My Grandfathers Housekeper ..Cirencester

[Blyth Miss]

Grandfather Bertram Parker born approx 1900 Married to Susan Berry born approx 1900 lived in and around Cirencester  Bertram was a baker ( I think ) They had 3 children Ralph,Doris and Bertram ( my father born 1920)

Seperated but not divorced...Bertram had a Housekeeper ( lover) Lucy Smith who had a daughter Mary ( born approx 1922) ...Mary was supposedly NOT my Grandfathers child even thougfh she looked like my fathers sister...
My question is can anyone find out from records if  Bertram Parker  was the father of Mary Smith .
Many thanks

[Liz in France]

Hi Miss Blyth,

Welcome to Rootschat, a very useful site.

Apart from going to Gloucester and looking at all the church records for an entry for Mary Smith the only other way I can think of is to send for a birth cert or marriage cert.  Even then, you cannot be sure.

There is a FreeBMD entry for Mary Smith registered 1/1921 Cirencester, the only Mary listed,  which corresponds with the Gloucestershire birth Index which had only one Mary Smith with no father's name,  listed 1920 Cirencester Cotswold.  This would indicate illegitimacy and shows she was born 1920 but not registered until 1921.

There was no Mary Parker registered on either Index, so I would think Lucy took full responsibility for Mary, but that doesn't mean that Bertram Parker did not father Mary.  It is something you may never know unless a DNA test is carried out.

A lot of things that cannot be explained fully happened in the past which makes genealogy so interesting.

Best of luck,
Elizabeth

[Blyth Miss]

Thank you for that info it was a great help and indicates that MAYBE my grandfather had a daughter called Mary ...as you say ,something we will never know as they have all deceased .

[CaroleW]

Hi

Bertram and Susan married in 1915 as per freebmd so both were born before 1900.  There is a likely 1893 birth for Bertram in Cirencester and a possible for Susan in 1890

www.freebmd.org.uk

[Blyth Miss]

Thank you my dates could be wrong i only took a guess at them ...