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Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Dave T
Karen, some background info which may be useful. If you search for Heinz Zabel PoW you get a long article about his experiences. The last two paragraphs indicate that he was in camps in Sheffield and Derby and Notts and he stayed in England after the war and signed up for farm work. However in 1948 he visited his family in Hamburg for a month before returning to England. This would indicate that travel between the north of England and Hamburg was reasonably straightforward in 1948. Incidentally he married in North Kesteven, Lincolnshire in 1950.
Is it possible that Gustav carried back the gifts for Emil's baby?
In times of extreme shortage, could they have been hand me downs from Rose's children?
Dave


Thanks for that, Dave.

Yes, I do (now) think that Gustav could have taken the gifts back with him. (see below!)
It would be great if the gifts were hand-me-downs, as that would mean that Rose had children of her own - and that we could possibly contact them.

Thanks again,
Karen

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Hi Bev,

It's not a farm, but who knows - maybe it had more land back then. The place next door looks a lot newer.

We had found this Rose once before. She and Victor had one son, who died about 5 years ago.

I'll go into it a bit further.

Thanks!

Karen

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Hi everybody,

WE KNOW WHICH ROSE IT WAS AND WHERE SHE LIVED!!! ;D :) ;D :) ;D

Please be so kind and have a little bit of patience. I only received the news today and (typical! :-) I am not at home again until Thursday (hubby is on a training course and Woofy and I have come along with him) and only have limited Internet access here.

We have received a document which tells us, 100% for certain, that we have the right person. She is no longer alive, so I need to try and find out if there are any living children or grandchildren.

I am just so excited about it and totally frustrated that I can't get much further with it from here!

As soon as I find out more, I'll let you know!
Karen

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

I have been away on holiday so came back to find your news - can't wait to hear who and where the Peck family are and come from.

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

There were parallel threads on this on ancestry and on Rootschat. For those interested the conclusion to the story is on the Rootschat thread. Rose was nee Birdsall and her husband was Victor. They married in Doncaster.
They did not live on a farm. Karen has made contact with descendants.
Dave

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Hi everybody,

Sorry not to have replied again earlier, but things have been a bit manic the past few days.

As Dave kindly wrote, "our" Rose did not have a farm. Bit of an enormous red herring, that one, but family history researchers are like terriers and we got there in the end.:relaxed:

Rose had a son, who passed away about 5 years ago. We managed to trace his children, but I was unable to find current telephone or E-Mail data for them. Just as I was about to reach for parchment and quill, I discovered a son (Rose's great-grandson) on a form of social media with which I am completely unfamiliar (I'm not a Facebook/Twitter/What'sApp kind of person :blush: ) and contacted him.

He replied very quickly and confirmed that we have the right family. I sent him a long mail, outlining the whole story, and am waiting for a reply. I sincerely hope that he (or perhaps his mother) does reply...

Apparently, Rose's daughter-in-law is still alive. It would be lovely if I could speak to her - maybe she remembers the German brothers from back then.

As soon as I hear anything (and I hope I do), I'll let you know!

Thanks again for all your help,
Karen

P.S. The Rootschat thread is mine, but I'm not on Ancestry. Maybe someone from Rootschat put the story on there for me. :slightly_smiling_face:

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Karen, thanks for the update. My mistake: the thread on Ancestry is about a different Emil Lautenbach.
Dave

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Hi Dave,

That's a bit of a coincidence..!

Karen

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

The name Peck caught my eye. I have just discovered the person who registered the death of my Father in Sheffield in 1986 was Ronald Peck. If I have the right one - he had been the headmaster at Lydgate Junior School and lived at that time at Crimicar Lane, Sheffield. He would have been born about 1913. Apparently he had a daughter Helen.

As I was not in contact with my father I have no idea what his relationship with Ronald Peck was. It would seem my father, who lived in Coningsbury House, Sandygate Grove, had no next of kin.

Mary

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Hello Mary,

I am afraid there is no Ronald in the Pecks we have found, so I don't think I can help you. :disappointed:

Karen

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Thank you Karen

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Hi everybody,

Just wanted to let you know that I have spoken at length with Rose's granddaughter. We had a lovely chat and she told me something very exciting: Rose & Victor also had an adopted daughter who is not only alive but would also love to speak to me!

Yesterday evening I called her and we had a long conversation. It was absolutely lovely to speak to her. She remembers Gustav, but not Emil. She was, however, only 3 years old when Emil returned to Germany.

She says she definitely has some photos from that time, passed on to her by her parents. She is going to go through them after Christmas and send them to me!

So the suspense continues... (I love this story! It just keeps getting nicer and nicer.:-))

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Karen, on behalf of everyone here, thank you for the update. It is so nice to see a successful outcome. You deserve a lot of credit for your persistence, but I am sure that the successful outcome is all the reward you need.
The adopted daughter fits very nicely with hand downs, and the timing with Gustav being the delivery boy.
In case you have not realised, the travel at that time would be fairly straightforward. Train from Doncaster to Newcastle then ferry to Hamburg.
I do hope that photos of Emil turn up.
Best Regards
Dave

Re: Rose Peck / German POW Emil during WWII

Thanks, Dave.

It certainly is a lovely feeling to have found the people we were searching for!

We are, of course, also very excited about the prospect of photos. I am not getting my hopes up too high, but maybe there is one of Emil in there somewhere.

It was also fascinating to hear about life in the village back then, with the lady from the farm at the end of Rose's road selling fresh milk (none of your pasteurised stuff) from milk churns on a yoke, door-to-door.

Have a lovely Christmas everybody!
Karen