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I started my interest in family history when the 1901 census came out
Looked first at my FIL background as he was put in home at aged 4 in Birmingham and stayed it till he was 15,and was then put in supervised boys lodgings
He did know he had a sister Maud but knew nothing more than what was on his .1901 birth cert
I did say to him once did you ever try to trace your sister and his answer was NOOO
not interested ,they didn't want me so I don't want them
Researched as far as I could on his tree . Found his parents weren't married and his mums family took in Maud born 1896 but no one knew about dad
Was told his sister went to Canada and married and had two children but could t find any info on that.
I got so interested on family genealogy and it set me off tracing both sides of my tree
Well some 14 years later have suddenly been contacted by a previous contact I had exchanged info on dads mums side to say she was in contact now with the granddaughter of his sister Maud ,now spelt Maude , and she passed my email address on to her
Been exchanging info and she said her Nan never talked her family and it seemed she had sadness in her past.
Well not as much as dad!! He was rejected by his mum and dad . SHE had been taken in by one of her mums sisters and would have known she had a brother.
There was another sister too born in 1899 and died in 1901 just a few days before dad was born , he didn't know about her
But it's lovely now out of the blue ,to take up again dads family tree and to find what happened to his sister I do feel sad though we weren't able to try and reunite dad with his sister
Dad died in 1985 aged .84 . A lovely family man with the family he made for himself by marrying a lovely lady in 1932.
I was married to his eldest son who we lost last October
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Sad that its too late for them to be reunited, but at least you may be able to put the record straight. There are 2 sides to every story.
Although not as devisive as your tale, my maternal grandmother died when Mum was about 8. Mum had a younger sister and 3 surviving adult siblings. Her 2 year old sister was taken in by an older sibling & then, when she died unexpectedly, by a great aunt. Mum lived with their step-mother & father.
Mum always felt sad that she wasn't 'chosen' to live with other family members.
Her younger sister was upset feeling she was 'shipped around' because 'No one wanted' her.
Different times with no social services or support.
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Yes sadly there wasn support years ago to help single parent families and the innocent kiddies who needed help through no fault of themselves .
My poor FIL didn't get any help from his mums family but they didn't know about him. so they can't be faulted ..if your sister doenst open up then they can't. step in and help.
It's very strange that no one knew about dad . Maude it seems never spoke about him or the little sister who died .they thought she was an only child
Maybe she thought that dad had died too
Think if they did know about little William then the family may have stepped in and taken dad in
Very sad
Addendum
the children all had the same father . He was 20 years older than Alice and married . He was a commercial traveller in tobacco and fancy goods . She was a chambermaid in hotel in 1891 so am guessing that's how she met him .
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My late mother in law was illegitimate.
When I first started research that family requests for info were ignored until I let them know that I knew about MIL then all the info was forthcoming.
OH was a teenager when she died so it is understandable that her children didn't know. Everyone, including half cousins, knew there was something about her - but were never told.
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