Genealogists' Forum - We have branches everywhere! - Who Do You Think You Are

Hi Merry et al.

We made contact last year without success (see below) but I now have a new suggestion. My 3rd great grandmother is the famous mystery woman, Seraphina Donclere. She was, I think, a mixed-race Dutch/Singhalese girl who had a relationship with my 3rd great grandfather Lt-Col Dunbar James Hunter who commanded the British troops in Trincomalee, Ceylon in the 1800s. They had a daughter Charlotte Hunter who was only two years old when Colonel Hunter died very suddenly. He left GBP50 to Seraphina and the rest of his estate to Charlotte and her Hunter grandmother brought her back to England where she married very well into the Bevan family. She is my 2nd great grandmother. After Colonel Hunter’s death Seraphina travelled to Calcutta and met Captain William Slessor. William & Seraphina moved to Kishanganj where they also had one daughter Harriet and, after Seraphina died in childbirth and William by suicide in 1810, her grandmother Slessor also brought Harriett back to UK where she too married very well. Harriett became the 3rd great grandmother of the famous British actress Olivia Coleman (The Crown etc.). As a result of Olivia’s connection there is a lot of on-line interest in Seraphina especially since she was mentioned on the BBC programme “Who do you think you are”. However, no one has managed to trace Seraphina’s father or family. I have made several inquiries to various “researchers” in Ceylon but no luck so far. I did find a Donclere as a member of the Dutch East India Company and one in Bruges but no link.

Both “Living DNA” and “Ancestry.com” report that As you report my own DNA shows no Asian DNA. Yesterday I was going through my grandfather’s travelling writing desk and in a secret drawer I found a lock of his mother’s hair. She was Theodosia Bevan and her mother was Charlotte Hunter (see above) so her grandmother was the elusive Seraphina Donclere. I have written to “Living DNA” and “Ancestry.com” asking if there any way to test the DNA in Theodosia’s hair which might help resolve this mystery. Any other suggestions?

Many thanks:
Richard Talbot
Vancouver Island