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How old was Hannah Hollis when William was born?
it may be that his father was George and the registrar just assumed the surnames matched
My great great grandfather (George Fido) was illegitamate, his father (from baptism) is Thomas Williams however one of his marriage certificates the father is down as Thomas Fido (who doesn't exist) on another it's Thomas Williams (George was widowed) - all I can think of is on one marriage he was asked for his father's name and said Thomas and they wrote it down assuming they had the same Surname
Thanks. More food for thought! That's possible. But I've been unable to find a George Hollis who fits.
I was meaning that the father could be George something else - maybe even the George Pegg he's with on two censuses as a child
In the 1841 census enumerators were instructed to round up ages, see
https://durhamrecordsonline.com/updates/2010/09/added-explanation-of-1841-census-age-rounding/
In the 1841 census, the age of persons over 15 was supposed to be rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5. For example, a person aged 19 would be listed as 15, a person aged 22 would be listed as age 20, and a person age 59 would be listed as 55. In practice, many census officials either did not round down at all or only rounded down for higher ages, such as over 20, or (less frequently) rounded down ages below 15. In general, the age of a person under 15 is probably accurate to within a year or two. For persons over 15, any age that is not a multiple of 5 is likely also to be accurate – for example, if a person is listed as 27, he or she probably really is 27 or thereabouts, rather than 25. The area you have to be careful of is persons over age 15 whose age is a multiple of 5 – they may be up to 4 years younger than their census listing shows – so if your ancestor is listed as 50, remember that he or she is likely actually between the ages of 50 and 54. This, of course, does not even take into account the errors made by census officials and family members reporting the ages of others ! Finally, if the age of a person was unknown, children were supposed to be recorded as “under 20” and adults as “over 20”.
As for 'spurious daughter' it seems to imply illegitimacy; would be worth looking st the actual parish register to see if other 'mother only' baptisms were marked as 'spurious'. Ministers/vicars had various ways of indicating the fact [and their opinions] on illegitimate births.
Crossed in the post Jomot but decided to post anyway....
Following this one with interest… quite a mystery!
Here’s another possibility to throw into the mix. In 1841 there is a Hannah Hollis (Mollis on Anc*) aged 15, a servant at Elvaston, Shardlow, and in the same household is Elizabeth Pegg 50, shown as visitor but then crossed out.
With the 1841 roundings Hannah’s age could be anything up to 19, so a possible baptism for her is at Radbourne, St Andrew on 26 Jan 1823, Hannah, spurious daughter of Margaret Hollis.
I notice that Sarah Pegg [nee Bottom] was also born in Radbourne, and there is a marriage in Radbourne in 1821 of a Hester Bottom to Joseph Appleby, with one of the witnesses being Margaret Hollis.
Hester Bottom b1804 & Sarah Bottom b1807 were sisters, their parents being Henry & Ann
Unfortunately I completely lose track of Margaret Hollis after Hannah’s birth, but she does seem to provide a link between the Hollis, Bottom & Pegg families.
ADDED: Possible baptism for her at Dudleston, Shropshire:
5 Dec 1802 Margaret d/o Thomas & Hannah Hollis
I hadn't thought of William "making up" a father's name but a quick google about the shame of illegitimacy in those days helps explain why he might. I'll follow up on censuses and baptism suggestions. I think I've been too focused on finding (unsuccessfully) the mysterious George who might not even exist I suppose .
I've twice wasted much time (but fortunately no money) on searching for invented fathers. One was the baby's grandfather, the other a combination of forename of step-GF and the mother's surname. There were several illegitimate children in 2 generations of this family.
One boy, first child of eldest daughter, born when she was 19 seemed to have been brought up by his grandparents and named his grandfather as his father on his marriage certificate and called his eldest son after him.
A girl, youngest child born to a woman who was either widowed or deserted, was registered with mother's husband's surname as mother's maiden name but father's box on birth certificate was blank (1858). The widow married again in July 1861. The mother's youngest child and her 2 illegitimate grandchildren are both on 1871 census with her 2nd husband's surname and relationship as his daughters and son. The 2nd husband was dead before 1881 census and the 3 young people had reverted to their original surnames and correct relationships. When the daughter married she put as her father, her mother's first husband (the dead/disappeared one) and his occupation. The grandchildren used the made-up combination names of their surname and their step-GF's forename plus his occupation at their marriages . Each called a son after the made-up grandfather. (There should be a "confused" emoticon.)
Bear in mind that a census return is only a "snapshot" of a household on one day at 10 year intervals.
Josey - yes, I found William with the Pegg family and thought it a bit odd that in two consecutive censuses a child was not living with his parent(s). But maybe Hannah couldn't afford to keep him which would be consistent with the illegitimacy possibility.
Another possibility is William could have been boarded out to the Peggs and raised by them they maybe no relation to his birth mum and just a coincidence the Pegg's have a daughter Hannah
I think it would be unlikely a 16/17 year old would be able to convince the local vicar she had been married and widowed to be able to christen her son under Hollis
if you have aa Ancestry subscription there are a couple of trees with the Hannah Hollis who married Samuel Bailey you could check they have and cross check with records you can find they maybe able to rule out this Hannah and good luck with your research
it may be that his father was George and the registrar just assumed the surnames matched
My great great grandfather (George Fido) was illegitamate, his father (from baptism) is Thomas Williams however one of his marriage certificates the father is down as Thomas Fido (who doesn't exist) on another it's Thomas Williams (George was widowed) - all I can think of is on one marriage he was asked for his father's name and said Thomas and they wrote it down assuming they had the same Surname