Eight decades in the wrong grave: Map collection helps solve family mystery.

WW1

For 84 years, Private William Phillips was missing, lying underneath another man's headstone.

The soldier was killed in the final months of the war, when the front lines were moving quickly. He was buried on the battlefield near Bray-sur-Somme, but when the graves were moved into cemeteries in 1919, he was recorded as missing, his body classified as an unknown soldier.

 
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52 Ancestors: Sam Sandercock and His WW1 Tragedy

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for geneabloggers called Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Amy challenges genealogists to write about one ancestor once a week. I'm having fun with this and I hope you are too!

The Sandercott Family 1916

One of my ancestors was Sam Sandercock aka Sandercott. Sam was born in Cornwall England in 1870 and came to Ontario Canada in 1887 on board the ship Parisian. Eventually he married Ann Jackson and they had 7 children - 6 sons and 1 daughter (my great grandmother).

Sam was a proud patriotic Englishman and when WW 1 started in 1914 he was all for it. He could not join the military in 1914 as men his age were not really wanted. The Military only wanted young fit men in 1914 but as the war dragged on and casualties mounted they were forced to start taking older and far less fit men. So Sam enlisted in 1916 even though he was 46 years old and not in the best of health. His two eldest sons, Cecil and Bill, were now of military service age, also enlisted and the 3 went off to war.

Sadly Bill was killed in August 1917 in France. He was just 19 years old. His brother Cecil was right beside Bill when he was killed, and Cecil's postcard to his parents is chilling in its brevity:

Just a few lines, hoping you are well. I guess you will have heard the news of my brother's death before this letter reaches you. Bill and I went out on a working party on the night of August 23rd. We were both together working when a shell lit in the trench. Bill was killed. I got a slight wound in the knee. I was lucky i was not killed too. 

Almost exactly one year later in August 1918 Cecil Sandercock was also killed during some heavy fighting near Boiry France. He was just 20 years old.

Sam himself never made it into the trenches. The damp cold conditions in England got the best of his health. He was invalided with asthma in 1916 and sent home to Canada in April 1917 as medically unfit. Such a sad tale for 3 family members to go off to war and only one returned. 

Memorial Day Weekend: Remembering My American Uncle

Peter Gerth. U.S. Army WW1

In honor of Memorial Day I thought it would be nice to post a photo of one of my American relatives in the Military. I have many ancestors and relatives who have served in the Military but as I am Canadian most of them served in the Canadian or British Military.

Here in Canada we tend to think about our Military Ancestors on November 11th, Remembrance Day. Memorial Day is an American holiday but I guess that's one of the great things about the Internet age. We can all get involved in each others holidays.

Peter Gerth was my Great Grandmothers sister's husband. My Grandmother spoke of him as Uncle Peter Gerth. I don't think she met him more than a few times in her life. She could only tell me that he drove a trolley in Gaylord Michigan. So with only that info and this picture I set out to learn what I could.

One of the first things that I found was the 1910 census.  This told me that his first name was in fact Lambert. I guess he did not like the name Lambert. Can't say I blame him. The census also gave me a year of birth and a Country of birth.  

GERTH LAMBERT  23 M W CANADA MI WAYNE 17-WD DETROIT 1910 Series: T624 Roll: 680   Page: 270
Gerth, Lambert, 23 b Can German, imm unkn, NA, conductor
Gerth, Katie, wife,  21 b Can German, imm unkn
Butler, Carrie, mother in law, 53 b Can German, married 30 years, 6 children, 5 living, imm unkn
Ryan, Viola, niece, 7  b Can English

I then found the WW1 Draft Registrations.

WW1 Draft Registrations
Name: Lambert Peter Gerth
City: Detroit
County: Wayne
State: Michigan
Birthplace: Ontario;Canada
Birth Date: 17 Jan 1887
Race: Caucasian
Roll: 2032763
DraftBoard: 26

Now that I know he was born in Ontario Canada I was able to find his Birth Registration and then look for him on a census as a child in Ontario. This work continued with one record leading to another. So lets just say I now know a lot more about Uncle Peter.

Happy Memorial Day Uncle Peter. Thank you for your service