DeniseCarr
User is Offline
Joined: 24 Jul 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Swindon UK
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| Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:10 am Post subject: Henrietta Flaacke / John Baptiste Flaack |
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:01 pm by karensainsbury
Hi, have just found this web-site. I've spent many fruitless hours trying to track down my great-grandmother, listed on my grandfather, Francis Smith's, birth cert, as Henrietta Flaacke. His father is another Francis Smith. According to the 1901 census they were both born in London & were living in Bethnal Green at the time & Grandad was born in Finsbury. I can find no trace of the family in any other censuses & there are no Flaackes in the BMDs. I am completely stumped. Mum thinks Henrietta's family were German but she isn't sure. Any suggestions/ideas gratefully received!
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 4:13 pm by DeniseCarr
I see what you mean when you say you have been unable to find this family in any other censuses besides the 1901 census (RG13/282/15/22). As you grandfather Francis Smith was born in Finsbury in 1882 you would expect to be able to find him in the 1891 census, but I have tried every trick I know to get around enumerator / transcription errors without success. A surname like Smith doesn't help either
I recently got hold of a marriage certificate for a John Baptiste FLAACK who married Alice Martha Otter on 9 Sep 1899 in Buckland Kent. The family is given as Flack in the 1901 census (7 Grace Terace, Dover St Mary, Kent RG13/844/41/27): John aged 29 was a Railway Interpreter (same as on the marriage certificate) and his place of birth is given as Luxemberg France (which is bound to upset citizens of both countries). He is given as a British Subject. His wife Alice was born about 1874 in Devizes Wiltshire. They have a 10m old daughter Isabelle born in Dover Kent with them in 1901: this is presumably Isabella Alice whose birth can be found registered as Flaack in the GRO Birth Indexes (Sep 1900 Dover). There are two other Flaacke birth entries: Elaine Leontine Flaack in 1904 (died in 1904) and Hilda Majorie Flaacke in 1905. As these were both in Dover Kent they are very likely also to be children of John and Alice.
According to the marriage certificate, John Baptiste Flaack was the son of Theodore Flaack, joiner. Alice Otter was the daughter of George Otter labourer. Theodore Flaack would have been born about the same time as your Henrietta Flaack (1852) so they may well have been siblings or cousins. I don't believe either was born in England/Wales: there are no births given in the GRO Index for a Theodore Flack or Flaack between 1837 and 1904 and there is no birth registered for Herietta Flack or Flaack within 10 years of 1852 that I have not been able to allocate to a known Flack family (despite the fact that the place of birth of your Henrietta Smith nee Flaack is given as London in the 1901 census). I have also not been able to locate an entry in the GRO Marriage Index for Henrietta Flack or Flaacke to Francis Smith, though it is always possible that she was a widow at the time and used her married name.
I don't know if this is of any help, but I will put the details of your Henrietta Flaack on the database and see if it provides a link for anyone else researching this family.
Regards
Denise
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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:48 pm by karensainsbury
Thanks for your efforts on my behalf. I don't know whether this is any help at all, but the only other reference to Henrietta Flaacke I have just found is on the IGI. There is a very vague individual record which gives Henrietta & Francis' dates of birth both as about 1862, England, & their marriage as about 1882, England. There is also a family group record which doesn't mention Francis Smith the younger, but does include 3 of Grandad's siblings, William, Alfred & Elizabeth, and gives Francis Smith the elder's name as Francis Schmidt or Smith, & his birth as 1852 in Germany. This record gives no date or place of birth for Henrietta. Mum was very surprised by this as she was convinced she had been told by her Uncle Bill that Francis Smith the elder was a fiery little Irishman! I don't know whether this info is likely to be reliable or not & would certainly appreciate your thoughts.
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Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:17 am by DeniseCarr
The problem with the IGI is that, while it is great as a starting point and a general index, it contains a lot of assumptions and guesses. The entries based on parish records are generally okay, though they should be cross checked against the originals as transcription errors and omissions do occur, and of course contain no burials so one could quite easily base one's entire family tree on an individual who died as an infant if the IGI is the only source used. There are no sources quoted for the entries submitted by LDS members, so it is very difficult to verify them. In this case your grandfather's birth certificate and the 1901 census confirm most of the info given in the IGI, except the bit about Francis Schmidt being born in Germany. The IGI does mention Francis Smith the younger and gives his date of birth as 20 Jul 1883 in Finsbury London - does that agree with the certificate you hold?
Denise
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:39 am by karensainsbury
Yes, that's right. I did think about trying to get a birth certificate for one of his siblings to see if the same spelling of Flaacke is given, but even if you take the dates of birth from the IGI as gospel & assume they were all registered in Holborn like grandad, there are still 6 Williams, 3 Alfred’s 10 Elizabeth’s who are all contenders!
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:34 pm by DeniseCarr
Which is exactly why nobody has taken on a One Name Study for the surname Smith ! You have my sympathies!
Denise
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Guild of One Name Studies - Flack/Flacke |
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