Introducing myself & surname question

Question

I'm 20 years old and super interested in learning about my past heritage and possible ancestors. There are also some questions I have considering tracking down ancestors. My grandfather chose to change his last name from Jones to Shaw due to the fact that Jones was his real father's name who abused him and his stepfather (Shaw) was the one who actually raised and took care of him. I know this could possibly complicate things, so if anyone has any experience on this, I'd love feedback.

Comments

Welcome to WikiTree Sky! :-)

Answer 1

If you have the full names of the ancestors that you are interested in finding more about, you can post any specific questions that you have and WikiTree members will provide answers.

Three free resources include familysearch.org , SurnameDB.com , and WikiTree. You may want to try going to the word, Find, at the top right of the page and go down to where it has Surname. There will likely be many Shaws and people named Jones there.

Answer 2

Hello!

I have a lot of experience in searching for Jones ancestors.  Reply and let us know what you know of your grandfather's birth name and birth year/birth place, etc., and we can see what we can find.

Comments

I took a quick look through your profiles.  So - it looks like your grandfather, William Henry Shaw, Sr. (born December 7, 1940) married Yvonne Berryman - (born November 2, 1942 in Concord, North Carolina).  The first thing I would look for if I were you is their marriage record.  If this was their first/only marriage, my guess is that they married sometime int he 1960s.  As such, they likely filled out a marriage license application which contains lots of helpful clues, such as birthplace and often the names and birthplaces of the bride's and groom's parents.  

Do you know when/where they were married?

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Hey - this looks like your grandmother's birth record:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VHF2-PN5

Betty Yvonne Berryman - born 2 November 1942 in Cabarrus, North Carolina - the daughter of William Dooly Berryman.

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There is a yearbook entry for a William Henry Jones - born in 1940 in the 1956 edition of the Belmont High School yearbook in Belmont, North Carolina.  If you are an Ancestry subscriber, I can send you the link.  If not - I can cut and paste the entry into an email.  It has a picture (i.e. he would have been 16 at the time).  Do you know if your grandfather lived in Belmont, North Carolina?

Answer 3

You can record your father with his first name Jones (name at birth) and Shaw (current last name).   I legally changed my name at 18 to take my step-father's name.  

Just know that you will need to look at Jones records for your grandparents to take the line further -- althought you may want to research the Shaws too.

I have researched both my Wilczek line (name at birth) and Dewhurst line (step-father's name).

Answer 4

I have located the following online memorial for your grandfather: http://www.vanorsdel.com/obituaries/William-Shaw-18/

And for your grandmother Betty Yvonne Shaw:

http://www.vanorsdel.com/obituaries/Betty-Shaw-7/#!/TributeWall

As well as obit in Miami Herald: 

BETTY YVONNE SHAW archived  

View Obituary

SHAW, BETTY YVONNE, Betty Yvonne Shaw born on 11/2/42 in Concord, North Carolina. She passed away on 4/2/15 at Jackson South Hospital from ongoing cancer problems. Survived by her husband William H. Shaw, two sons Billy and Bobby Shaw, brother Terry Berryman, 8 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. A loving mother, wife and grandmother, she will be greatly missed. A Memorial Gathering will be Thurs, April 9, 2015 from 5-9 PM, with a Memorial...

 

Comments

Yes - if you look at the picture of William Henry Shaw as a young boy from his obituary site in comparison with the picture of 16 year old William Henry Jones from the high school yearbook, they definitely look like they could be the same person.

That said - both pictures show pretty common male hairstyles, etc. for that time, so the pictures looking alike could be coincidental.