Shock family revelation!

[dot.hawkes]

After 20 years of doing my family history (though not intensively for the last 5) I visited my Great Aunt today for the first time in 4 years (she is 92 next saturday and has all her chairs at home as she keeps reminding me) and she started off tellng me various gossip and i told her mine and then she goes off on a tangent about he father. Apparently he ******** off to work on munitions in 1914, when she was 4 months old and didn't come back for 12 years! Apparently he met up with a lass in Newcastle, set up home, had a couple of kids and lived with her for 12 years, sending a pound a week home to keep his wife and 6, (yes 6) kids. Now my question is, does anyone in the Newcastle area have a missing father who disapeared in 1926 by the name of Charles Albert Trafford born 1872?

[spudqueen]

Have you tried genesreunited?

[dot.hawkes]

Well I would usually sort this one out myself but i am not sure if these mystery children were known as Trafford, my great aunt tells me her mother found out about it in 1926 when the woman in question wrote to her and said she could have her husband back!

[spudqueen]

Yes, I can see your problem Dot. It doesn't follow either that he used his real name whilst in Newcastle. Pity the census's for those years aren't released! Do you use 1837online.com? I've paid �50 for the whole year and so can look up any BMD I want. If I get chance I could just have a trawl and see how many children with the surname Trafford were born in Newcastle during those 'missing' years. Hopefully it wasn't a common surname up there! It could still be worth going on genesreunited, someone may be looking for him. Another possibility is contacting the Newcastle family history society and see if anyone is looking for him that's a member there, and of course a letter to the Newcastle (Chronicle I think) may get a response.

[dot.hawkes]

he must have used his real name cos his other woman sent a letter to my great grandma telling her everything! I am also wondering if it was actually a bigamus marriage so i will check the GRO index tomorrow.

[spudqueen]

Morning Dot - forgot to mention yesterday that you seem to have had a very interesting time in Yorkshire!

I have checked the births for Trafford and have found a few in Middlesbrough, one in Gateshead and three in Newcastle. They are: Elsie, mothers maiden name, Lively born in Middlesbrough registered in the quarter ending Mar 1917;
Charles C, Collingwood, Gateshead, Jun 1919; Mary, Pearce, Middlesbrough, Dec 1919; Connie, Hodgson, Middlesbrough, Sep 1920; Edward, Hodgson, Middlesbrough, Sep 1920 (looks like twins!); Doris, Hill, Newcastle, Mar 1921; Harry, Pearce, Middlesbrough, Dec 1921; Elsie, Hill, Newcastle, Jun 1922; Joan, Hill, Newcastle, Dec 1924; Olive, Kilvington, Middlesbrough, Sep 1926. You do need to bear in mind that any children may have been registered under the mothers name if they were not married, or that he may have used a false name. There is always the chance that it was a bigamus marriage, and that the second wife may not have found out until 1926 when she sent him packing! Hope you have luck finding them!

[dot.hawkes]

cheers spudqueen, the charles one might be interesting, i am gonna look for WW1 munitions factories in Newcastle to see where they were, probably they were fairly low profile back then but now they should be recorded.