Why can’t I find out what happened to my grandfather?
Q I’m trying to trace my grandfather, Edmund Alderson Dove. The only records I can find are the certificate of marriage to my grandmother, and my father’s birth certificate. I have been unable to find him on any other records. However, I have found an Albert Alderson Dove, who was born in 1874 in Thatcham, Berkshire.
The address Edmund gives on the marriage certificate in May 1914 is his bride’s family home. The one he gives on my father’s birth certificate in July 1914 is the house my grandmother lived in for the rest of her life.
Edmund seems to have disappeared! Can you offer any help?
Linda Farrant
A I also failed to find any definite record of Edmund Alderson Dove beyond the marriage and birth certificates you have. However, the Albert Alderson Dove you found must be worth investigating, given the unusual middle name and surname combination.
Albert seems to have been the son of William Noah Dove and Eleanor Alderson who, although both English, married in Forres, Scotland, in 1867. The family moved around and in 1871 they are in Crookham, Berkshire, where Albert is born in 1874. In 1881, they are in Nannerch in North Wales, and in 1891 and 1901 they are in Darrington, West Yorkshire. William’s occupation varies between gamekeeper and woodsman, so he fits perfectly with the description of Edmund’s father on the marriage certificate you have.
William and Eleanor have several children, but I can’t see any record of Edmund. Did Albert, or one of his brothers (William and Walter), become Edmund later, perhaps to marry bigamously? I consider Albert a good candidate, because he is certainly someone who didn’t always tell the truth. In the 1911 census, Albert and his wife, Lilian Audrey, claim to have been married for 11 years, yet their marriage was in 1905 (and they had a daughter Lilian in 1901).
However, I then found details of Albert’s marriage in his badly damaged First World War military record, and listed as a witness is “EA Dove” – could this be your grandfather Edmund? He is still a mystery, but I’m sure this Dove family is the one to research further. Antony Marr