Yes, that's where I always get them from!
Indeed, on several documents relating to my grandfather (Poorhouse records, fisherman's apprenticeship documents, prisoner of war records etc) it states his birth was 1892, Sudbury. The difficulty is that by all accounts he never wanted to talk about his early life, probably for very good reasons. And all trails with the name we knew him by have drawn a blank.
I'm sorry not to be able to be completely open about his name and circumstances at present, but if this research all turns out to be correct it would mean that the family name that was passed on from him was not his true bloodline. It may be that he was looked after at a very young age by people without the Harrington name, and was not aware that the surname he was using was not his father's name. Or he may have deliberately muddied the waters to remove himself from any family connections. He was certainly very bitter about his early experiences. He did however go on to lead a very full if rather short life.
I personally have no problems with any of this, but I feel I have to tread a little carefully with other family members who share what could be a non hereditary name from Charles. Thinking you are a certain person built around a surname, and then suddenly being told your not could be disturbing. Once I have enough evidence, I intend to offer it to all my relatives, and give them the choice of whether they want to know the full details. I will then have to decide if I make the knowledge public on my family tree.
Thank you all again for your continuing help with this search. It really is quite unreal that we MAY be getting somewhere with a mystery that has existed since Charles first appeared to my family in c. 1912.
