Trying to trace my father's birth mother
My father John Ross was born illegitimate 1923 in a Mother and Baby Home in Blackpool Lancashire. According to his birth certificate his mother was Sophia Ross.
My father was fostered by Gerald and Bertha Humphrey. He was brought up under as John Ross Humphrey but never adopted by them.
Any idea as to how I can trace information on his birth mother Sophia Ross. I have no idea what she she was or where she came from.
Best Answers
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Hi Julie,
Just a question and a suggestion here:
Have you tried a search in FreeBMD.. between 1900 and 1910 shows only 2 registered births for the whole of England. Sophia Ross Assuming she was quite young when she became pregnant. You may wish to play with dates .. at least her name and surname are not overly common.
FreeBMD
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Hi Julie
Would you be willing to share any of the details from the certificate. No is fine of course.
The next option is the 1921 Census which may be very useful for you - so only 6 months to wait with a prayer and who knows :-) :-)
Question: What happened to Sophia ??
Apart from the 1921 census.. Did she marry?
FreeBMD show only 2 marriages between 1920 - 1950 for Sophia Ross in England / Wales
One would have thought that the 1911 census might have had something to offer - Try to located her birth too? GRO could be useful there.
WIshing you success in your searches.
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Hi Julie, Some additional thoughts which sprang to me mind.
In addition to waiting for the 1921 census early 2022.
It came to me that if there are only one or two marriages registered for a Sophia Ross when searching for her as can be seen from a FreeBMD search that may be worth some attention.
Also the fact that she does not pop up in the 1939 register under her name.
One possibility might be: That she may have died either at or shortly after giving birth, or before 1939 assuming she kept the same name.
Again using FreeBMD as a broad sweep, there was a Sophia Ross aged 38 who died in the period between 1923 - 1939 Registration area Leeds North. If so, she would have been 28 when John was born. There is also a Sophia Ross born 1894 in Scarborough.
The combination of Sophia with the Surname Ross are luckily few, which may assist you in FamilySearch and other sites.
Good luck
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Sorry for the delay in replying. You are really being very helpful. I have spoken to my Mum trying to get some information. She is 92 so her memory is not great but according to her she was told by Bertha the foster mother that Sophia was from Scotland. I don't know whether that is correct but the results of a DNA test that I did recently came back with England & North West Europe 47%, Scotland 22%, European Jewish 22% Wales 5%, Ireland 4%.
The plot thickens. I will look at the English ones first on BMD and then if nothing transpires, look into Scotland,
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Answers
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Julie
Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
I am just another "lowly' User/Patron ...
I just took a quick 'look' in the 'On-Line' Search facility, of the 'Civil Registration' for "Birth", of the 'General Registry Office' ( GRO ) of 'England and Wales'.
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp
It is FREE to "Register"; and, "Search", the 'Indexes"
It ONLY 'Costs' if you want a "Copy".
The CHEAPEST is a PDF (ie. Image of the Record in the Index) is ONLY (about) £7
You may be able to apply and receive a "Copy"; as, it is your Father; and, provided that he is "Deceased".
[ As, the Record is just 'shy' of x100 Years OLD ... ]
I recon that this may be the one; as, "Fydle" is around "Blackpool" ...
And, that "▬" (ie. "Dash"), for a Mother's "Maiden" Name, indicates that the "Birth" was "Illegitimate".
The FULL page/screen ...
I hope that this helps.
Good Luck.
Brett
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Hi Julie,
Yes, agreed GRO is a excellent way to go FreeBMD is a broad search .. GRO allows a year e.g. 1905 +/- 2years which is fine. FYI FreeBMD can be extremely useful for marriages.
Wishing you all the best in your search :-)
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Thank you both for responding. I will investigate the 2 births shown for Sophia Ross. Interestingly they both seem to be from the North East
My father's birth certificate shows Sophia was living at what appears to have been a bed sit so she could have come from anywhere.
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Locating people can be quite tricky.. The assumption with the years suggested for the search as was based on the criteria that she may have been quite young when giving birth, with her age beig say between 13-20 (which of course may or may not be the case) The two websites GRO and FreeBMD can be fruitful in some cases. DId Sophia marry later and have more children? that may be worth investigating too.
Wishing you all the best with your searching :-)
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I don't have any information regarding Sophia so that is why this search is proving difficult. Pity that the mother's age is not put on the child's birth certificate
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Dear Julie,
Apologies for the slow response to you request about the blue images posted above. There was a need to check this out with the technical team.
These 2 images were posted by the contributor using a file format which unfortunately are not compatible to enable them to be displayed in Community post. (Hence the Blue area with an hourglass)
They would have been images from the GRO website to help you visually with your search.
GRO Website:
The link below here should take you to the Government Site (GRO) which enables searches for certificates which can be purchased if desired. (you may wish to register it's free)
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp#Results
The link below has a useful guide which can be downloaded.
https://ogindex.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-guide-to-using-general-register.html
The GRO search engine can be quite useful as can reveal mothers maiden names in many cases and location details.
The combination of using FreeBMD and GRO can be useful additional way to identify sources for you ancestors.
Best wishes with the journey of discovery for your family
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