James William Grey

[starmaiden]

Hi! Hopefully this is the right forum for my enquiry

I'm looking for birth/baptism records for a James William Grey. I do not know anything about his parents, but he joined the Royal Navy Reserve (Newfoundland) in 1914 so I believe I have a reliable birthdate & birthplace; 9th of Jan 1885, Kingsbridge Devon.

Normally this document would have his parents' names, but his does not (it's kinda hard to read, but given another document I have I believe he put down an aunt, Lucy Hepditch/Hipditch) as he was estranged from his family. As the story goes, he was from a fairly well off family, but as a younger son he was expected to join the Church and jumped ship in Newfoundland instead.

Any information or advice would be appreciated!

 

[Moff]

FamilySearch has the record of his immigration to Canada as James W Grey. It confirms what you have, including Lucy Hipditch as nearest relative. The record is linked to a tree showing parents, siblings, spouse & children. Not sure how accurate that is, because anyone can add to or alter FamilySearch trees. It could be worth investigating, though.

 

[starmaiden]

FamilySearch has the record of his immigration to Canada as James W Grey. It confirms what you have, including Lucy Hipditch as nearest relative. The record is linked to a tree showing parents, siblings, spouse & children. Not sure how accurate that is, because anyone can add to or alter FamilySearch trees. It could be worth investigating, though.

Would you be able to give me the FamilySearch ID? I've been trying to find what you were looking at myself but no luck

 

[Moff]

Would you be able to give me the FamilySearch ID? I've been trying to find what you were looking at myself but no luck

I hope these are helpful. I searched on James W Grey and set it to Exact. Put birthplace as England and date of birth as 1885 start year, no closing date. Both pieces include mention of his aunt Lucy so definitely same chap. There could well be a lot more - I thinkI've seen mention of him a few times with slightly different DOBs.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/6...-LWWH&action=view&cc=2185163&lang=en&groupId=

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/6...-27HY&action=view&cc=2185163&lang=en&groupId=

 

[starmaiden]

I hope these are helpful. I searched on James W Grey and set it to Exact. Put birthplace as England and date of birth as 1885 start year, no closing date. Both pieces include mention of his aunt Lucy so definitely same chap. There could well be a lot more - I thinkI've seen mention of him a few times with slightly different DOBs.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99D3-T9G8-B?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:QK31-LWWH&action=view&cc=2185163&lang=en&groupId=

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9DD-FSKR?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:QKQS-27HY&action=view&cc=2185163&lang=en&groupId=

Those are him! You said you found parents and siblings connected to him? I can't seem to get the same results but I would be very curious to dig into that.

 

[Moff]

Those are him! You said you found parents and siblings connected to him? I can't seem to get the same results but I would be very curious to dig into that.

When I click on those links a sidebar comes up with "View James W Grey" at the top. Under that, his name is underlined. Click on that. About halfway down the next page you'll see "Attached in tree to James William Grey 1885-1962 G4SY-TLF". Click his name, then a box will appear and you will have the option to click on Person or Tree. Click Tree, and you'll see a family tree. As I advised previously, anyone can alter FamilySearch trees, so don't take it as gospel, but it might be worth investigating.

 

[Archie's Mum]

I haven’t checked those links, so apologies if this it included but I also found him in transit through Canada on his way back from Bermuda to Newfoundland on the ship Chaleyr in 1922 as a mariner/mate. H egives his destination as St Johns Newfoundland. 1945 census has him as a longshoreman at St Johns. Original can be found on FS.

 

[Archie's Mum]

In 1921 Lucy Hipditch is a married hotel keeper born 1857 in Cape Shore Newfoundland. She is married to John Hipditch born 1849 Placenta Bay (what an awful name) Newfoundland. He is a fisherman.