The Brick Wall

The biggest challenge in my genealogy research so far has been my great grandmother, Dora.  I knew as soon as I read the information my sister, Chandra had sent me, that Dora was going to be trouble. She was adopted. There I was brand spanking new to genealogy and I was up against an adoption. I toyed with the idea of moving on to an easier ancestor, someone more obliging to give me quicker results, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to find out who her biological parents were.

1901 Census of Canada, Weldford, Kent County, NB

Armed with her adopted name (Dora Anna Black), her date of birth (March 13, 1883) and where she was born (New Brunswick), I began by searching census records on www.automatedgenealogy.com for her in the New Brunswick Census records. I found her on the 1901Census of Canada for Weldford Parish, Kent County, New Brunswick. She was living with her mother (Anne M. Black) and brother (George Black). The year of birth was off by one, but the day and month matched and she was listed as “adopted daughter”.

Late Registration of Birth for Dora Ann Ward

Then I searched the Vital Statistics in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick’s database http://archives.gnb.ca/Archives/?culture=en-CA (PANB) and in the Index to Late Registration of Births I found a record for Dora Ann Ward, born March 13, 1883 in Cails Mills, Kent County. Her mother’s name was listed as Jane Ward.  The father’s name was not listed. Could this be my great grandmother? Did I just find out her biological mother’s name?  I ordered the microfilm through the library and not-so-patiently waited for the call that it was at my local branch. Once it arrived, I couldn’t wait to get to the library. I scrolled through the microfilm slowly careful not to miss it, and there it was; a copy of the actual record. Unfortunately, it didn’t give any information that could confirm this was my great grandmother, but it did give clues. I now had her married name as of May 11, 1953, Mrs. Wilson. It also specified that her mother’s name, Jane Ward, was her maiden name, and that she was born in Weldford Parish, Kent County. 

In the Vital Statistics records on PANB I also found the marriage record for Dora and my great grandfather, John H Farrer. On this record Dora’s parents are listed as William and Maria (Ward) Black. I haven’t confirmed that Anne M and Maria is the same person, but I suspect so from other records that I’ve found. What I do want to take note of here is that Maria’s maiden name is the same as Dora’s biological mother’s maiden name. Was she adopted by a relative? I was unable to find Dora on the 1891 Census of Canada, but I did find her adopted family. So where was Dora? I wonder if she was still with her biological mother in 1891. Perhaps her mother died sometime between 1891 and 1901 and that’s why she was adopted by Anne. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find documentation to support this theory.

I found a Jane Ward living in a nearby town but have been unable to find sufficient documentation to prove that she is Dora’s biological mother. With nothing to confirm her mother’s identity, and no information on her father the trail ran dry and remained that way for a long time. I moved on to other ancestors, but could never fully let it go, and would periodically search again. Then one day I found a document with some incredible information. It was the record from her marriage to her second husband, William George Wilson. WILSON! The same last name that was listed on her Late Registration of Birth in 1953! On this record her name is Dora Annie Farrer (her married name from her first husband, my great grandfather, John Henry Farrer); she is 50 years old, and a widow. It all matches AND confirms the Late Registration of Birth. As I continued to read through the marriage record, her parents’ names were listed as: Thomas Cail and Jane Ward! NOT William and Anne M./Maria Black, but Thomas Cail and Jane Ward! Her biological mother’s name matched, which would imply that the name under “Father” would be her biological father!  Did I finally know her biological father’s name? Also, her father’s last name is the name of where Dora was born, Cails Mills.

With fresh exuberance, I began searching for Thomas Cail in the PANB database. Considering that I already knew there was a Cails Mills in Kent County, I should have realized that this may be a big family with a long history… and multiple Thomas Cails. Which one was mine??? Next thing I knew I had diagrams, charts, piles of notes and a head swimming with too many Cails to count! I made a timeline of each Thomas Cail, noting when they were married, when their children were born and where they were living at the time of Dora’s birth to discern a probable match.

I spent months on this, going over each record with a fine tooth comb again and again. All the while I had the nagging thought, how does Dora know who her father is? What if the name she wrote on her marriage record isn’t correct? I could be spending all this time on a false trail. It was time to take it to the next level: DNA testing. I ordered a kit through 23andMe.com. It took a few weeks to get my results, but once I did I found out that I have over 900 matches from 2nd to distant cousins just on the 23andMe site alone (sadly the two 2nd cousin matches are anonymous and haven't responded to my request to share information). I have A LOT to learn about understanding my results, but I do know one thing for sure: I have a match that is a 3^rd to 4^th cousin from the same Cail line in New Brunswick! Which proves that one of these Thomas Cails IS my 2^nd great grandfather! Now I know I have the correct ancestral line! I still want to figure out exactly which one it is, but am still pretty excited that I've managed to piece together as much as I have. I also hope to figure out if the Jane Ward I think may be my 2nd great grandmother actually is, but I suppose I'll just have to keep digging for now.