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Does anyone know much about these results. My 2nd cousin and I (my Dad and her Mam were either full or half cousins, we are trying to establish which) have got a 2.3% match on the My Heritage DNA test. We knew there would be a match but we are trying to see how strong, as we think that my grandmother and her grandmother, who were effectively full sisters, were in fact only half sisters. Would that percentage match support that? I was working on the premise that (very roughly) siblings have about 50%, cousins 25%, 2nd cousins 12%. I know that's probably a primitive assumption but has anyone out there had experience of the results?

Hi everyone. I have a puzzle which I cannot resolve and while I think I have aired it before, I thought why not try again as you never know, someone might be able to point me somewhere.

My Grandmother was born Charlotte Gilroy in Gateshead, Co Durham on 20th June 1900. Her birth was registered by her mother Mary Ann Gilroy, who was unmarried and there is no mention of the father. I understand that the father would have had to have been present when the birth was registered for him to be on the certificate: anyway he's not mentioned. Mary Ann Gilroy's occupation at the time of the 1891 Census was 'Rope Factory Girl' and on the 1901 Census she is living with he father, occupation 'Rope Spinner' and no mention of a daughter: I can't locate a Charlotte Gilroy on the 1901 Census who would be my Grandmother.

The family story was that Charlotte's father was Thomas Drummond, who came from farming stock in Northumberland. The family moved to Gateshead and I think had some resource, as they lived in 'a big house near Saltwell Park' in Gateshead. The family disapproved of Thomas' relationship with Mary and he was not allowed to see her but they married after Charlotte's birth.

Problem was that when I started to research properly, I discovered that Thomas & Mary didn't actually marry until the June quarter of 1904, and my Grandmother's sister Margaret was born on 25th September 1904, so that looks to me like they were getting married because there was another child on the way. Anyway on the 1911 Census there is my grandmother with the family, named as Charlotte Drummond.

The next problem came was when I got to see my grandmother's wedding certificate: she married my grandfather in 1922 but is shown as 'Charlotte Gilroy' and where the father's name and occupation is shown,  it just has a line drawn through it as if her father was unknown. Yet Thomas Drummond would undoubtedly have been at the wedding and indeed one of the witnesses was a Thomas Drummond: the only other person of that name in the family was my Grandmother's younger brother who was only 14 at the time so I can't imagine a 14-year-old child being a witness at a wedding, so I assume the witness is her father/stepfather Thomas Drummond.

My Dad's cousin originally said that 'if you'd know my Grandad Drummond, there was no way he would have said a girl was a daughter of his if she hadn't been' and in addition I have one of those '4 generations' photos which shows my Dad, my Grandmother, Thomas Drummond, and Thomas' mother: but after 10-15 years or so she has changed her views and she now accepts that Thomas Drummond wasn't the father. Thinking about the physical similarity between my grandmother who was very fine-featured and her siblings who were quite heavy-featured have altered her opinion.

So I have finally detached Thomas from my Grandmother in my tree and made Mary a 'Single mother' to my Grandmother but the doubt remains in my mind, part of me says yes he was and part of me says no he wasn't.

Does anyone have any thoughts. Would DNA testing be of any value does anything think? My second cousin is into the family tree as well and would links between her and I in testing reveal anything?

David


Any thoughts anyone has would be

Great stuff, thanks a lot

I just wondered whether anyone was up on protocol of names on certificates in the 20s. My grandmother was born in 1900 in Gateshead and was christened Charlotte Gilroy, her mother was Mary Ann Gilroy, unmarried.  The family story was that her father, Thomas Drummond, wasn't allowed to marry Mary Ann Gilroy, as his family disapproved of her but that they married after her birth. When I researched however I found that Thomas and Mary Ann didn't get married until early 1904, and this looks as if it was because my grandmother's sister, my great aunt Margaret was on the way (she was born late 1904).
I can't find her on the 1901 Census but on the 1911 Census she is listed as Charlotte Drummond aged 11. However when she got married in 1922, she is recorded on the marriage cert as Charlotte Gilroy, and the space for her father's name and profession just have a line drawn through them. Thomas Drummond is a witness, which can only be either her mother's husband, or her brother Thomas but he was only 14 at the time, which would have been too young to be a witness at a marriage surely ?

Does anyone know whether the conventions of the time prevented her father from being named on the marriage cert, or does it just mean that he wasn't her father ?