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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: brigidmac on Sunday 27 November 22 16:59 GMT (UK)
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I've been looking at some Lancashire affiliation orders for illigitimate babies around 1800
The language is similar in all
Mr X of ...parish
Adjudged to be the reputed father of
Yz born upon the body of miss z of parish
To pay unto the overseers of the poor
for the lying in of miss Z and maintenance
Weekly amount ..one shilling
But last sentence is
Proved upon the oath of ....and then the name seems to be different in each case
Who could be swearing to a paternity of a child ??
Any ideas
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With thanks to amongdog for making me aware that these are available on Ancestry
Some of the orders are to remove a single woman and her children to a different parish.it was in each counties interest to reducee
Number of parish dependants
The oaths are all of men some occur more than once
could it be local vicars ? For example William Hart in Ince
David corner in whiston + prescott
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Who could be swearing to a paternity of a child ??
I think you may have misread it?
It is not paternity that’s being sworn to, but simply the fact that the magistrate’s order has been served on the appropriate person – on the alleged father (for a bastardy order), or on the overseers of the other parish (for a removal order).
The named person swearing the oath will have been a parish officer, most likely one of the overseers.
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Thank you bookbox
That makes sense now .
It was seeing pages with 4 cases but 4 different people swearing oaths that led me to the incorrect assumption.
Fascinating reading