What is the biggest mystery in your tree?

[whiteout7]

Jean Blyth's family, I want to know if she married or just went on as single?

William Wemyss (son of John Wemyss and Rebecca Anderson) was born 20 Oct 1769 in West Wemyss Fife.

He had an illegitimate son called James Wemyss, b. 07 Aug 1793, West Wemyss Fife, d. 25 Nov 1841, West Wemyss Fife with a Jean Blyth.

What I can see I don't know if I am on the right track at all

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=706679.0

And David Clark of Dairsie who got sentenced to 15 years in prison, where did he die, did he have any other children? Could I get a photograph?

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=773223.0

[jaybelnz]

The biggest mysteries in my tree are my paternal female Irish Ancestors!  I know who their fathers were, I know who two of them were married to, I know their Christian names -  : and that's about it! 

No mother was named on the marriage certs I have, no birth certs available - no death certs found - end of story!

[myluck!]

I was married for several years before I realised that my father-in-law was not an only child; he had a sister.
She was born in 1923 and possibly is still alive
She married in 1942 in Dublin and had six children, two of whom are now deceased
She left her family in 1962 and went to England
She changed her name by deed poll and married a second time in 1974 Zygmunt Pawlowski in Brent, London
He died in 1977 and she was the informant on his death certificate and there her trail ends!


My father-in-law died in 1990 and his wife in 1995
I would love to find out what happened to her......

[aghadowey]

I had a similar family mystery, myluck!

Years ago I tracked down a cousin of my grandfather and he told me the story of his aunt Maggie's vanishing act. She was a nurse, married and lived in England. I have a copy of a letter that Maggie's mother wrote saying Maggie's house bombed in WWII but family were safe. Sometime between then and 1951, when her mother died, Maggie's mother died and her brother's tried to find her- even hired private detective but no further trace.

The other day I found nursing registers online and put in her maiden name and got like to a record of her on register in 1950s with an address in Sussex!

[matthewj64]

Auntie Eva was the half-sister of my great-grandmother, Miriam Maida Potter (nee Murphy). Eva spent 8 years in the Girls' Industrial School in Hobart, Tasmania until she left in 1887 at the age of 16 or 17. She disappears from then until circa 1905 when she reappears in a photo with a man she would later marry using what I believe to be are false details. I would really like to find out where she went and what happened during that interval 

[Linda from Murton]

My biggest mystery is what happened to Dobson Dodds.  He was born in Cramlington about 1860; married Ann Carman in 1886 in Sunderland. They had five children that I know of. In 1883 he pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to nine months hard labour.

I found him on the 1908 Electoral Register living in the Township of Denaby at 44 Braithwell Street and 13 Bambro Street.

On the 10th March 1906 he was sentenced one month in jail or payment of £4.0.1d Wife maintenance arrears. He was released on 9th April, 1906.

On 28th July 1906 he was again sentenced to  one month in jail or payment of £6.19.1d Wife maintenance arrears. He was released on 27th August, 1906 and then disappears of the face of the earth. 

One of his sons, in 1912, declared Dobson as being dead.

I can find no trace of Dobson's whereabouts or death after 1906. I wondered if he moved and changed his name so they  wouldn't come after him again for Wife maintenance.  His wife died in 1912.

I would dearly love to know what happened to Dobson Dodds.

[Gillg]

My gt-gt-grandmother, Annie Church, married Amos Fairey in 1864 and had eight children with him.  Amos died in June 1883 and in June 1884 Annie married John Cox, who I believe to be her cousin.  The story was that she went off to town and came back roaring drunk driving a horse and cart with this new husband beside her!  I don't think that can be quite right, as her eldest son was a witness at the wedding in their home village!  The marriage doesn't seem to have worked out, as Annie then left the Hunts village and headed north with her children for Burnley, where she joined her widowed sister-in-law and family.  I think she must have inherited some money , as she is recorded in the 1890 census as "living on her own means".  She has two death entries on the GRO index, where her surname is given as Cox and Fairey.  The coroner's report calls her Annie Cox, but the local newspaper death announcement calls her Annie Fairey, probably because her son was the undertaker and gave the details to the paper. 

I'd love to know what happened to the marriage and whether John Cox accompanied her to Burnley or just stayed back in Huntingdonshire.  Yet another question I would love to have asked my grandfather.

[Barnes612]

The biggest mystery in my tree is Catherine Lankenau.

Born in Vegesack, Bremen in 1824, in May 1849 her illegitimate daughter, Ann, was christened. Then in September 1849 Ann died in Rochdale.

How and why did they get to Rochdale? I can understand if they got on a ship from Bremen and ended up in Liverpool or Hull or some other sea port with Bremen connections, but to travel to England in the first place, then make the journey to Rochdale, all with a baby between birth and a few months old.

Totally perplexing.

In 1850 she married the son of the woman who registered the death of her daughter.

After many years of research, I made brief contact with the German side of the family who had no idea about Ann or that Catherine had ended up in England.

The only thing I can think of is that she ran away, caught a ship (there is no evidence of her in passenger lists that I have seen so far), and somehow when she got to England got on a train or barge and ended up where she did. I have no idea how she became involved with the family she married into. Perhaps they found her on the street with a poorly baby? Who knows.

[JAKnighton]

My great-great grandfather abandoned his apprenticeship with his older brother and joined the army. After he was kicked out due to poor health, he never worked with his family again (they were coach builders) and he moved across the county to work at a different firm. Something obviously happened with his family that caused him to fall out but I will likely never find out.