GENEALOGY PROBLEM SOLVING
CASE CLOSED (AT LAST!)
Sometimes with a family history problem, a fresh pair of eyes and a look at a different set of documents can work wonders. Mary Evans pieced together part of Family Tree reader Kerr Clement’s story, and Graham Caldwell completed the tale
Mary Evans Graham Caldwell
For a long time now, the tantalising thought that there might be a vital ‘mystery’ document somewhere, that could help Kerr Clement learn more about his father’s step-father, has kept him curious, but perplexed. Here we relate the unfolding steps, that eventually led to the answer he needed. As is the case so often with genealogy ‘brick walls’, it’s not a case of smashing them down, but of finding a way around them.
Kerr Clement had long been trying to find out: ‘What were the papers that his father’s mother showed to the recruiting officer in WW2 to prove that her son, James Clement (born Robertson) was who he said he was despite the surname discrepancy?'
As the document was thought to relate to a record of birth, Kerr had approached Mary Evans at her webinar on solving family history brickwalls (November 2020).