There are many names in my search for my roots.. There is much hard work to get on with and yet much that has been done and achieved.
How does what I have done, and tried to show, fit together as a whole ?
Read on and try to follow, if you dare.
I was born in 1942, in Morriston, South Wales. I was adopted when I was aged ten. I never wanted to hurt the feelings of my mother nor the man who I will always call "My Father". For these reasons I relied upon memory and I delved quietly and in some secrecy, to find out some part of my past. When My father died in 1975 I found that I could not start for fear of damaging the relationship I had with my brothers and my mother. In 1998 my mother died. I now felt free to follow my desire to locate my family and its roots.
I began the search proper in 1998. I went to my local reference library and there I found the birth records of my half sister and half brother. Just as a whim, I tried to find myself. I knew that I had been born in 1942, I knew where and I thought I knew who I was. I found out that I was not on the "Records". I went back to what paperwork I had and was astounded to find that I was possibly not registered until ten years after my birth. Three day long sessions in the library finally led to my finding myself there on Microfiche.
Although I had an "Adoption Birth Certificate" I sent away for my true "Birth Certificate" and when it arrived I was amazed to find that I was not the person that I had been led to believe I was.
This was most disconcerting as I had carried the name of Bryan E. Field for ten years and from that time until 1998 I carried the name of Matthews. My "New" birth certificate told me that I was the illegitimate son of a member of the Douglas Family of Scotland. Here I was, Bryan E. Matthews, formerly Field and now Douglas. I had found two more family children, my half sister Mary and my half brother Richard, and these two were also born illegitimately and there father was Bert Coppack from Chester. He was a "Cat Burglar" who served several prison sentences. My half sister Mary Coppack/Field and my half brother Richard Victor Coppack/Field carried the name of Coppack but were also given the name of Field, that being the name of my mothers first husband. On top of this I have my half brother Robert, and two step brothers, David and Alexander who were the sons of my step father, my mothers second husband.
If you are still interested and have the courage, move to the next page now and see how tangled my story really is.