Genealogy Chat

My grandfather Fred Todd seems to have been illegitimate and, according to my mother, always refused to talk about his family. (more below)

All I had was that he had probably taken his mothers name, he was always Fred - not Frederick or Alfred and that he was born in 1902 in Leeds. I searched long and hard and found two possibilities - one born 1902 who unfortunately died the same year, and one born 1901. I sent for his birth certificate and sure enough there was no father listed. With the address info I have been able now to take the Todds back through the census to 1806, but is there any way to actually prove that this Fred Todd was my grandfather?

Did your grandfather die after 1969? If he did, then the death informant would have been asked your grandfather's date and place of birth. If they knew this info, then the death cert details would hopefully match those on the birth cert you have. If he didn't live that long, or the death informant didn't know his birthdate, then....um..........was he in the sevices any time? (suppose he was too young for WW1 and too old for WW2? Though my grandfather served in both wars, so anything's possible!). Any service record would give his date of birth and hopefully some other record that would help you to know it is YOUR man! Other than that......do you know who brought him up? You could wait until 2012 and see who this boy is with on the 1911 census!!!! Merry

Hi Merry, My parents gave the information on the death cert - so it just says Leeds and 1902. So no help there. I have just spoken to my mother again and thrown loads of names and places at her (The Todds that seem to match came from Stillingfleet which seemed to ring a faint bell with her) There is also some faint evidence in that if I am right, his mother was Margaret and his grandmother Ann, and my mother was named Anne Margaret. The last faint clue is that the one thing he talked about was spending some time with a relative who was a game-keeper, so I am going to have to track down as many relatives of the putative Fred and see if any of them were game-keepers. As to the wars - no, neither of my grandfathers served - both born 1901/2 and missed out on both. Mark