Wales look up please

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:27 am

Thanks, Alan. I was hoping you'd come in with some practical suggestions of places to look

Once Ailsa has had a chance to follow all those leads, I hope she'll report back on what's available to help others with similar questions.
It's wonderful we have people on TS with so many different research skills and different ways of approaching a problem!
All the best,
Sarah

crayspond · Post by **crayspond** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:30 am

Hi to all,
Sorry i haven't replied ( I am in Dubai at the moment and there is a +4 hour time difference).
Also because George W Bush has been visiting we had an unexpected holiday yesterday (announced the day before at 4pm - all public and private companies to have a holiday). Main reason was that due to massive security all the arterial roads were closed so it would have been a nightmare for everybody. A holiday where everyone was confined to their homes! my hubby called it a curfew - which it was really.
Anyway - many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my postings. I will indeed follow up the links - i have been looking at a few myself but have had no leads.
I will let you know what i come up with - i do have a gut feeling that it is him who drowned on the Saint Columba but i will try and get some more details.
Maybe the fact he wasn't a seaman hinders the search. Again thanks.

Ailsa

Post by **SarahND** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:51 am

Hi Ailsa,
Hope you have recovered from your enforced holiday!

Thomas seems to have changed occupations several times (if I have the right man). The most convincing case for his having become a seaman is his wife's occupation of "Stoker's Wife" in 1881. On the old occupations site:

http://www.scotsfamily.com/occupations.htm

the definition is given:

Stoker Stoked fuel into a furnace or boiler, eg on a ship

Since the seaman Thomas was listed as "Fireman" it could well be him:

Fireman 1. Person in charge of a furnace, eg. on a train or ship

All the best,
Sarah

crayspond · Post by **crayspond** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:27 am

Hi Sarah,
That's an interesting site, i think you are right - my husband says the same thing regarding the fireman/stoker.
Another thought - my librarian in Connecticut has found the death cert for David Beveridge, son of Thomas (you kindly helped me find) He died in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA on 25/09.1946. However it will cost me $10 and i have to now go and buy dollars and send it to the library as they do not take online payments. My question is - would it tell anything on his death cert about his father? you might know what info is on certificates in the USA around that time.
Also, and i think this might clinch it - looking for inspiration through all my many records i came across David and Rachel's marriage cert in 1886 (before they left for USA), it states father Thomas Beveridge, seaman (merchant services) deceased. Is it a certainty though!!

Post by **SarahND** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:38 am

Hi Ailsa,
I don't have any Connecticut death certs from the relevant time, but perhaps another TS member does? I do, however, have California certs and there is a place for Father and Mother's names and birth places. That said, however, this information is only as good as the informant's knowledge. If the person reporting the death knew this information, it was there. Otherwise it was "Not Known".

I would tend to think the info about David's father does clinch it

It's a certainty as much as anything else we can find out at a distance! If on the other children's marriage certs the father was also a seaman... but I don't know if that information was asked in the U.S. Did any other of his children marry in Scotland?

All the best,
Sarah

P.S. $10 is about the cheapest death cert I have heard of... especially at the current exchange rate!

crayspond · Post by **crayspond** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:53 pm

Hi Sarah,
I have been looking at ships and lists for a few hours today and my brain is scrambled! I didn't find much but i emailed a chap who was on Rootsweb in 2002 and he seemed to know everything about ships and what happened to them. It's a long shot but you never know. I will let you know if i get a reply.
I will get the death cert for David Beveridge anyway, i doubt it will say anything re Thomas on it but it will be good to have especially at the bargain price of $10 !
Some thing might turn up when least expected - like you did!
Thanks,

Ailsa