Clarke family

Most people who research their family history uncover the black sheep of the family or a skeleton in the cupboard at some point. Mine came quickly to light in the person of my grandfather  Ernest John Edward Clarke born 1897. He was illegitimate and prior to the expansion of Internet resources, expanding the branches of this part of the tree were difficult and limited the growth by a quarter at this point.

The birthplace of his mother Emily was unknown and at the time of my initial research the release of the 1901 census was some time away. With a common name like Clark, note the loss of the E, it was impossible to trace further without more clues. I knew from other family information that she had married and become Mrs Robinson but repeated searches of the marriage indexes manually in London failed to find a marriage in the probable timescale.

The arrival of the 1901 census revealed her birthplace as Brightlingsea, Essex. She was recorded as Emily Robinson, living with her husband James and son Ernest Robinson. The facts later revealed were that her claim to be Mrs Robinson was a deceit, she did not in fact marry James Robinson until 1916, a timescale way outside my search area. So beware it does not always occur when you think it should. Ernest's name was never officially Robinson and he uses his correct surname later.

Once her birthplace was revealed, the census information quickly revealed her parentage and siblings. A further generation has also been added taking this element of the tree back to the end of the 18th century. This has led to some further interest branches as detailed but, of course, the parental line remains a mystery. Will it ever be possible to trace the father of Ernest? Was he the result of the master of the house taking advantage of a poor servant girl? Who knows, perhaps one day the science of DNA will reveal that lineage. I remain hopeful.