Last week I told you that I would ask for some help. The help I need is some sleuthing to see if we can find a couple who has disappeared on me. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself; first, I want to give the background.
If you’ve been following along, know that I often blog about the Beaton/Batten Mystery. The Mystery is that the Beaton family adopted my great grandfather, and the Batten family adopted his sister. Both families lived in Kingston, Ontario, and Pittsburgh Township, which are very close. In fact, Pittsburgh was amalgamated with Kingston in 1998.
My great grandfather, William (Willie), always said on any document that he was born in Kingston and his sister always said she was born in England. So you might imagine that Annie is older than William. I can find no birth or baptism for either of them. But again, I’m not sure what surname I’m looking for because they both appeared to have taken the name of the people they lived with. William arrived in the Beaton family in the 1881 census and Annie in 1891. Note there is a Sarah in the Batten family in 1881, but I’m not sure if this is Annie. I think it may be, but I don’t want to make that assumption.
My DNA analysis consisted of testing my mother and all her siblings if they were alive. If they weren’t alive, then I tested their children. I’ve also tested some of my mother’s cousin’s or cousins’ children. All of the DNA match connections that I have related to the Mystery were plotted in a private DNA tree. I call it my “In Common with Tree,” but think of it like a DNA Sandbox where you can play, and no one can see your tree.
Tip: When you have a mystery in your family, you’ll want to create a DNA tree that is private and unsearchable. That way, no one will be able to see it and take it to be gospel, and you can play.
My tree didn’t start large it’s taken a long time to amass the DNA matches. As a Canadian, I don’t get as many matches as some of my US friends do. It’s only been in the past little while that I got some good matches in the high 90s and low 100s.
My DNA tree now consists of over 4,000 people, and over the years, I have been able to link my DNA matches to each other. So I know how they fit in the tree; I’m not sure how I fit. But I have a couple of theories. As I gathered the tree branches, I saw that Grantham was an important surname, then it was Bayliss, and then Walden. So I realized that I was likely looking for a couple with Bayliss and Walden surnames. One thing to note is I have tested a descendant of Annie Batten, and she was a match to my family, but she appears only to match the Bayliss people, not any Walden people. So this may mean that William and Annie were half-siblings. In fact, I spent last night redoing my sorting dots on Ancestry (and I’ll do the same for MyHeritage), but now I have two groups. Those that connect to the Beaton/Batten Mystery and that also connect to my side of the family and those that relate to the Mystery but don’t have my family in common.
As I searched each generation of Bayliss and Walden’s, I was looking for that winning combination couple, and I finally found one, and that’s where I need your help. This is one theory.
Walter Walden married Eliza Bayliss on 15 April 1872 • Oxford, St Barnabas, Oxfordshire, England. Walter’s parents are William Walden (1804-1842) and Mary Ann Simpson (1806-1869). Walter was born in 1835 in Oxfordshire,, and Eliza Bayliss was born in 1852 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England.
Walter was a bit of a “badass.” He was always in trouble and was a bit of a drinker. On the last court document I found for him, he said he was getting married on Monday, and he was going to emigrate.
This document was obtained from another person’s tree, and there was only the date 1872, and I’ve been unable to find the same document. But I believe this is the same Walter Walden who married Eliza Bayliss on a Monday, 15 April 1872. If that is correct, they probably did immigrate, but my problem is I can’t find where. I’ve looked for them in Canada, USA, and Australia.
If you do happen to find something please comment below that way all the information is there for everyone to see.
William (Willie) has always put different dates for his birth, but 1874 is one. Annie always listed her birthdate as 25 September 1872, and all documents show England as her place of birth as a location except for the 1921 census, which shows Canada.
I can’t say for sure this theory and this couple are my great grandfather’s parents, but I would like to learn more about them and see if there are any other descendants that I could target test to confirm or deny my theory.
I have one other theory, but that’s still a work in progress. This is from a recent match, and there is still work to be done and more details to find. For now, I’d like to figure out where Walter Walden and his bride Eliza Bayliss ended up after 1872, and I could sure use your help.
Tip: If you have a mystery in the family that can be solved through DNA then it’s important to fish in all the ponds. So if you’ve tested at any of the DNA companies, you can download your raw data file and then transfer it to some of the others. You cannot transfer to Ancestry or 23andMe ,but you can transfer to these companies.
Transfer to MyHeritage (cost $29 US)
Transfer to Family Tree DNA (cost $19 US)
LivingDNA (FREE) you’ll an upload link at the bottom of their page.
Note: The post above contains affiliate links. This means I make a small percentage of the sales via these links. This does not INCREASE the price you pay as a consumer. This is a supplement to my income so I can continue to support this blog and make donations to the Alzheimer’s’ Society
FYI – Lots of Beaton and Batten and Bayliss names in the Quinte area check out our FIND-IT tool – see website below.
Terry, You’re right I might need to broaden my area of search. I have searched in Ontario but I’m wondering if there was a change of name even for the parents.
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