Elsie Markham, A Courageous Woman Whose Secrets Were Revealed with DNA

Elsie on her way to Canada 1913

Elsie Phyllis Markham had no idea of the tragedies she would experience when she was born 27 February 1898 in London England. On October 19 when she was just 8 months old, her 32 year old father Albert died. Her mother Edith (nee Finch) was 28 years old, a widow with three children under the age of 8. Sadly, Edith too died just one month later on November 27, 1898.

The orphans were then separated. For a brief time a neighbour tried to care for them but soon found it too much. An aunt took the children in but her husband objected so little Albert, 8 years old, was admitted to Barnardos Homes in February 1899. Although Albert Markham was not his biological father, the name and whereabouts of his actual father were not known. He had no one to care for him.

His younger brother Frederick, 4 years old, was sent to Miller's Orphanage and Elsie, not quite one year old, was taken in by an older Scottish couple.

Albert, Elsie's half-brother, was sent to Canada as a Home Child when he was 11 where he was very unhappy. He was treated like an indentured servant in his placement with an older couple on a farm. He ran away many times but was always found and sent back. Eventually he was sent to live with a family in St. Mary's Ontario - and there he was treated as a son.  With hard work and by saving every penny he made, he was eventually able to save enough to send for his two siblings. Young 15 year old Elsie arrived in Canada in September 1913 and several months later, Albert was able to be pay for Frederick's passage. Frederick arrived in May 1914.

Albert, illegitimate son of Edith Finch before her marriage, in Barnardo's Homes England

Elsie soon found work as a servant in a local home and four years after her arrival she found herself pregnant and unmarried. A few months later she married a local farmer Bristol Holden. But there was more sorrow for Elsie. On 7 April 1918 her brother Frederick was killed in action in France during WW1. 10 days after her brother was killed a boy was born to Elsie and named Herbert. Herbert, aka Bert, was my husband's maternal grandfather.

Frederick Markham in WW1

We had no idea that Bert's father was not Bristol Holden until my husband and his mother had their DNA tested.  It was then that we learned Bert's biological father was another man. Then the pieces began to fall into place. There had been a persistent family rumour that Elsie had been "fooling around with the handyman Cooper". Sure enough the DNA match that showed Bert's dad was not Bristol Holden matched a man named Cooper. His ancestry was also from St. Mary's.

After several months of intensive research, and matching DNA to another Cooper descendant, we were able to narrow the search for "the handyman Cooper" to one of two men - with the likely culprit being Gordon Alfred Cooper who lived next door to Elsie's brother. He was remembered by those whose parents knew him as a bit of a scoundrel. And that fit very well with poor Elsie getting pregnant and perhaps being deserted by her lover. In fact records indicate that Gordon did leave St. Mary's for several years. In fairness to Gordon however we don't know the facts - perhaps Elsie never told him she was pregnant.

Whether or not Bristol knew that Bert was not his son is not known. Did Elsie tell him or did she trick him into believing Bert was his? We will never know and it really doesn't matter because there is no judgement on Elsie no matter what the story was. Elsie and Bristol had, by all accounts, a happy life, and Bristol and Elsie went on to have five children - one son and four daughters.

The past is the past and the only thing I find a bit sad is that poor Elsie probably never wanted anyone else to know about her circumstances. But genealogy research is all about the truth, whatever it may be. 

Skeletons in The Closet

Many of us have Genealogical Skeletons in our Closets. Not our own, but an ancestor's closet. Some we know about or have heard whispers about. Others are quite a surprise when we accidentally stumble on them in our research.

My 8th. great grandmother Anna Kuhn was born about 1659, and in 1674, at the age of 15, she was married to Jorg Bruning. Jorg was an older man, and the marriage was a most unhappy one for Anna. While living at Huttengesas with her husband, she fell in love with Nicholaus Bellinger.

Ann and Nicholaus ran off together and had a son (my 7th Great-grandfather), Marcus Bellinger in 1682. Nicholaus Bellinger and Anna finally received church permission to marry, and were wed on 25 November 1685.

How do I know this? The minister of their church wrote about it in his church register book. Imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I read this entry:

"Nicolaus Bellinger and Anna, daughter of Hans Kuhn, were married 25 Nov. 1685 as per the order of the noble government. She had married some years ago Jorg Bruning at Huttengesab, but she was not compatable with him, so Bruning went from her and she from him. She went away with this Nicolaus Bellinger and had an illegitimate child - a little son, so that the aforementioned Jorg Bruning has contracted another marriage. After all this however, the above mentioned Bellinger has remained as a stranger. She sent a request to the honourable government to let them stay in the country, and this finally has been permitted by the aforementioned honourable government which ordered me to marry them with prior published penitence and to avoid further trouble and also to legitimize the rearing of this blameless child"

Nicolaus and Anna fled Germany for America with the Palatine immigration of 1709, settling in New York. Rumours persist that after a few years, the apparently perpetually unhappy Anna ran off with Nicolaus' nephew!