Dear Phil,
What a remarkable co-incidence. I was just browsing around looking for details of the Heppenstall family when I found your post. I think I may have some interesting news for you. My name is Ken Graham and I am the grandson of Laurence Frederick Graham - born Laurence Frederick Rogers and as far as I know, the son (or adopted son)of Henry Albert Rogers! I have spent the better part of the last 40 years trying to find the origins of my grandfather and it was only about 8 years ago that a genius of a guy by the name of Mike Say was able to demonstrate to me that my grandfather's birth was actually registered in the name of Laurence Frederick Rogers and not Graham!
Laurence Frederick Rogers, his brother Leonard Philip Rogers and their Mother Mary (nee Heppenstall) emigrated to Cape Town South Africa when my grandfather was 3, which we believe was in 1894.
Mary (Rogers) ostensibly moved to Cape Town with the two boys to join her "husband" Charles Henry Graham, my great grandfather. Charles Henry Graham was a journalist and became the editor of the South African Railway Magazine, a post he held for some 30 years until his retirement. I vaguely remember my great grandfather who died when I was about 4 years old and I remember him as a kindly old guy with a great sense of humour - I was certainly entertained by him and remember laughing a lot in his presence.
BUT, there remains a mystery, which we still haven't solved - were Henry Albert Rogers and Charles Henry Graham one and the same person? And if so - why the name change?
I have a copy of the birth certificate of Henry Albert Rogers who was born on the 5th November 1857 (I need to check that year) and the only thing I know for reasonable certainty (my deceased Uncle's unprompted memory at the age of 75) was that Charles Henry Graham's birthday was 5th November!!! Now either this is a remarkable coincidence or they were one and the same person, but we have never been able to prove things one way or the other.
My grandmother Irene Graham - married to Laurence Frederick, knew the details of the "mystery", but sadly took them to her grave. The reason I say this is that on more than one occasion, she told both my father (Kenneth Eric Charles Graham) and my uncle (Eric Leonard Graham) that come what may they should always know that their history was that of the GRAHAM family. The name Rogers was never mentioned, other than on one occasion just before WW2 a young man in his 20s passed through South Africa on his way to Australia from England and stayed with my grandparents. His surname was Rogers and my Dad and his brother were told that he was a distant cousin!? No more was ever been heard from him or the family he was going to in Australia!
I hope this doesn't add to your mystery, but I'd be intrigued to know if you have come across any further clues in the last few months.
Kind regards
Ken Graham
