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In Search of a Last Name

In Search of a Last Name

Last updated on: August 17, 2017 at 2:43 pm by Kristy Robinett

In Search of a Last Name 2017-08-17T14:43:31-06:00 Kristy Robinett

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“George isn’t your grandfather,” I was often told by my mom.

George Schiller was my father’s mom’s husband and my dad called him dad. He adopted my father when he was about 5 years old and my dad took on his last name.

I often wondered who my grandfather possibly was. It wasn’t that George wasn’t nice enough or anything, but it was like a large chunk of history was missing from our lives, including what our real last name was.

Frances Mathers

My dad was told he was a product of rape. Despite his grandmother wanting her daughter to have an abortion as she (Francis Mathers Schiller) was just a teen, my dad (Ronald James Mathers Schiller) was born on November 13, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan. When my grandmother was passing away she revealed to my dad that she indeed loved his father, and that it wasn’t a rape at all.

Dad will be 80 years old this year and for the past few years has been curious about his father’s family. He wrestled with the idea of prying, not wanting to upset anyone. He was told that his father was older and quite

Frances Mathers

possibly had a wife and kids at the time his mother got pregnant, which could’ve been one reason why she protected him with the lie. The other rumor was that he was a part of a Detroit gang, and not only was the father being protected, but my dad was being protected.

Dad’s birth certificate was sealed, but several years back we got permission to unseal it only to find that UNKNOWN was listed under father. And so our scavenger hunt of a last name has been frustrating. Until…

DNA tests have certainly fed the curious. With the help of Ancestry.com, 23 and Me, and Family DNA we’ve discovered some interesting tidbits, and even more mystery, about my father’s father’s ancestry through distant cousins, but we are still have roadblocks.

The ancestry came from the Hesse region of Germany and Cork City, Ireland. Our match came in through Catherine Frohlich, who had a child out of wedlock in Cork City workhouse in 1880. The father was apparently unknown. Eventually she abandoned that child, a boy, to other family members in the city who raised him. She went to England, married, and had a whole set of children. The son left in Cork was raised by the other family members, he married in 1901, had a number of kids, who in turn were married and had kids. The family name for the line starting with the son in 1880 was changed to Frolish from the original Frohlich. Some say because of the shame of having the child.

Frances Mathers with my father, Ronald James Mathers Schiller

But we don’t believe this was the last name that he was given. Oddly enough, the similarities between our situation and this situation is eerie.

Then there was a bit of a break at a recent family reunion and the family secret was revealed concerning the father of the Florish line which matches my father’s DNA.

Maybe my grandfather?

The father (which would likely be my father’s grandfather) was Nicholas Bryant who was associated with a large match company, later set up in England, Bryant & May. Apparently, so the story goes, this Nicholas did not realize he got Catherine pregnant and they never told him. Nicholas had a son Thomas, daughter Johanna, Honora, and James Patrick, all born in Cork City. He was living in Woolwich, London, England, in 1881 and then had an additional 6 children in England, went back and forth between Cork and London, and died in 1931 in London.

Quite possibly the photo of my grandfather. These photos were found hidden in my grandmother’s belongings, and it does look a lot like my dad.

And so our true last name would be Bryant, however, I’m sure that my father’s father took on a name of the family that had adopted him/his grandfather.

Frances Mathers on the far left.

Somehow he ended up in Detroit.

My grandmother lived on Ward Street and we believe they quite possibly met at the soda fountain that she worked at. He would be Irish descent.

If you have any information, please contact me at [email protected].

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