Genealogy Chat

I am doing some research for a friend or trying to that is :) My friend was born in the 1950's maiden name Sullivan, but she was told that was not her real surname and that the man she called dad was not really her father. Her real father was a William Edwards who her mother had an affair with at the time he was married to another woman in Dalston. He used to work many years ago at Billingsgate. Have paid a visit there a few months back as William Edwards had a nick name of 'Fishy Bill' and we thought that someone might remember him - long shot but did not pay off. She does not want to actually make contact with him - she just wants to find her real roots. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Lin

Lin, do you know the name of the woman that William Edwards was married to?

Lilian ?

Lin, I would look at marriage entries for a william edwards and a lilian ? in the Dalston area. this cert would give you the grooms fathers name. As this is relatively recent, I dont think you will find williams edwards father on the census. you may need to ask the GRO to do a search for a birth of a williams edwards with father...whoever it is on the marriage cert....does all that make sense?!

Yes I understand - have done a marriage search for William on Ancestry but it brings up 80 pages - perhaps it means plowing throught the lot :) Thanks for taking the time to read my though message much appreciated Lin

Hi Lin, you are very welcome. have just looked at ancestry and you right there are pages and pages of them. dont think there is an easy answer unfortunately, means trawling. Good Luck x