David James Wilson Dunn 6th Inniskilling Dragoons bef 1902

[Gail Carr]

Hi can i ask what your elusive grandfathers name was ?? Gail

[Romilly]

Hi Gail,

My paternal grandfather was William James Wilson, apparently born Manchester in 1860.

I’ve never been able to find him anywhere before he married my grandmother Margaret Rees in Swansea in June 1893.

DNA tests have shown that I have Welsh and Irish DNA. The Irish DNA seems to be from Galway and Antrim.

I’ve been trying to find him ever since I first started looking in the late 1970’s.
Because my Father was 30 years older than my Mother and died when I was 5, there’s no one alive to ask.

Romilly.

[Gail Carr]

Hi, do you have any war documents or paperwork with his parents names on it ? maybe he’s from ireland or somewhere other than manchester ? it’s hard because so many people in england etc have the same names have you checked census records? are you in england ?

[Romilly]

Hi Gail,

Born in 1860 he would’ve been too old for WW1.

As he married my grandmother in 1893 in Swansea, he’s unlikely to have been in the Boer War.

He says on his Marriage Certificate that his Father was ‘William Wilson (Deceased) Occupation:Mason’. I’ve never been able to find a William Wilson, Occupation: Mason with son William James Wilson on any of the earlier Censuses. As you say,  very common names and seemingly impossible to pin down.

Romilly.

[petmas]

My GF was in the 6th IDG during the Zulu wars. I got masses of info (17 pages) from the QDG Regimental Museum in York. They don't have individual's records, unless they are mentioned in the diaries as those records are in the national Archives. They just ask for a small donation

[Gail Carr]

Thank you for that information, i will look into that