Fromelles 1916: Genealogy search, Missing British Soldiers Options

[MelPack]

First of all, many thanks to Les, Des and the rest of the Admin team for setting up the Fromelles subforum so swiftly.

Victoria and I are engaged in uploading the list of the missing British soldiers on a tree in Ancestry. The name of the tree is 19 July 1916 which is publicly accessible for those with a subscription.

The intention of the project is to compile the basic genealogy of the missing soldier to include his parents, siblings and wife and children (if any). Once this task has been completed then the data will be converted into a gedcom file for posting on Genesreunited.

The purpose is to alert as many living relatives as possible to the MoD/CWGC DNA testing project so that they may participate.

We have already contacted a number of living relatives who, although aware of the publicity surrounding Fromelles, had not connected it with their own great uncle hanging out on a limb in their family tree as an entry from the 1901 census.

We have managed to establish the basic genealogy for about half the men processed so far. We suspect that some of the men will be untraceable because there is nothing more than their CWGC entry. The remainder, however, have some information but require disentangling from a number of possibles.

I will be posting those men on separate threads in the hope that the genealogy experts on the Board can identify them.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Mel

[Ken Lees]

I have a subscription to Ancestry but how do I find the tree mentioned above?

Ken

[June Underwood]

Hello Mel

Using the British Working List from the Fromelles website I have identified at least 43 names that are also on my website of Buckinghamshire War Memorials at www.buckinghamshireremembers.org.uk Many of the entries have some of the basic genealogy details that you are looking for. Some have personal photos or occasionally, photos of medals. All of them served in the Oxford and Bucks LI and a search can be done by regiment, which produces an alphabetical list of names, which can then be looked at in more detail.

In the Home Town column many entries are shown as "not known" and this can be clarified from the individual entries.

In one case the surname is given as CASMORE but I have found it to be Casemore.

I have already been contacted by one person who is the gt nephew of one of the casualties.

Hope this helps - I've been wondering who I could contact as the website appears to only have provision for contacts to be made by the media - unless I've missed something.

Like Ken, I have an Ancestry subscription but don't know how to find the tree.

June

[MelPack]

Ken & June

I have added a dummy contact point by the name of Aaron Aardvark. Just search family trees for that name and when it comes up, click on 'see full list of people'.

There are only the Glosters and the OBLIs left to add - just started the Glosters.

June thanks very much for the tip, I will definitely follow that through.

Mel

[Brian_Curragh]

Mel

Searching for Aaron Aardvark doesn't bring anything up for me - I'm going in through Ancestry.co.uk (not that that should make a difference)

Regards
Brian

[MelPack]

Brian

I only created my friend Aaron Aardvark a short while ago so it may take a little time to become embedded in the data system.

I promise that Aaron will work for you!

Mel

[Brian_Curragh]

Mel

Good point! We all tend to assume these things happen instantaneously these days. I'll try in a few hours and let you know how I got on - I am intrigued to see how this works.

Regards
Brian

[Ken Lees]

No Aaron Aardvark found.

[oxandbucks]

June

You've probbaly spotted that two of the 2/1st Bucks Bn men (Dell and Wood) are from Wendover and in the batch I sent you detials of including letters relating to the death of oneof them and L/Cpl Stevens of the same Bn. Editor of the Wendover News is planning a piece for the June edition to see if that generates any interest. I've also had a go a getting the Bucks Herald interested but with no signs of success yet.

John

[June Underwood]

John

Yes, I'd realised about the Wendover men - there is also Pte Ernest Arthur Percy Clark who was born in Weston Turville, but this isn't evident as the home town is given as Wellingborough.

It's good to hear that the Wendover News is interested. I'm surprised that the Bucks Herald hasn't shown any interest - there was an article about Fromelles and Lt Charles Phipps of The Lee in 25 Feb 09. The reporter spoke to me at the time so I will send you her details in a PM.

June

[June Underwood]

John

The system wouldn't allow me to send you a PM - you might have to make a minimum number of posts before this facility is allowed. I've sent the message to your email address.
June

[tootrock]

Still no Aaron Aardvark showing up in Ancestry Family Trees

Martin

[MelPack]

Martin

It is definitely there. I can only assume that it takes time for Ancestry to embed the information.

You could try an individual from one of the successful genealogy threads.

Mel

[SPOF]

Mel

I still can't find a tree of that name looking for Aaron Aardvark or any of

James Darney
William Bignell
William Billers
William Woodhatch
or
Harold Wells

Glen

[MelPack]

Glen

I am genuinely at a loss to explain why people are unable to access the tree.

It is a public tree that currently has more than 1200 people on it in the family genealogies of 300+ soldiers.

The only explanation that occurs to me is that the time lag for embedding the material in the main data base is considerably longer than I have hitherto anticipated.

Mel

[MelPack]

Just an update on the project.

Adrian (apwright) and Mel (melon) have kindly agreed to come on board to join the genealogy fest and thanks to collective efforts, we are fast approaching thirteen hundred in the tree thus far with the OBLIs to be added shortly.

We have contacted about thirty family tree holders so far (mostly relatives) and eight are already now in contact with the MoD.

I have dropped a line to the technical support at Ancestry to establish the time lag for Aaron Aardvark to appear in the main search index and I will post the response when I have received one.

Mel

[MelPack]

I have finally received a response from Ancestry about the elusive Aaron Aardvark:

You will not be able to find a new tree with the search feature immediately after the tree is uploaded or created. The tree must be indexed before it will appear in a search. Please expect a wait of 2-4 weeks before a new tree is indexed.

Mel

[tootrock]

Any sign of Aaron Aardvark yet?

Martin

[Auimfo]

I just checked Martin and there doesn't seem to be any sign of the elusive Aaron Aardvark just yet. (although a general search gave me Ann Aardvark - I wonder if she's related to our man )

Cheers,
Tim L.

[MelPack]

Gentlemen please!

The illustrious Aaron Aardvark has been sitting there in his pristine glory for a long time.

Aaron wishes it to be known that he has no association with the Ann who bears the illustrious name ( she, apparently, is an aardvark of low repute).

If you go to search, select the Family Trees tab then enter Aaron's name - voila - but make sure that the exact match box is unticked.

Mel

[Greyhound]

make sure that the exact match box is unticked.

I found him at the second go ... I had the "only show results from UK & Ireland" box ticked, so make sure that one (or any equivalent) is unticked too.

[Auimfo]

Ahh, found him. It took a bit of jiggling the settings but finally he came to light.

Excellent work putting that all together Mel. Well done!

Cheers,
Tim L.