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Messages - lampy

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Somerset / Re: Ruth LM Gaunt/Kortright, parents Ellen Sweet and Gilbert Gaunt
« on: Friday 13 August 21 17:03 BST (UK)  »
Thank you Queenie!!

It's nice to hear from someone who has faced the same adoption-brick-wall struggle and understands the frustration.

Yep, I noticed the slightly different birth date too. Given that death certificate dates are just what the informant knows (though the informant was another of her daughters) and as you say, 1939 register is much nearer the actual time, so I figure they had less time to forget it!! I agree, I should start a search for that date. It's tricky because the GRO only gives the quarter it was registered in so March and February are still both in the same quarter. A while ago I tried searching for any GRO entries for a "Ruth" born Jan-Mar 1937 and only came up with a few results, and all but two were immediately ruled out by death dates. One of the remaining two had different married names on some people's trees. But I haven't managed to find any link between the remaining candidate and any of Ellen/Gilbert's trees.

Then again, they may have completely renamed her when they adopted her so she might not even have been a "Ruth" originally. My mother's adoptive parents contemplated changing her name entirely, but in the end opted to keep her birth name.

The few DNA matches I found seem to be on Ellen's line, much further back (Hancock/Ellis) but seem to come from so far back I'm not sure if that is just a coincidental random distant ancestor, which is misleading me.

I just read on another post here about The Leeds Method, so I have started on that to see if I can make any headway in sorting out some different branches. I think it has potential. I'm certainly seeing a few clusters appearing.

I'm hoping that might help as well if she was renamed after adoption. At least might be able to whittle down the options a bit.

For now I am driving myself crossed-eyed trying to do this Leeds chart lol.
It's tricky - I don't have any 2nd cousins matches, a couple of 2nd cousins 1/2removed and a fairly small number of third cousins. It seems like basically no one from her immediate family has put their DNA on any genealogy websites. A bit odd really because I'd have thought with all the adoptions (5 of her children were adopted) people would be more inclined to search.

Thanks again for your reply and sharing your own experience and ideas :-)



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Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / Re: Help with 1939 Reg: Ruth L Gaunt
« on: Sunday 08 August 21 18:29 BST (UK)  »
Thank you all! Much appreciated.  :)
That all makes sense.

After a while of squinting at records my brain gets a bit frazzled and I can't see the woods for the trees sometimes   ::)

Indeed, her initials aren't ML- it's Lavinia Mary (LM) and she remarried to one Dennis Reeves.

It's been a frustrating thing, with her being adopted. I guess I keep being overly hopeful that I will find some small detail that could give me a clue as to where she came from  ;)
Her daughter (my mother) was also adopted so I have very little information to work from.


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Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / Help with 1939 Reg: Ruth L Gaunt
« on: Sunday 08 August 21 04:05 BST (UK)  »
Can anyone help me decipher the entry for Ruth L Gaunt in the 1939 Register?

I have managed to get it opened via FindMyPast and have the image.

1939RegCleaner2

I can't quite make out the annotations in the first column. On the RH page column11 it does say "See page 24" - however most entries on page 24 are redacted/closed.

On the entry it has her name as Ruth L Gaunt but it is crossed out all the way across from columns 3 to 10. Written in is her name as Ruth M L KArtright.

She married Hugh KOrtright but not until 1959, but the annotation is dated 1954 (she would have been 16 years old at that point)

She was adopted, I don't know if that has any bearing on it. It seems odd that they crossed through the whole entry instead of just her surname (if it was a married name)

I can see a scribbled word (possibly starting with 'r', an 'f' in the middle and maybe ending in 'd'??)
followed by SM dated 9-2-1954. There's the ?ECIP SM? Above that I can make out '12' but no idea what the rest says. (Not sure what SM means)

Any ideas?!

4
Somerset / Ruth LM Gaunt/Kortright, parents Ellen Sweet and Gilbert Gaunt
« on: Friday 30 July 21 19:11 BST (UK)  »
I've been trying to research this family member for a long time.

Ruth Lavinia Mary Gaunt.

I have a copy of the marriage certificate for her first marriage:
24 Feb 1959 in Chelvey, Somerset
married to Hugh Forbes Clifford Kortright who was born 1 Feb 1917 (easier branch to research)
Ruth's age is stated as 22 at time of marriage (and Hugh's as 42) and her occupation as 'farm worker'
Her residence as Edgeley Cottage, Rock Road, Yatton (Somerset)
It lists her father as Gilbert Evelyn Gaunt.

However, I cannot find any birth records for a Ruth Gaunt in the UK around those years.

I got a copy of her death certificate, which gave her date of birth as 23 Feb 1937 in Clevedon, North Somerset. (Near to Bristol)
But there are no records of that name and date in that place. I contacted the local/county office who came back and told me they had no records matching that name.

She died in 2011 in Wootton-under-edge in Gloucestershire.

Ruth remarried at least once, to a Dennis Reeves. She had quite a few children - most of whom were taken into care and then adopted.
From the missing birth records it looks like she might have been adopted herself. Which leads me to a brick wall.
There was an orphanage around that time in Clevedon.
There are surnames in the Gaunt/Sweet family that come up in the family trees of some of my "DNA cousins" on MyHeritage, which makes me wonder if she was adopted within the family.
Another "family story" from a relative (decades ago) was that one of her parents stabbed the other parent, but I have no idea if that is true as some of the things that were said were not all that reliable!

Her father, as listed on the marriage certificate, Gilbert Evelyn Gaunt, was a farmer born 14 May 1885 in Edgbaston, who went back and forth to Canada around 1904 to at least 1926 and had a homestead in Battle River, Alberta. As did at least one sibling who stayed out there permanently.
In 1919 he was back in England and married Ellen Alice Sweet, in Stratford (Near Tewkesbury) and was back out to Canada in 1920 with the married couple on the 1926 Canadian census.

By the time of the 1939 register they were back in England, living in Long Ashton, Somerset along with Ellen's brother Henry G Sweet (now widowed) and 2 "closed entries" (presumably one of which is Ruth?)
Gilbert died in 1973 in Yatton, Somerset.
His siblings were: Lilian Chrystabel Gaunt (moved to Canada), Violet Doris Gaunt 1888, John David Neele Gaunt 1895 (moved to Canada), Mildred Corinne Fay Gaunt 1890 (married Rope), Vernon Charles Patrick Gaunt (moved to Canada) and Lionel George Frederick Gaunt 1882 (moved to Canada) Several of these siblings were born in Holywood, Co Down, Ireland.
His father was Wilmot Gaunt b. 1846 Walworth, Surrey though Wilmot's siblings seem to have been born in Birmingham. His mother was Prudence Annie Lawledge

His Gaunt ancestors were mainly in Staffordshire and also include Knight, Hall, Myott, Darby,

His wife (therefore Ruth's "mother") was Ellen Alice Sweet. Born in July either 1884 or 1885 in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire.  Her father was Richard George Sweet (1855) from Sirhowy, Monmouthshire (but died in Somerset) and her mother was Mary Ann Hancock possibly born in 1853 in Axbridge/Winscombe, Somerset. Her family spent some time in Wooton Wawen.

She had siblings: Henry George Sweet 1883, Sarah Kate (Babs) Sweet 1891, Mary Belle Day Sweet 1889, Richard James Sweet 1881.

Other names further back on that branch are Hancock, Day, Ellis, White, Wall/Williams.

I am at a loss as to how to get around this brick wall of identifying Ruth Lavinia Mary's actual parents (if, as it seems, they were not Gilbert and Ellen) and birth record.
I was told by the local register office that the dob given on the death certificate will have been given by the informant and not checked against any birth records, so it's possible that the date and place could be wrongly remembered.

I have no contact with the living relatives and due to the issues around adoptions and other family matters I don't want to try to find them and approach them.

If any of these names ring a bell with anyone, or if anyone has any ideas where to go next, I'd muchly appreciate it!!

Lampy

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