Seeking Family of Mary Ann Fisher, born Oct. 1895, Basford

[giblet]

HI Giblet, I don't ever recall seeing the date of 18/09/1895 as my grandmother's birthdate - that must be a typing error.  Barnardo's chose 1/8/1895 as her birthdate -  it doesn't really matter but I don't think that it should be part of the record.  Also, I don't think that the Norman Williams issue is really worth spending time on - I honestly don't see any connection to him whatsoever.  Barnardo's refer to my grandmother as Mary A. Williams in all of their reports and correspondence and this boy had a sister named Mary Williams who he was looking for.  Just a coincidence ...  I'm sure of it.

No problem about the Norman William's Carol. If anything it just eliminated him.

[CarolRR]

No worries Looby 
Giblet - thanks, although I hope that someone has since claimed that Norman Williams as family - poor kid.
I'm still really stumped by where "Potter" comes into this.  One of my Aussie DNA matches shows both  "Hall" and "Potter" in her list of paternal family names.  She also indicates that her English ancestors are from Suffolk and Norfolk.  This "Potter" connection is driving me batty and a google search produces tons of Harry Potter information, which doesn't help much, although I could use his wizardly help with this!    One of my other matches (in the US) has "Fisher" on her paternal side and "Potter" and "Hall" on her maternal side. 

[Ruskie]

Milly, thank you for copying the timeline onto this thread. Carol, let me know if you would like me to begin a new timeline and/or summary for this new thread. I am happy to do it if you wish. 

I may be completely wrong here (and I'm the first to admit that I know very little about the subject) but it seems that you are driving yourself 'potty' ( ) trying to fit your DNA matched surnames into your tree. Is it possible that the Potter connection came through a different branch of the family or from an earlier generation. 

Just as an aside I thought you might find this useful:
http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Surnames.aspx
(It is only a rough guide but quite interesting nonetheless)

[jc26red]

I may be completely wrong here (and I'm the first to admit that I know very little about the subject) but it seems that you are driving yourself 'potty' ( ) trying to fit your DNA matched surnames into your tree. Is it possible that the Potter connection came through a different branch of the family or from an earlier generation. 

Carol, I've also been quietly following your search for your grandmother's family, well done everybody! Such a sad tale.
 I have to agree with Ruskie that you may be trying too hard to tie in the Dna results to your search. My feelings are that most people who try that route are ones who are truly stuck and do not know where their ancestors came from, hence far more people outside of the Uk have done dna testing than those here. Please take on board that very very few people living in the Uk with English heritage have done tests, not only that, they must have participated in the same testing group to be able to compare and analysis the results. What you are trying to do is fit in with someone else's results and they don't even know where their family came from prior to emigrating.
Most of us born in England are lucky enough to follow through records to prove our heritage until we either hit a brickwall or run out of records. Please wait for the birth cert to arrive, it might not even have a fathers name on it. A father has to be present when registering a birth to an unmarried mother and given Hall's background I doubt if he would have been present.

That aside, given the social standing of Hall and Harriet Fisher, I have been wondering if either had been trying to claim poor relief for themselves and Mary Ann? Maybe something to consider once the certs arrive. The only problem is where they tried claiming it though!

Good luck with the continued search
Jenny

[heywood]

Carol, I've also been quietly following your search for your grandmother's family, well done everybody! Such a sad tale.

Please wait for the birth cert to arrive, it might not even have a fathers name on it. A father has to be present when registering a birth to an unmarried mother and given Hall's background I doubt if he would have been present.

That aside, given the social standing of Hall and Harriet Fisher, I have been wondering if either had been trying to claim poor relief for themselves and Mary Ann? Maybe something to consider once the certs arrive. The only problem is where they tried claiming it though!

Good luck with the continued search
Jenny

May I just point out that at the moment, other than this dreadful act, we know nothing of Hall's background. He was supposedly working at the time of his marriage to Harriet and his father's name was William.  Hopefully when the Certs arrive, we will find that we have the right Mary Ann and her mother.
I am also hoping that there are some workhouse records.
Poor relief records could be an avenue to follow, Jenny, you're right.

[bearkat]

To overcome the Harry Potter problem you could try using www.mocavo.com a genealogical search engine

[Ruskie]

In addition to Workhouse and Poor relief, depending on what the certificates reveal, may I also suggest Police Records if they exist? "California Dreamin" suggested this on the previous post and it may will be worthwhile.

[susan hemmings]

Interestingly on 1905 list of Home Children to Canada (on Canada NA site) there is also an "I" Williams - Female, aged 9.  Maybe this was who Norman was trying to contact. 

Just a thought.

Edited:  From Ruslie's excellent link it looks like this shouls be an Isaac (male). Shame there are no forenames only initials.

[CarolRR]

Good morning to all - thanks for your comments.  I have not heard the expression 'driving me potty' before,    is that British or Aussie?
I was raised in an Air Force household, moving every 3 years or so, and have no sense of being rooted anywhere - that has likely added another dimension to my eagerness to find my grandmother's identity, as it also provides me with my own roots.  I have always felt that in order to move ahead in life, you need to know where you've been.  As well, my paternal grandmother's ancestry is a bit of a mystery.  These are the reasons why I did the DNA testing.  I find it bothersome that "Potter" is at the top of my relative list and I don't have a clue where they fit in - but those of you who suggested that it's impossible to fit this together are right - I just kept hoping that it was a small puzzle, with large pieces.  Obviously, that's not the case.  Thanks to those of you for your comments and opinions.
Bearcat - thanks for the link!
Ruskie - thank you for offering to update the Timeline - you are so kind.  What if we wait and update it once the information from the certificates is known?  That way, you're not spending alot of your time on this.  Speaking of certificates, are they sent out via snail mail, or email?  It is indicated on my receipt that they are due to be sent out on the 23rd.
Police Records could be interesting, although I'm not sure how helpful that information would be - then again, you amazing researchers know more than I do about such things.