A KENT resident is appealing for information from people in the Okehampton area to help her solve the mystery of her great grandfather?s early life.
Kim Tilsed, of Paddock Wood, has managed to find out details of Frederick Haydon?s later years ? but his youth in the Okehampton area remains a puzzle, thanks to a guilty secret he carried to the end of his days.
Kim said: ?He always told the family he was born on March 3, 1862 in Okehampton. He was apparently apprenticed to a blacksmith?s but according to his own story, he broke his indentures and ran away to join the army.
?He was terrified for the rest of his life that ?they? were going to catch up with him for this. As far as I understand it, you could actually go to prison for breaking indentures ? he was absolutely paranoid about it until the end of his life.?
Kim said Frederick married an Eliza Cross in Wimborne in December 1885, who died in pregnancy a year later. In August 1888 he married Kate Ploughman in Southampton, who eventually became Kim?s great-grandmother.
?He never gave his father?s name on his marriage certificate, which could mean that he was illegitimate or just desperate to hide who he really was,? said Kim.
?Apparently in about 1900 someone advertised in the paper for him, but he refused to answer because he was scared of being found.
?I know it?s an awfully long time ago, but the story just might ring a bell with someone in the Okehampton area who perhaps had a great uncle who was a blacksmith and ran away to join the army.?
Kim said her great-grandfather Frederick died in 1912 in Poole.
She would be grateful to hear from anyone who might know anything about Frederick Haydon. Contact Kim via e-mail on kim.tilsed@arrowstreet.
demon.co.uk or write to her at 110 Warrington Road, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Kent, TN12 6JR.