What should my next step be?

[ayahuasca]

Hope this isn't too incoherent, losing lots of sleep over this! Thanks in advance for reading.

I'm looking into my maternal grandmother (knew very little about my biological heritage but thanks to DNA testing I've traced my dad and my maternal grandfather, both of which are well documented going back several generations and supported by living descendants' DNA matches etc) and I have my mother's raw dna from ancestry.com. All I have on this grandmother so far is a registered birth in her real name (she went by different names in adulthood) in Norfolk 1903ish, an appearance in the 1911 census as a one year old with both parents listed plus a five year old brother on a farm still in Norfolk, England. Neither of the parents really seem to check out in terms of living DNA relatives now. Then she pops up in a 1930s registry under the name she used as an adult, living alone with a child who matches up to an uncle (my mother's half brother), then nothing until her death in the 1980s just down the road in Suffolk.

So far I've used the Leeds method to categorise my mother's ancestry.com matches which are overwhelmingly on the paternal side, of the remainder there are a tiny handful with family trees which have roots in Norfolk and several overlapping names/places between them but none of which correspond to the (admittedly v limited) paper trail so far which my tree is based upon. I'm just wondering what the possibilities might be (eg was she perhaps adopted?) and what my next most useful step should be. Really hope this makes some sense!

[IgorStrav]

Welcome to Rootschat!

I'm certainly not one of the experts with regard to DNA, but if I were you, I would follow up (backwards so to speak) the information you have on the 1911.

You have your maternal grandmother's reg birth, and you can check her mother's maiden name from the GRO.
You have her father's name and her mother's first name from the 1911, plus her brother's name (worthwhile checking his birth reg on GRO to double check his mother's maiden name is the same).

Then I would go backwards to see if you can find your great grandparents' marriage and their family and build up a larger tree, with the relevant sources all checked in censuses and other documents. (Free BMD will be partial help, and you may be able to have more detailed info from Ancestry or FindMyPast at a library if you don't have a subscription - although you could take out a temporary one and then diary to cancel).

Once you have this further detail on your tree, you may be able to spot where the DNA matches come in....

[Milliepede]

All I have on this grandmother so far is a registered birth in her real name (she went by different names in adulthood) in Norfolk 1903ish, an appearance in the 1911 census as a one year old

Doesn't quite match does it if she was born 1903 but was only 1 in 1911 

If you need any help with what has been suggested above just post the names and we can help look 

[IgorStrav]

All I have on this grandmother so far is a registered birth in her real name (she went by different names in adulthood) in Norfolk 1903ish, an appearance in the 1911 census as a one year old

Doesn't quite match does it if she was born 1903 but was only 1 in 1911 

If you need any help with what has been suggested above just post the names and we can help look 

Good spot Millipede - I missed that 

So now I would add - give us the name and we will try and help!

[ayahuasca]

Thank you both so much!

So she was known as Lilian Newell but her birth name was Eva Lilian Allison, she’s supposed to have married a George Newell in Norfolk and they had one child in 1932 (still living) she went on to have four more children who are registered Newells but definitely aren’t George’s offspring.

I only found a registration thing rather than an actual birth certificate that says Eva Lilian Allison, no parents listed, and the 1911 census which says William Allison, agricultural labourer at Prior’s Farm, Shouldham Thorpe, Norfolk and Louisa Jane Allison. No maiden name on there. My mother didn’t know her grandparents but knew their names were William and Louisa so I felt I was on the right track there. She thinks her mother, Lilian, left home at 13? Possibly went into service?

I have a messy public tree on ancestry.com which is full of mistakes as far as this maternal line goes, will see if I can link if that’s any use. Really appreciate any help with this. Thanks again.

[ayahuasca]

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/154025531/family <<< in theory that should be my tree so far, it all falls into place with our DNA matches except when it comes to everything to do with the Allison side

[IgorStrav]

ALLISON, EVA  LILIAN     Mother's Maiden Name COOPER 
GRO Reference: 1909  D Quarter in DOWNHAM  Volume 04B  Page 290

[ayahuasca]

Oh my goodness! Thank you so so much! However did you do that so quickly?!!

[IgorStrav]

1911 shows Eva Lilian's father - as you say - as William Allison, born c 1880 in Gunby Lincolnshire.
Wife Louisa Jane, born c 1882 in Hillington, Norfolk, and their other child also present, Thomas born 1806 in Shouldham Thorpe.

ALLISON, THOMAS       COOPER 
GRO Reference: 1906  J Quarter in DOWNHAM  Volume 04B  Page 320