Author Topic: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family  (Read 8788 times)

Offline sophia1422

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I am hoping for some advice on how best to proceed in the search for the name of my grandmother's birth parents. We have no formal documentation and all information was told to my grandmother by her adoptive parents (William and Fanny Taylor of Barton Upon Humber), as well as snippets told by family friends.

My grandmother, Elsie Eva, was born 29 November 1911 (as far as she was aware - we have no birth certificate). We understand that her father was a doctor from Hull (Hessle) and her mother a nurse (believed to be French). It was said that they both died in a shipping accident and as the adoption was understood to have taken place when she was around 3-6 months old, we have assumed for many years that they were onboard the Titanic. However, I can find no information about them in the passenger lists. There were no other relevant shipping incidents.

Even if all the above is unfounded, I figured that the birth must have been registered. But I can't find any trace of an Elsie Eva being born in Hull either during qtr4 1911 or qtr1 1912.

I have also looked at the 1939 register which lists her dob as 11 October 1912 which just confuses me entirely!

Does anyone have any tips or ideas to shine any light on this? I am aware that there were no formal adoption records before 1926 but could there possibly be anything else held by any institutions?

I have also considered the possibility that the Hull connection could just be an elaborate story, and that the reasons for her adoption were much closer to home, so any further advice on this would be gratefully received!

Many thanks

Online CaroleW

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday 17 January 18 23:33 GMT (UK) »
Hi and welcome to Rootschat

Elsie Eva may not have been the name her birth was registered under - it may be the name she was given by whoever "adopted" her
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Offline Treetotal

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 17 January 18 23:59 GMT (UK) »
Hi and welcome to RootsChat...I am sure this story if true, would have been reported in the newspapers but I can't find a report of this type of incident for that period in either the Hull or Lincolnshire newspapers  :-\
I fear the story may have been covering up an indiscretion...shame she wasn't born before the 1911 census as that may have given you a lead.
Carol
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Offline groom

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 18 January 18 00:20 GMT (UK) »
Welcome to Rootchat.

I think your biggest problem is that, as Carole said, her name is very likely to have been changed when she was adopted, so she could well have been registered under an entirely different name.

Although the Titanic is an obvious disaster of the time, it seems odd that her parents would have travelled leaving her behind. 

You also have the alternate date of birth from the 1939 register - who gave that?
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Offline Flattybasher9

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 18 January 18 00:53 GMT (UK) »
Have you looked at the marriage of Samuel John Eva to Elsie Roberts, June 1910 Helston, Cornwall, and the birth of Elsie V. Eva, June 1912, Falmouth, Cornwall ?

There is also a birth of an Elsie Eva, September 1914 in Blackburn to a Gertrude Green and a Joseph Eva who were married September 1908 in Leigh.

Obviously, both of the above were born post Titanic sinking.

Malky

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 18 January 18 01:08 GMT (UK) »
Elsie V Eva married Marshall I Elliott in Falmouth in 1937
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Online Dundee

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 18 January 18 04:58 GMT (UK) »
Why do you think that Elsie was adopted at 3-6 months?

In 1911 William and Fanny TAYLOR were newly married with no children.  They are still in Barton upon Humber in 1939 and there are no children showing for them in the intervening years.  Can you confirm that Fanny's maiden surname was SMITH?

It seems more likely that Elsie was taken in after a longer passage of time when the couple were unsuccessful with having their own children.  Do you know if they had other children?

Debra  :)

Offline avm228

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 18 January 18 06:33 GMT (UK) »
Welcome from me too.

So she died in 1999 (Hereford) as Elsie Eva Evans with DOB recorded as 29 Nov 1911, but in 1939 with her adoptive parents her birthdate was recorded as 11 Oct 1912.

No wonder you are confused  ???
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)

Offline groom

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Re: Help please! Attempting to trace my adopted grandmother's birth parents/family
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 18 January 18 08:19 GMT (UK) »
We need something confirming! I presumed that Eva was a middle name and not a surname as she is recorded in 1939 as Elsie E Taylor. In which case the marriages and parents given early are not her. 

I wonder if the date of birth given in 1939 is the date the Taylors “adopted” her and changed her name?
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