Thank you to all those people who have given up their generous time to help me find out what happened to Evelyn: (In chronological order)
The Hann family, the Fowkes family, the Badman family, the Cavill family, the West Monkton Post Office Stores, the Pring Family, the Cresswell family,
From RootsChat.com: Icsnor, deb usa, Shari, Ruskie, Chrisopher, Mum44, stanmapstone, JenB, Behindthefrogs, jeenie, PrueM, Cas (stallc), c more, arranroots, Trish251, cando, dawnsh, Beth, toni*, tinav40, Cell, JAP, jc26red, Jean Price, KathMc, Mumsie2131, Sylviaann, willow154, nanny jan, stessy and the most wonderful tropicalJ
Organisations: Bairnsdale Family History Group, the Salvation Army, the Necropolis, the Friends of Mendip Hospital Cemetery, Turtle Consolidated Services
Other volunteers: Catherine Shaw
Hi Tristi
I have followed the course of your family search with fascination and such an exciting read. If I can be any help I have the British subscription to Ancestry, just email me any requests.
Was Alzheimers ever diagnosed or was it assumed? There are many types of dementia, all are classified as Alzheimers unless they are specifically diagnosed by scans etc, Alzheimers can only be diagnosed at a postmortem. Other forms of dementia are not necessarily inherited and I believe (but I am no expert) that Alzheimers is autosominal dominant so it doesn’t skip generations. Hope that helps in your concerns about contacting these relatives.
But do keep searching even if it isn’t to research the medical condition. Have you thought of following up Olwyn’s adoptive parents’ tree too? I am sure they will have contributed to your grandmother’s character too!
Keep up the interesting work.
Best wishes
Amanda
Amanda, I’m not sure this reply will get to you, but here goes anyway.
When my grandmother started to become demented (official word the doctor’s used)in her late 40’s, the doctors did a heap of tests and then proclaimed it early-onset Alzheimer’s. Whatever she had then progressed for 20 years until she finally regressed to a vegetative state for 5 years and died. No autopsy was ever performed. However, whenever we talked to doctors and nursing home staff, it was always Alzheimer’s they talked about. I don’t know how much more definitive they could be under the circumstances. I’m not a medical professional. Far from it.
My father has always been concerned that he would have Alzheimer’s, and when he started to misplace things he did a heap of tests (lots of brain scans), and the doctors then told him he had nothing to worry about – he didn’t have Alzheimer’s.
I am going to follow up Olwyn’s adopted family – as there is some speculation that Olwyn may not be so ‘adopted’ after all. Stay tuned for that speculation in later posts…
Thanks for your thoughts and offers, Cheers, Tristi