Fresh eyes on a bit of a mystery

[Deb Clark Rennie]

Hoping to get sine help with a bit of a mystery.  It’s a bit of twisty tale so hope I can make sense.  My dad and I Did DNA a few years ago in an effort to see if we could work out who his great grandfathers were as his paternal grandparents were both illegitimate and so no fathers were listed.  Anyway so far no closer to learning that one.  But DNA has been a big  help putting the rest of the tree together.

Last year I had contact from Kevin who’s father was adopted and through DNA and his fathers birth certificate he matched to dad and myself and other members of the Wade family.  So his grandmother Edith May Selina Wade was born 1879 in Kingston on Thames and she was the youngest of the Wade children and Isabella who is my ancestor was her older sister.  However for Kev he was then on the hunt for his grandfather.  Edith had married a Hubert Thomas Walker but I suspect he isn’t the father of Kevin’s father.  Kevin’s father was born Eugene Percival Mansell Walker in 1911  but on his birth certificate the father is left blank.  I offered to have a look at Kevin’s DNA matches and just on a hunch I popped in the name Mansell and got a match to a 4th cousin who’s ancestor is was a Mary Jane Mansell b 1872 daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Mansell.  They do have a son Eugene Mansell on this tree it says b about 1871.  So I started looking and I found another tree which had a Eugene Percival Mansell alias Taylor but born later 1880.  Which what caught my eye was firstly this is the name given to Kevin’s father and secondly on the 1911 census I found Edith but she’s listed as single so her marriage must have ended but directly underneath her is a Percy Taylor b1880 so I started to think perhaps Percy Taylor is in fact Eugene Percival Mansell.  I tried to attach the documents I found on ancestry but they are too large and I’m away at the moment with just my iPad.  The whole thing has given me a bit of a headache trying to figure out where the alias came from I tried messaging the owner of the tree but have had no reply.

Anyway help given would ne appreciated.
Blessings
Deb

[whiteout7]

Freebmd

Births Mar 1880   
MANSELL    Eugene Percy        Camberwell    1d   877

At the GRO
   Name:   Mother's Maiden Surname:
   MANSELL, EUGENE  PERCY     BASTICK 
GRO Reference: 1880  M Quarter in CAMBERWELL  Volume 01D  Page 877.

Was this the man, was he married to anyone?

[whiteout7]

Married in 1903

Free bmd
Marriages Mar 1903   
Mansell    Eugene Percy        Islington    1b   422

Spouse was:
Bastable    Ellen Gertrude K        Islington    1b   422    
or
Favell    Lottie        Islington    1b   422    

So in 1911 he could have been hiding from a wife

[whiteout7]

Eugene Staunton Mansell marries Eleanor Jane Bastick in June 1875 at Lambeth (Eugene Percy Mansell's parents?)

and
Mary Jane Mansell marries a Samuel Bastick in June 1874 at Lambeth (The DNA match you found?)

[Deb Clark Rennie]

Thank you so much for that ... that helps a lot trying to piece it all together it does sound like Percy Taylor on the 1911 census with Edith is Eugene Percival Mansell as you say perhaps hiding by using the alias Percy Taylor.  I do wonder where the Taylor part comes in but it seems it was known about if this tree I found has it on there.  And why else would she name her son Eugene Percival Taylor.  I can’t find Edith again after this but I think I found Eugene in America.

I will update Kevin with this too ... now I just need to find my missing GG grandfather seems to a trait in this family.

Blessings
Deb

[Deb Clark Rennie]

I found this as well ... so am thinking he left for the US not sure about the rest of his family.

Name:   E Manse
[Eugene Percy Mansell]
Birth Date:   Feb 1879
Death Date:   1964
Claim ID:   A245143
SSN:   715015580
Industry:   Railroad

[Deb Clark Rennie]

And this too

Eugene Percy Mansell
Gender:   Male
Race:   White
Birth Date:   12 Feb 1879
Birth Place:   Peckham, United Kingdom
Father:   Eugene Mansell
Mother:   Nellie Vastick
SSN:   715015580
Notes:   Oct 1937: Name listed as EUGENE PERCY MANSELL

[Deb Clark Rennie]

I think I have it semi solved now.

Pretty convinced Percy Taylor on the census with Edith is in fact Eugene Percy Mansell his father is Eugene Staunton Mansell and he appears to be the illegitimate son of Mary Jane Mansell.  At some point between the 1871 census and the 1881 census he changed his name to Eugene Staunton Taylor for reasons I haven’t figured out perhaps he found out who his father was? 

It’s seems Percy Taylor aka Eugene Percy Mansell then heads to America but I’ve not discovered what happened to Edith after her baby was born and put up for adoption.

[walkerklc]

Hi Debs happy new year, i have just registered as i am going to try find time to start the hunt again :-) Taylor here i come ha ha

thank you for all the hard work you have done on my tree
kevin