My one disappointment was while researching my grandfather on my father’s side, was I found he was born to a coal manager’s daughter, Mary Ann Potts, and he was actually illegitimate.
There is a possibility I’m not a Henderson at all!
However my great grandfather, John Harvey, married the lady, and they had more children, so I took the decision that actually he was the father but it took some time for them to get married, perhaps he had to prove himself to Thomas Potts the Mine Manager.
Originally I had traced the Henderson family back to John Henderson born in 1818 and with his Marriage Certificate determined that his father was Thomas Henderson.
I used a professional researcher, Ann Brooker, to try and trace details of Thomas Henderson and this is the finding of her research which shows that she traced back to our earliest ancestor so who was Edward Henderson born in 1745.
However later through the Ancestry.com system a couple of people suggest that the father of Edward was a James Henderson (1720-1771) and then this is conformed by the marriage certificate when Edward married Frances Kirsop in 1775 and James was noted on the certificate
and his parents were George Henderson born in Durham in 1690 and his wife Mary Annie Routledge born in 1698 in Cumberland. If true I’m back to the 17th century
So in summary my ancestors were
George Henderson born 1690
James Henderson born 1720
Edward Henderson born 1745
Thomas Henderson born 1781
John Henderson born 1818
John Harvey Henderson born 1853
George William Henderson born 1872
Eric George Henderson born 1913
and then me born 1941
I started my investigation with Edward and have individual page links from Edward through to my father, which then have links to detailed information in my ancestry.com site.
What is sad is that looking at the ages of my male ancestors (ignoring James who may have been 51 when he died in 1771) and bearing in mind all the rest were born in the 18th and 19th centuries their ages at death were, Edward 73, Thomas 79, John 67, John Harvey 74 and George William 59. My father born in 20th century died at just 52 – thanks to the tobacco industry.
John Harvey Henderson born 1853
George William Henderson born 1872
Eric George Henderson born 1913
and then me born 1941
I started my investigation with Edward and have individual page links from Edward through to my father, which then have links to detailed information in my ancestry.com site.
What is sad is that looking at the ages of my male ancestors (ignoring James who may have been 51 when he died in 1771) and bearing in mind all the rest were born in the 18th and 19th centuries their ages at death were, Edward 73, Thomas 79, John 67, John Harvey 74 and George William 59. My father born in 20th century died at just 52 – thanks to the tobacco industry.