Tomorrow I'm going round to see my sister. We're having a planning meeting for a trip down to Wiltshire at Easter. After our lovely mum died it emerged that she was illegitimate. None of us kids knew but Dad did and yet had never, ever spoke about it to Mum! Different times eh?
It's thought that her real dad was a fella called Henry Higgs from Little Somerford in Wiltshire. All we have by way of proof though is anecdotal evidence (from Dad) and an insurance policy in my uncle Alan's name (Mum's brother), taken out by Henry Higgs. So it's a fairly safe bet that it's right but we both feel the need to get proof positive
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We did a bit of family tree research four or five years ago. Not solely on Henry Higgs, but we did a bit of digging then but weren't able to turn up any proof. We found further evidence; there was a Henry Higgs living in the village around the time of the conception(s). The theory is that as he was living alone and my granny used to do 'skivvying', she 'did' for him and he gave her a little 'bonus' on top of her wages
We've booked a b&b in Little Somerford and the lady that runs it says there are still Higgses living in the village and that she will happily put us in touch. With that in mind I did a bit of research into the possible use of DNA testing to provide the proof of a link. However, it seems that you need an unbroken maternal or paternal line in order to provide the requisite proof and unfortunately, we don't have either as far as I can see. At the moment, I'm thinking our best hope is that if/when we meet Henry's descendants, that they bear a strong family resemblance - poor feckers imo
It would be great if we could prove the link; that Henry Higgs is our grandad. Also be good to get more on his 'story'.
Does anyone have any experience of similar quests? Any advice or suggestions would be gratefully received.
We think this may be a photo of Henry's grave, found among Mum's possessions after she died. Sad that she felt she had to keep her dad a secret
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