I'm trying to find information about my 2 x great grandfather, George Best.
All I know about him is that George fathered my great-grandmother Ann Best, who was born at 84 Charter Street In Manchester on 21st December 1858.
Ann's mother was Prudence Dainter (sometimes spelt Daintry or Dainty), who was born and brought up in Birmingham.
George is recorded on both Ann's birth certificate and marriage record as her father and although Prudence later married another man, Ann retained the name Best until she married Joseph Ray in 1878. I can find no evidence of Prudence and George ever marrying.
Whether George was Mancunian or a Brummie I've no idea although Charter Street where Ann was born was in a notorious part of Manchester, and according to a local researcher I spoke to might well have been somewhere an unmarried woman from Birmingham would go to have her baby.
Family oral history/legend tells that George went off on a whaling ship shortly after Ann was born, and that after seven years of no contact Prudence had George declared officially dead and married Henry Keen in 1868 which if the story is true suggests they may have married.
George allegedly showed up again briefly when Ann was older, and introduced himself as her real father.
Any information anyone may have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!