One of my research successes occurred three years ago when I re-united a father and son who had been estranged for sixty years.
I was engaged by a client who wanted to gift her step father on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday the whereabouts of his son.
The son, aged sixty five had no memory of his father having been separated from him at the age of four. He was told by his mother that his father was determined never to see him again and in turn the father was told that his son had the same attitude towards him.
As he grew older he started questioning more about his father’s whereabouts but he knew it was a topic his Mum quickly shut down. She never told him the background of her marriage breakdown with his father and he thought he was gone out of his life forever.
The father moved from England to Australia when he was eighty, after the death of his second wife to live with his step daughter.
All I had to go on was the son’s birth certificate and I spent weeks searching paid subscription websites, electoral registers, family history societies and business directories in the area shown on the birth certificate and I posted random letters to people with the same surname in that area. On the electoral roll I found his wife and researched her also. I searched the Family History Society in the area and sent emails to the Members’ Surnames Interests Secretary, the Research Administrator and the local library local studies group.
When the son received a mysterious letter from Australia, he was worried that the contents were going to reveal an illegitimate child from his early army days. Little did he know that his long-lost father had finally found him.
However, he contacted me and I connected him with my client and she sent him photos of his father and the family that he never knew. Suddenly he had cousins, uncles and aunts to meet.
He soon travelled to Australia with his wife and was able to celebrate with his father on his ninetieth birthday. I was invited to that event and was happy to see the two men catching up on what they had missed.
My client took the story to the local newspaper and it was featured on the front page.
Frances Cairns BA
Graduate Certificate in Family & Community History
