I have two questions regarding my search for a great grandfather.
My grandmother's birth cert. only lists a mother. I have asked living family members and only two knew about the situation of the birth, but neither knew the name of the father. However, one said that it was someone who died in WWI. So, I have looked at the people who died in WWI in the area where my family lived, Hyssington & Churchstoke on the Shrops/Mont border. I could only find one person from that area who died in the war and they lived 3 1/2 miles from my family's abode. The name of the individual is John Francis Gardner, but he was known as Francis or Frank and you will see him in the 1911 census as
Francis John Gardner/Gardener. My grandmother's name was
Frances Joan, a possible feminisation of Mr. Gardner's name.
I've looked up his military record, which shows him as killed in action 2 Jun 1918. It says he was posted on 8 Oct 1917, 42 weeks before the birth of my grandmother, which is the last week of a "term pregnancy". His WWI service card is below:
1 - My first question is for military buffs. Exactly what would have been going on in the life of Francis John Gardener after the period of his enlistment? His serivce papers show he joined in Feb 1917. I am guessing he would have been in training during this time (probably away from home)? Would he have gone back home just before he was posted?
2 - My second question is for people who have reseached births out of marriage. I have read quite a lot of people post that their ancestor was named for their father, even if not listed themselves on the birth cert. How strong of a connection do you think that the above names are?
Thanks to anyone who can help.
