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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: zzzbed3001 on Thursday 03 January 19 11:58 GMT (UK)
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Hi All
I am trying to find out who my grandfather is. Here is the scenario:
My Nan (living) does not want to disclose any information about who he is.
My Mother (living) does not know any information aside from he was in the US Air Force based in the UK (i have deduced either in the Coventry or Northamptonshire areas) in the 1950's - as my mother was born in 1954.
I know he was mixed race (presumably the reason for the secrecy based on the time). All my Nan's sisters have are now deceased so there is no one of her age living to ask.
Do you have any ideas on how to progress this?
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Welcome to rootschat :).
You may or may not be aware that rootschat is not a forum for finding living people so you must not give the names of living people on here. Some here may be able to give advice though. When you have made 2 more posts you can exchange that information by rootschat's personal message system.
To start with though, does your mother have her birth certificate? You can look for the reference to it on freebmd.org, then when sure of the actual reference, order a .pdf of it for £6 from GRO
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/
It may or may not name her father.
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Hi
Thanks for the info - it is good to know.
She doesn't - i have done a search on findmypast and have found the transcription, however it doesn't ask about the father, simply the mother's maiden name.
Thanks
Mark
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The transcription on findmypast is only of the GRO index, same as freebmd. The actual certificate can only be obtained from the GRO. This will give the address of the birth, actual date of birth etc. There are threads on here to which replies have been made [some by current or retired registrars who obviously know their stuff] about when a father's name can be entered on the certificate - if the mother is not married then I understand the father has to be present for this to happen. Yours looks a difficult search :(
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I know - quite frustrating! My Nan has apparently said in the past that she would take his name to the grave, so it isn't like i can approach her.
She has nieces and nephews, but i have no reason to believe they would know, if my own mother doesn't know.
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If you are thinking of obtaining a Birth Certificate please note that the PDF versions at £6.00 are only for Births up to 1918.
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I have thought about getting one of those DNA test things. I have physical characteristics which seem to come through my mother's side, but are not similar to my Nan's.
Do you think that could help?
I was also thinking whether there is anyway to see what US Air Force personnel were based in places close to Coventry/Northampton around 1953.
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ZZZ welcome to Rootschat. As far as I can see the USA was based in the south this may help. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_in_the_United_Kingdom
Have you thought that "nan" could possibly have invented an American to cover up a local man, married man, related man.....
Your mothers birth certificate is a must, as mentioned by the other posters, it will at least give her place of birth. If you have found the GRO reference to her it should have narrowed the district of birth- so either Northampton or Coventry?
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Do you know where your grandmother was living around 1953?
There was a USAF base at RAF Upper Heyford just over the Oxfordshire border.
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If you obtain the birth cert, it might give you the address where she was born, maybe a home birth. Or if you know the address, then look for neighbours. Maybe one will still be living that you can contact that might know the circumstances, they will probably have moved since then but may be still traceable.
Were any of your nan's sisters married? perhaps a living great uncle? or wider family, it must have been hard to keep that a secret.
How do you know your grandfather was mixed race? He may not have had any recent white heritage.
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Perhaps try dna , use ancestrydna and then upload to other sites for more matches. You possibly will get people related to his line, depends who has tested but you may need to put some work in and I would also test your mother as it will help to sort your matches out.
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DNA might certainly help if another relative has also done a test (don't give up hoping for any kind of match as it can take a while for a match).
It may be that other relatives know more than you think (either remembering something at the time or told to them years ago or something an older relative mentioned in more recent times).
If your grandmother doesn't want anyone to know your grandfather's name it is difficult but would she talk about the War in general at all? Perhaps get her talking about what it was like when she was young, rationing of food and clothing, work, dances and movies, etc. You may not get a name but it would give you a clearer picture of her life during that period.