Frances/Fanny Mallinson 1807 - 1884

[jmsp1kers]

Hi, I'm hoping somebody could help throw some light on the following for me.

My entire family tree seems to hinge on one woman, called Frances/Fanny Mallinson, born around 1807.

Here's what I know:

Frances Mallinson of Barnsley had three illegitimate sons, John Frederick, Benjamin and Richard (the baptism records make no mention of the father(s)) who carried on her Mallinson name. She married Francis Greaves in 1837 (annoyingly just a few months before civil registration was introduced). I'm able to trace her and her children through the census records no problem.

The issue I have is where she came from. There are no Barnsley records I can find to identify her parents, where she was born, etc.

Back when I first started researching my family tree, I accepted a lot of what Ancestry threw at me and drew a connection between this Frances from Barnsley and a Fanny Mallinson from Huddersfield. However, I'm now a lot more skeptical about this and have two halves of a family tree that may or may not be connected.

Here's what I've researched. Based on the various ages on the records (census, burial, death cert, etc.) of Frances, it puts her birth year at between 1805 and 1811, with most records putting her at 1807/08. Fanny's birth was 1807 according to her baptism record.

I've also tried to see if there were any other girls called Frances/Fanny that were born during that period in the Yorkshire area. I only found two others and they both had a traceable history that was unrelated.

Where the real doubt comes in, is the fact Frances never states being born in Huddersfield on any of the records. It's always Barnsley.

So now I enter speculation territory here.

Fanny's parents, John Mallinson and Mary Wilson, seemed to move around a lot, judging by the different places their children were born in. Combined with the fact he worked in textiles, I'm thinking they were very poor. The father died when Fanny was 18. It's possible she went to Barnsley to find work, and that the three illegitimate kids suggests that work wasn't always respectable. Because of this and a variety of other reasons she might have lied about where she originally came from.

Or maybe they really are two different people.

I'd like to try and find some more evidence to confirm or deny this, but I've hit a brick wall. I've researched the obvious sources and am now stumped as to where else to look (if there is indeed anywhere else to look). Any suggestions/thoughts? Or does anyone have knowledge of the cultural/historical situation of that time period and might be able to provide a better explanation of what happened to Frances?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[lizdb]

When you refer to "Fannys baptism in 1807", am I right in taking that to be the Huddersfield one, the one that you are now not sure is correct?  And there hasn't been a baptism found for a Barnsley one?

And Welcome to Rootschat! Sorry, should have said that first, but only just noticed it was your first post.

Also - who are the witnesses at her marriage (what a shame she married to early to have her fathers name on a cert!)

[jmsp1kers]

Thanks!

Yes, Fanny's 1807 baptism is the Huddersfield one. She was baptized as "Fanny". There isn't any Barnsley baptism that I can find.

Barnsley's Frances goes by the name "Frances" on all her records (including her sons' baptism PRs), apart from curiously her sons' marriage PRs, where she's referred to as "Fanny".

The witnesses are a Bernard Hyde and Mary Atack

[lizdb]

Curious about the son's marrage pr's, in that I've never seen them with a mother's name on.

[lizdb]

Still thinking about this one!
 btw - records seem to be generally Mallison, rather then Mallinson? Not that an 'n' here or there means much in that era, especially as I see Frances was illiterate.

I guess it is possible that she used the name Mallison if a Mr Mallison was the father of the children - but if that was the case then one would expect the father to be on the christening record as if they were married.

According to records on Familysearch there are Mallison families having children in Barnsley around 1807ish, so would be worth trying to look at the originals to see if a Frances has been missed out or transcribed as something else in error.

[jmsp1kers]

Thanks for the help 

Working through the original records, can't find anything yet but will keep looking.

What you said about her sons' marriage PRs made me realise something. She was married herself by this point so was technically going by the name of Frances Greaves. Yet for some reason her sons have her down as Fanny Mallinson, occupation spinster.

[lizdb]

Did the sons marry somewhere other than England/Wales?
Otherwise - have they out mother's name on marriage cert where father's should be? No space for mothers name on English marriage cert! 

[avm228]

In a marriage record one does sometimes (rarely) see a mother's details in the columns intended for father's details, in cases of illegitimacy.

In this case the parish record for the marriage of Benjamin "Mallison" and Ellen Hardcastle in Silkstone on 9 July 1853 does indeed show Fanny "Mallison", spinster, where the father's details would normally be entered.

[lancsann]

Mallison & Mallinson are definitely interchangable - I have a lot of them in my tree but from the Todmorden area