How I Did It (He Started It - 2)

So, how did I trace Johnny A. and his connection to my family?  When Dad quoted "Grandfather's Half-Brother's Son" was he talking about my Grandfather or his Grandfather? Only time would tell.

I only knew the name of my Great-Grandfather, James, and the regiment he served in - The Cameronians (badge pictured) but I took the chance and applied for his army papers hoping to glean much more information. Alas, they proved to be very basic giving only his place of birth (Kilmarnock), his age on enlistment and his trade at the time.  No family details and no next-of-kin mentioned.  I could only conclude that the papers were incomplete as the army would have needed a relation in the event of death from disease or in battle.  However, I was able to work out from the papers, the length of time he served and therefore his age at discharge together with the place of discharge.

This is where sometimes intuition comes in. I was almost certain that James never returned to Scotland and, as my Father had never mentioned him, I felt he had to have died relatively young.  As he had been discharged in Hampshire and my Grandfather had been born there I was convinced this is where James must have died.  So I began a 20 year search from the date of his discharge anywhere in the Hampshire area.  There was one James F who might have fitted the bill but I could not be sure until I took the chance and sent for the death certificate.  Success!!  When it arrived it was the correct person.  It not only stated that he was an army pensioner but stated the regiment in which he had served.  Further proof appeared under "present at death".  The person present was Mary F (My Grandfather's sister) and James's daughter.  Sadly, there were no details of any wife.  However, I did have a death date and a place - Southsea, Hampshire.  As burials usually take place 3/4 days after death I decided to contact the Cemeteries Department of the Hampshire County Council in the vague hope that they might still have some record.

I was amazed when, two days later, they actually telephoned me to say that they had found the burial and gave me the name of the cemetery and the grave number!  This is where one of those amazing strokes of luck came in, I was asked whether I wanted his wife's details as she had been buried in the same grave two years later!!!! Not only that but they had the burial of a William F - this turned out to be my Grandfather and completely stunned me because I had thought he was buried in York where he died and certainly not in Hampshire.  So that one letter netted me such a lot of information.  Anyway, they were able to tell me that James's wife was named Elizabeth and the date of her burial.

Armed with this information I applied for the death certificate of Elizabeth F fully expecting the "present at death" to be once again, daughter Mary F. Imagine my shock and surprise when the name turned out not to be Mary F but Elizabeth Mc.  It rocked me for a moment but then I supposed that James and Elizabeth must have had another daughter and my Grandfather another sister and as her surname was Mc. she must have married.

I went to the 1881 census and did a search for an Elizabeth Mc.  I was lucky to find the family living at an army Barracks.  There was Elizabeth Mc, her husband Alexander, several children and right at the bottom, listed as living with them, was Great-Grandmother Elizabeth F - a widow.  Then I really knew I was on the right lines and my excitement started to grow.  The next step was obvious to me - to apply for the marriage certificate of Elizabeth Mc and Alexander.  I really did not know what to expect although I assumed that the certificate would confirm that Elizabeth was formerly Elizabeth F.  A week later the certificate arrived. I yelled and jumped up in the air.  For it clearly stated on the certificate that Elizabeth was not Elizabeth F on her marriage but Elizabeth A!!!!!  At last I was on the way to solving the riddle. One of the witnesses was Great-Grandfather, James. The certificate also stated that her Father was John A, of the Cameronian Regiment.

The answer was obvious - Great-Grandmother had been married twice thus having one daughter called Elizabeth A and one called Mary F.  My next step was to contact the Cameronian Regimental Museum requesting any information they had as to the whereabouts of the Regiment during the time my GGF James was serving.  They sent me lots of material and from that I found that the regiment had served in Bermuda for five years prior to their return to England and my GGF's subsequent discharge.

I surfed the net for information about Bermuda and found the address of the Bermuda Archives.  I wrote off to them explaining what I was seeking and whether they could help in any way with a James F or a John A.  A few weeks went by before I received a reply saying they could not help with James F but there was a John A buried in one of the military cemeteries on Bermuda.  I felt this had to be GGM's first husband. 

I proceeded by trying to find the marriage certificate of Elizabeth to John A.  No luck  but I did succeed with the birth certificates of their children thanks to a friend of mine looking up births in the Cameronian Regiment held in London.  Four known, Elizabeth who became Elizabeth Mc, another John and two James's.  People often named another child after one who had already died in those days.  I decided to try and find out more about Elizabeth's brother - John yet again.  To cut a long story short or this would turn into a book, I was able to ascertain that he became Bandmaster with the Border Regiment.

Back to the 1881 census.  I desperately hoped that he would be in England at the time and not stationed abroad.  Success again - I found him and his wife, Hannah, living at an army camp with their two sons - MY Johnny A and his brother Ernest.  Then something dredged up through my sub-conscious.  I remembered overhearing my Father once mentioning to my brother, The Duke of York's Royal Military School.  I took another chance and wrote off to the Bursar asking if they had any records of either Johnny or Ernest.  They had nothing on John but they did find amongst their old records an application for admission on behalf of Ernest into the Royal Military Asylum (The original name of the Duke of York's Royal Military School) and said they would send it to me.  So I obtained the final proof, not that I needed it by that time.  The application had been completed by my Grandfather, William who stated that as the boy's parents were both dead he was elligible to be accepted and stating that he was their Guardian and their Uncle!!!

This proved beyond any doubt that the John A , Bandmaster of the Border Regiment, and my Grandfather, Wiliam F of the Army Service Corps were indeed half-brothers!!My GGM had buried her first husband John A, he of the Cameronians and by whom she had four children, on Bermuda.  In fact he was only one of three soldiers to die of Yellow Fever in the outbreak that swept Bermuda (I subsequently found a picture of his grave on Google). Then, when the regiment returned to England she married my GGF James F and had three more children by him. John and James were both in the Band of the Cameronians and it is believed that they were good friends.

Thus my Father was completely correct.  Johnny A was Grandfather's Half-Brother's Son just as he had stated to me all those years ago.  How I wish he had lived to see and enjoy the information I had uncovered.

I later went on to find the complete story of my Johnny A from his birth to his death and by putting a message on the Internet about brother Ernest, I was contacted several months later by his Grand-daughter who has supplied me with much more information.  Sadly, Ernest committed suicide in South Africa at the age of 31.

So that is the story of how I cracked a mystery that others had failed to do.  My family search was difficult because nearly all the men were military and regiments moved around so much.  I told you that GGM Elizabeth had four children - well those four children were born in Ireland, Gibraltar, Canada and Bermuda!!  Non-military families are much easier.

Of course there were many more letters and phone calls involved, hours trawling the net and going through census records but I have abbreviated the story quite a lot to save you all falling asleep!!