Brick wall with living individuals

[mulberry-rose]

Previously I’ve had trouble with finding out about my paternal side (estranged). I managed to piece together a path and successfully ordered a birth cert for my father and marriage cert for his parents.

Paternal grandfather has been easy enough to trace. On the other hand, paternal grandmother has a very common name and there are lots of possible births in her age range.

I’ve tried matching up these births to a marriage that matches MMN and her father’s name, but nothing. I would really appreciate any ideas on how to proceed. This is in Northern England.

[softly softly]

Do you want to share any names and dates, not living people though.

SS

[mulberry-rose]

Difficult having to be ambiguous but will try! 

They married in 1968, Durham. Cert states she (grandmother) was aged 18, born around 1949-1950.

They had three children born 1969-73 but they had separated by 1980.

[mckha489]

Was there a newspaper account of the marriage?

[Biggles50]

If you know the children’s names then searching on the Social Media websites may yield results.

Once you have identified likely persons then a DNA test by one of them will prove if you are correct.

They should be able to fill in the blanks.

Ancestry is doing their lowest priced DNA kit at present so maybe buy a couple of kits on spec and they may valid the link.  One test can be for yourself if you have not already tested.

Additionally Electoral Rolls can give an address all be it a few years old and a good old fashioned letter may yield results, it did for me.

[CaroleW]

Previously I’ve had trouble with finding out about my paternal side (estranged).

They had 2 other children apart from your father.  Does the estrangement include contact with them & their families?

I am assuming the 1968 married surname is not as common as her maiden surname so have you checked whether she remarried?   If she did - you can look for a possible death for her which will give you her full birthdate.  If she is still living - it's not going to help at this point in time

[mulberry-rose]

Was there a newspaper account of the marriage?

No newspaper account as far as I can tell.

[mulberry-rose]

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately the married name is a common one too, which makes it difficult to get a second marriage for her. Paternal grandfather had a unique first/middle name combo which made him traceable.

My estrangement includes all family members on the paternal side. For safety reasons I can’t do direct contact.

Admittedly not the best circumstances to be building a tree with