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Dear Leigh Thanks. I've checked him out (via OFHS baptismal records search and 1881 census) and he's not mine; the only one that the ONS checked that could be plausible has no father given on the cert, apparently. So I wonder if he was illegitimate, and that could also be why he gave different names for his father on his two marriage certs - could he possibly have been covering up, and caught himself out by giving different names for his father? None of the Henrys I had checked out had the father down as John or Frederick... Thanks for all your help though - I really appreciate it. Lysianne

Lysianne Found a birth Henry William Matthews June Qtr 1848 Wallingford V1 253 Leigh

Dear Leigh Thank you so much for finding HWM in 1891 for me - that is wonderful, and narrows down when he emigrated. I should have said, his first wife was Mary Ann Floyed, the mother of all his daughters, and his second was Elizabeth Hendle. Minnie was my Nan's Mum. I was starting to think I would never find him, and was wondering if he'd walked the streets on census night to slip through the net, but you've given me hope for finding him earlier now. Thank you once again Lysianne

Lysianne Found him in 1891 115 Northern Road West Ham Henry Matthews 42 Bricklayer Born Old Kent Road Surrey. Elizabeth Matthews 48 or 43 Born Barking Essex. Edith Matthews 11 Born Poplar Middx. Florence Matthews 8 Born Plaistow Essex. Henrietta 15 and Minnie 13 were servants at 6 Broadway Bldgs Ilford Essex. Leigh

Lysianne What were the lady's names that he married? Leigh

Hello. Could anyone give me any advice on tackling a very annoying brickwall, please? I am trying to find my great-great-grandfather, Henry William Matthews, and have got nowhere. He was born in approximately 1848-9, and married twice; on the first marriage certificate, he gives his father's name as "John Matthews, baker, deceased"; on the second, Frederick. He was a journeyman bricklayer, and seemed to move around all the time, so I have only been able to find him on the 1881 census. He emigrated to Canada (Hamilton, Ontario??) between his second marriage in 1889 and the 1901 census. On the 1881, his birthplace is given as the "Old Kent Road, Surrey", which hasn't helped me much: I recently paid to have the refs checked for births between 1846 and 1851 for Henry and even a Male Matthews in the right area, but got nowhere. A kind lady who has the 1871 Middx census has looked for him for me, but we have got nowhere; I think the family would have been in Mile End then, to look at where the kids born to them then were born, according to the 1881 census. He married a Mary Ann in 1868, and children include Mary Ann, Agnes, Caroline, Emily, Henrietta, Minnie, Edith and Florence. Can anyone suggest anything, or would anyone be able to look for him anywhere for me, please? I feel like giving up on this one. Many, many thanks in advance. Lysianne