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In September 1879 my great great great grandmother gave birth to illegitimate twins James and Samuel Garden. Their father was not stated on birth certificates, but it became clear through subsequent years that they were children of a Mr Dalgarno. When James Garden married, he gave his name as James Dalgarno, and registered his son as a Dalgarno too before changing his mind and reverting back to Garden. Samuel stuck to Garden, but on his marriage record it was stated that his mother was previously Mrs Dalgarno (which she never was).

Anyway...

I am a big fan of tracing fathers though the name of the illegitimate child. Thus I thought I'd see if there were any James or Samuel Dalgarnos in the Peterhead area as potential fathers to the twins. There were no Samuels, but two Jameses of interest.

In the first instance, James William Dalgarno had an illegitimate child with Jane Garden - the aunt of Samuel and James - in 1877. As you can imagine I thought I was in luck as there was a direct link to my family (possibly too direct). James William married Jane in 1879, the year the twins were born. He became the most likely candidate until last night.

Last night I found the second James Dalgarno...

This second James Dalgarno lived at 31c Broad Street, Peterhead, in 1879. Margaret Garden - the twins mother - also lived at 31 Broad Street (it appears to be a block of flats). The twins place of birth in September 1879 was given as 31c Broad Street. Then it gets interesting. James Dalgarno's wife died in January 1879 1 1/4 months after child birth [at 31c Broad Street]. Thus if he was the father of the twins, they would have been conceived when his wife was about 7 months pregnant (assuming both pregnancies lasted 9 months). So with a wife 7 months pregnant, may he have looked next door?

Of course I would never document either of them as the father as there is simply not enough evidence to suggest that either are definately the father. Makes you think though...