Hi all,
I've been on a 25 year quest to find out who my Grandfather was. My Dad didn't know his father. His parents met in 1946. Hi mum was in the ATS and his dad was an ex-tank sergeant who had fought through the War, possibly in North Africa, certainly in Western Europe. They were going to get married, but them my Gran found out he'd been seeing someone behind her back, so she called it off. She was pregnant though and my dad was to be adopted, but her parents decided that they would raise him in the village of Fordyce in the North East of Scotland. My dad's name is John Alexander Wilson. My Grandmother did not like to talk about my Grandfather at all having subsequently married someone else.
I've recently taken a DNA test with myFTDNA hoping to find some relatives on my Dad's paternal line. This seemed to be my best hope of finding out who my Grandfather was and where he came from. I have a full family tree apart from my paternal line and it is particularly frustrating as a genealogist to have this big gap which I need to fill.
Here's what I do know about my Grandfather:
•He was known as "Eric Boon"
•I'm told he was called Eric after a famous boxer called Eric Boon of that time, his actual name was apparently John
•Unfortunately I have no DNA matches for the name Boon, and a family to whom I believed might be related have a different DNA type altogether
•He was born circa 1921-22
•My Grandmother said he was from Leeds
•He was a tank sergeant in the War, apparently right through North Africa and Western Europe after that
•When my Grandmother met him in 1946 he was driving lorry transporters for the army
•She was in the ATS down South and got a lift up to the Bridge-of-Don barracks in Aberdeen from him
•She believed that he stayed in the army and went on to be a recruitment officer
The upshot of the DNA testing is that... well there are no Boon relatives for a start, which made me wonder, if my Grandfather was illegitimate, or perhaps his father was etc. Several years ago, I put together a list of all the Eric and John Boon/Boone births in England within the rough timeframe of his birth (1921-22) and one of those candidates was:
John E. Boon b. Q1, 1923 at West Derby. Liverpool, Mother's surname: Boon.
What my DNA testing does show is a significant number of Irish surnames: Halligan, Carroll, Burke etc. With this John Boon being illegitimate, I wonder if he's my guy and clearly Liverpool was a gateway for Irish emigrants. Unfortunately, I can't find an individual matching the description I have, mentioned anywhere in association with any armoured corps in WWII. I have come across a John Ernest Boon who was a merchant seaman and may well be this individual, in which case at least I could rule him out of any further investigations. I did find another possible in Sculcoates, Kingston-Upon-Hull, who unfortunately didn't make it to adulthood.
If anyone can shed light on this matter, please do! Also, what's the story with English certificates? We can get 5 certs for £5 online in Scotland and I need to order a single paper copy for £10 from England? Is there any alternative?