So Who Is He? Part IV

We’re almost there!

So as some of you may be aware, once I’d worked out who Bio Granddad was, I spent my uni break (two months) pushing through tonnes of research. I wanted to find living relatives, close ones to Bio Granddad, to see if they’d ever taken a DNA test, or would be willing to take one.

There’s truth to the family joke that I’m like a dog with a bone…

In order to prove Bio Granddad was who I believed him to be, I needed Nugent relatives to test in particular, to prove Linda’s parentage. If we were to get higher DNA matches on that side of the family, there would be no room for doubt as to the identity of Mum’s father by extension.

I left nothing to chance though. I wanted Purcills, Nugents, Saxbys, Muddles, Boorers…WHOEVER to test. The closer in relationship they were to Bio Granddad, the better-if they matched Mum within a certain shared DNA range, I’d know I was on the right track.

So, for this to happen, it was back to the good old paper trail. I made use of NSW Births Deaths and Marriages, sussed out other family trees and made contact with their owners and even looked at probate records as recent as the 1950s at the NSW State Archives.

The family trees search on Ancestry led me to a few other Nugent relatives. There was one in particular of interest to me:

My theory was that “Family Tree Owner” is one of two things to Mum, now that we know that Robert Nugent and Martha Veronica Boorer are her great great grandparents:

• If Male Child 2 fathered Linda Mary Saxby, Mum’s grandmother, Family Tree Owner is her half first cousin once removed. (Male Child 2 married another lady and had children with her, Family Tree Owner is a descendant of that couple).
• If one of Male Child 2’s brothers fathered Linda Mary Saxby, Family Tree Owner would be Mum’s half 2nd cousin once removed.

So, I contacted Family Tree Owner, stating that Mum was adopted, (something that I didn’t originally do from the outset when messaging other Ancestry users, but I was on a mission) that I was looking for her father.  As a result, I was researching Martha Boorer and Robert Nugent’s family, because I believe Bio Granddad is a descendant of that couple and was there any further info that they could provide?

Another fast responder, they got back to me, saying that Martha and Robert were their great grandparents. I was asked immediately what Bio Granddad’s name was and that they’d check for the name in their records. Yikes.

About that…

Explaining that there was a big possibility that one of the male Nugent children of Robert and Martha had fathered Mum’s grandmother was an interesting message to devise!! Especially when Family Tree Owner’s own grandfather was a suspect himself! I told Family Tree Owner that Bio Granddad’s name was most likely not in her records at all, due to the additional illegitimacy I was dealing with. I hadn’t included that in the first message, thought I’d better see how they responded to the adoption part first!

Family Tree Owner wasn’t scared off however and responded again to the message, saying that they’d look into what I’d told them. They hadn’t taken a DNA test either.

I left Family Tree Owner to do their thing, in the meantime I turned my attention to Linda Mary Saxby’s mother’s side of the family, Alice Florence Saxby. She was only 19 in 1906 when she gave birth to Linda, I wanted to know if she had ended up marrying and having more children (and as a result, living descendants!!). Turns out she HAD married in 1914.

From the Dungog Chronicle, 3rd July 1914. Courtesy of Trove. 

…were there any children!??

The answer was yes! But years later, a fair while after 1918, where the birth records in NSW are limited to currently. To find him, I searched for Mr Hampton (Alice’s husband) in the NSW State Archives and found a probate record for him, which uncovered their only child as the executor of his estate.

It also gave me a home address in Dungog, which was confirmed in the electoral records on Ancestry. Searching those electoral records also uncovered a wife for Alice’s son, Linda’s brother…

On a whim, I searched the White Pages for the home address listed in the probate records and electoral rolls. And wouldn’t you know it, it showed this child’s wife (Alice Florence Saxby/Hampton’s daughter in law) as still living at that address! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I began to search other surnames of interest in the White Pages, particularly on the North Coast of NSW and made the decision to start writing letters, asking for information to those who looked promising. I held off initially from sending one to Alice’s daughter in law (Bio Granddad’s Aunt, but we shall call her  not knowing how old she was exactly. I was worried it would upset her. But, after some really positive responses from other letters I’d written (even though they had been dead ends), I decided to reach out.

I received a phone call a few weeks after from Bio Granddad’s first cousin, H in response to that letter. I hadn’t mentioned adoption in the letter I’d sent H’s Mum, I’d just asked if she knew of Bio Granddad’s whereabouts, as I thought he’d be able to help me with my family history research. Anyway, I missed the first call and had a voicemail waiting for me after work one Sunday. I listened to it as I was leaving and felt the anxiety peaking. H left me a number to call, which was promising. But there’s always that small amount of fear involved with this type of thing, where you have to consider the possibility that you may just be told to leave things well enough alone.

I was happy to discover that wasn’t the case and I was greeted with positivity. H told me that they knew Bio Granddad very well, that he used to visit regularly. I forgot that I hadn’t mentioned the adoption in my letter in my excitement and dropped that bomb on her over the phone. Oooops. This required some backtracking and explanation, prefacing that little process by asking her if she was sitting down. Shock was evident with H’s response, but in a very positive way. We organised to meet the following week in Dungog, where we met H, H’s Mum (the lady I’d sent the letter to) and H’s husband. I packed a DNA kit *just in case*. Mum and I both went the following weekend, and were shown our first ever photos of Bio Granddad, as well as photos of his sister, their parents and grandparents. It was surreal, seeing the similarities between them and Mum.

DNA testing came up naturally in conversation, when H mentioned that her daughter was interested in testing. I seized my opportunity. I replied that it would be helpful for us to test a member of H’s family in order to prove my theory. H, without hesitation offered to do one, and seemed rather amused when I produced a kit immediately!

As I began setting up her account for her, I noticed Mum had a new match. Another match categorised as a third cousin. I couldn’t help myself, I had to take a closer look, quickly.

It was Family Tree Owner. 

They matched Mum with 160cM over 8 DNA segments, which fit the range for a half first cousin once removed…but was slightly outside the range for a half second cousin once removed.

H took the test, we posted that off a few days later, and wouldn’t you know it, four weeks later came her results, as a match. 3rd cousin category, 99cM over 6 DNA segments. Another fit for the half first cousins once removed relationship range.

Things are all clicking into place. 

So when am I going to name Bio Granddad? That’s for the next post. Hope those sharing buttons are at the ready!