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Messages - helvissa

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1
That's a good idea - just had a look though and no joy!

I've just emailed a family member to ask if they remember a Harwich connection. And I just looked through an archive box of photos etc that I've picked out from the main "family archive" (massive, confused bundle in the garage is more accurate!) and found a drawing of Harwich which looks like it was once the front of a greetings card. I have to wonder if maybe Doris pretended to elope and sent a card of Harwich to her family to say "Guess what, guys? We're married!"

But actually weren't....

(a massive guess, I know... who knows how that picture of Harwich ended up in the collection, and why it was kept? Could be anything, but...)

2
Hello,

At the risk of annoying everyone by commenting on an older thread...

This might answer a mystery regarding someone in my family. I was told she had married "Uncle Fred" (Frederick Victor Smith) but I've never been able to find their marriage in the BMD indexes (I looked on several sites!). Although his name isn't that unusual, his wife was called Doris Lily Nunn, but I just can't find the record.

When the 1939 Register was released, I saw that beside her name is says NR230 DBZ, and 30/12/49, with her name changed from NUNN, Doris L to SMITH, Doris Lily. So I thought maybe the marriage had taken place but there's an error in the indexes which is making it impossible to find. [DBZ, I have just discovered thanks to this link: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/1939-register-enumeration-districts is Harwich, not Southend, which is where Doris was living when the register was taken, nor is Harwich in Suffolk, where Doris eventually lived, though of course it's not far from Suffolk at all]

I know they met in the guesthouse that Doris' mother ran when Fred stayed there during or just after the war. Fred had been in both the Navy and the Army, and I've got his Army log book - this gave me his date of birth, which was fortunate as I could then find him on the 1939 Register and other records.

I found him on the 1939 Register with another woman and two closed records. One of the records has recently been opened, and it turns out this is for a daughter who was born in 1921 (so might've been opened by someone doing their family tree!). I can see around the black strip for the last closed record and (having checked other records) it's for another daughter.

So I found out that Fred was married before he "married" Doris, and as I can't find a marriage entry for Fred and Doris, I assume that Fred's first wife was still alive and that they'd separated without divorcing. Based on what's in this thread, then I'm assuming (until any other evidence turns up!) that Doris changed her surname to Fred's without them actually marrying - and NR230 is referring to a change of name that didn't come about by marriage.

I can't see her in the London Gazette, though!

3
Suffolk Lookup Requests / Re: Washbrook baptisms pre-1754 DAY
« on: Monday 24 September 18 15:15 BST (UK)  »
Should anyone be interested - I ended up buying fiche for both Washbrook and Belstead and have been transcribing them.

You can find them on www.freereg.org.uk and also on my website, http://essexandsuffolksurnames.co.uk/parish-register-transcriptions/suffolk/washbrook-st-marys/

I did indeed find an Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Day, baptised in Washbrook in 1751! Now to find out more about Abraham and his wife Mary Rafe...

4
Oooh that button sounds handy - I've often wanted to be able to search by location rather than by name.

5
Thank you!

That might explain it then...!


6
I've tested with FTDNA (autosomal, mt) and Ancestry autosomal). I've had my parents test with FTDNA as well (autosomal, my dad's Y-chromosome). I've uploaded all the autosomal results to Gedmatch.

I'm rather confused as someone who has tested with Igenea has got in touch, saying we're 4th cousins. I haven't tested with Igenea and as far as I'm aware, you can't upload Igenea results to Gedmatch.

How have they found the match? Unless they've paid to upload their results to FTDNA or Ancestry - is that possible? (I know you can with some companies, but I know vanishingly little about Igenea!). Or do FTDNA or Ancestry supply results to other companies for matches? (I can't see them doing that as they'd presumably need permission).

I'm just... somewhat confused!


7
I think the lack of trees can be down to reasons for people testing.

As someone's said, it might be because they *have* to open an account on Ancestry and haven't got a tree themselves as they're testing to help a relative.

I think also there's people who just want to find out their ethnicity, and really aren't bothered about who their 3 x gt-grandparents were!

I originally tested with FTDNA, then did a test with Ancestry when it was on special offer. I have been frustrated by the lack of trees myself, but also by people sending me emails where they blast a load of their relatives names at me and demand to know how we're related. I don't know! Look at the tree - I've supplied it for a reason.

It's especially annoying when they've looked at my tree, then try to bend the facts presented in it to fit some random theory they have. "You've got the surname [blah] in your tree, but you're wrong, it should be [blah] which is the name of my [insert distant ancestor here], because we match at [insert genetic distance here] and that's the only way it fits into my tree." Because they don't get that the genetic distance presented by the test might not actually be correct, and they don't seem to appreciate that I might have spent years researching that family in detail, through multiple kinds of document. It gets in the way of looking for matches in a sensible manner. Arrghhh!

8
Thanks!

I recall looking at that one before, but couldn't find anything. There is a Captain Thomas Taylor listed but it's too early to be Alfred's dad. The other Thomas Taylors who appear in it around the time he was apparently sailing were lower down the pecking order than captain.

So the mystery lingers on!

9
Essex Lookup Requests / Re: Dovercourt, Essex
« on: Sunday 23 July 17 19:56 BST (UK)  »
It's such a shame, isn't it!

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