The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.1 | June 2023

Local Group Programmes/Member’s article

person per day. Most people spent most of their time queueing in lines for food. One, queue for margarine, included 3,000 people. Horse meat became popular in the UK, as it already was on the Continent, as well as tinned fish - almost unknown in the UK until then. Bread was 'doctored' with whole wheat: common today but, during WW1, people preferred white bread only. In 1916, British Summer Time was brought in to give people an extra hour of daylight to grow their crops. In restaurants, where mainly the well-off usually ate, courses were restricted to 3 dinner courses and 2 lunch courses. The upper class had been used to 10 courses! Supplying food at Wedding Receptions was banned, as was feeding the pigeons. Stale bread went to feed the pigs. Ian ended his talk by talking about the flu epidemic. It was believed to have started in a military establishment in Kansas USA and US soldiers brought it with them when they entered WW1 and came to Europe. It was called Spanish Flu so as not to upset the English and French soldiers and because lots more Spanish people died at first or, at least, they didn't lie about their losses to flu, whereas the fighting powers did lie. Germany said they'd lost 450,000 to Spanish Flu (plus malnutrition), compared to about 258,000 admitted in the UK which in fact helped shorten the war. (March) When Harry met Dotty – the Dangers of DNA – Nick Barratt He was researching his Grandmother’s history after she died in 2007. The facts known to him were that she was ashamed that she was illegitimate and was born overseas, she was known as Dotty. She was raised by a foster family in Antwerp which made research difficult. As a genealogist of over 20 years, Nick tried the usual routes but these were not totally accurate and having met historians at a conference, a contact was made with some academics who had built a database which showed the baptism record, showing her birth was in Knokke sur Mere in Belgium. From there she was taken to a Private Boarding School in Norfolk, aged 3, but from then on was moved from place to place. All this led to much research especially in the US. There was also evidence from DNA searches that implied there was a possibility of a family member going to the US on the Mayflower, with family names on a Monument in Massachusetts. So much information which was corroborated by the Family History Societies in the US, validating such a lot - an amazing story and Harry did meet Dotty. But in comparing the DNAs from the UK & US, there was no possible match and so he had to remove his great grandfather off the tree and all because of a DNA test. Another family appears on a DNA search, from California. This was someone who came from Baden in Germany but had been convinced of criminal fraud, bigamy, an imposter and convicted felon. The link with Freiburg showed that Dotty’s mother was living in Freiburg in April 1909 until March 1911 which places her in the same place and time as Dotty’s possible father, and proves a connection - Dotty was born 9 months later. The question is why did Dotty become abandoned in a private school in Norfolk and why was she abandoned by her mother. So many unresolved questions. The lesson from this is “Go for a supposition and put yourself in their shoes.

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