Births Dec 1912 (>99%)
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Birch Nellie E Smith W.Ham 4a 298

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Births Sep 1914 (>99%)
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Birch Mary A Smith W.Ham 4a 420

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Births Sep 1920 (>99%)
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BIRCH Arthur J Smith W Ham 4a 313

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Births Jun 1922 (>99%)
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Birch James E Smith W.Ham 4a 286

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Births Dec 1929 (>99%)
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Birch Frederick G Smith W.Ham 4a 89

What's wrong with this one for Mary?

Births Sep 1914 (>99%)
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Birch Mary A Smith W.Ham 4a 420

Dea x

OOps LiverBird1 has it!! - well done.

Dea x

Wow, thanks Liverbirch1 and Dea for all your help. I didn't know that Nellie was Helen (my dad always said he had a sister Helen who died young). By the way, for my information (as I'm going to be continuing with this!), how do you do a rapid search of all the registers - is there a way of refining the search? I've just been checking each quarter separately (which I did a few times so I don't know how I missed Mary).

Thanks again

Quite easy considering name was Smith!!! ( sorry I butted in after all the hard work had been done! Dea and FBGL)

I just used the names Birch and Smith after 1911 in Essex in freebmd and came up with those children listed above.

Sorry to be obtuse (I told you I was new to this game!). Is freebmd on GR or is it a separate website?

Sadly here's her death

Deaths Sep 1913 (>99%)
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Birch Nellie E 1 W.Ham 4a 162

It's a separate site and free!

www.freebmd.org.uk

Thanks, I'll get onto that site pronto. Sad to find out about Nellie - she didn't even live to 1 year old. The last child (Frederick G) was also a surprise as my (late) Dad never mentioned him yet he would have been 7 when his brother Fred was born. Well, it's certainly interesting doing this and I haven't even got very far back yet.

Good luck!!!

Can I just butt in here to say that your comment about the census having 'wrong' birth years is not quite correct.

The 'estimated' birth year on the census is based on the age of the person on the day the census was taken. If their birth was later in the year than that date, then he or she would not have had a birthday in the census year (1911 in this case) so the person would appear to have been born one year later.

1911 census was taken on 2nd April, so anyone whose birthday was 3rd April - or later - would come into that category