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Perhaps one more to add. My granny discovered, through Ancestry DNA, that she had a paternal half-brother. I was explaining this to my granny's maternal niece & this niece's husband (so, no relation at all to the half-brother, and born in different countries!) - and I showed them a photograph of this half-brother. The niece's husband said "Oh I know him, we go shooting together!"

I can’t recommend it enough. About ten years ago I decided to write to some of my grandparents’ remaining cousins and second cousins. Of course there were hundreds of candidates if you branch out enough, so I was selective in trying to write to those about whom there was some online trace that suggested they’d be a good contact - much like 4b2 noting the church gardening point.

One was a journalist with an interest in local history so I thought she’d be a good candidate - and indeed she was the ‘keeper’ of that branch’s family history. Her birthday is one day after mine and we send each other something each year - she’s in her mid 90s now.

Another was a then-95 year old retired headmaster. He actually helped me with my English project, and after I shared with him all about his great-grandmother (one of my favourite ancestors), he wrote a poem dedicated to her. Before he died he wrote an incredible poem about family history - the connections between generations - and he sent it to me, incomplete, and asked me to one day continue it. What an honour! (And something I want to also pass down to a future generation to continue further - so it’s a living document from memories stretching back to 1832!)

These were probably standouts - more generally I have had good fortune with receiving photographs (or identifications of photographs I sent for that purpose) and basic family information.

I need to take my own advice though, as there’s many relatives I’ve been meaning to write to but haven’t yet. And then there’s the sadness upon coming across an obituary etc and finding out a relative has died before you got the chance to make contact, and with them all the family knowledge they held. Like Jebber, I’ve received a reply from the new owners of a deceased relative’s home who had found the letter - just too late!

4b2, thank you very much for that link to the postal service - I’m not in the UK either though all my paternal family are, so that’s a real game changer. I’m going to give it a go!

Purely considering those DNA results, may I suggest another possible explanation is that George Henry Field was not your mother-in-law's biological grandfather at all, and that a son of William Brown & Deborah Riley was (for example, through an NPE involving your mother-in-law's grandmother).

This sort of thing was incredibly common ... I've come across it quite a bit in my tree. It would perhaps make more sense than an adoption in the circumstances you describe.

Did William Brown & Deborah Riley have any sons together? Have you traced those sons' lives - where they were living around the time your mother-in-law's parent was born?

This could of course be way off the mark, and apologies if you've already discounted it, but just wanted to offer another explanation for these results.

Quote from: Aguella on Saturday 26 July 25 03:38 BST (UK)

She was born in 1890 in Brighton, VIC (daughter of George Catanach and Maria Sydenham), 

 

This reply offers no help in your quest.....but

George William Catanach was the founder of a very successful business in fine jewellery which survives to this day in High Street Armadale after being passed through many generations of Catanach’s

My engagement ring was bought there (not one of the big ones ) because my father insisted that we go to Bill Catanach ( William Alan, the grandson of your George William)  because Dad had been with him in New Guinea during the war in  for a time. They used to have a beer after the war at the local Club.

Sue

Hi Sue, it may not find me Nellie's death but it definitely adds some character and colour which is always the best part of family history in my opinion! Thank you for sharing - I really appreciate it. 

The Catanachs have a brilliant history section on their website documenting the 6 generations of ownership from George to the present day. I've been meaning to get in touch!

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102185412?searchTerm=%22Nellie%20Irwin%22
There's a Mrs Nellie Irwin in a nursing home in the ACT in this article. Age is about right.

https://services.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/s/public-registers/generic-register?registerid=historic-death-index
A Nellie Irwin died in 1977 in the ACT. Unfortunately not enough info on the index to determine if this is your Nellie.

Thank you Jorose, that is extremely interesting. Nellie only hand a handful of nephews & nieces, and one of those, Sir Alan Cooley, lived in Canberra. Seems quite possible that after being widowed she didn't have any family in Sydney, so may have sought to move closer to relatives. Definitely worth investigating this further - thank you for a great lead!!