German Family

[Smee]

Help

Does anyone know anything about researching German Families who went to live in England prior to the 1st World War.

I have a Henry Cooke who was born in Liverpool in 1904 and apparently either of his parents were German or his grandparents were. At present i don't know where to start as it was a big family secret up until Henry Cooke died, nobody ever spoke of it. Also all the children in the family were born after the 1901 census.

Thanks for any help.

Smee

 

[juliejtp]

Hi Smee,

What I would do is to obtain a birth certificate then the parents marriage certificate assuming they married in England/Wales/Scotland and start tracing them on the census, then approach the German side when you get more details.

 

[Kerrymac]

Hello Smee,
I don't know if this will help at all but in researching the German name Wolff, it is German Jewish in origin and the family I have, moved over before the 1st World War.Their movements centre around the port areas, London, Southampton, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow.Their movements where due to attacks on the population in Europe.But they still kept their origin links in Britain.Mine originated in London and Southampton, then moved up to Liverpool.Best of luck in your search. kerrymac

 

[benny1982]

Hi Smee

Also, beware that Cooke may not have been the familys name. They may have Anglicised it to make it sound more English. Cooke could have been something like Cohen originally.

Ben

 

[Smee]

Hi

Thank you all for your replies to my German Family research, i have actually found whom i think are the correct family in the Census, however my aunt is very much the younger child of the family and therefore most of her cousins were old whilst she was still a young girl. In the census i have found it does state german rather than british national born in germany, so we shall see, if i can connect the dots properly i will then be able to obtain certifictates, again if they married in the UK.

I did find one of my aunts uncles who died in the first world war........and i could possibly get his records......

Thanks again.

Smee