"Killed in the war" -- research tips

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Steve Hayes

"Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 10 sep 2005 10:35:50

After you've been doing genealogical research for some time, you may find you
have quite a lot of people who were "killed in the war". These usually come up
in interviews with elderly relatives, and it was a brother or cousin or uncle.
They don't know the regiment, or the place, or the exact date, so you record
it with something like "Abt 1942" and leave the place blank.

You know that the Commonealth War Graves Commission web site has a search
facility, and when you look at one of these "killed in the war" people you
make a mental note to check here next time you're on line.

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

But then you forget, or you can't remember who it was, and so you put it off
till next time.

So here's a hint for getting organised. It applies particularly to Legacy
users, but other programs probably can do something similar.

In Legacy, go to Search.

Select males, select deaths after 1938, then create list.
Select death before 1946, and "only people on this list", and create list.

Then tag them, say using tag 1.

Select Name -> Search -> Tagged individuals

Go through the list, eliminating ones who were born before 1900 and after 1930
(double-clicK on the X to untag them). If you don't have a date of birth, you
can leave them in, unless you are sure they are unlikely.

You end up with a tagged list of males who died during the war.

You can do something similar for WW I, and give them Tag No 2

You can print the list, so you have it to tick of ones you find, and mark
otherwise those you don't find. But have it on sceeen as well.

Then go on the web to:

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

and start entering the names.

Unless you are absolutely certain, just enter the surname, the initial and the
war. "Nationality" can be problematic. People were seconded to forces of other
countries. Canadians, South Africans and others served in the RAF rather than
the RCAF or SAAF. They were moved from unit to unit, and the one they enlisted
in may not have been the one they died in, so unless you get hundreds of
ambiguous results, leave those as "Unknown". In most cases the search is still
pretty quick.

When you get a hit, double click for the details, and Copy the text to the
clipboard.

Switch to Legacy, double click on that person in your list, and Paste the
infomation to Death Notes.

If there are more details on the cemetery, you can Paste those into Burial
notes.

Tick the person off on your paper list and move to the next one.

When you've finished, go through the records on the list again, editing the
information, updating the death and burial fields with the new information,
and add the Commonwealth War Graves web site as a source.

You may find you have a lot of exact death dates where you had an "Abt 1942".
The historical notes on the cemeteries will also tell you something about the
action your relatives were probably involved in. In most cases you will also
find the age at death, which can give an approximate birth date if you didn't
have one.

Experienced researchers will probably know all this already, but if not, it
can help to make your research more systematic and efficient, saving you time
online (important if you have a dial-up connection), and tying up a whole lot
of loose ends at once.

Of course if most of your relatives lived in neutral countries, or served in
the Axis forces, or in non-Commonwealth countries like the USA or Russia, then
this won't be of much help!



--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Hugh Watkins

Re: "Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 11 sep 2005 09:06:14

the technical term is casualities
also on Australian and US and Canadian sites too

if you keep careful research notes in a notebook
or in a family tree program you don't forget


Hugh W

"Steve Hayes" <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:22a5i15ijf8hu68qgjg120qvpr8su43gih@4ax.com...
After you've been doing genealogical research for some time, you may find
you
have quite a lot of people who were "killed in the war". These usually
come up
in interviews with elderly relatives, and it was a brother or cousin or
uncle.
They don't know the regiment, or the place, or the exact date, so you
record
it with something like "Abt 1942" and leave the place blank.

You know that the Commonealth War Graves Commission web site has a search
facility, and when you look at one of these "killed in the war" people you
make a mental note to check here next time you're on line.

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

But then you forget, or you can't remember who it was, and so you put it
off
till next time.

So here's a hint for getting organised. It applies particularly to Legacy
users, but other programs probably can do something similar.

In Legacy, go to Search.

Select males, select deaths after 1938, then create list.
Select death before 1946, and "only people on this list", and create list.

Then tag them, say using tag 1.

Select Name -> Search -> Tagged individuals

Go through the list, eliminating ones who were born before 1900 and after
1930
(double-clicK on the X to untag them). If you don't have a date of birth,
you
can leave them in, unless you are sure they are unlikely.

You end up with a tagged list of males who died during the war.

You can do something similar for WW I, and give them Tag No 2

You can print the list, so you have it to tick of ones you find, and mark
otherwise those you don't find. But have it on sceeen as well.

Then go on the web to:

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

and start entering the names.

Unless you are absolutely certain, just enter the surname, the initial and
the
war. "Nationality" can be problematic. People were seconded to forces of
other
countries. Canadians, South Africans and others served in the RAF rather
than
the RCAF or SAAF. They were moved from unit to unit, and the one they
enlisted
in may not have been the one they died in, so unless you get hundreds of
ambiguous results, leave those as "Unknown". In most cases the search is
still
pretty quick.

When you get a hit, double click for the details, and Copy the text to the
clipboard.

Switch to Legacy, double click on that person in your list, and Paste the
infomation to Death Notes.

If there are more details on the cemetery, you can Paste those into Burial
notes.

Tick the person off on your paper list and move to the next one.

When you've finished, go through the records on the list again, editing
the
information, updating the death and burial fields with the new
information,
and add the Commonwealth War Graves web site as a source.

You may find you have a lot of exact death dates where you had an "Abt
1942".
The historical notes on the cemeteries will also tell you something about
the
action your relatives were probably involved in. In most cases you will
also
find the age at death, which can give an approximate birth date if you
didn't
have one.

Experienced researchers will probably know all this already, but if not,
it
can help to make your research more systematic and efficient, saving you
time
online (important if you have a dial-up connection), and tying up a whole
lot
of loose ends at once.

Of course if most of your relatives lived in neutral countries, or served
in
the Axis forces, or in non-Commonwealth countries like the USA or Russia,
then
this won't be of much help!



--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Steve Hayes

Re: "Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 11 sep 2005 15:45:18

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 08:06:14 -0000, "Hugh Watkins" <hugh.watkins@gmail.com>
wrote:

the technical term is casualities
also on Australian and US and Canadian sites too

No.

Causalties include the wounded, captured and missing as well as those who are
killede.



--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Paul Rose

Re: "Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av Paul Rose » 12 nov 2005 20:55:25

Hi All

Is there any way of searching for relatives who were wounded during ww1?

Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
http://www.lakelandwalker.co.uk

Ray and Lyn Kirkland

Re: "Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av Ray and Lyn Kirkland » 13 nov 2005 05:57:03

Try doing a search on Commonwealth War Graves Commission"" site

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx


"Paul Rose" <newsgroups@lakelandwalker.co.uk> wrote in message
news:NMrdf.14046$Cq4.4891@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net...
Hi All

Is there any way of searching for relatives who were wounded during ww1?

Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
http://www.lakelandwalker.co.uk


Paul Rose

was "Killed in the war" now wounded in the war (PATTISON Joh

Legg inn av Paul Rose » 13 nov 2005 11:37:43

Hi Ray and Lyn

Try doing a search on Commonwealth War Graves Commission"" site

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

Thank you for your reply. I had looked at that site but it seems to only
list soldiers killed during the wars. My grandfather was wounded, shot
through the chest/back, and luckily survived. However, whilst searching the
site again, I have found a James PATTISON buried at the local cemetery here
in Middlesbrough. A possible relative and worth further investigation.

Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
http://www.lakelandwalker.co.uk

singhals

Re: "Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av singhals » 14 nov 2005 16:16:15

Paul Rose wrote:

Hi All

Is there any way of searching for relatives who were wounded during ww1?

Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
http://www.lakelandwalker.co.uk



Do you know the hometown of this person? If so, and if you have any
clue as to a time frame, you might want to check the local newspaper.
The weekly newspapers I use fairly often carried a list in every issue
about who from the area was wounded, who was killed, who was captured.
In the gossip section, there are often comments from the family about
wounded men. And of course when they came home, they were listed.
Usually, there's a regiment tacked on.

Good luck.

Cheryl

Paul Rose

Re: "Killed in the war" -- research tips

Legg inn av Paul Rose » 15 nov 2005 23:59:02

"singhals" <singhals@erols.com> wrote in message
news:ALudnd2SfIrdN-XenZ2dnUVZ_sCdnZ2d@rcn.net...
Paul Rose wrote:

Hi All

Is there any way of searching for relatives who were wounded during ww1?

Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
http://www.lakelandwalker.co.uk



Do you know the hometown of this person? If so, and if you have any
clue as to a time frame, you might want to check the local newspaper.
The weekly newspapers I use fairly often carried a list in every issue
about who from the area was wounded, who was killed, who was captured.
In the gossip section, there are often comments from the family about
wounded men. And of course when they came home, they were listed.
Usually, there's a regiment tacked on.

Good luck.

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl

Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated. Yes, I know he was born in
Kingston-upon-Hull but that he also moved to the north east of England at
some point. Don't know where he was living when he joined up. Good advice
though Cheryl and something I can look in to. Thanks again.

Regards, Paul (R)
My Lake District walking site:
http://www.lakelandwalker.co.uk

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