Finding my grandfather with only a possible name and possible occupation

[bethanjane]

My grandmother had my mother out of wedlock, despite pretending she had married and my mother being born with his surname.

The story I have is that he was a delivery driver who lived in Bristol, and delivered to Mid Wales in the 50's. As soon as he found out my Nana was pregnant, he was never seen again.

My mother always thought his name was Dennis Edward Grady, but having searched BMD I can't find any Dennis Edward born between 1900 and 1935 a reasonable assumption of birth given that my mother was born in 1952.

Can anyone advise where I go from here? I have searched all the 1939 census on find my past, but in 1939 all the Dennis Grady's are school age so not particularly helpful.

Thank you

[Gadget]

Hi

I eventually found who my great grandfather was after  many years of searching by doing a DNA test and finding that I had a cluster of matches at the 3rd cousin level, that didn't link to any other matches.

Like you, I only had the first names (no surname), an occupation and two locations.

I contacted one of the matches and we swapped trees. This led me to a possible family in one of the locations. I then looked at the tree of another match (who seemed to be the manager of 3 others in the cluster)  and worked it through. The same  family occurred  in that tree and it was the only one that matched. one of the sons had the names and  occupation that I knew of and the location was also the same.

Gadget

[iolaus]

There's a Dennis O'Grady in Bristol born 1919 - no middle name - may be worth looking into

[rosie99]

There's a Dennis O'Grady in Bristol born 1919 - no middle name - may be worth looking into

Possible marriage in 1949 Bristol reg district

[bethanjane]

Hi

I eventually found who my great grandfather was after  many years of searching by doing a DNA test and finding that I had a cluster of matches at the 3rd cousin level, that didn't link to any other matches.

Like you, I only had the first names (no surname), an occupation and two locations.

I contacted one of the matches and we swapped trees. This led me to a possible family in one of the locations. I then looked at the tree of another match (who seemed to be the manager of 3 others in the cluster)  and worked it through. The same  family occurred  in that tree and it was the only one that matched. one of the sons had the names and  occupation that I knew of and the location was also the same.

Gadget

I think I might look into DNA, someone else pointed out, and it hadnt even occured to me, he may have given a false name!!

[bethanjane]

There's a Dennis O'Grady in Bristol born 1919 - no middle name - may be worth looking into

Thank you, I'll take a look

[bethanjane]

There's a Dennis O'Grady in Bristol born 1919 - no middle name - may be worth looking into

Possible marriage in 1949 Bristol reg district

Brilliant, thank you