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« on: Friday 16 December 22 22:33 GMT (UK) »
Having just done Ancestry DNA and a bit of digging into certificates on Scotland’s People, I strongly believe that my great grandfather, William Bell, is the illegitimate son of William Japp Sinclair and an Aberdeen doctor’s daughter called Alice Jane Forsyth. He was born “William George Forsyth” in 1873 at the home address of William’s brother Donald Sinclair in Glasgow. So, if anyone has ANY further information about William Japp Sinclair and his family I would very interested. Alice appears never to have married. She seems to have tried to keep the baby initially, as she reregistered the birth at another address a month later.
I had heard a story once from an older relative that my great grandfather was adopted, but he had only discovered that when a birth parent had left him an inheritance sometime between 1900 and 1920. There was a “Lady Mary/Margaret” involved in that offer. According to the story, he rejected the “guilt money”. I thought it was just confused ramblings at time. It was only when I found his death certificate that I realised there was some truth behind what they were trying to tell me. His death certificate lists him as “William George Forsyth, also known as William Bell, parents unknown”.
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