Woodsford - or descended from that name, 1951

Hello,

I am searching for a chap, probably by the name of 'Woodsford', orginating from Dorset, who is in all likelihood my grandfather.

My father was born in 1952 in Herford to Lilli Luise Fritszch, father unknown. He was placed in an orphanage and some years later taken to the UK following the marriage of his mother to Cpl Ronald Moss (BAOR15).

We know his father was British and that we are related to people with the name 'Woodsford', so we are looking for someone either with that name or descended from it.

My father did well in the UK, and the UK has been good to me too, so we bear no grudge, but it would be nice to know his genetic heritage or see a photo.

Many thanks in advance for any clues!

MarieH wrote:

Hello,

I am searching for a chap, probably by the name of 'Woodsford', orginating from Dorset, who is in all likelihood my grandfather.

My father was born in 1952 in Herford to Lilli Luise Fritszch, father unknown. He was placed in an orphanage and some years later taken to the UK following the marriage of his mother to Cpl Ronald Moss (BAOR15).

We know his father was British and that we are related to people with the name 'Woodsford', so we are looking for someone either with that name or descended from it.

My father did well in the UK, and the UK has been good to me too, so we bear no grudge, but it would be nice to know his genetic heritage or see a photo.

Many thanks in advance for any clues!

Do you have any idea how old the putative grandfather was? If he was 20 in 1951, that might mean a birthdate of around 1931 +/- ten years, but if you can help me to narrow it down I can look through the archives. Obviously not the census, because the 1931 was destroyed in a fire, and there was no census during the war.

However, the electoral roll and the registry of births, deaths and marriages might produce a match for the grandparent. It's also conceivable that I could trace back from your father's birthdate, find his parents, and so on.

There are a lot of people with that surname in Dorset, so perhaps it is a regional name.