Let me share with you my Great-Grandmother.
What could be so scandalous about this handsome woman you ask? Gertrude Robinson grew up in a typical rural Ontario farming family until I discovered in fact it may not have been so typical. Another researcher who turned out to be a cousin of mine in some capacity (cousin's removed...I'll explain that to you later when you are bored and want to know) - she pointed me to a birth record for Gertrude when I told her she had the incorrect parents for Gertrude. Birth record? What birth record...I hadn't found Gertrude's birth record yet. My cousin's tree contained the birth record - I clicked on it and saw the secret. Her parents were not Sabina Petty and Peter Robinson as we had all been told, not Sabina and Peter as listed on her marriage license, not Sabina and Peter at all. Secret number one. Gertrude was the illegitamte daughter of Mary Ann Robinson and one Robert Milroy.
This was a well kept secret. Sabina and Peter raised Gertrude as their own, with Mary Ann as her "sister" and she officially told her children (who told their children, who told me...) that Sabina and Peter were her parents. Her mother (Mary Ann) died young, 43 - unmarried and of heart disease. The story whirling in my mind is that of a socially shunned woman who died of a a lonely heart. Mr. Milroy - my actual Great-Great-Grandfather, came from a notable local family, later married, had legitimate recognized children but he too died a bit young - only 57. Heart disease as well.
Gertrude may not have known of her own first secret but surely she did know about the upcoming secret...in part 2. Stay tuned.
