Hello everyone. I wonder if anyone can help me. I am having a problem trying to find information regarding my great grandfather John Bertram and his family roots. Apparently, his life story isn't as straightforward as I hoped, and I can only work from the information that my grandmother passed onto my mother. I will try to explain as much as I can without complicating things:
My grandmother Jane Bertram (that's her birth name) was born in 1910 in Worsborough, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. She has two siblings, older brother called Wilfred (born 1908), and a younger sister called Agnes (born 1912), and a half brother called George Henry (born 1903). She was born out of wedlock. In other words, her mother Alice Donner was a married woman who, not long before Wilfred was born, had separated from her husband Charles Henry Donner, and started living with John Bertram as a couple, who by the way, was also married to someone else.
My grandmother doesn't remember much about her real father John, since she was too young. But her mother Alice told her that he worked as a miner and had died when she was young, from the Black Lung Disease. And afterward, Alice ended up living in a workhouse. She was so poor, she gave Agnes up for adoption. However, after a couple of years, Charles Henry came back for her, and he took her back as his wife, adopted Wilfred and Jane, and had another child called Elsie (born 1914).
To be honest, I don't know how much to believe from this story, because I cannot find any record of Johns death anywhere around 1912 or any other time. He appears in the 1911 census. It records his birth at around 1875 and his birthplace is Quebec in County Durham. Unfortunately, I cannot find any record of his birth, or his whereabouts in the 1881, 1891 or the 1901 census. It's almost as if he came from nowhere. I need to be able to trace his family, otherwise that branch is a dead end for me. Can anyone help me? I've already been in contact with a genealogist recently, but even he had a hard time finding him.
My grandmother Jane Bertram (that's her birth name) was born in 1910 in Worsborough, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. She has two siblings, older brother called Wilfred (born 1908), and a younger sister called Agnes (born 1912), and a half brother called George Henry (born 1903). She was born out of wedlock. In other words, her mother Alice Donner was a married woman who, not long before Wilfred was born, had separated from her husband Charles Henry Donner, and started living with John Bertram as a couple, who by the way, was also married to someone else.
My grandmother doesn't remember much about her real father John, since she was too young. But her mother Alice told her that he worked as a miner and had died when she was young, from the Black Lung Disease. And afterward, Alice ended up living in a workhouse. She was so poor, she gave Agnes up for adoption. However, after a couple of years, Charles Henry came back for her, and he took her back as his wife, adopted Wilfred and Jane, and had another child called Elsie (born 1914).
To be honest, I don't know how much to believe from this story, because I cannot find any record of Johns death anywhere around 1912 or any other time. He appears in the 1911 census. It records his birth at around 1875 and his birthplace is Quebec in County Durham. Unfortunately, I cannot find any record of his birth, or his whereabouts in the 1881, 1891 or the 1901 census. It's almost as if he came from nowhere. I need to be able to trace his family, otherwise that branch is a dead end for me. Can anyone help me? I've already been in contact with a genealogist recently, but even he had a hard time finding him.
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