Hi, I am new here, having found a link in the Australian Family Tree Connections magazine. I have been researching my late mother's family tree with very little effect, and much frustration. Briefly, the info I have is this.
The first record I have of my grandfather was his marriage to my grandmother in Melbourne in 1913. On that certificate, and on later certificates - a second marriage, a WW1 (failed) enlistment form and his death in 1939 - the same information is given:
Parents: Francis Hargraves (weaver) and Mary McQuillan
Birth: about 1880 (dates from about 1879-1882 are possible because of some 'flexibility' in his age) in Lincoln, UK.
Trouble is, I cannot find any couple of those names, any person of his name and any birth in the UK, and people on a UK forum also checked and found nothing. In fact, the only couple of those names I have found anywhere in the world lived in Victoria, and he was a policeman.
That Francis & Mary Hargrave (no 's', but that isn't significant) came from Ireland, married in Australia, lived in Stawell and Melbourne, had a large family but no Ernest, and I have been able to find most of their birth, death and family information, and there is no trace of any Ernest. I even found a descendent of one of their relatives, but he has no information either.
I am assuming Ernest McQuillan Hargraves is not his birth name, and he changed it for some reason, which makes it almost impossible to trace him. The only clues I have are these:
- It is surely no coincidence that the only couple of his claimed parents names were living in Melbourne only a decade before he married at age 33, and I assume he must have known them or have been related to them.
- In various genealogy magazines and websites, I have read quite a few stories of people who changed their names to escape from police, a debtor or an unwanted marriage, or because of an 'illegitimate' birth, but they almost always kept the same first name.
- He gave his middle name, McQuillan, to both his daughters by his first marriage, one of whom was my mum. That suggests to me that his original surname may have been McQuillan and he wanted to preserve it.
So my best and desperate guess is that he may have originally been Ernest McQuillan, but I can find no-one of that name that fits either. I feel I may have reached the proverbial brick wall, and perhaps my only hope is if someone happens to be researching a family where an Ernest or a McQuillan suddenly disappears.
I know it is a lot to ask, but does anyone have any ideas please?