18 children by the same woman?!

[littleem1906]

Also in 1911 they were married for 34 years so we are looking for a marriage around 1877 now.

[littleem1906]

I have found an 1878 marriage in Stourbidge of a George Richard Smith. Others on page are Clara Arnold, Harriot Anne Harrison and Arthur Wright.

If it was George who married Clara could this be the marriage?

[jim1]

There's no mariage listed around 1877 for this couple so he may have got that wrong also.
I would suggest getting Claud's birth cert. as there is only one of this name b.c.1880,he's also registered in Aston so must be the right one,then you can verify the mother's name.Clara Witton was born 1854 to James & Susanna.I'm not convinced the last 2/3 children are actually theirs,she would have been in her late 40's - early 50's at the time.Maybe they belong to the older daughters.

jim

[littleem1906]

Could be. Although most of the daughters are still living with George and Clara in 1911 and all are listed as single.

[carol8353]

Yes I wondered about the later few being illegitimate grandchildren- maybe they thought of them all as theirs.Or they needed to coevr up whose kids they really were?A bit like some people consider all distant rellies to be 'cousins'.

Possibly one was called Leah and another had it as her middle name.

I have trouble remembering which name to cal my grandchildren and there's only 3 of them.My mother in law had 4 kdis and called them all 'Flugey'(she was Irish   ) when she couldn't think which name she wanted.

Carol

[littleem1906]

We I have worked out that the other Leah in 1911 is really Polly as her birth year matches. I was also wondering whether the marriage of 1877 could also be a mistake. They had their first child in 1871, could this be a typo too? On the original census that George would have filled in did he have to write the year they married or how many years they were married for? If he had to write the year it could have been 1871 and got misread as 1877.

[carol8353]

On the 1911 census under his wife's name he had to write the number of years married and if he's put 34 then that takes us back to 1877- but of course after so many kids and all that time,he could well have forgotten when he married.Not sure my hubby knows we've nearly reached 38 

You really could do with getting at least one birth cert to find out mum's maiden name,then you'd hopefully be able to find their marriage.
Would be funny if they never did marry after all those kids 

Carol

[littleem1906]

Well if they did marry in 1877 as he claims then some of their children are illegitimate! I shall order the birth certificate for Alonzo as he is the line I descend from.

I'm still not having luck with any birth, marriage or death records for the other children.

[carol8353]

I see you're in the West Midlands- you need to get across to the record office/central library and do some parish look ups....all free !!

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0a7r/

Carol