Hi Darren,
Thankyou for your concern. The 17 year gap is something we are investigating, as we have no idea why or how he decided, either to cut himself loose from his brothers and sisters in England (his parents had died by then.) Or if he was cast out by his brothers etc over some scandal or fled after a criminal act ,or merely wanted to better himself .
As far as I was aware he was a blank after 1881 as I had never heard of him in my branch of the family .I only found his existence a few years ago by accident when another cousin mentioned there were loads of Waghorns in Western Australia. Consequently I found a CJW marriage in 1898 that looked promising, so on a hunch ,I ordered the cert (at great expense then) but it was worth it. The names of Father and even Mothers Maiden Name confirmed that is was my lost Charles .
I had always thought the stories about a relative in Aus. were about my other Grandfathers Sister and her husband who had emigrated there ,who I knew about.
Technically you are correct,I dont think you have missed the point, the gap years have no bearing on the factual side of the Family tree .
As I have said previously we have complete details of his life before and after the period from his Birth ,being adopted in law by his Step father. Thenraised by him and his new wife after his mother died. Marriage and all his Children right up to his death in 1959 at 90 yrs old.
Since then I and my cousin John in Aus have been trying to solve the enigma of the gap.
Lets face it we all like mysteries thats why we are here on the boards.I appologise if in your opinion ours is a wasted excercise ,but I am really grateful for the interest and grand help that all the kind people here on Roots Chat, Australian and Kent Boards, have given us and will hopefully one day find the answer.
Best Wishes , Roger.
