SRILANKA-L Archives

Archiver > SRILANKA > 2001-06 > 0991421622


From: arnold roepken <>
Subject: Re: Roll call
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2001 15:53:42 -0300
References: <008101c0ea53$0006ba80$173bb818@computer><3B17CD41.A1B0404C@alphalink.com.au>


Hello Gordon
Thank you for all of your effort. I do have the whole
Family history back to 1706. It's Gerald Patrick Hemming
and his Father Henry that I'm interested, because 10 of
Gerald's 11 children are still with us, and they are asking
me to track down some information on their Father and
GF.
Henry married Ellen in St. Thomas RC Church in Bombay
on 24 April 1901. Gerald was born in Columbo in May 1902.
They had two other children in India in Calcutta and Madras.
I cannot find a BC for any of them. They returned to London
in 1905, and I have the BC of their 4th child in Jan. 1906.
Ellen came to the USA in 1915 with 3 of their eventual six.
The other three arrived here in 1919 ( I found them on the
Ellis Island site ), but Henry had disappeared into a black
hole after that.
BTW Henry's Mother's name was Harriet Field. Her mom
was a widow, who married a chap named Oldridge in the
late 1850s.
Please see my inserted comments below.


Arnold W. Roepken in Garden City, NY
Genealogy means "Never say die".



----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon Allison" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 2:13 PM
Subject: Re: Roll call


> Hi Arnold
>
> I don't know whether you have already looked at the 1881 census of the
> British Isles yet, but I found your family of Hemmings listed on it (see
> below). Obviously a quite well to do family of some means. Henry is
> undoubtedly the eldest son as his mother Harriet was 21 when she had him
> in 1857. You're even lucky enough to have the elderly mother in law in
> the house on the night on the census - Harriet Oldridge, widow, age 79.

I not only have the 1881 census of Cheltenham, but also the 1851
census of Leonard Stanley, Church records of Henry's parents Marriage,
and Henry's BC.

> If you checked the indexes to English civil registration you will most
> probably find a marriage for John J Hemming to Harriet Oldridge? in the
> preceding year or two. More census and certificates should get you back
> another 2 generations without much trouble.
>
> You don't say in your message whether you are only interested in coming
> down to the present to find relatives in Ceylon. Why do you need to find
> the birth/baptism of Gerald Hemming when you already have the relevant
> information? Are you looking for confirmation that Gerald was in fact
> born in Ceylon while his parents were out there.

As I said above, his children want it.

My feeling is that even
> if the father Henry did spend time on the island he most probably
> eventually retired back to England and whether or not any of the
> children stayed on is open to question. Some of the daughters may have
> if there were any and if they married into the local high society. Do
> you have the marriage certificate for Henry J.R. Hemming to Ellen C.
> Gallagher? Were they married in England or Ceylon?

I have a copy of the Church records in Bombay, but no Certificate.

> Another resource to check out which is probably impossible from the US,
> are the English civil registration indexes to overseas births. Henry as
> a solicitor would be mindful about getting the births of any of his
> children registered back in England for legal purposes.

I'd love to find out more about this aspect of it. I already have
two
professional researchers looking things up for me there, one in Glos.
and the other in Durham looking for my Family. A third researcher is not
out of the question if I know where to go for these records.

Also if you
> don't already know, the Mormons have filmed every surviving birth,
> marriage and death certificate issued on the island. Not just the
> indexes but the actual certificate registers and all these films can be
> got into whichever is your nearest LDS FHC. A trip to Salt Lake City
> would allow you to view them all in the one place. The registers from
> memory, go from the start of civil registration on the island in 1867 to
> 1930 and even later. Finding the right film among the 100's of films may
> also prove to be a difficult task.

I'd be interested in hearing more on this also. My nearby FHC has
nothing at all on India or Sri Lanka. Perhaps someone on the List
knows the film numbers. I'd also like to find out what happened to
Henry.
Once again, thank you very much.
Sincerely
Arnold
>
> Best regards for the moment.
>
> Gordon
> Melbourne, Australia

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