Family Mystery: Update 1 - Searching For My Unknown Great-grandfather

The Search Begins.  

In an earlier post, I introduced a family mystery and a controversial family question: Who was the biological father of my paternal grandmother? 

In that post, I discussed this particularly emotional brick wall and shared some of the currently-known information and some frustrating roadblocks. 

To try to overcome some of those roadblocks, I committed to engaging in a more methodical research process, one set out in the Family Locket Genealogists' books, Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide (2018) and Research Like a Pro with DNA (2021). 

In this post, I will share some progress after completing initial steps discussed in their first book.

Initial Progress. 

After working through the intial research steps, I have established the following in the quest to identify my paternal grandmother's biological father:

• Research Question (Type - To prove a family relationship.)
• Who were the biological parents of my paternal grandmother, Fern(e) Caroline ELDER?
  
  
• Research Objective: 
• The objective of this research project is to determine who were the biological parents of Fern(e) Caroline ELDER, also known as Caroline Fern(e) ELDER, born 20 May 1921 at the ELDER family farm in R.M. of Cornwallis, Manitoba, Canada and died 23 Apr 2002 in Summerland, British Columbia, Canada.
  
  
• Summary of Known Facts 
• I developed a detailed chronology of known facts about my grandmother's life, with special focus on her early life. (See Note 1) Doing so helped me see where there were data gaps, and where I might need to focus more research effort.
• Note that I have reviewed two pieces of credible and contemporaneous information that state Fern's biological mother was Jean Elizabeth ELDER and an unknown father, possibly from Western Canada.
  
  
• Working Hypothesis
• All working hypotheses must focus on – and must answer – these fundamental questions:
• Who had the access and the opportunity to impregnate Fern(e) Caroline ELDER's mother on or about August 1920? What might have been the motive?
• One possibility to be investigated includes insight from a handed-down family story suggesting her father was a soldier from a nearby army camp or was from a wealthy family (or both) who paid for her biological grandparents to raise her as their daughter.
• Another possibility relates to the observation in the 1921 Canada census of a hired hand living at the family farm about the time that my grandmother was born.

In trying to identify logical candidates for my grandmother's biological father, I borrowed the classic conditions used in police investigations for identifying a suspect. In the impregnation of Fern's mother Jean, who was aged 14 at the time of the event, what male individuals in and around Brandon / R.M. of Cornwallis, Manitoba on or about the month of August 1920 had 

1. the motive, 
2. the means, and 
3. the opportunity?

Regarding the Working Hypothesis, I am engaging in the process a little out of order from that established in the book. This is because I had previously accumulated some research data and observations that I wanted to set down (such as the anecdotal family story), and to see where that information might lead the development of the research strategy (a future step in the process).

Approaching the issue of my grandmother's biological parentage in this methodical, analytical manner has already helped me with insights about where to focus some research, such as identifying people in the family's trusted social circle, who may have interacted with Fern's mother Jean at school, and future decisions on where to focus another step in the procees - locality research.

Stay tuned for further updates as I continue to work through this research methodology.

                                                     

Notes

Note 1: My paternal grandmother Fern experienced some tumultuous life events that today would be recognized for their traumatic nature. In consideration of those still living who knew her or were directly affected by some of these events in her life, I will publish only those facts that are necessary and materially relevant to the research objective of establishing her biological parentage.

                                                      

Sources

Research and information attached to relevant individual profiles on my public Ancestry.ca tree, Brant-LeComte Family Tree (Work-In-Progress)

Elder, Diana (AG) and Dyer, Nicole. (2018) Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide. Family Locket Genealogists: Highland, Utah, USA.