My Welsh great grandfather was illegitimate. Is there any way I can find a record of his father and what happened to his mother?
QMy great grandfather, John Griffith Ellis, was born in Tywyn on 7 July 1874 as John Griffith. His father was not shown on his birth certificate and his mother, Mary Ellis, was a domestic servant. John was raised by Mary’s parents, Griffith Ellis and Mary Anwal, and later called himself John Griffiths Ellis. Is there any way to identify his father? Also, I can’t find his mother Mary after the 1871 census.
Alan Poultney
AIllegitimate children crop up in most families. When a father’s name doesn’t appear on a birth certificate, a search for a baptism can be made. Very often, the incumbent will be aware of the child’s father and record it in the register. In this case, you should search the parish registers and nonconformist registers in the Pennal and Towyn parishes by contacting Gwynedd
Archives: gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Residents/ Libraries-and-archives/Archives-and-familyhistory/Archives-and-family-history.aspx.
I browsed the available registers on findmy past.co.uk but couldn’t find a baptism for a John Griffith (with or without the Ellis). A marriage record is another potential source for the father’s name. A record on Findmypast shows that John Griffith Ellis married Jane Owen on 15 November 1899 at Llanegryn,
Merionethshire. However, he gave his father’s name as Griffith Ellis, which doesn’t help. The father doesn’t seem to have played any part in John’s life; his grandparents soon considered themselves to be his guardians, and his mother worked elsewhere.
A DNA test may possibly provide some answers, but it depends on who else has tested so results aren’t guaranteed.
As for Mary Ellis, I considered if she had married after the 1871 census and probably after the birth of John in 1874. A search on Findmypast found her marriage to Daniel Davies on 15 February 1876 at Towyn – her father recorded as Griffith. Further searches of the 1881 census found Mary and the family living in Festiniog, Merionethshire. By this time, they had three children, but of course John continued to live with his grandparents as you have already found.
Beryl Evans