How Jane and Ian discovered their paternal brick wall

Ian very quickly hit a brick wall on his paternal line, when he got to his great grandfather. Working independently, Jane also hit the same brick wall. The image above is the record of a marriage for Joseph Leigh Hunter and Jane Johnston nee Kerr. Above was the start of Read more

The Realisation – Records were not going to be the answer

5 years had passed since Ian first discovered the brick wall, though he tried to crack it a few times. Ian retired in late 2016 and seriously started to try to crack the “Leigh Hunter” brick wall. Ian came to the conclusion that he would never make any progress using Read more

No progress searching for Leigh Hunter – Trying WikiTree and GEDmatch

As more time passes, Ian decides that another approach might be necessary to try and crack the family mystery. Ian was getting sort of desperate by this time. Still, he had not made any progress in finding Leigh Hunter. Ian considered trying different approaches, anything to make any progress on Read more

The official records of Joseph Leigh Hunter

Joseph Leigh Hunter’s marriage certificate above shows his father to be Leigh Hunter, Coal Miner (deceased) and his mother to be Kate Walton. This is the first official record that Jane and Ian could find for their great grandfather. The wedding took place on 28 October 1898 at Tradeston, Lanarkshire, Read more

When You Discover Your Great Grandfather Hid His Real Identity

It took cousins Jane and Ian years to work out that their paternal great grandfather lied about his true identity. It seems he took the trouble to make it difficult for his family to discover that his real surname wasn’t Hunter. The only thing he couldn’t hide or lie about Read more