Genealogy Chat

I've always known my father had a son before he married my mother. All I know is where he was born and that he was born in the 1950s, his mother's first name and that she kept the baby. I don't know the child's name. How would I go about finding my half brother? I don't know where to start.

Hi Lynda,

Unfortunately, without any surnames or addresses this is an impossible task.

Rose

It depends on whether he was registered with his father's surname. In order for this to happen if the parents were married, they both would have had to go to register him.

If he was, and the surname is an unusual one, you could trawl through the indexes (they are now transcribed on Ancestry) to find likely ones, but if you find a few you would have to order all the certs (ask the GRO to check against mother's first name). Don't order certs from Ancestry they cost £19 order direct from the GRO for £7 plus £3 for each one that is checked.

If he was registered under his mother's surname then the only way of getting any further is to see if anyone in the family remembers her, but this could be sensitive.

Helen

Lynda,

Don't give up and be patient. This happened to me. A few years back I was looking for my half-sister. All I knew about her was her first name, our Father's name, where and roughly when she was born, and I was not even sure of her Mother's first name. I put a message on the Trying to find board on GR, with the little info that I had. A couple of years later she joined GR and added her Father's details, GR e-mailed her and told her I was looking for her. We had a wonderful 1st meeting and she spent xmas with me, my brother and our families and we haven't looked back. So it is possible.

Which area was he born in? Which County? Can you narrow down the area of his birth, possible baptism and schooling? Could you write a letter to the local paper? Does this mean you cannot ask your Father or any of his relatives if they have any more info. Have you checked on GR to see if anyone else has your Father in their tree, You never know he may be looking for your Father or any of his family too.

Good luck, Lainey x

Thankyou Rose, Helen and Lainey. All I know about my half brother is that he was born in Forbes NSW in the 1950s and that his mother's forename was Peggy. NSW birth indexes go up to 1918 only so finding him that way is not possible. I don't know if he had my dad's surname but I'd guess he did not. I grew up in Forbes and I remember my grandfather often talking to a woman named Peggy but I'm not sure if this is the same woman.