Years of searching for his father leads David Kennedy to a woman with some answers
DAVID KENNEDY had never met his father. He knew little about him and contacted the local genealogy society and family history centre in the hope they could help. Research led him to a whole new world.
- Baby barn owls introduced to the world
- Pilgrimage to snack pack ‘Mecca’
- $600k de-radicalisation grant for women’s group
DAVID KENNEDY had never met his father. He knew little about him and contacted the Liverpool Genealogy Society and Liverpool Regional Family History Centre in a hope they could help.
For 60 years he believed his father was a different man. Until his sister revealed the truth when she was sick.
“I believed another man was my dad for 60 years,” the Liverpool resident said.
With incorrect spelling of his last name and a possible previous address, Mr Kennedy spent a long time searching but kept coming up with no answers.
Then he contacted the genealogy society who were able to put him in touch with a relative.
They sent him a photo of his real father Ken McLean.
And Mr Kennedy said there were definite resemblances to him in his younger days.
Then a 90-year-old woman named Vera Nicholson came into the picture.
She was his father’s wife many years ago. And she had been waiting for Mr Kennedy to contact her.
“She was able to give me a lot of information about him.
“She knew of me and said she often wondered what had become of me.”
Mr Kennedy said his dad left his mother before he was born, moving to Queensland and starting a new family.
On his father’s death certificate, he found out he had six younger siblings but is yet to reach out to them.
“Finding out the truth has definitely answered a lot of questions I had,” he said.
“Finally, I can end my search as I have the mystery all solved.”
The society is happy to help others with a family tree mystery.
They are available from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm and the third Wednesday of the month from 4pm to 10pm at the Liverpool Regional Museum.
Vaccine rollout: The number of people jabbed in your suburb
617k jabs issued this week: How many people are vaccinated; where you can get jabbed and how many cases are in your community. Here’s everything you need to know about Covid.
‘Dress up for your test’: New Covid craze in NSW
‘Fancy dress for your test’ is gaining momentum as more and more people take up the new Covid craze to put smiles on the faces of health workers as they get the jab.