Hi. I have been hitting a brick wall with this problem for years so i have decided to explore all known facts. My problem is finding the birth of my GG Grandfather. Charles William Flowers i have done a search for him and found a website on civil war soldiers and it has him born on March 8, 1845 at Littleport, Cambridgeshire,England but i can't find him.. On his death certificate it has Rev William Benedict Flowers as his father but i have traced his family and going by the dates he would have been 16 then becames a anglican minister and his Mother Charlotte Cornwall. Charles Fought in the Civil War for Ohio U.S.A and married rachel Priest they then came to New Zealand. I am wanting to get his birth certificate but because i don't no where he was born it is a little hard. Also another thing i find interesting is that Charles and Rachel had a son called William Benedict so there must be some tie somewhere. Are you able to help me?

On the New York Passenger lists there is a large Priest family plus Charlotte Elizabeth Flowers aged 23 with Charles Flowers aged 7 who arrived in NYC 30 Jun 1855 on the Yorktown, sailing from London. The two families are adjacent on the list. The youngest person in the Priest family is an infant Rachel. Parents are James and Harriet, he was a farmer. By the 1860 census Charlotte Flowers, 28, b Eng ,seems to have married a Joseph Irwin, 32, b Eng while Charles W. Flowers, aged 12, is in the household. They were living in Ward 20, NYC. By the same 1860 census the Priest family has moved to Perrysburg, OH where their name is spelled Prist. James and Harriet [Wyatt, see FreeBMD] are there along with all their children and Rachel, aged 5. [1851 has this family in Little Milton, Bucks.] The enlistment for Charles W. Flowers in the 21st OH Volunteer Infantry was at Findlay , Ohio which is south east of Perrysburg [about a 45 minute freeway ride today]. Ohio [and most] enlistment records only give age at time of enlistment; they asked very little information. Exact date of birth or death is mostly found in pension applications. The roster for Co. K, 21st OVI is on Google Books. Both the passenger list and census are consistent with Charles W. being born in 1848. He said he was 18 at enlistment in 1861. If born in 1845, he was only 16 and only 13 if born in 1848. Eighteen was the magic age for enlistment. He must have been born closer to 1845. In 1851 his apparent father Rev. William B. Flowers is unmarried, 21, and a student at St. John's College, Cambridge which matches your age of 16 if Charles was born in 1845 . William was from ?Tonington, Northamptonshire. He is at school in Brackley in 1841. I see from internet postings he was from Preston Capes and certainly seems to be the fellow who d. 1855 in Cornwall as he disappears from clergy lists then. IN the 1851 census at Sandhill, Littleport, Cambridgeshire there is a Hannah Cornwell 49, mar, b. Littleport, with her grandson CHARLES CORNWELL, 5, b Littleport, living with her. Bapts to John & Hannah Cornwell of Littleport include Susan 1823, Harriet 1821, Charles 1826 and Elizabeth 1827 - no Charlotte but could Charlotte be Elizabeth? That would make her 18 when Charles was born. There is a matching birth for CHARLES CORNWELL June quarter 1845 at Ely reg. dist. which includes Littleport. Vol. 14, p. 53. This looks like your Charles W. Flowers was aka Charles Cornwell. This seems to match information given on the rootschat.com forum. I would order the certificate. Seems the parents weren't married & they were both very young in 1845. Since he was born in March 1845, he was probably conceived in the summer of 1844 - William B. Flowers would have been on school holidays perhaps and aged 15 [b. 1829], Charlotte may have been working somewhere and that is how they met. Certainly Charlotte and son Charles emigrated in 1855 the year WBF died in Cornwall. Perhaps a legacy funded the ticket. Also the marriage of Charles W. Flowers and Rachel Priest is on the IGI as 18 Apr 1871 in Wood County, Ohio. Perrysburg, where the Priests settled, is in Wood County. Interesting. Liane