RootsChat.Com

Hi Rosie and Ambly,

My apologies as I miss read what you originally said, thought you meant she was in her early 40s when she gave birth. Yes I see what you mean now. Since we had the results back from my heritage and it ruling out any link to what we thought was his half brother and the Agnes Foley we believed to be his mother. It does question the age of 19 or rather rules it out, as he was always told that was her age. What it does do now is open up a rather larger age range. Well on my Fathers original records it says that she was a domestic servant at 16 Newquay Gardens Harrow. The head of the house at that time was indeed Mary Teresa Smith and her two twin sons Geoffrey Denis Smith and Clifford Aubrey Smith, there was also a daughter of around 14 and she was at a boarding school only a few miles up the road. The Smiths moved out in the September of 1939, Agnes didn't go with them. The Smiths first rented the house in 1934 and the first time Agnes Foley appeared on the electoral roll was October 1938. This could mean she was there prior to 1938 and hadn't come of age as she would have had to be 21 in those days to be eligible to vote or it could mean she genuinely came in 1937. It throws for us two theory's. One, she was placed there by the Church of England as they found pregnant catholic girls homes to live in prior to giving birth and jobs, these usually being a domestic servant, they stayed with the families until 6 weeks before the birth and then moved into the unmarried mothers home, namely the one I mentioned, as it does also give her address as 2 Myddelton Square as residence of the informant on my Fathers birth certificate. Theory number two, being that she did know the family and she stayed with them until she had the baby and then returned to Harrow for a further 12 months and moved on. We did also wonder if one of the twins was indeed the Father of my Father, as strangely my Father was given the middle name Denis the same spelling as Geoffrey Denis. We have now managed to trace Geoffrey's niece down and she has kindly sent us a picture of Geoffrey and he bears no resemblance to my Father, not to say he isn't the Father as that means nothing. Im a spit of my Father as is my Grandson of me, which does suggest the y chromosome runs strong through our male side of the family. The fortunate thing is the niece we are now talking to has had a DNA test on ancestry, I have too and currently waiting for the results. From my Fathers results we have now managed to rule out two Agnes Foleys we have traced some close relatives who have also had DNA tests. Unfortunately the niece couldn't say if her grandmother knew Agnes prior to her living there. The only thing she did say was that the family were living in Spain and returned to the Uk in the early 1930s. The mother did also go under another name Habbijam. Just for the record on my Fathers DNA test it showed him as being 42% Celtic, namely Irish, Scots or Welsh and with a name like Foley are assumption his birth mother was Irish. If you both could help in anyway, we as a family would be so grateful. Hope this additional information helps and please feel free to ask me in any further questions. We have gone down many avenues trying to find some information. It so sad that all his adoption records have been destroyed and no court records exist either, only the court entry books, which sadly only showed his mothers name. A date of birth would crack this search, unfortunately the paper trail seems to be missing. The last thing I will share with you is that on the letter from The Adoptions Society to my Nan was that he had been baptised on 1/1/1938 at a church in North Harrow. Alas we have been able to trace this either.

She was indeed living with the Smiths and it giver her occupation at a domestic servant. We have been in contact with the only remaining relative who's mother was living there at the time. Sadly she hasn't been able to help us out with any information regarding Agnes. Strangle though my Father was given the same middle name of one of the sons who lived there at the time. We thought he may have been the father and we have been sent a picture of him and he is so contrasting to my Father and bears no resemblance whatsoever. The DNA test my Father had done through my heritage suggests 42% Irish, so given her name being Irish we are pretty certain she either came over from Ireland to give birth to my Father or was from a local Irish family.

We were always told by my Nan that his birth mother was 19 at the time of my Fathers birth. Now there is only one that would fit that year and she came over from Ireland in 1937 and trained as a nurse as this has been confirmed by family we have managed to trace. We assumed that this must be his birth mother. We also then found out that she had given a second child up for adoption in South Africa. Her son she gave up for adoption managed to trace her in 1990. He sadly passed away last year, but he had a DNA test done on my heritage prior to his death last year. My father has taken a test and it showed no match. So that has sadly ruled her out. It now also throws into doubt the age of my Fathers mother as we can find no further Agnes's born of that year in either England or Ireland and it also then throws into the mix, it could be anyone. Thats why we are so desperate to find out how old she was when she gave birth to my Father. She appeared on the Electoral register of 1938 in Harrow, this is the same address she put down on my fathers real birth records, of which we do have a copy. We are also led to believe that to be on the Electoral Register, you had to be 21. So once again it throughs into doubt that it was the one from Ireland anyway.

Hi everyone. I wondered if anyone out there has ever come across a mother and baby home at St Faiths, 2 Myddelton Square Finsbury, Middlesex.  We know from the records that this home was run by The Holborn Deanery and was also listed as Magdalen Home.