Can’t find my Grandfather anywhere before he married my Grandmother
I’ve been stuck with this for many years now…
My Paternal Grandfather said he was William James Wilson, born Manchester in 1860.
On his Marriage Certificate in Swansea in June 1893, he said that he was 32 years old, Occupation: Painter. Father, William Wilson (deceased) Occupation: Mason.
He married my Grandmother Margaret Rees in 1893 and after that can be found on the Electoral Rolls and Census Entries. I’ve also found Newspaper Articles concerning his Inventions and Bankruptcy Proceedings against him. Also poems that he wrote and published in the local newspaper.
He died in Hendon in December 1937 and was buried in Kingsbury, Wembley, Middx.
The issue is that I’m unable to find him anywhere before his Marriage to my Grandmother in 1893. I’ve never been able to find a Birth or Baptism for him and can’t find him on any Census before the 1901 Census for Swansea.
I can only assume that he must have been using a different name before 1893?
Quite possibly he was illegitimate and his Mother married a Wilson at some stage? Or he was adopted?
I had thought that DNA testing would solve this, but it’s unclear… apart from the fact that there are no obvious paternal Wilson DNA matches!
Any help welcomed.
Isobel.
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With a name like that, you will have your work cut out. The proverbial needle in a haystack comes to mind. It is not unusual for middle names to be adopted after a birth is registered and so you will need to look for William Wilson as well. Location can be uncertain as well. If he moved while young he might think he was born in Manchester whilst coming from somewhere else - perhaps nearby, perhaps not. With his father dead in 1893, you cannot be certain you can find him on a census with his father. We do not know when his father died.
Checking birth registrations, you have a load of William Wilsons in 18060 in Manchester, plus a James William Wilson. Stretching out further adds more, including several William James Wilsons in the Liverpool area.
How many of these had a father named William?
My feeling is that your best hope is to rely on the occupations and census records. Check through all the 1871 records carefully - likely your best chance of finding him with his father alive.
The other approach is to buy birth certificates. At £2.50 a time for digital images, this is not too expensive. Look for ones with a father William and, knowing the mother's name as well, try to track these forward in census records.
I do not envy you this one. It will be a slog with no guarantee of success.
DNA is another option but you say that you have had no success with this so far.
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Many thanks for your thoughts Graham.
I have, over the years, ordered multiple Birth Certificates for my Grandfather, as William James Wilson, just William Wilson and James Wilson. When I ordered them, digital didn’t exist and so they’re all paper copies. None seemed to fit with the information that my grandfather gave on his marriage certificate.
DNA testing would seem to indicate that from my paternal side I have inherited Irish. Welsh and Ashkenazi Jewish (8%) DNA.
This makes me wonder if my Grandfather originally had a different surname altogether at birth?
I don’t seem to have any DNA matches with surname Wilson. Most of my paternal DNA matches link to the Butler and Kean families, who were Irish, but settled in Manchester. Many of their descendants have Trees on Ancestry, but I can’t place my Grandfather in any of them. It’s very disheartening,
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Have you just ordered certificates from Manchester? If so you might want to move a bit further afield such as the William James Wilsons from Liverpool. Difficult to know where to draw the line.
As you say, he might have been born under a different name.
DNA is very hit and miss. I have had some great successes, including two brick walls of over 30 years, but equally I have a lot of matches that I have no clue how they are related. More frustrating are those where I do have clues about how they are related such as a small geographic area but, try as I might, I still cannot nail down a relationship.
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My first thought was that he might have had his birth registered in the name of William JAMES. However, when I checked for an 1860 Manchester instance of this on the GRO website I got just one result, the mother's maiden name being recorded as ROBERTSON. I was rather "hoping" it would have a "dash" in the space for the mother's name, meaning William's mother was named JAMES and WILSON was the name of his stepfather.
However, as Graham suggests, a relatively common name like this can cause real problems in identifying the individual. I note there was a James William Wilson, birth registered Sep 1859 Qtr. (mother also shown as WILSON), and seven "William Wilsons" (no middle name) with births registered at the Manchester Registration District, between 1859 & 1861.
An additional problem is in being able to rely on the details shown on the marriage certificate. I have a John Fawcett whose father is shown as Michael Fawcett on his marriage certificate. This "threw me" for several years, until I finally discovered John was born illegitimately to an Elizabeth FAWCETT and she had later married a MICHAEL (but) Coates! But illegitimacy is just one factor that could be the reason for your problem here.
Whilst I would never say "give up", I think your task of positive identification might continue to be quite a problem, I'm afraid.
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I've had a similar problem with a 2 times great grandfather who himself never married, then hooked up with a widow and 2 children from 100 miles away, didn't marry her and had 4 more children..........................that took some working out too and it still worries me about no marriage, I'm not sure how common it was back then, livin o'er t'brush.
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You seem to have an interesting family problem. This may seem simplistic, but I have had great returns on finding hard to find family members by first documenting all children, spouses of children, grandchildren , great grandchildren and so forth, first. There is much to be found for the children of William James Wilson.
I upgraded the first child for you, with some dates and sources. He also has a military record from WWI which could be ordered from the National Archives. Also, here is a copy of the family in 1921 to help you along, Good luck .
First name(s) Last name Relationship to head Sex Birth year Age in years Birth place Occupation Employer
William James Wilson Head Male 1860 61 Manchester, Lancashire, England Decorator Contractors Employer
Margaret Wilson Wife Female 1866 55 Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales Home Duties -
William Harletc Wilson Son Male 1894 27 Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales Assisting Father In Business As Assistant Decorator Wilson & Co Decorators & Contractors
Evan Douglas Wilson Son Male 1896 25 Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales Invalided Officer In Assisting Father In Bight Duties Engineering Student At Preset Wilson & Co Decorators & Contractors
George Felix Wilson Son Male 1900 21 Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales Assisting Father As Assistant Decorator Wilson & Co Decorators & Contractors
Richard Wilson Son Male 1902 19 Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales Assisting Father As Assistant Decorator Wilson & Co Decorators & Contractors
Archibald Wilson Son Male 1903 17 Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales Assisting Father As Assistant Decorator Wilson & Co Decorators & Contractors
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