Little is known about my great grandparents. With no marriage certificate nor any other form of document to help us with the family research, I have had to wait every 10 years for the UK census to be released, in the hope that at least one of them would reveal a piece of useful information. After 40 years, and the release of the 1911 census we were still not getting results.

Oral tradition has it that John Arthur BAILEY was on holiday in England and met Kathleen BARTLETT, some time between the late 1800s and early 1900s. According to the 1911 census they lived at 35 Gee Street, Goswell Road Ec in Clerkenwell and he was a labourer in the Cold Air Storage (possibly at Smithfield). The family at this address consisted of his wife Kathleen (formerly BARTLETT) bc 1881; Helen bc 1904; John bc 1908; Elizabeth bc 1910.

In the 80s I acquired a birth certificate for an Ellen Baily born 1903, father Thomas, mother Kate. After all these years no other birth certificate relates. Recent research revealed a christening of Ellen Cathaleen Bailey dau of Thomas and Cathaleen, at St Pauls, Clerkenwell for the year 1905 - a mystery still unsolved to this day.

My grand father was born 1908 and the parentage matches the 1911 census; father John Arthur BAILEY; mother Kathleen BAILEY(formerly BARTLETT)living at 68 St John Street, Holborn. Elizabeth was born 1910 and they were now living at Jerusalem Passage, Clerkenwell. They had other children, of which two died young, William (d.unknown) and Rosina (d.1913). Annie was born circa 1913 though registered as BARTLETT. Catherine 1917; Alfred 1921; Reginald 1925.

A lot of time and money can be wasted in the pursuit of genealogy. This is compounded by the Birth Registers archaic way of not revealing the maiden name of the mother up to circa 1912 (I stand corrected on date). All the registers should have been digitalized by now, with maiden name of mother given.

This year my family and I decided to try the DNA route. This too has pitfalls, the main one being the paper trail. DNA can tell you whether you may be related to a person, but not HOW. This means that each member of a Family Tree DNA site must still have done their genealogy, the paper trail, before any useful link can be established. Having said that, doing the DNA might well put you in touch with a distant relative, who having done their family tree, might help you with yours, or at least give some clues/leads. Be aware though that this type of genealogy is still in its infancy, and is very expensive for deeper research.