Ohmigosh - a scandal uncovered

We found out with DNA testing who my Mum’s real Father was. We were so pleased but sad we couldn’t tell Mum as she passed away 20 yrs ago. Her birth certificate said ‘father unknown’ the man who was her Father had been in her life for a short time, we don’t think he knew either as it was rather complicated.

I would assume that the Frances death certificate was an attempt to look posher, but maybe she used it herself for that reason but was honest about it when marrying

My great grandfather was Sam, his father's family had plenty of Samuels, mother's family lots of Sampsons
I imagine that there was an argument and that they decided on Sam because both Samuels and Sampsons were called Sam anyway, so each could imagine that he was their favoured name

Yoginimeisje all pregnancies which do not go to term are officially called "abortion", even those which miscarry naturally. "Miscarriage" is the popular name by non-medical people. The lady may have been unfortunate (it has been estimated that one in three pregnancies ends in miscarriage, often so early that the woman doesn't even know that she has conceived) or she may have not wanted the pregnancy - perhaps she had more children already than she could cope with. Family planning a few generations ago was mainly by either withdrawal or by abstaining completely from sex. Neither method was very successful, given human nature.

CarrieAnn if you and your sister have DNA tested by the same company you will know how close your relationship is.

Hetty58

chazwin:

'two blue eyed parents can never spawn a brown eyed child.' - wrong - we did! It is possible for someone to actually be a carrier of a dominant trait like brown eyes. The gene itself may be defective, therefore, if two blue eyed parents are carriers, then they can have a brown eyed child

chazwin
Because the blues eye gene is recessive, two brown eyed parents can each carry a gene for blue eyes. This is also why two blue eyed parents can never spawn a brown eyed child.
Yes they can, it is possible. Two blue-eyed parents can produce a brown-eyed child although it is perhaps rare.

What Hetty58 said is correct.

We had a chart pinned up where I worked showing how this can happen.

Some fascinating stories here. My own GGF was a bigamist who emigrated to the USA in the late 1800’s and married another woman within months of emigrating, leaving his wife (first wife) and child back in the UK. He didn’t have any more children with his new wife. My late mother told me much of this story well before she died so that was a good start for me doing my family history. Can anyone tell me the best and most economical way to purchase copies of birth, marriage and death certificates as i’ve found that these are probably needed as full information on these family members is not available on the genealogy websites.

Chazwin Ignoring the genetic science, the tone of your post, and the word "spawn" was insulting - as though it would be the equivalent of producing "Rosemary's baby"

I was always called Fanny. When I was 9 my parents and relatives started calling me Frances and I was told never to call myself Fanny again. I think it was when it began to have rude connatations. I saw my birth certificate which had Frances as my birth name. I know Fanny was a popular short version of Frances for many years. I remember children at school sniggering at my name, so I guess that's why my parents changed it.

My FiL's uncle was actually his brother - we found out while researching, but never told FiL. He was devoted to his mother and I doubt he would ever have forgiven us for suggesting it.

We also found my own grandfather had been in prison briefly - something no one in the family knew as he was away in the army at the time - and my mother went spare when she found out and tore up all the papers about it.

I haven’t read the whole thread , but , I’m a bit ?? at how it’s romantic for a baby to be born before marriage as father still married, and first wife was a bit funny about getting divorce! Can you imagine the heart ache caused ... but it’s ok it’s romantic! Or that now adult child of left family didn’t want anything to do with ‘new ‘brother... well that’s a surprise! I loved my parents very much , but if I’d found they were capable of being the so low on morals I’d be ashamed and heartbroken. We all have our line in the sand , mines other woman . On that cheerful note , I wish you all a happy Sunday !

Honeyrose, some of the genealogy sites have copies of certificates and they are transcribing more and more. Are you a member of any of them, if you have a tree you might find someone who has copies of these certificates also libraries can give you access to these sites. I would recommend that you check all the facts yourself before you add anything to your tree because it's easy to assume someone is an ancestor just because some of the facts seem to fit. Good luck. Also try the Family History UK Forum, really helpful people who will offer to find people for you, they have been so very kind to me!

My mum's beloved grandfather had difficulty getting his old age pension as his birth certificate couldn't be found on file. I found out why, great-grandma was still married to someone else! On their birth certificates, the 3 sons each had a different arrangement of surname and father's name!
Dilemma was how did I tell Mum, who was then in her 80s! Or did I just not tell her.

Mariane... I wish I belonged to a different family too. I even searched out my birth certificate as a child in the hope I wasn't my parents child. I felt different from my older and younger sibling. I was told if I'd have been the boy my parents wanted, they would have only had the 2 children. I always felt surplus to requirements, the black sheep & the one to blame for everything. My sister hated me too.

QuoteElegran Thu 04-Mar-21 15:22:24

Thanks for that info Elegran

Quotehoneyrose Fri 05-Mar-21 09:43:45

Just go on: www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content

I’m very comfortable with accessing information about my family history, but I appreciate that other family members may not be and have no intention of sharing information that may cause distress.

My grandmother had favourites; her middle daughter, her only son, her two eldest granddaughters and her eldest grandson were all treated better and more softly than the rest of us. My mum loved her dad, but there’s increasing evidence that her paternity was questioned openly during her childhood; mum was teased by her friends about her dad not being her ‘real’ dad.

I did my DNA test through Ancestry and have found the information on there to be extremely accurate so far, but they do also update information their results as more information is added.

Thank you Maggieanne and Yoginimeisje for that info. I’ll look into those sources. I do have a monthly subscription with Ancestry.com, but it’s the basic one (£10.99 per month) so sometimes a bit lacking in information. What I’m often puzzling over is how to get the back stories! Certain info can’t be gleaned from birth/marriage/death certificates. I do find this a bit of a mystery - the back story. I find family history fascinating, but also frustrating as I struggle to know how to record it all successfully and I have several notebooks from when I first started it, then left it for a while and started again. I do check the facts carefully - if it was rushed and you went down the wrong “track”, it would make a sham of it, but you’d never necessarily know as no-one would be alive to tell you where you’d gone wrong!

My son is very good at genealogy. He dose seem to get the back stories. He showed me a photo of the cottage where my grt.grt grandfather lived. He found mistakes in family trees.

I never met my paternal grandfather, as he was estranged from my dad. Years later, when I was living in South Africa, my mum spotted him in Woolworths, so they were reunited right at the end of his life. I still didn't get to met him as he was knocked down by a car and died later in hospital.

He was a bit of an entrepreneur, had various shops. My son went into a bicycle shop in London, later, from doing his genealogy, he found out it was his grt. grt. granddad's shop!

honeyrose It's hard to explain where the back stories come from. (When I started I was lucky enough to have someone from my grandparents' generation on each side of my family) Do you have family stories that gave been passed down and maybe embellished? Census records will show you who was living with who. BMD certificates will show you where they lived, who witnessed the wedding, who registered the death. A lot of christening records are available online.
My advice would be to get some software of your own and start filling in what you've found out. Good luck

I subscribe to British Newspaper archive and have found so much information from there. I heard a rumour in the family that my gt gt grandfather had tried to murder his wife. It was a mystery until I looked it up in the British Newspapers and found so much information. From that I discovered his entire prison records plus prison photograph and eventual demise in a workhouse.

I had my DNA done some years ago now (Christmas present).
I only contact people with over 1% of my DNA.
I've found a UK lady living in Greece and a number of second cousins but not built the connecting tree for these people yet.
It's an extra tool and very interesting finding and communicating with people who are part of the larger family.

I found out recently that through our local library service we have free home access to Ancestry and Find My Past, just extended to June as most of our libraries aren’t open yet. It’s been very useful for filling in some gaps in my family tree.