Genealogy Chat

Sorry Lisa,

I don't think yo have anywhere near enough evidence to assume this person might be your great aunt's son. If you don't know his birth name and you don't know his adopted name, then just because this person served as a Nelson (which is quite a common name) you can't assume it's your relative.

You need to find his birth before doing anything else.

Kath. x

Hey Kath, no I do not know the name, i just put the family surname Nelson in to search and I found Wain, George Russell, then as you look down at my last post, you will see that he served as Nelson, so i just thought, this might sound correct
Lisa X

Sorry Lisa, I'm, a little confused. I thought you didn't know the child's name.

What makes you think that this entry on the Commonwealth War Graves site is the person you are looking for?

Kath. x

WAIN, GEORGE RUSSELL
Initials: G R
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Regiment/Service: Royal Navy
Unit Text: H.M.S. Jaguar
Age: 20
Date of Death: 26/03/1942
Service No: P/JX 272662
Additional information: (served as NELSON). Son of Herbert George and Alice Wain, of Littleheath, Warwickshire; husband of Joan Wain.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 66, Column 1.
Memorial: PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL

Well Kath, Rachele, Janet and lastly Grumpy, this is what I found on the www.cwcg.org site and then managed to find a picture of his tombstone with the surname as NELSON on ancestry.co.uk. Do you think that I am correct in my findings. Perhaps there is a coincidence here, if George Russel Wain(Nelson) is in fact the person I am looking for, then I can say that his grandfather John lived in Portsmouth when he first came over from Lithuania!!
Lisa X

following janet693215's advice you know her name you could check for deaths in ww2 on the cwgc site and cross reference them with births if not then you may be looking for a change of name?

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

I'd start looking for a birth from 1923 onwards.

Firstly you need to identify his birth. This should be in quite a narrow time span if he died during WW2. There wouldn't have been a formal adoption as these didn't come about until 1927. Unless the adoption was formalised some time after his birth (child born 1927 would have been able to join up 1945) However, it is unlikely that the adoption was formal because his Mother obviously knew that he had died and contact post adoption was not supposed to happen.

I know that they can't give you details but i would google to see if you can find Jewish adoption societies. they may be able to give you an idea as to if he would have been adopted within the family or just within the wider Jewish community.

Good luck

Do you know your great aunt's name? You could try looking through the birth index for a birth with her surname where the mother's maiden name is given as the same name. I think adopted children have some numbers or letters written in the margin after the reference numbers.

However, this will not give you his adopted name, so I don't think you are ever going to find out about him if no one in the family has this information to give you.

Kath. x

I had a great aunt from Plymouth born 1907 devonport died a spinster 1978 in who gave birth to a boy out of wedlock, it was unspoken knowledge within the family, the child was given up for adoption, we do know that he went to war and was killed. I do not have a name or date, where on earth do I start. I would just like to have out of respect some recognision of his name or existence.
Any help would be appreciated. Lisa