When I last blogged I'd just ordered the birth certificates for Robert DAVIES and Evelyn Grace DARLINGTON. Well after I finished blogging I also went and ordered the marriage certificate of William DARLINGTON and Elizabeth Eleanor ROWLANDS because I have no self control!
It cost me £27.75 for those 3 certificates which is why I always want to be sure I have the right one when I can afford to order them, especially since the GRO have stopped their Reference Checking Service :( In fairness though they did e-mail me with an estimated delivery date when they confirmed the order (something they didn't used to do). My email told me that they would be dropping through my letter box on Friday, so imagine my surprise and delight when they turned up on Thursday :)
The birth certificate of Robert DAVIES, like his marriage certificate did not name his father. His mother is given as "Hannah DAVIES widow of Peter DAVIES, formally DAVIES" but it does not list Peter DAVIES as being his father. I have asked the lovely people over at Rootschat what their views on this and they are of the opinion that this means that Peter definitely is not Robert's father. Another dead end.
On the plus side though it does confirm that I did have the wrong family when I started with this malarkey all those years ago and I'd rather spend the money and get it correct than have incorrect information in my tree and an extra £30.00 in the bank. Although I do now have to go and delete around 87 people from my tree on Ancestry!
Of course it may not be a compete dead end, I'm going to go and find Hannah on the 1871 census and see if she is living with Peter, or if she's a widow already. She may be a maid / charwoman / servant somewhere in Hawarden and that could give me a clue as to who Robert's father may be. I can't take his paternal line any further back but I will work on the maternal side.
Although he is a DAVIES, Robert is actually one of my mother's ancestors not my fathers so (as far as I'm aware at this point in time) I'm still a DAVIES along the paternal line.
