> My big >brick wall concerns my father's unknown grandfather. Dad's mother was >Alice Maud BRACEY, born 1880, youngest of 5 illegitimate children of >Maria BRACEY, born 1846 -- no trace of the father of any of them! I've >tried all the usual routes to an answer. Maria was poor, but apparently >being supported to some extent, though there are no maintenance orders >or anything of that sort to be found. It does suggest she was in a stable relationship, supported by the father, who didn't or couldn't marry her. Who is she living with in 1881? Does his name bear any relati0on to any of the children's forenames? > -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society