Hi all,
I've been on a 25 year quest to find out who my Grandfather was. My Dad didn't know his father. His parents met in 1946. Hi mum was in the ATS and his dad was an ex-tank sergeant who had fought through the War, possibly in North Africa, certainly in Western Europe. They were going to get married, but them my Gran found out he'd been seeing someone behind her back, so she called it off. She was pregnant though and my dad was to be adopted, but her parents decided that they would raise him in the village of Fordyce in the North East of Scotland. My dad's name is John Alexander Wilson. My Grandmother did not like to talk about my Grandfather at all having subsequently married someone else.
I've recently taken a DNA test with myFTDNA hoping to find some relatives on my Dad's paternal line. This seemed to be my best hope of finding out who my Grandfather was and where he came from. I have a full family tree apart from my paternal line and it is particularly frustrating as a genealogist to have this big gap which I need to fill.
Here's what I do know about my Grandfather:
•He was known as "Eric Boon"
•I'm told he was called Eric after a famous boxer called Eric Boon of that time
•My Gran reckoned he was quite closely related to the boxer, but the DNA testing doesn't seem to agree with that as a family to whom I believed might be related have a different DNA type altogether. They are (a bit distantly) related to the boxer.
•He was born circa 1921-22
•My Grandmother said he was from Leeds. Haven't found any evidence to support that though
•He was a tank sergeant in the War, apparently right through North Africa and Western Europe after that
•When my Grandmother met him in 1946 he was driving lorry transporters for the army
•She was in the ATS down South and got a lift up to the Bridge-of-Don barracks in Aberdeen from him
•She believed that he stayed in the army and went on to be a recruitment officer
The upshot of the DNA testing is that... well there are no Boon relatives for a start, which made me wonder, if my Grandfather was illegitimate, or perhaps his father was etc. Several years ago, I put together a list of all the Eric and John Boon/Boone births in England within the rough timeframe of his birth (1921-22) and one of those candidates was:
Eric. Boon b. Q1, 1922 at North Witchford. Mother's surname: Hobbs.
Unfortunately, I can't find an individual matching the description I have, mentioned anywhere in association with any armoured corps in WWII. Interestingly though, I did find a distant American (genetic) cousin who had some Hobbs ancestry. So, that make this guy a possible in my book.
If anyone can shed light on this matter, please do!