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Sister-in-law GEORGINA E Sawyer, born Christchurch 1941(?) - reg.1942Q1 - husband has not seen her since childhood and believes she was adopted.(?) Last seen apparently working with nuns. I have photographs of her with birth mother and aunts. :-(

She was also registered under another surname.

Why not order her birth cert to confirm whether she was adopted.

Rose

When was she 'last seen'?

What name was she using?

:-) Thank you for the contact, Rose.

Funds very low here, so unfortunately I have to be very sure before parting with any for certificates. (Pension and salary don't go very far in France!) Wish I could chase them up in person.

My husband was about 10 (he thinks) when he saw her and overheard someone tell his mother to "get rid of her" he thinks. From that I perhaps erroneously assumed that she had been adopted. Children can easily misinterpret what is said by adults, but he would love to find just one relation before he dies.

Regards, Denise :-)

:-)Good, questions, Reggie.

It would have been about 55 years ago, but as he was very young and not permitted to leave the car he did not have a chance to speak to her then.

As yo have gathered, it was a misconceived question and I shall try to do better in future! :-)

Who was her mother? Not seeing an obvious marriage. Do you have her name in your tree? If Georgina comes looking, it will likely be her mother's name she searches for.

Rose

What about the cousins? Do they know anything?

Rose

Hello agin, Rose.

Georgina's mother was Clara Graham (1913 - 2003) She was my husband's mother too, and although I knew her from 1979 onward and we spent much time together she was always reluctant to talk of the past - held too many bad memories, I think.
Sawyer was her husband's name, although she must have left him during the war. She was divorced in 1979 and remarried twice.

Georgina (and an older sibling Susan) are on my tree. Only one tree contact so far, from the neice of my husband's father's wife whom he married in 1934 Their marriage produced 2 sons, but I am still trying to make contact there. And I thought my life was complicated!

Any suggestions welcomed.
Regards, Denise

Does Susan's family know anything?

Georgina was registered under another surname also. This must be her actual father. If you get the birth certificate you will have her paternal family to trace.

Rose

If your husband were about 10 when he saw her then she must have been in her teens. That's a little late to be adopted.

Rose

I still do not understand when the conversation about ' "get rid of her" ' took place.

If she was a teenager - as Rose suggested - then was she pregnant?

Hello, Patchem.

The conversation between my husband's parents took place in the car as it was being driven away from seeing Georgina in Christchurch. Believed to have been about 1956.

Rose - what a help you are!

It has never occurred to be that a birth might be registered twice, but on reflection that explains a lot of apparent duplicates that I have come across before. I have come to the conclusion that every bride-to-be should research her fiancé's tree before the big day arrives! :-D

Susan is not straightforward, either. She married a "Charlie", somewhat older and a farmer in Kent, in the summer of 1956. By Christmas she was said to be heavily pregnant. Taking the surname Hills as a starting point, and thinking that she would probably marry again if he predeceased her, I have found a possible chain of three other marriages and a 2004 death in Kent. Sounds about par for the course, but I do not yet have proof.

So Georgina was with nuns in Christchurch when she was about 15?

Any possibility it was here?

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/snapshotsofthepast/10522706.Remembering_the_House_of_Bethany/?ref=rss

It would appear so - but not, I think with the nuns at the House of Bethany. There was a convent at Christchurch at that time if my memory serves me correctly.
How lovely to see the House of Bethany again. My mother used to visit there, and we worshipped at St.Clement's until the choristers in the family decided there was a better choir at St.Peter's. I do recall one very tall nun, Sister Christine, who once confided that before she took her profession her mother liked her to go to dances and she was always looking down on her partners' balding pates!