BOSWELL, Mary Ellen - which one?!

[brigidmac]

My mother spent ten years searching before i phoned the Cheshire records office they were incredibly helpful i think they did an initial  search  free or cheap and then charged for me to get the affiliation order but the father was living in Birkenhead at the time .And we had a probable name for him

...You'd have to ask the relevant records office in Wales if they had any  documents...If you can guess the father .

[TerriG]

Thanks for the useful information.  Unfortunately I haven't a clue who the father is, but this may be useful in the quest to identify my Gran's grandfather as I have a suspect.

[Flemming]

Hello Terri, with respect to a FindMyPast subscription for searching electoral rolls, I believe there is free access in libraries now, if you're close to one.
Flemming.

[TerriG]

Thanks Flemming, I'll have a look next time I'm there.

[brigidmac]

You can also get a free taster subscription to FindMyPast ..I found it very useful to use from home for a month ...

[TerriG]

Hi All - hope you are all keeping well.  I can't believe it's been nearly 7 years since I first posted my conundrum.  I'm afraid I'm not much closer to finding out which Mary Ellen gave birth to my Great Auntie Lily, but I recently re-read the letter (transcribed below), and my eyes were drawn to the word "bonny".  Could this be a clue as to Mary Ellen's upbringing or parentage?  Obviously Scottish springs to mind but, given that she gave birth in Tranmere, should I consider anywhere else?

"Be(r)th
Llanfairfechan

Dear Mr and Mrs Lyon
At last a line of thanks for your kind letter and photo, I am sorry not to have wrote before but I have been so poorly I have not felt able.  I hope you won’t think me ungratefull, you would not doubt my gratitude for all your kindness to my little darling if you could see my heart, how I long and fret about her, but I have felt very much happier since I had your letter I do think she as come on and my mistress thinks she is bonny too bless her it is very like her too, this is a very nice place and there are a great many people here, the yeoma(n)ry is camping here so is very crowded at present, I am living in hopes it will set me up (the change) fancy my baby will soon be two months old, you will hardly tell her from your own having her so young, all I hope that God will spare her to be a blessing and a comfort to you both.
Now I close with love to yourself and Mr Lyon
a kiss for Lily
I ever remain your gratefull friend
E Boswell"

If anyone thinks I've wrongly transcribed anything, please let me know.  If you are new to this post, I apologise, as there's quite a lot to read through, but some fresh eyes would be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading.
Terri

[brigidmac]

just reread this

Bonny was a term used in the court case to describe baby  jessie SMITH b 1906 Swansea
her adoptive mother coincidentally was  a Mrs BALL !

The BALLs come from a line of low fertility so no descendants to ask if they knew more about this adopted child or had photos ..facial recognition techniques can now be used on old photos to spot family resemblance

and Jessie had no descendants so we couldnt follow DNA leads

but you could iuse dna results if any of her descendants or descendents of her half siblings get tested

i relise I didnt say that you dont have to have Fathers name to look for Affiliation order
name of baby + mother should be enough ..but its really a search best done by professionals
worth a phone call to a few local offices to see if they may have records .
 did you explore baptisms ..sometimes placed children were baptised at a later age there may be clues to father or other significant person  in middle names which are not always same as name on birth cert .

dont give up !

[TerriG]

Thank you for your suggestions.

I did look at baptisms, but didn't find anything.  Lily's adoptive parents were married in the Wesleyan Church, so I assume that if she was baptised, it would have been there.

I'd be surprised if there was an affiliation order as the baby was placed with her adoptive parents straight away.

[brigidmac]

Adoptions werent official then and the couple may have taken on the child with payments initially . The Victorian values would expect the father to pay his way .or be responsible in some way if he was a family member he cpuld have been made a godparent.all speculation s can be followed

Were the adoptive couple strict Wesleyan ?  Could the child have bern baptised once older ? .its intriguing .thanks for permission to share the letter .maybe fresh eyes will find something or recognise the names.

Do you have any photos of lily ?