Hello my name is Mark Ratcliffe. Our family has been facing a brickwall for some 50 years+ & am wondering if anyone has ANY ideas? My late Father, Great Aunt & myself have spent approx 1000+ hours trying solve this mystery? Although not trying to track the Ratcliffe name, I am trying to locate my G.G.Greatfather Raynert Ratcliffe, believed to have originated in Norway/Sweden in b.1841. He mysteriously turned up in Australia in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia, in the gold rush of the 1850-60's. We have no confirmation of him entering Australia under this name. He states on his Marriage Certificate that he was a farmer from Norway. He states his father, Raynert, was also a farmer from Norway. His Mother was Alice Andersen. We suspect he may have changed his name to Raynert Ratcliffe, after entering Australia, to hide his origins.
His name could've been Rennard P Peterson; as we have found this name on shipping records arriving in Australia in 1863 (3 times) as a midshipman on a ship called the Telegraph. Raynert & Ratcliffe are not Norweign names. We have travelled & searched in the UK but to no avail. I have performed the DNA Test & have the FTDNA & GEDMatch Test. I am hoping to bypass my G.G.Grandfather, & find other living descendants living in Norway/Sweden? that can be confirm using my DNA. This would ultimately confirm his true origin.
