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• 1. Hall family
• 2. Family fictions
• 3. Parish records
• 4. Trail goes cold
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Family fictions

Michelle felt she had come to a dead end until she decided to talk once again to older members of the family. Family legend confirmed that Mary Ann Hall was indeed Frederick's mother and provided a name for his father - John Hall. Yet it was also said that Mary Ann had married into the Dalton family and had borne several other children. Did this mean there was another branch of the family that required investigation?

'Michelle was forced to accept the fact that the name of Frederick's father might remain undiscovered.'

Finding a memorial card. It was at this point in her research that Michelle made an exciting discovery among family papers. Old memorial cards for John Hall, Beatrice Dalton and Leonard Downey Dalton were found in a drawer - these recorded the date of death for each person, where and when they were buried, their ages when they died, and further family relationships. The one for John Hall, at one time 'of Sunderland', revealed that he was buried in 1892 at Escomb, County Durham, aged 70.

Ordering a death certificate. From this information, a death certificate was quickly obtained for John Hall, and the name of the informant was given as John Dalton, described as son-in-law. The same John Dalton was also listed on another memorial card as the father of Beatrice.

Checking census records. A quick check of the 1891 census records for Escomb showed that John and Mary Ann Dalton were the parents of Beatrice and Leonard. Mary Ann Dalton would therefore appear to have been John Hall's daughter, rather than his former wife as family legend had stated. A fair amount of other information was also discovered through the census, opening further avenues of research (examined in greater detail in 'The Census and How to Use It', see right).

Requesting a birth certificate. Using Mary Ann Dalton's age in the 1891 census as a rough guide to her date of birth, a likely birth certificate was located and requested. Michelle's suspicions were confirmed - Mary Ann was born in 1847 to John Hall, a mason, and Isabella Shotton Hall, n脙聝脗漏e Johnson.

The clue of middle names. The fact that Mary Ann's maiden name had been recorded on Frederick's birth certificate suggested he had been born outside wedlock. Middle names sometimes reflect an absent father's surname, but in this case the inclusion of the name Johnson on his birth certificate clearly referred to Frederick's grandmother's maiden name. Without any further clues from which to work, Michelle was forced to accept the fact that the name of Frederick's father might remain undiscovered.

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Published: 2004-09-13