Adoption mystery

[grungefrog]

I've had some really interesting replies to this post   I think I have a lot of research to do, firstly to find any links between the birth father John Lloyd & the foster father Robert Beldham (for a start they were both drapers). Second I need to identify that John Lloyd (there's a possible candidate at 21 Cameron street, West Derby in 1881 who was a taylor). Lastly I need to see if I can find any evidence of maintenance payments being made.

[avm228]

Yes, very interesting.

I should perhaps mention the usual caveat about paternity details given by illegitimate children when they married.  They are generally unreliable because people were often ashamed not to know their father and sometimes invented or embellished details to cover that up.

In this case however we know that he did not conceal his illegitimacy; the minister was aware of it and indeed struck out the information on that basis.  He did not claim an imaginary Dowey father to match his surname.  The "Lloyd" name rings true because of his middle name.

However it remains possible that he filled in gaps in his knowledge, so you may need to be open minded as to whether his father was really a John like him, or really a draper like his foster father.

Have you traced Eliza and what became of her?

[grungefrog]

We really don't know if Gr Grandfather had much contact with his birth mother Eliza. She was a domestic servant who worked in various houses in the same area (Kensington/Fairfield area of Liverpool), until she got married in 1891, after that living at 21 Bradfield street while my Gr Grandfather was at 122 Boaler street (quite close by).

[grungefrog]

I'm guessing that in my Gr Grandfather's case there was a private deal between the birth parents and the foster family that took him in, and perhaps the birth father paid a little bit each week towards his upkeep. If this did happen, would there be any legal/court record of it? Possibly not?

[brigidmac]

Just  wondering How has anyone else   solved their adoption  mysteries . Am I the only one who discovered the birth father's trail ( from Birkenhead1901 to death in Merthyr Tidvil 1924)
 + not the mother ( last citing 1900 affiliation papers ??)

Have you solved your mystery yet ?

 

[grungefrog]

No, haven't solved my mystery. Will probably need to hire a local Liverpool genealogist, someone who can go beyond the usual census and BMD records to try and find out what happened

[brigidmac]

try school records too .sometimes the father's name is given or the parent accompanying . I found it well worth paying the wirral archives to do some initial research and st me off on new tracks ..I prefer to phone first ask what they may be able to find then pay initial hour + take more if it's what you want . That's how I got the affiliation order + thehelpful lady sent a copy by computer while i was waitng for the original to speed things up + she helped me decipher the words in copperplate writing . i think she was pleased to have an unusual challenge .

[brigidmac]

I wonder if you've made any progress and whether you or any other descendants of John Lloyd have considered doing DNA tests

I d be willing to help you understand results and triangulate.distant matches . It's time consuming but I have a good success rate of solving such mysteries