Many years ago i began researching my genealogy, the family history. i found good resources for my father's side, the Moffat side, going back eight generations and then forward and sideways. My direct line begins in 1705 with no further backwards information,
My mother's side is somewhat blank. This post is a record of what i know or guess.
Mom was born "out of wedlock" as they say or a bastard child as her adopted Aunts and Uncles described her. She was given up at birth to a childless couple wanting a child. As Mom later learned, she was never registered or given a birth certificate. She was never told of her bio parents except for lots of untruths and exaggerations.
Sometime in the late 1980s, a woman came knocking at the door claiming to be Mom's sister. The family resemblance was amazing and undeniable. The sister had been looking for her sister for years.
The sister, the first born of the same two parents, was legally registered and adopted by a loving family. The family included the bio-mom in their circle introducing her as an unmarried, family friend called Aunt Florence. When the sister was of sufficient age, she was informed that this Aunt was actually her mother. Details were then provided.
Florence McKerrall was a single woman, never married. She had a long term affair with a married man, Thomas Palmer. They had two daughters. The first was processed properly. Out of embarrassment or shame, the second was shuffled off without any paperwork.
i have no further knowledge of Palmer except that he was an organist, choir leader in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He died sometime around 1950.
The sister had some details of what had happened to her younger sister. I should ask my Aunt more details about the search.
My Mom met her bio-mother shortly there after as did i. She was nothing to me except some little old lady my new Aunt knew. Mom had mixed feelings.
Florence died a short while later. Over the years, my Aunt had learned a bit about Florence's family, specifically that she had two nieces. These nieces would be my Mom's and Aunt's cousins.
The news was broken to the cousins that the daughter of the family friend of their aunt Florence was actually a daughter to Florence. And that there was a second daughter.
So, the genealogy tree. Florence McKerrall was never married so her father's name is McKerrall. The cousins, two sisters, had the birth last name of Morden. This means their mother was a McKerrall. A sister to Florence and a second daughter to father McKerrall.
i met the two cousins and spouses sometime in the 1990s. As of this writing, one sister has died and both their husbands. I have identified one grandchild of the cousins through 23andMe.
23andMe shows lots of genetic relatives that must be on my mother's side as there are no matches on the Moffat side. Unless they know the sordid family history of Palmer or McKerrall, no further details can be obtained.
