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Part 5. To DNA or not to DNA ?
Since starting this project, I have felt rewarded to have made headway, to have unearthed some historical data that matched the sketchy details I knew about my Dad’s origins. But now my knowledge had grown, I had also increased the unknowns at the heart of this story. What role did Frederick Ihlee and his family…
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Part 4. Ernst Rudolph Karl Ihlee
The book arrived promptly. It contained many beautiful examples of Rudolph Ihlee’s work, sumptuous landscapes from his time in the Pyrénèes-Orientales. And helpfully it provided some detail about his origins, and his early days. Rudolph’s family had moved from Germany in the 1860’s. He was born in Wimbledon in January 1883, being the eighth of…
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Part 3. Looking for Mr. Ely
My next step was to find out more about these two gentlemen. Whilst Lionel Hereford was no doubt Rose’s employer and landlord, I was struck that he shared such a bond with a man named Ihlee, which phonetically put him within the rifle sights of my quest. Rudolph Ihlee was clearly the more distinguished and…
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Part 2. The search begins…
I didn’t think Mum and Dad had had any interest in pursuing the mystery of his birth, but when Nigel sent me what documents he had gathered after Mum’s passing, I was surprised to find that, along with the original, there was a modern certified copy of Dad’s birth certificate. Having started using Ancestry.com to…
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Part 1. The family history…
I don’t know when I first heard the family folklore about Dad’s ancestry. I know I wasn’t a young child, because I remember going up to Whittlesey several times for family weddings, and meeting my Uncle Ernie and Aunt Alice. At least I thought they were my aunt and uncle. So it must have been…
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Algernon Frederick Willimer
4th July 1919 – 12th July 1991 My father was born on July 4th, 1919. The circumstances of his birth will be the most engaging part of this entire family history project, since the whole concept of a family tree might be restricted by my lack of knowledge of his origins, and my paternal genetic…
my/our/their family
A family history project dedicated to the Willimer family in Royston and around the world, inspired by the desire to find out more about my Dad’s mysterious parentage.
The people’s whose lives and memories make up this website.
The story of the quest for my unknown Grandfather.
Images that tell the story of our family.
Some family trees.