52 ancestors Week 25 (June 17th -23rd ): Unexpected

From Amy Johnson Crow - There can be all kinds of unexpected discoveries when we research our family history. What have you found that was unexpected? Have you found anything in an unexpected source? What about an ancestor who experienced something unexpected?

So, we have got to week 25, almost half way through the year of stories on my family. I had pondered this from day 1 when I saw the list of titles and to be honest had not idea of what I could add that was “unexpected”. Did I go the route of things I had done in the tree, things that I had found out or something else linked to the title, no. Nothing or no-one jumped out at me.

That was until I found the 1939 census for my great grandparents and saw something “unexpected” on it. If you take a look at the image below you may not see anything wrong with it, I certainly didn’t upon 1st glance. It was only as I went back to the tree did I notice the name of the 3rd person wasn’t their daughter Dora.

The census image definitely shows the name of Avril ? Female and date of birth in 1931, definitely NOT their daughter Dora as she was born in 1904, and there is no mistaking any of the information written down as a male so not one of their 2 sons. This got me questioning WHO WAS this “UNEXPECTED” person???

As far as I knew Great Grandad George and Great Grandma Alice only had 3 children – Grandad Reginald, Auntie Dora and Uncle Vernon. I  couldn’t see how Avril was George and Alice’s daughter as they would have been in their 50’s when they had her. I know that it is possible but very unlikely. So, I had to look elsewhere, namely their 3 children. Uncle Vernon died as a child many years before Avril arrived, so this was nothing to do with him, Auntie Dora never had any children, so nothing to do with her, this leaves only Grandad Reg – well, I guess it’s possible, he had 2 children with his wife, and then my Mum from an affair, so yes, very possibly his child. BUT WHY was she living with her grandparents and not her mother?

I added Avril to the tree linked under George and Alice (even though I was 99.9% certain they were NOT her parents. But it seemed the best place to put her for now. It was safe to say that I wasn’t getting anymore answers from this census document as it only said Avril was in school. I did a birth search for her on FreeBMD and found a birth record with Mothers Maiden Name listed as Haylock – so this matched with her surname, but Alice was a Mason – but did she do what many people have done and list her married name? I noted down all the details on my tree and set about looking for a death for her around a few years after birth and had no luck, but I did find one the opposite end of the UK 50 years later, again this was “unexpected” and possibly not my lady, but I saved the details just encase. I did also do a marriage search but found nothing.

When I got paid I ordered the birth certificate for Avril. I waited for it to arrive, and with the UK on lockdown it totally slipped my mind that I had ordered it when it turned up. Let’s just say that the “unexpected” finding of Avril was nothing to the “unexpected” information on the certificate. I was correct in that George and Alice were NOT her parents but her Grandparents. I was correct that it was nothing to do with Vernon. However, what was totally “unexpected” was Auntie Dora listed as her mother! (there is no father listed). Reginald had told my Mum that Dora never had children, Dora had told us when we visited that her and Uncle Bert never had children (this is correct her and her husband Albert didn’t have any). This was definitely “unexpected” information.

So, the next set of questions started, why did George and Alice bring her up? Was it because Dora wasn’t married at the time? Was it because Dora worked as the house keeper for the local Vicar? Was the local Vicar Avril’s father and this is why not named? None of these questions could easily be answered especially as none of the family concerned are still alive.

I re-checked the death record I had found and the name matched that on the birth certificate of Avril Doreen Haylock, so she never married. But what was she doing up in Durham when her family had all lived on the south coast of England or moved slightly north to Cambridgeshire? Had she been sent away because her mother wasn’t married? Had she been sent away because her mother got married and her husband didn’t want the child? Had she been sent away as an evacuee during WW2? Yet more questions!

This was certainly an “unexpected” find and turn of events for my family.


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