Author Topic: Help with unravelling a family mystery  (Read 710 times)

Offline Davedrave

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Help with unravelling a family mystery
« on: Tuesday 27 November 18 09:03 GMT (UK) »
My father’s mother died when he was 4. He lived with his father and his mother’s mother in her (the grandmother’s) house. During my father’s childhood (1930’s) his grandmother brought a girl home to live with them. I don’t think my father knew quite who she was.

A lot later there was a boy at my junior school who was this mystery girl’s son. My sister remembers him (he was a bit of a bully until told of the family connection ;D). Looking on freebmd, I found him and his mother’s surname is the same as the married name of the one surviving sister of my dad’s mother. I also found his mother’s marriage at just the right date. However, I can’t find a perfect match for his mother’s birth. Her forenames were Jean M. The only Jean M. was born in 1937 and the mother’s maiden name doesn’t match. Moreover, my Dad was then 13 and I don’t think that matches: by the time someone born then was the age she seems to have been when she arrived in the household, he had left for the war. Moreover, she would have been too young to marry in 1951.

There is however, a Jean F., born in London (so well away from the place where my Dad’s family were), who was born in 1929, so closer in age to my Dad, and the mother’s name and maiden name are the same, and the same as the married name of my grandmother’s sister.

It seems that the mystery girl was therefore probably the illegitimate daughter of this aunt, but should I be worried about the exact correspondance in the birth reg?
ESSEX: Cramphorn Raven Sams Sayers Taylor; GLOS: Beacham/Beauchamp; HERTS: Chamberlain Chuck; LEICS: Allot Bentley Godfrey Greasley Hunt Hurst Jarvis Lane Lea Light Woodward; LINCS: Lambert Mitchell Muse ; STAFFS: Hodgkins Jarvis; SURREY: Light; WARKS: Astley/Chesshire Bradbury Hicken/Hickin Hudson; WORCS: Ballinger Beauchamp Laight

Offline PaulineJ

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Re: Help with unravelling a family mystery
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 27 November 18 09:08 GMT (UK) »
I really can't follow that. Use false surname to clarify if you must

Was this mystery infant/child/girl living with your father's grandmother in 1939?
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Offline avm228

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Re: Help with unravelling a family mystery
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 27 November 18 09:17 GMT (UK) »
Was your great-aunt married by the time Jean F was born?  You say her birth was registered in the surname which was your great-aunt’s married name, with no separate maiden name.

If gt-aunt was already married the illegitimacy theory doesn’t work (unless you mean the child’s natural father was someone other than the husband), and the registration details don’t look right for a birth within marriage.
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)

Offline Davedrave

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Re: Help with unravelling a family mystery
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 27 November 18 15:18 GMT (UK) »
Sorry my account was a bit garbled. I’ll call the family “Smith” and “Bloggs”. I have since discovered that my dad’s mother’s sister, Blanche Smith, married Fred Bloggs (his name really was Frederick ;D) in 1908. They seem to have had daughter Emma Bloggs in 1912 (birth reg of Emma Bloggs, mother’s maiden name Smith) in Leicester. I have found no marriage for Emma Bloggs.

They also had daughter Blanche Bloggs in 1921, mother’s maiden name Smith.
In the early 1930’s, most likely, grandmother Smith brings home to live a girl somewhat younger than my dad (born 1924), who subsequently married in Leicester as Jean M Bloggs, who my father knew as Margaret (presumably her middle name) who was the mother of the boy at school. I can find only the birth of a Jean F Bloggs who seems to fit the bill age-wise. She was born in London in 1929, and the maiden name on the registration is also Bloggs.

There is no Leicester birth of Jean Bloggs and the name is certainly uncommon in the area.
Is it likely that Jean born in London was the daughter of unmarried 17 year old Emma Bloggs?

ESSEX: Cramphorn Raven Sams Sayers Taylor; GLOS: Beacham/Beauchamp; HERTS: Chamberlain Chuck; LEICS: Allot Bentley Godfrey Greasley Hunt Hurst Jarvis Lane Lea Light Woodward; LINCS: Lambert Mitchell Muse ; STAFFS: Hodgkins Jarvis; SURREY: Light; WARKS: Astley/Chesshire Bradbury Hicken/Hickin Hudson; WORCS: Ballinger Beauchamp Laight


Offline Josephine

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Re: Help with unravelling a family mystery
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 27 November 18 15:38 GMT (UK) »
Davedrave,

I would say it's a possibility but no one can say if it's probable that your theory is correct.

The girl might have been related in a different way; she might not have been related at all.

You'd have to order all of the certificates to see if they supported your theory and then try to find other substantiation afterwards.

Have you looked for obits for some of the people involved, in case they provide any clues?

Have you tried to make contact with the boy whom your sister knew in school? Perhaps he could solve the mystery for you.

Good luck with your research!

Regards,
Josephine
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Offline AngelFish

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Re: Help with unravelling a family mystery
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 27 November 18 18:22 GMT (UK) »
Hi

Did you try looking for a birth for a Margaret Jean Bloggs?

Or another theory, could the girl Jean M Bloggs have been the daughter of unmarried Emma Bloggs?

Is Jean M Bloggs still living? If she has passed away, the registration of her death may have her date of birth.

I would be ordering certificates to check what I think I know, and 1939 register.


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