A genealogy blog about the migration generation of my McKee Family line, including bios, transcribed obituaries, photographs, and research notes.



Search This Blog

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Try Going Local

An article in the online free eZine GenealogyInTime suggested that if you are looking for information outside of the United States that you use the localized Google search engine for the country in question. I have only two international locations that I need to search in: England and Ireland. I decided to check out what different results I'd get if I used Google.co.uk. Here's what I found.

Discovered Marriages
Ernest Dodd married Clara May Webb 18 Aug 1917
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stpeter/marriages_1915-1917.html
Marriage: 18 Aug 1917 St Peter, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Ernest Dodd - 27, 2nd. Kings Own R. Lancaster, Bachelor, 79 Mount Street
Clara Webb - 26, Cardroom Hand, Spinster, 7 Hawthorne Grove
    Groom's Father: Frederick Dodd, Labourer (wife Ester Middleton)
    Bride's Father: George Webb, Gas Stoker
    Witness: Henry Ibbotson; Sarah Ann Ibbotson
    Married by Banns by: T. W. Pughe Morgan, Vicar
    Register: Marriages 1915 - 1917, Page 100, Entry 200
    Source: LDS Family Search

Sarah Ann Dodd married Henry Ralph "Harry" Ibbotson 4 Apr 1915
Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Henry Ibbotson
Marriage Date: 21 Mar 1915
Parish: Ashton under Lyne, St James the Apostle
Parish as it Appears: St James Church Ashton-Under-Lyne
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ann Dodd
Reference Number: L163/1/5/3
Item Number: 6
Archive Roll: 847

Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Henry Ibbotson
Birth Year: abt 1886
Age: 29
Marriage Date: 4 Apr 1915
Parish: Ashton under Lyne, St James the Apostle
Parish as it Appears: St James, Ashton-Under-Lyne
Father's Name: Thomas Ibbotson
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ann Dodd
Spouse's Father's Name: Frederick Dodd (wife Esther Middleton)
Reference Number: L163/1/2/3
Item Number: 1
Archive Roll: 847

Alfred Dodd married Florence Elizabeth Jones 30 Oct 1922
Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Alfred Dodd
Birth Year: abt 1901
Age: 21
Marriage Date: 30 Oct 1922
Parish: Ashton Under Lyne, St Peter
Parish as it Appears: St Peter Ashton Under Lyne
Father's Name: Albert Dodd
Spouse's Name: Florence Jones
Spouse's Father's Name: John Jones
Reference Number: L74/1/2/10
Item Number: 2
Archive Roll: 519

In addition, I found two christening records to two daughters Cecila and Florence. However, if you look on Ancestry.com, you find that the two daughters might be one daughter named Florence Elizabeth Cecilia Dodd. Therefore, children for this couple remains a fuzzy area. 

Discovered World War I Correspondence
Albert Dodd and John William Dodd
http://ashtonpals.m.webs.com/   (1915 Pg 14)
Published in the Reporter 25 Sep 1919
TWO ASHTON BROTHERS
Corporal J. W. Dodd, who is attached to the machine gun section of the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dodd, of 153, Burlington street, Ashton, and who, as announced in the Reporter last week, was wounded in the leg while fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula on August 7th, is making good progress. He is now in hospital at Plymouth, and writes on September 13th as follows: - "I have arrived in England. We are nice and comfortable, and have plenty of good food. I am able to walk a little today. I am going to have a piece of skin put on my leg, as the wound is to big to heal itself." The wound has not touched the bone, the bullet being buried in the flesh, according to a previous letter sent by Corporal DODD. A brother, Gunner ALBERT DODD, is serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France, where he has been engaged on active service for about ten weeks. In a letter to his parents he says: - "We are having it a bit quiet just now. I am writing this letter at one of our observation posts. I get 24 hours every eight days on the telephone. I have just been watching some of our shells bursting right in the German trenches. It is worth seeing. the other day we blew up one of their trench mortars and the men who were working it. We also dug one of their shells up that had not burst. It was about 9ft in solid hard clay." The observations post referred to by Gunner Dodd is a captive balloon, from which the effects of the British shellfire is seen, and the results telephoned to the battery below.
Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

John William Dodd death record:
http://tamesidefamilyhistory.co.uk/pow.htm
Dodd J Private Manchester Regiment 
153 Burlington Street, Ashton under Lyne (dead)
Action Ashton 11 Jan 1919
Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert
This record may indicate that I have an error in that I have John marrying Sylvia Storer in Q4 1935 and having a child (Shirley Dodd). The name Dodd is common in the area and it might well be that I have records two different John William Dodd men crossed. Any help sorting this out would be appreciated. 

Discovered Deaths or Burial Locations
Nellie Dodd
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stmichael/index.html
Burial: 26 Dec 1901 St Michael and All Angels, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Nellie Dodd - 
    Age: 22 mths
    Abode: 153 Burlington Street
    Buried by: C. H. Bagott
    Register: Burials 1892 - 1908, Page 226, Entry 1806
    Source: LDS Film 1550973
    Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

Alfred Dodd and Florence Elizabeth Jones
http://www.stg.org.uk/content/pages/documents/1376749516.pdf
R36 G8 
ALFRED DODD 30/12/1948 (Parents: Joseph Dodd and Agnes Anderson)
FLORENCE DODD 17/01/1979
(Low headstone in book format) In loving memory of (left side) 
A dear husband and father ALFRED DODD who died 26th Dec. 1949 aged 47 years (right side) A dear wife and mother FLORENCE DODD who died 11th Jan. 1979 aged 76 years

Ada Hannah Smith 
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stmichael/index.html 
Burial: 21 Oct 1899 St Michael and All Angels, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Ada Hannah Smith - (Parents: William Smith and Agnes Eleanore Anderson)
    Age: 11 mths
    Abode: Fleet St
    Buried by: George A. Pugh Rector
    Register: Burials 1892 - 1908, Page 193, Entry 1543
    Source: LDS Film 1550973

Conclusion
My voyage into the use of another Google search engine has answered a lot of outstanding questions and uncovered a possible problem with John William Dodd. I'm going to continue searching for additional information to see if there's anything else I've missed. As an exercise, this one has been rather profitable for my research project. So, if you are googling in other countries, you might want to try going local and see if you get results that you've missed using the American version of Google.