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Non internet records

By mcs59 |
General Genealogy

I've been trying for a while to find my great grandfather Edward Charles Smith family and or parents.
Assuming Edward Charles Smith didnt lie, or wasnt lied to, what I have confirmed in documentation is:-
Edward Smith was born in Liverpool 1865 (multiple census)
He was born Q3 1865 (1921 Census), 12 Sep 1865 (1939 Census)
He sailed on the SS Greece out of Liverpool (i've not seen them but one of the cousins inherited Edwards signing off sheet from the Greece, and there is an Edward Smith listed on the Greece)
He was married to Alice Allen in 1889 in London (church marriage record, and registry record - DNA confirmed )
His fathers name was Charles Smith - Wood Dealer ( Church and registry marriage record 1889)
He was a sailor in 1889 (church marriage record, and registry record )
From 1891 forward he lived in London (various census and 1941 death certificate)
He was at times dockworker and barkeeper (1939) and worked for JE Charlton in London (1921)
Everything else I have is speculation, theory or anecdote and i've definitely been down a few rabbit holes so i'm trying to start again from the facts. I have DNA tested with my father and a couple of his cousins and we do see clear DNA matches to Alice Allens relatives. There are a few trees featuring Edward knocking around the various websites but none of them have anymore facts than those stated above and some are clearly incorrect. I've DNA tested for the preferred candiate for Edwards father and none of us match.
I cant find any birth registrations in Liverpool for this period. There is a baptism that sort of matches but the birth is listed as March 1865.

I feel like i've exhausted MyHeritage, FMP and Ancestry. Are there any significant Liverpool offline record sets for the period 1865 - 1890 that I might try?

Hi and welcome, I think sometimes we don't realise how little birthdays meant to our ancestors and so the actual date of birth on the 1939 Register may have been a best guess.  If he is consistent with birthplace then the baptism may well be correct.  

There are school records that may be possible a list of those available, either online or at the Record Office is available here https://www.lswlfhs.org.uk/transcripts 

It does sound to me as though Alice may have had a relationship with somebody else, DNA not showing any matches to prove the relationship with Edward, and one thing I would suggest is to create "quick and dirty" trees for some of those matches on your DNA list that you have no idea about, a lot of them may well match each other and give some hints.

I am no expert with DNA matches but would suggest that you read a book by Blaine Bettinger, who is reputed to be one of the prominent experts in this field, called Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy.

Thank you for the response and links. I might have been a bit misleading in the way I wrote this.
Two of my fathers second cousins have DNA tested and they both sit well within the ranges that say that they are "pure" second cousins eg that their paternal grandparents match my Dads. It is still possible that they dont but unlikely. Also unless Alice had a consensual or non consensual relationship outside the marriage with the same person for two children i'd expect to see different clusters and i dont.
I'd ignored the birth dates in my original research because others had suggested Edward was an alcoholic at the end of his life and just got mixed up. However the consistency with the 1921 census when it came out seemed to suggest he believed it consistently.