Mum said that Nan, who shall from now on be referred to as Maggie, always believed her birth date to be 10 October 1908; she was born in Epsom. Based on this information alone it was becoming apparent that I was not going to find her.

January 2001

As there appeared to be no evidence of Maggie having been born and after several discussions with my mum and aunt and uncle I decided to see if I could find the death certificate for Maggie’s brother George. Apparently someone else in the family had previously carried out some research and it was believed that George married a Griffiths and both he and his wife died within a short time of each other during the 1960s.

Throughout several visits to the FRC I searched deaths and found one for a George Walker in the 1970s. I also decided to look for a birth certificate for George but could only find one possible for an Arthur George Walker born in Epsom. Thinking about what happened with Amy Alice Plummer actually being Alice Amy Plummer I decided to order this certificate.

I could not stop myself from looking once again for Maggie and searched through births and found myself ordering one for a Maggie Walker born in Sheffield. I was getting desperate.

I also checked marriages for a George Walker to a Griffiths and found one for a parish in London and one for a parish in Glamorgan. There was so little information about George. I did not even know for sure where he might have lived or if he stayed in the Epsom area so once again I had to follow up these possible leads.

The certificates arrived

The first is the death certificate for George Walker. This gentleman lived in the Epsom area, occupation market gardener; his son was present at his death. What did this mean to me? Nothing, because there were no other clues on the certificate. Phone calls to relatives asking about a possible son of George proved futile also.

The birth certificate for Arthur George Walker born in the Epsom area was a little more interesting. His father was George, occupation asylum attendant, mother Alice Walker. My pulse picked up pace; although he was known as George his birth name could have been Arthur George.

The birth certificate for Maggie Walker gives the parents as James and Leah Walker. Right month and year if not the right date. I phoned Mum willing her to tell me there had been some mention of Sheffield during her childhood, or that her grandmother was called Leah; it meant nothing to her but she did say, emphatically, that her grandmother was not called Leah. How did she know that? Was Mum holding back on a vital piece of information? Mum said her grandmother was called something like Azuria, Asoria or Azerora. I searched every book I could find on Christian names and the Internet trying to find a name resembling the one Mum had given me. I even read each one out to her over the phone in the hope of discovering this elusive name. Exasperatingly Mum insisted that none of the names I had found came close to what she remembered. At this point I accused her of making it up, that there was no such name and she must have dreamt it! Mum also remembered Nan saying her ancestors were French. Now I was really beginning to believe that most of what Mum had been told was fantasy. Nothing added up!

The two marriage certificates for George Walker left me cold. There was not a single piece of information that gave me any hope at all.

During this month I paid a visit to the Wirral where Mum lives and found myself at the Central Library in Liverpool looking at microfiche of births. I decided to order copies of all the Walkers born in the last quarter of 1907 and 1908. At least I could study the births at my leisure in the hope that Maggie would spring off the page and say ‘here I am’.

Back at the FRC (a quick visit as it is my wedding anniversary and hubby is not best pleased) I decided to find and order the death certificate for Maggie. I also looked for my grandmother’s birth on my father’s side, Elizabeth Pilkington born about 1861, and found one registered in Prescot, close to Liverpool. My main reason for being there though was to try to find a marriage certificate for Arthur George Walker, hoping he might be married to someone called Griffiths, and found one in the 1930s.

The certificates arrived

Maggie’s death certificate gave her date of birth as 9 October 1907, a different year, but I knew this to be based only on family hearsay as none of Maggie’s children had any more idea of her exact date of birth than she did herself. However, with this and the other information I had collected I now believed her date of birth to be during the month of October in either 1907 or 1908, even if it wasn’t registered.

The certificate for Elizabeth Pilkington is wrong. I knew this because her father was called Robert and this Elizabeth’s father is called Thomas. Scream! My research appears to be deteriorating rapidly. Was my previous success due to beginner’s luck rather than ability?

Salvation arrived in the form of the marriage certificate for Arthur George Walker of Epsom to a Martha. This was the marriage that someone else in the family had mentioned. One of the witnesses was Alice Taylor. Something is wrong though. The Arthur George whose birth certificate I had does not match the age given on this certificate. My head began to hurt. Why was this happening?

I spoke to Mum on the phone and read out everything on the marriage certificate for Arthur Walker. Only the name of Alice Taylor, a witness at the marriage, jogged something in Mum’s memory. She remembered Maggie referring to her grandmother once as Grandmother Taylor, as she had remarried. Poor Mum was so apologetic because she had not remembered this before but it didn’t matter to me because she remembered it now; I would have kissed her had she not been 250 miles away. A quick check of the birth certificate for Arthur George, although it wasn’t the right date as per the marriage certificate, gave me the name of his mother as Alice Walker, matching the Christian name of Alice Taylor on the marriage certificate for Arthur. This meant the surname Taylor matched with Mum’s information that Maggie’s mother had remarried a Taylor. Perhaps Mum was mistaken about Maggie’s mother’s name being Azoria or whatever – maybe it was simply Alice. At least it began with the same letter.

What I had learned

• I believed I had the right marriage certificate for Maggie’s brother George.
• I probably had the right birth certificate for George (Arthur) even though the year is wrong, as there were no others registered for Arthur George or George Arthur.
• I had the names of Maggie and George’s parents and the Christian name began with the letter A, although not the fictitious name of Azoria, but Alice. I was becoming happily confident I was on the right track.

I also asked the FRC to carry out searches for Maggie and George on my behalf, for a fee, thinking that perhaps they might find something I had missed. They did not find anything either.

March 2001

I had an e-mail from Uncle Harry listing some names and addresses from an old address book he had of my grandfather’s. Of the several addresses I succeeded in finding a phone number for, one was an Ann Gosling. I telephoned and explained who I was and said her address had been found in my grandfather Harry Reynolds’ address book – she turned out to be my grandfather’s niece. Later in the year we visited Ann and her husband Ron in Charlwood, Surrey, taking my parents with us, and although we were given lots of information about granddad’s brothers and sisters Ann could not help us with Maggie. We have stayed in touch. Sadly Ann’s husband Ron would pass away during the coming year. His death touched us deeply as we had only just met and been welcomed by this lovely man.

Believing I had found details of Maggie’s brother and parents, even though I had nothing significant about Maggie, I searched for my maternal great grandfather Robert Reynolds and my paternal grandmother Elizabeth Pilkington, both of whom were born circa 1861. Of the two birth certificates I purchased for Robert Reynolds only one proved a possibility – the son of Robert Reynolds, a gentleman’s groom, and Esther Reynolds, formerly Stevens. The only problem was this Robert was born in Rotherhithe. Of the two certificates I purchased for Elizabeth Pilkington for 1862 and 1863 neither had the father’s name of Robert that I needed. Common names cause great problems with research, as I was finding, and as the only way to ascertain whether you have the right person is to order the certificate, this in turn can be expensive.

My pages for the last quarters for births for 1907 and 1908 arrived from Liverpool Central Library. I ordered another certificate for a Marjorie Walker from Kingston but this again proved incorrect as it did not match with anything else I had. I was beginning to have great doubts about the evidence I had collected regarding Arthur George Walker although most of the family believed I was on the right track.

I also found details of an Alice Walker’s marriage, hoping it would be Alice Walker’s second marriage, and ordered that certificate by phone but stated the groom’s surname should be Taylor. It was not, so I did not get the certificate and was only charged £3.

What I did find though was a death certificate for Arthur George Walker that I already had birth and marriage details for. There is one interesting piece of information on this certificate and that is the name and address of his stepson. I sat on this information for a few days but then decided to try to trace a phone number for this possible relative. This was easy via Directory Enquiries. I dialled the number not knowing what to expect. The gentleman concerned was charming and very interested in what I had to say but he had never heard his stepfather talk about a sister called Maggie, her siblings or anyone else I had information about. He confirmed that his mother and stepfather died within a short time of each other (as someone else in the family had previously discovered) and also told me that his step-grandmother had worked at Epsom Racecourses. When I explained to the gentleman that I had some of his parents’ certificates of birth, marriage and death he called me a ‘cheeky bugger’, and I suppose if they are not related I have to agree with him! When I spoke to my mother she then remembered that her mysteriously named grandmother had been a laundress, specialising in shirts for gentlemen. I called the charming gentleman back and asked him if his step-grandmother had ever been a laundress. He said ‘definitely not!’ but wished me luck in my search for Maggie.

It was the most soul-destroying moment. I had so much research that fitted together, so many clues I had followed up, but much more than that I had hope that this information, although only theory, would eventually lead me to Maggie when in truth I had absolutely nothing at all. I was inconsolable. Mum was becoming worried about my well being as I was rundown, and wanted me to stop looking for Maggie for the sake of my health. I could not stop because not only would I be letting myself down, I would be letting my mum down and no matter what she said I knew this meant so much to her. We agreed that I would take a break for a while.

May 2001

I did take a sort of break by not travelling to London and ordering certificates etc, but I found I was becoming very good at finding sites connected with genealogy or family history on the Internet.

June – September 2001

We took Mum and Gary, my stepfather, on holiday to Italy, a place we love for obvious reasons, and upon our return I decided to take a break from family history. I spent the next few weeks socialising and pursuing other interests but slowly, nagging thoughts followed by sleepless nights and irritability ensued, until my brain began computing family history facts again and it dawned on me that I was ready for action once more.

October 2001

Mum now believed I had given up on my search for Maggie but secretly I was trying to think of a new approach. If only the 1901 Census was on line or if only I could purchase the 1891 Census for Surrey on CD then I could look up the mysterious, strangely named Azuria or whatever her name was, mother of the equally mysterious Maggie. I could not get that stupid Azuria out of my head, but I wanted to, badly.

Mum had phoned a few weeks previously telling me something else from her childhood. For the record my mum was being asked to recall memories of her childhood of over seventy years ago in some instances, and had blocked many things out for personal reasons. So although I wanted this information I also knew it was difficult for my mum. Mum remembered that Maggie had once asked her brother George if she was a Taylor or a Walker – she must have been confused when she found out that her mother had remarried. Maggie was told that she was definitely a Walker. Apparently she asked how he could be so sure and was told it was best she did not know! Mum also said that Maggie would not talk about her birth mother because she had no feelings for her. Well, at least now I believed there was a mother so Maggie was not an orphan, although the information disturbed me and I was beginning to worry. What was I delving into? Yet at the same time I still wanted to know the answers. I also learned that Maggie had told Mum that she was fostered out to a farm in the Reading area during or just after the First World War. She was happy at the farm and talked about her time there fondly. Here Maggie had some schooling at home because of ill health mainly, a bad case of eczema that she had throughout her childhood. (As a child I was also covered in eczema.)

Uncle Harry’s health was deteriorating so determined to find Maggie I took a day off work and went back to the FRC. I decided to order any female Walkers I could find born in Epsom around the time of Maggie’s estimated birth year keeping my eye out obviously for an Amelia Walker also. My search brought the following:

• Florence Walker, daughter of Albert George Walker and Florence. I already had one of the children of this marriage.
• Evelyn Amy Walker, daughter of Albert George Walker and Florence again! Why couldn’t I have a straightforward family like this?
• Amy Elizabeth Walker, daughter of George Walker and Annie Walker, formerly Turner. Annie Walker only meant the Rover’s Return from Coronation Street to me but Turner meant nothing. I spoke to my mum who told me that Maggie had mentioned a family called Turner but she was not sure if they were relatives or family friends. Maybe this Annie Walker, née Turner was a connection to Maggie.
• The next two births were for Ada Lily Walker and Annie Lilian Walker who were both daughters of George Walker and Annie Walker again. If only one of their children could be George – the father had the right name and the mother’s name began with the letter A. Maybe this is the family. If this were the right family though, surely all of their children would be registered, so why would they leave out Maggie and George unless they were very much younger or older than I had imagined – it did not make sense!

I also ordered a marriage certificate, after searching over a period of ten years from 1902 for a George Walker from Epsom hoping to find Maggie’s parents. This proved unlikely as both this George and his wife were already 40 years old and there were no further clues on the certificate.

I did not find an Amelia Walker.

I felt I could not waste any more time looking for Maggie and siblings at the FRC and decided to order more copies of the index pages from the Central Library in Liverpool. I sent an e-mail and went quite mad ordering Walker births from 1909 to 1912 for all quarters and the first three-quarters of 1907 and 1908 as I already had the last quarters for these years. I also decided to investigate the Taylor issue because how could I be sure that George had given Maggie the correct information, especially as he obviously did not want Maggie to know about her background? I also ordered Taylor births from 1906 to 1909 for all quarters. This was going to be a lot of work for the Central Library because they asked me at first to try locally but there was nowhere else that I could find who would offer this service. It was only when I was eventually given the costs I decided to cut out the Taylor births and go just for the Walkers. This cost approximately £48.

While still waiting for the above pages from the Central Library to arrive I posted a note about Workhouses on the Genforum site as Mum had called again to say perhaps I should try and find out if records for such institutions were kept anywhere. At the same time I surfed the net and found a site called ‘The Story of Workhouses’ by Peter Higginbotham on www.workhouses.org.uk – what a wealth of information this proved to be and it also gave me links to researching workhouse records. Simultaneously I received a message from a kind person on Genforum also pointing me in this direction.

With information gleaned from the workhouse site I e-mailed Surrey History Centre in Woking where the workhouse records for Surrey were kept, on 24 October 2001. I told them everything I knew about Maggie, giving estimated dates of 1912-22, the time it was likely she was a resident in the workhouse, hospital or orphanage, based on another conversation with my mother. I explained everything I had done, everything my mum remembered and why my research was becoming a matter of urgency, asking the question if I could view the records or if I paid someone would they look for me. This was a long shot to me as I could be not certain about whether Maggie had lived in a workhouse because all she had said to Mum was that she had been in hospital a great deal and it was Mum who believed she had lived in a workhouse.

• Old family address books can prove useful.
• Trawling the Internet constantly is a worthwhile exercise.
• Sometimes taking a break is a good idea.
• Family history is an expensive hobby but if you want results you have to be prepared to spend.
• It is worth using message board websites such as Genforum as there is always someone willing to help you.

Sadly on 29 October 2001 Uncle Harry passed away. It was a difficult time for all, not least Auntie Shirley and their only child Paula. Shirley told me that Harry never lost faith that I would find Maggie, his mother.