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Post by allan1932 on Aug 6, 2011 21:05:27 GMT
I was given a copy of The Reporter July17 1981 which included an article regarding the reunion of my cousins - brothers Stan & Bill Wood, & their half-brother Harry Campbell. Bill was on holiday from Australia & had not met Stan & Harry for 57 years. At that time, Stan lived at 30 Lord Street, Dukinfield, & Harry at 107 Pickford Lane, Dukinfield. The article states that Bill was 78 so he would have been born about 1903.
Bill is a bit of a mystery because in the 1911 census he does not appear in the household of his parents, Thomas & Annie Wood along with his brothers Stan & Thomas Allen Wood. I found a birth on Ancestry in Free BMD Index for William Wood in 1903 in the Ashton district so bought the certificate. It is not for my cousin. It is for a William Wood born 29 Mar 1903 at 42 Spring Bank Street, Stalybridge, father Ambrose Wood, mother Mary Anne Wood formerly Halliday. If the certificate is of interest to anyone I would be pleased to give it to them. If anyone knows more about my cousin Bill Wood & his family I would be very obliged if they could let me have that information.
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Woody
Full Member
Posts: 241
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Post by Woody on Aug 9, 2011 7:55:15 GMT
Hi Allan1932
I've looked at the Reporter article about Bill you sent via personal message. Unfortunately, the article seems to eliminate most of the possible migration records I’d found. For example, I know that the Ashton War Memorial was unveiled at a ceremony on 9th September, 1922. I'd got excited when I’d found a migration record for a William Wood (age 18) from Stalybridge who was a cadet sailor arriving at Sydney aboard the SS Gracchus in October 1922. However, if Bill helped fire the volley at the War Memorial unveiling ceremony, it’s highly unlikely that he would have been able to sail the 12,000 miles to Australia within a month.
I'd also hoped the article would indicate where in Australia he lived, but no such luck. It does, however, give his wife’s name as 'Thelma'. Neither is Bill likely to have been prospecting for gold in the leafy suburbs of Melbourne so somewhere more remote is favourite. The Australian goldrush centred on Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, for example, which suggests either Fremantlle or Perth as the port of entry.
The Reporter article did have several references to Bill's army service and that pointed me to the network of regional Australian websites that provide free access to war records.
The best news is that the search produced Bill’s date of birth – 16th December, 1903 – which would also explain how you got the wrong birth certificate. Being so close to Christmas, the birth must have been registered in the following quarter – January to March, 1904 - which is not the obvious choice. The certificate you probably need is STB/18/65, but knowing his date of birth might now save you £10 because a certificate wouldn’t tell you much you don’t already know. Here’s how I found the information so that you can verify it yourself.
The fastest way is to Google “ww2roll.gov.au “ and select the “search by name” option. Once inside the website just enter his names in the box and you’ll get Bill’s basic army service details. If you then click on his name, you'll arrive at another page which has his place of residence, confirmation of his wife’s name, etc. etc Better still, you’ll probably be able to order up copies of Bill’s entire service record through this same website.
This is a good free resource for anybody searching Australian ancestors. Another one is 'Trove' which has thousands of free digitised newspaper reports.
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