The Process
Preliminary research was conducted first, confirming Eileen’s marriage to Jack Mason, along with his birth and death.
This led to the discovery of records indicating that Eileen and their infant daughter, Laureena, were living at 29 Kenilworth Parade Ivanhoe, with her parents in 1949. She was not listed at the residence in the previous record of 1943.
Jack was not listed at all, which lead to the assumption that he possibly abandoned his wife and daughter.
At this time, Daniel began communicating with a DNA match, John Kilner, who lives in Melbourne. He is Edith Butcher’s grandson and confirmed that she later married Charles Kilner and had another seven children.
He confirmed her Jewish faith and that his own research had discovered that Edith Doreen had been adopted out, formally named Doreen Jean Lawson, and lived a long and happy life.
Daniel connected with the daughter of Kerry, Teash Kern, via an Ancestry match to learn more.
Unfortunately, John was violent to both his wife and four daughters, which they believe was a result of PTSD from Vietnam. As they reached adulthood, they cut contact with him and he committed suicide in 2004.
Their treatment at the hands of their father led to many issues in their personal lives and the four sisters have little to do with one another.
The focus shifted to Eric, and over the course of a month, research was conducted with Australian and UK records using both “Eric James Mason” and “Victor Butcher”.
A birth certificate was discovered for Victor Clyde Jackson Butcher in Carlton, Victoria, born to an Edith Butcher, father unknown. The birthday, 15th of October 1908, was the same as Eric’s.
A second birth certificate was found for an Edith Doreen Butcher, born to the same Edith two years prior, father also unknown.
Now with Victor’s birth confirmed, the focus shifted to either his childhood or adulthood.
The only discovery was a Victor Gerald Butcher living at 31 Kenilworth Parade, Ivanhoe in 1943 onwards. Next door to the Child family. The pieces started to come together. His marriage certificate to Bessie Billing was discovered, with an interesting detail. He had listed his birthplace as Sydney.
They had a child, John Roth Butcher, in 1943. Continuing along this thread, it was discovered that John grew up to serve in Vietnam and had four daughters, Kerry, Leanne, Sharon, and Jane.
This is the result of the research so far. The birth of “Victor Clyde Jackson Butcher” has been established, the early adulthood of “Victor Gerald Butcher” has been discovered, while the later years of “Eric James Mason” were already known.
What happened in his childhood still remains a mystery. The theory is that instead of being put up for adoption like Edith Doreen, he was kept within the family, hence the continued use of the surname, Butcher. His middle name was changed to Gerald and he was taken to England with his new parents. In his later years, his description of Cornwall was incredibly accurate in a pre-internet world, while the stories he told of his childhood were detailed and consistent.
The theory continues that he returned to Australia as a young adult, for reasons unknown, with the belief that he was born in Sydney. He may have never known that the parents who raised him were not his biological.
The research will continue and the missing chapter of his life will hopefully, in time, be uncovered. But for now, we can establish the players and the story we have so far.
To start, Daniel created an Ancestry account, signed up for a paid membership, and took the DNA test. The membership allowed unlimited access to records, while the DNA connected him with relatives, with an indication whether they were paternally or maternally related.