General Chat

My dad was born illegitimate - as was his sister.
We had our suspicions about who his father was.
A Lt commander William Nicholas used to stay at grans house quite often - but that wasn't necessarily dad's father. William was married and had a family.

Many years ago, a lady contacted me and said this man WAS dad's father - she'd known my gran - and wanted the truth to be known. She also sent a blurry photo of William to show how much alike he and dad looked - but still not 'real' evidence.

Dad was embarrassed about being born illegitimate, and wasn't happy when he realised I had 'worked it out'. After a while, I managed to convince him it wasn't his fault. It seems he had asked gran who his father was - her answer was 'Juarez'!

I'd done a cursory look at William's heritage. He was born in Barrow in Furness, of Cornish parents who (like gran's grandparents) had moved there to mine for copper when the tin mines closed. Gran's grandparents went back down to Cornwall, Williams parents didn't.
William's Father was called Francis, his mother's name was Loveday.

Well, about 5 years ago, my sister, nephew and I all had our DNA done by 'My Heritage'.

Today, I had a DNA 'match' on 'My Heritage'. This was with a lady in her 90's whose second forename was - Loveday! It seems our 'connection' was 3rd great grandparents.

So I did some research. This lady is the daughter of William's brother!!!!!
We have a 25.2% match - which is Grandparent / Grandchild Aunt / Uncle Niece / Nephew Half Sibling. My 'match' with my nephew is 26.4%.

She's my cousin!
William WAS my dad's dad!

He's also a bit of a hero. He came out of retirement during WWII, and was engaged in bringing French resistance out of France on a trawler.
He was killed when his trawler was bombed.

I can now trace this side of my family - and Cornish genealogy is easy to research.
I've traced my gran's side beyond Cornwall, and back to Brittany :-D

Congratulations.

Some people expect immediate ‘results’ when they do a dna test but it can take time to just find that one person that opens doors.

Well done Maggie, your hard work has paid off.

I am in a similar situation with my grandfather, he too was illegitimate, he knew who his father was, and was acknowledged by him. Unfortunately the only name I have for Dad is Ginger or Red :-D :-D

Oh to be a fly on the wall in all these circumstances. These people are all gone and took their secrets with them.

Well done Maggie, exciting new.

I have to admit, I'd contacted the family many, many years ago - but they didn't want to know!

At one point, William's famiy were living in North Cornwall, william and my gran were living in South Cornwall.
My sister called this a Irish divorce :-D

Wow Maggie, that's fab news!

It's so good when after many months or years of research, it all comes together and the DNA is the evidence now that proves the bloodline.

Florence in the hebrides :-D :-D

Well done

It’s nice when a mystery is solved

What great news, Maggie....I'm hoping that DNA might unlock my brickwall too :-0 :-)

I was able to work out a group of brothers as possible grandfathers of my OH. It was only when my BIL said he had done a My Heritage test and got a 1st cousin once removed that I was able to work out which of them it was.

We’ve lost access to the MH result and no one on Ancestry has approached us to find out who this unknown 2nd cousin is. I don’t think any of them are ‘into’ family history. I know I could contact them but decided not to upset anyone.

Fantastic news Maggie.

I live in hope of solving a similar puzzle, but all my DNA results on that side are too distant, so far.

Excellent news maggie. Just goes to show how patience can work, and that DNA doesn't lie!

Well done Maggie <3

Nameslessone, there was an email address, I could have contacted this person, but as I managed to work it out, I decided not to bother.
They may have no idea of William's 'goings on' - he was in the Navy, so was expected to disappear on occasion! :-D

ahh! The Navy - I think that explains other matches ;-) ;-)

With OH's grandfather we were told he was one thing but none of the brothers claimed that in any document In fact, the obvious brother was quite successful in business.

Well done Maggie :-)

Dear Maggie

Hello

That is really good news and you are now able to extend your research.

Nowadays who cares about the term illegitimate.

That very fine actor and gentleman Sir Alec Guinness decided to track down his father.

He gave up when he discovered when the private investigator claimed
sir, it could be any one in half of the population of the Isle of Wight.

Sir Alec gave up. Frankly, it does not matter one bit.
He was loved very much by his mum and her family and just look at his career.

Personally, I have detested the hypocrisy of the term illegitimate.

Enjoy your research.

Take gentle care
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

I have no problem with illegitimacy, I was just intrigued about who my father's father was.

My great grandparents got married after having 8 of their 9 children, and about 2 years before my gran married!
Great grandad had married when he lived in London, however, his wife ended up in an asylum. He moved to Bournemouth.
Oh - and another thing. Great gran had had an illegitimate baby in Suffolk.
She'd left it in Suffolk with her parents and moved to Bournemouth. The child died aged 6.

In those days, divorce was expensive, besides which, you couldn't divorce your spouse if they were in an asylum. Great grandparents married (very quietly) when hs first wife died.
However, before they started a family, they moved from Bournemouth to Southampton, where great gran just took great grandad's surname.

Gran found out about this when her parents died, and she found their marriage certificate. What really upset her, was her mother's attitude when gran wanted to marry grandad.


Grandad's first wife died of epilepsy - they'd had no children. Grandad started writing to gran, they 'hit it off', but great gran wouldn't let gran marry grandad, because his wife had only 'recently' died! He was also 'second hand goods'
It seems great granny's hypocrisy knew no bounds! Great grandad was fine with gran marrying grandad, but he was often away (ship's steward), and great gran 'ruled the roost'.

Granny just waited until she was 21 before she married grandad.
How do I know this? I have the letters my grandparents sent to each other while they were courting, and during the war. They were found after granny died.

Well, I've startd tracing dad's dad's family, and 3 generations down I have discovered - an apparently - fatherless baby! :-S :-D

Sensibilities have changed over the years. My OH had no one to explain about his mother, who died when he was in his teens. It was only when we told the one person from that side that we had found the evidence that his mother was illegitimate that we were told anything. Earlier requests for information had been ignored.

I do find thepeople who are strongly againest anyone doing family history are found to have a dating problem ie a lot of premature births ;-)