Author Topic: Finding my Biological grandfather  (Read 4516 times)

Offline MarkyP

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #9 on: Sunday 09 September 18 15:20 BST (UK) »
Thanks again for all the replies.

My mother has sent a message to the match so hopefully she'll get back to us soon. However her tree on Ancestry only has her descendants and I think she herself is 88, born in 1930. (my Mum is 76). I have managed to construct a tree with what I hope is the right person. I've gone back to her great grandparents on her paternal side, however her mother's maiden name is Smith which is proving problematic, I'll have to get some certificates to prove it, so I need to wait for any contact with her before I do that.

We have got some rumours with regards to my unknown grandfather. My mum's older brother has some memories of that time but knew nothing of the secret.  My mother's cousins did know the secret and has some memories. At the time of my mother's conception my nan was staying with friends in Nook, Wiltshire. They were from Portsmouth, so were avoiding the bombing. Nook has an army camp, which still exists to this day, but I have been unable to find out anything relevant as to who was based there in January 1941 which is when my mum was conceived. My uncle remembers by nan being particularly friendly with who he thinks might have been an Australian nicknamed Red, no proper name. He also seems to think that this gentleman may have died as a prisoner of war in a camp in the Far East. Bearing in mind that he would have been only 4-5 I'm not sure how accurate this could be. My mum's cousin also knew about this family secret, she overheard my nan telling her mum about it. She initially thought that the man was American, but as they hadn't entered the war by then it was more likely that he was Canadian.

This is all we have to go on I'm afraid, just rumour and conjecture which is why I'm really hoping that DNA is the answer.

Cheers,

Mark.
Jerome - Hampshire (including IOW)
Parsons - Surrey, Somerset and Devon

Offline sugarfizzle

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #10 on: Sunday 09 September 18 15:42 BST (UK) »

Mark, With that information you would ordinarily have a chance of getting somewhere, but with the war years there was a lot of mobility from within this country and from other countries, as you know.

I usually discount my American matches as being highly unlikely, but you can't.

I really hope this match replies to you, which country does she come from? If the lady is 88 she may or may not want to reply to you. If a younger person is managing her DNA or helping her with it, you may have better luck - sufficiently distant to be interested rather than scandalised.

You could also try uploading to other sites - Gedmatch, my heritage, FTDNA etc to see if more closish matches turn up.

If you're not sure how to do it,  here's a tutorial.

https://dna-explained.com/2018/08/28/family-tree-dna-step-by-step-guide-how-to-upload-download-dna-files/

Regards Margaret
STEER, mainly Surrey, Kent; PINNOCKS/HAINES, Gosport, Hants; BARKER, mainly Broadwater, Sussex; Gosport, Hampshire; LAVERSUCH, Micheldever, Hampshire; WESTALL, London, Reading, Berks; HYDE, Croydon, Surrey; BRIGDEN, Hadlow, Kent and London; TUTHILL/STEPHENS, London
WILKINSON, Leeds, Yorkshire and Liverpool; WILLIAMSON, Liverpool; BEARE, Yeovil, Somerset; ALLEN, Kent and London; GORST, Liverpool; HOYLE, mainly Leeds, Yorkshire

Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.go

Offline hurworth

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #11 on: Sunday 09 September 18 18:07 BST (UK) »
We've also recently narrowed down our search for an unknown grandfather to one of two brothers.  The match that helped clinch it is the grandson of his sister.

It's taken almost three years since the DNA results first came back to reach this stage. 

I had already identified a small group of people that were fairly close matches that didn't appear to be related via any of the known lines but they were scattered all over the world, and across the various DNA companies.  Some of them did know how they were related to each other and those people were all descended from a man from a town in Ireland.  The new matches gt-grandmother has this surname and also was from the same county, and he also matches some of the others.   

In terms of working out which brother - my thoughts are that it's probably not the son who was in his mid to late teens and most likely still living with his parents hundreds of miles away, and who appears to have been a hard working honest man. 

It's more likely to be his rather good looking fair haired blue eyed older brother who would have been in his twenties and moved around the country a bit.  I've found a couple of good photos of him in public records.       

Offline MarkyP

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #12 on: Sunday 09 September 18 18:15 BST (UK) »
That's interesting, it is working for some people  :)

Margaret, I'm hoping that she does reply, but I'm guessing it might be someone running it for her. She is in this country. There are only 11 people in her tree, of which only 2 are named, her deceased husband and a grandson. I think it is possibly the grandson who is running the tree. I've also just uploaded both mine and my mother's data to Gedmatch, fingers crossed.

Regards,

Mark.
Jerome - Hampshire (including IOW)
Parsons - Surrey, Somerset and Devon


Offline hurworth

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #13 on: Sunday 09 September 18 18:37 BST (UK) »
Upload everywhere.  MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA as well.


Offline sugarfizzle

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #14 on: Sunday 09 September 18 18:54 BST (UK) »

She is in this country.

Regards,

Mark.

Which country? I presume England from your surname interests, but people from many countries use this forum.

If it is England it should make it easier for you to find information  :)

Regards Margaret
STEER, mainly Surrey, Kent; PINNOCKS/HAINES, Gosport, Hants; BARKER, mainly Broadwater, Sussex; Gosport, Hampshire; LAVERSUCH, Micheldever, Hampshire; WESTALL, London, Reading, Berks; HYDE, Croydon, Surrey; BRIGDEN, Hadlow, Kent and London; TUTHILL/STEPHENS, London
WILKINSON, Leeds, Yorkshire and Liverpool; WILLIAMSON, Liverpool; BEARE, Yeovil, Somerset; ALLEN, Kent and London; GORST, Liverpool; HOYLE, mainly Leeds, Yorkshire

Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.go

Offline Sinann

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #15 on: Sunday 09 September 18 23:33 BST (UK) »
I had a match with the son of an adoptee. His father was born in America. I'm in Ireland, they were very surprised to find he had Irish DNA
New records being released soon after we made our match allow them to get his father's birth cert so the mother was known,(also Irish) they also had matches to some of her descendants.
We still don't know who the father is but we did figure out which of my families he is from.
We knew it was my mother's side as he also matched with one of my first cousins and her niece.
We worked through each great grandparent.
Great grandfather number one had no sibling and none of his children would have been in America at the time.
His wife had lots of siblings and I had lots of matches from their families but the adoptee's son didn't match with any of them.
Wife of great grandfather number 2 had one sister who had no children
Her husband I can't trace if he had siblings or not but this couple had 2 sons in America in the same town as the child was born.
More matches turning up on more than one site confirmed the match was within this family.
The two men in America are both a good bit older than the mother so the father could be one of them or a younger relative who went to stay with them. We might never know but you never know what might turn up someday perhaps the father had more children and a closer DNA match might turn up.
At least we have narrowed down to a family and the mother is known which is a long way from first discovering you father was adopted only because it was written on a census return.

It can work.
Good luck.

Offline MarkyP

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #16 on: Monday 10 September 18 09:51 BST (UK) »
Will definitely load the DNA to all the other sites as well.

It is good to hear that others are having some success  :)

Margaret, yes, sorry I should have specified, it is England. The match is currently in Stevenage, but all her family seems to have originated in Sunderland, except possibly a Smith grandfather who is from Austria!!!!!!!
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Offline MarkyP

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Re: Finding my Biological grandfather
« Reply #17 on: Sunday 09 December 18 15:39 GMT (UK) »
Just an update on my ongoing search  :)

We've been in contact with the match and it has proved helpful, but unfortunately not provided any definitive answers. However being able to confirm who she is I've been able to construct a tree and I think I have a likely culprit to be my mother's biological father. Unfortunately, he(his name is John William, as is his father's) and his parents have disappeared off the face of the earth, despite having the unusual surname of Outterside. The match's G.Aunt would have married into this family, and she does remember a rumour of the family heading off to Finland, of all places. John William was born in 1906 in Durham, the parents married in 1905, and that's the last I can find of them, despite having all the relevant information, marriage and birth dates etc. I can't find them in the 1911 census, or any passenger lists, or any census information abroad, I've googled them to death, searched any record I can find but no sign of them. It also appears their close family didn't know where they were either as his grandmother died in 1923 and in her Will left her estate to his father (he was an only child) if he could be found!!

Any suggestions for further records would be gratefully received.  :)
Jerome - Hampshire (including IOW)
Parsons - Surrey, Somerset and Devon