Brickwall at Grandmother's adoption -Anderson

[daisyjames]

Hello from Kent, mostly amateur researcher here, and a family mystery has us stumped. My grandmother was brought up by guardians and we would like to find out more about her birth parents. Also I have a copy of my grandfather's WW1 service record and I don't understand what a lot of it means! Hope to have some luck here

[suemalings]

Sure you will find a lot of help on this forum. I am still amazed with the expertise amongst the members.

What was your Grandmother's name? Any ideas approx. when and where she was born?

[daisyjames]

Hi Sue, her name was Daisy Irene Harris nee Anderson, born 27/10/1907 in Sittingbourne, Kent, although that info is given on her death certificate I can find no birth record, only her baptism record with her mother's name. I cannot find anything about her mother though. I have Daisy's marriage and death certificates. I will make a thread on the appropriate forum with more info.

[Pam Downes]

Hello daisyjames,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

Just add the details to this thread, with a little note as to which forum you'd like the thread moving to (e.g. Kent county, brickwalls, etc), and a Mod will sprinkle the necessary fairy dust.

Pam

[Pamelawagster]

Who did Daisy name as her father on her marraige cert?

On 1911 census there is a Daisy Cooper age 3,nursechild.Born Littlebourne,(Sittingbourne?) With the Cooper family,there’s a 2nd nurse child too.

[daisyjames]

Hello Pam. Yes, the Cooper family were the guardians/adopters - Amy and Charles - so not her birth parents. She was baptised Daisy Irene on November 21st 1908, birth mother name was given as Emily Anderson, at the church in Dymchurch, which is where she grew up. The story I was given was that she was found abandoned at Ashford train station. But I wonder how they knew Emily's name. On the 1921 census her parents are 'not known'. Birthplace is Sittingbourne.

[Lesley Robertson]

Being found at a railway station is the sort of thing that attracts the attention of the newspapers. It might be worth having a look at local papers for the Ashford area at the time. Maybe even loss local papers - they seem to have pooled stories and used them if news in their area was thin.

Her birth mother might have been traced, or even made up. My Guncle made up a name for his mother on his father's death cert. The mother had died when he was little (and presumably the only name for her was "mother" or equivalent. As far as I can see, noone queried it.

[daisyjames]

Hello, my Grandmother
Daisy Irene Harris nee Anderson (27/10/1907-06/04/1982)
was 'adopted' as a baby/toddler, the family story being she was found abandoned at Ashford train station, Kent.

She was raised by guardians Amy and Charles Cooper, from an unknown age in West Street, Dymchurch (now Mill Road). However, there is a baptism record for her on 01/11/1908 in Dymchurch. In this record her birth mother is Emily Anderson, and her abode is Sittingbourne.
I have Daisy's marriage and death certificates. They both give Anderson as maiden name. Death cert gives Ashford as place of birth (details given by my aunt who is now deceased) yet all census records state Sittingbourne.(Sometimes mis-transcribed as Littlebourne) (Father on marriage cert is "Charles Cooper (guardian)" so no clues there.

Daisy married my Grandad James Harris when they lived at the Sportsman Inn in 1931, Seasalter, but moved back to the Cooper's house in Dymchurch where they raised their children, including my Dad.

I cannot find any birth records for a Daisy, or a baby Anderson, in Ashford districts, or Sittingbourne. And no trace of an Emily Anderson that ties in. It seems odd that family have always said nothing was known, yet her mother's birth name was on her baptism record. Was Emily even there or did the Coopers baptise her, given she was just over one yr old by that time? If anyone can shed some light on this it would be amazing!

[Pam Downes]

Hello daisy -
I've moved you new thread about Daisy to your previous one, and then moved everything across to the Brickwalls forum.
This will ensure that all the information stays together without running the risk of duplication.

[daisyjames]

Hello daisy -
I've moved you new thread about Daisy to your previous one, and then moved everything across to the Brickwalls forum.
This will ensure that all the information stays together without running the risk of duplication.

Ok great, thanks you