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Thank you all very much. I have posted on this topic before & we couldn't come to any definite conclusion, which is why I haven't posted the full details (there's no point anyone going over all the work again. I've also had some friends from outside these boards trying to help)

Since then, though, I've found the "spare possible mother", so I'm really asking you where you would go from here.

What I've got is the baptism of a William, parents John & Ann. I can find a James & Ann & a John & Mary, but no John & Ann. The baptism of William would fit into a "gap" in either family, according to the records of baptisms I've got for their other children. One of these families did have a William six years later, whereas the other couple don't seem to have named another child William.

As I've said, I've also found the death of an Ann, whose age would have made it possible for her to have been William's mother. I don't know whether she was a widow or a single woman. I can't find a marriage for a second Ann in the village.

Several people have looked at William's baptism record for me, but they can't find anything untoward. There was a John & Ann in a neighbouring village, but, if William was their son, he would have had to have been born a few years before they married & they had a William "of their own".

William's first son was Thomas, so this doesn't tie in with his father being either John or James (but it would tie in with a grandfather)

At what point do you say "I can't reach any conclusion" or would you pursue the couple who didn't have a William "of their own"?

Thank you

There's only one poster on here who's registered an interest in the surname Olivant & they've got them placed in Oldsall/Notts. Unfortunately, the poster concerned registered 2 years ago but has never posted, so I can't send them a message. There were some Hudsons at Oldsall that I thought could be mine at first...possibly relatives....would maybe have to look there to find John & Ann's marriage/their origins

Sorry, slaw. I forgot to change my wife's ID when I thanked you.


Thank you very much, diddy...it would help a great deal, but please don't go to any trouble. My Hudsons moved to Ruddington, Notts, at some stage. William's son Thomas was born there c 1832 (details from the census) & they zigzag across Leics/Derbys/Notts......my branch eventually settling in Nottingham. But I don't know where John started off.

I know there was no law to stop her using her maiden name again....just wondered if it was frowned upon if the child who had it in her first marriage was still alive.

And, if she/her new husband didn't want to use it again, would it have been customary to give the first child of the second marriage a surname of a favourite relative/friend/benefactor