Help needed

[BlueCrane]

After extensive research on other sites (Genes Reunited, Ancestry, GRO) I have been unable to find a birth record of my paternal grandmother. Census Records are nothing if not confusing. As I only know her father's name from her marriage certificate, but otherwise no further details.and her mother's name is also unknown, searching has been like looking for a needle in a haystack. Any tips where else I could look? Any tip would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Blue Crane

[ElizabethHerts]

Welcome to the site, Blue Crane.

Could you please post any details you have on your grandmother?
We could start with the marriage and also any censuses you have found her on.

[marquette]

Have you tried FreeBMD or FreeREG or even the GRO index website? sometimes they are much more straightforward than the others. Several counties also have localised BMD and parish records (like LancsBMD).

Dont forget that sometimes the truth was not told (for many reasons) on marriage certificates and even birth certificates.

Do you want to let us know the time frame and location as someone here may know of local or specialised sites which might help. The members are also pretty good at teasing out a difficult identity in the census records.

[Merry]

Welcome to Genealogists' Forum Blue Crane

As others have said, if you would like us to help you with the search, if you could post anything you have regarding your grandmother (assuming she is deceased, as we don't allow details of living people to be posted here without their permission!), in particular all the details from her marriage certificate and also anything you know about her death (date or approximate date and place etc).

If you only want ideas, rather than for us to take on the challenge, then we would still need to know in which country you are expecting to find her along with approximate dates of her birth, marriage and death as knowing roughly when these events occurred can make a difference as to where you might look for her.

[BlueCrane]

Thank you all so much for offering to help me. I have gathered quite a lot of information since starting my search and a few other people have also tried to be of assistance, but we have all hit a blank wall regarding my grandmother's birth. i will gladly give you the information that I have,

I am looking for birth information of Margaret Ann Veronica Cecilia Cressey (quite a string of names) who was apparently born in Hull in 1876. On her marriage certificate (obtained from the GRO) her name is given as MAVC Cressey otherwise Margaret Ann Veronica Cecilia Foster. Her father's name is give as William Daniel Cressey (deceased) and his profession as Master Ships's Carpenter). She married my grandfather Eberhart Rudolph Hermann Fimpel in 1907. She and Eberhart later had 2 sons and their mother's name on their birth certificates is give as Cressey.

Here I must add that before her marriage she was a record-breaking cyclist and cycled under the name of Maggie Foster.

The census information that I have been able to find is as follows:
1881 Sculcoates Yorks. Margaret A Cressey dob 1876, granddaughter to John Toole from Limerick in Ireland.

1891 Lambeth Brixton Margaret Cressey 15, cousin of Geo Foster dob 1851 from Licolnshire, Geo Foster's wife is given as Mary.

Census 1901 also London, George Foster is suddenly 35 and not 50 as would be expected, Maggie Cressey is now 30 and not 25! No wife is mentioned. George's profession is given as Bicycle Maker (fits Maggie's later sporting activities).

Following her marriage the census records are correct. She died in London in 1945 was buried there.

This is quite a large lump of information the go through, but I have not given up hope that somewhere, someone will hit the jackpot as it were.

Once again many thanks for your offers to help. If you have any other question which you think might help, i would be happy to answer them if I can.

[kiterunner]

To start with, there only seems to be one William Daniel Cressey, born Hull 1853, married Kate Campbell Jan-Mar 1876 Hull Register Office or Registrar Attended, died 1915 Hull age 64.

[JBee]

Couldn't see a birth for a

Margaret Campbell for 1875/6 in Hull - just in case they weren't married before the birth.

[Phoenix]

There is no trace of them on the 1939 register. I assume this is because Eberhart was a foreign national? Or has anyone located the family?

[Merry]

For what it's worth, Margaret's date of birth on the 1939 Register is 14 Feb 1876.

[Phoenix]

The succession of names suggest that Margaret may have been born a Roman Catholic. Have you looked for Roman Catholic churches in Hull? Baptism records may still be with the church.