The Search for Allison John Wadlow    by Richard Wadlow I have been searching for my grandfather, Allison John Wadlow, for some time and thought you might like to hear how I think I have finally found him and maybe write about it in the next issue of the magazine. I grew up knowing that Allison had deserted his family, leaving his wife with four young children. I always understood that he had gone to Canada or maybe America, but didn't know the circumstances of why he left or even exactly when. Like a lot of families it wasn't really discussed and to be honest I wasn't very interested at the time. I vaguely remember my father telling me he had spent some of his young years in Norfolk and also mentioning Dr Barnardo's, but again at the time I didn't ask questions. In the late 1980's my eldest brother Arthur, who lives in Norfolk, had a letter from Michael Wadlow [of Orpington], asking about our branch of the Wadlows and he sent Arthur copies of all the information he had at that time and because I was interested Arthur sent copies to me. It was after the 1901 census was released that I gave serious thought to how I could trace Allison and eventually joined Genes Reunited and left a message on their board asking if anyone had any information about him. I had a 'phone call from Michael who had also been trying to find him and last year he invited my wife and myself to his home to see the vast amount of information he had collated on the Wadlows. Michael showed me a will made by my uncle Sidney in which he had bequeathed a substantial sum to Barnardo's and asked me if my father or any of his siblings had ever been in their care. After leaving Michael it set me thinking and I decided to contact Barnardo's asking if my father or his sister and two brothers had ever been in care with them. To my surprise they said my uncle Sidney had spent almost eleven years with them. As my aunt and uncle did not have any children and I was the nearest blood relative, they were able to release details to me of how Sidney came to be in care with Barnardo's. Allison had left his family in 1907 leaving his wife and four children ranging from my father aged nine to a baby, aged one year. After struggling for two years to keep the family together, working as a charwoman and then a "washer up" in a tea shop, it became too difficult financially for my grandmother and she decided to send her eldest son James [my father], to her sister in Norfolk, where he stayed for a number of years and Barnardo's were approached and asked to take Sidney, her second son The two youngest children, stayed with her. Prior to this, I had tried several ways of finding Allison, I searched the passenger list of the Titanic, the immigration lists for Ellis Island, even trying Military sites, which is a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack, but needs must when you are running out of ideas, because until Barnardo's told us Allison had left the family in 1907, we had no idea of the exact date he had gone. At the same time as contacting Barnardo's, I joined Ancestry.co.uk and through them Ancestry.com which is the American equivalent and on entering various sites, entered Allison's name in the hope it would come up with something and then one day IT DID!!! It took me to the 1930 United States Federal Census Record and THERE HE WAS!!!  I was so excited I couldn't believe I had found him The 1930 Census shows that Allison arrived in America in 1909, with a 'wife' Ethel. To my knowledge my Grandmother had never heard from Allison from the day he left her and there had never been a divorce, so if Allison had married Ethel it must have been bigamously. The Census goes on to say they have three children, a daughter Violet born in 1910, a son Alexander born in 1911 and a further daughter, Lillian born in 1914 and they are living on 11th Street Brooklyn Kings New York. Allison's employment is shown as having been employed in the print industry, [the same as in England], but by 1930 seems to be retired. It is interesting to note that his son is also employed by a newspaper - maybe also in the print? So much of the information matches, it can't just be coincidence. The name Allison is unusual for a man, he worked in the print in this country and two of the children's names, Alexander   and Lillian, are family names. I wondered how he had travelled to America and a friend who is a First Mate on a Ship suggested he might have worked his passage, he said it wouldn't have been unusual at that time and would account for the two years between leaving the family in England and arriving in the US. I also wondered how his wife Ethel had travelled to the US, she is down on the census as English and arriving in 1909, like Allison. My next step is to try and trace the descendants of the three children. I am hoping to find a site like our births, marriage and death site to enable me to trace at least Alexander, the girls would be more difficult if they marry because of the name change. The children are my aunts and uncle and any children they had would be my cousins, so if anyone has any ideas on what my next step should be, please let me know. I have already been in contact with Michael and he is as excited as I am about my find and has sent me addresses of some Wadlows  he has found in America, which I am hoping to follow up. This photograph is of my Grandmother and her children taken around 1923 or 1924. James, my Father is at the back on the left, in the middle is Sydney and on the right is Alfred, in front is their sister Ethel  and their Mother, Ellen. Taken from The Waddelow Society's Magazine Autumn 2006

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