Little Somerford baptism

[Jane Masri]

I'm looking for confirmation of a baptism in Little Somerford, that of;
James Clifford STRANGE about 1809.  His mother was Ann STRANGE and he was her illegitimate son.  James Clifford was the alledged father.
Also the baptism of Ann Strange herself, supposedly about 1780. There is one submitted entry on the LDS IGI for Ann Strange with mother also Ann so Ann junior might have been illegitimate herself,

jane

[davierj]

Hi Jane,

I could not find the baptism of James Clifford Strange in Little Somerford in 1809, but found the following baptisms in Little Somerford.

5 Mar 1780 James Stratford Strange and Ann Strange son and daughter of Ann.

Cheers Dave

[Jane Masri]

Hi Dave,
Many thanks for that look-up even though it causes 'the plot to thicken' as they say.  The information concerning James Clifford Strange has been sent to me by another researcher & although this researcher cites bastardy orders etc from the WRO (which I don't doubt) why doesn't his baptism appear in the Somerford registers 
The info you've just sent suggests that this James Stratford Strange & Ann were illegitimate twins, is that the way you see it?

Jane

[davierj]

Hi Jane,

I was most surprised not to find James Clifford Strange, I could have missed him however in all the spidery writing!   Neither the 'Bastardy Book' nor the original records and documents are not available in the WSRO at the moment as they are in the throes of moving premises from Trowbridge to Chippenham.   They reopen at the end of November.   All that's available are microfiche copies of the parish records.   If you've not resolved the problem by the end of the year either re-post the request or send me a PM and I'll have another look.

There's no way of telling if James and Ann were twins, but I feel it's highly likely.   They seem to be illegitimate as no father was mentioned.   I wonder if their father's surname was Stratford.

Cheers Dave

[Jane Masri]

Thanks for the feed-back, Dave.  I need to 'speak' directly to the original researchers as I had the information via a third party so I'm not sure what their sources are 

Apparently James Clifford was brought before the magistrates & admitted to being the father of Ann Strange's child (not sure if the child is mentioned by name) & agreed to pay maintenence having a bastardy order slapped on him which bound him to honour his commitment.  The order itself did not survive but other records pertaining to the case did.  The first date mentioned is 1809 when the overseer reports paying on James's behalf a sum of money to a solicitor & later James repays the overseer.  This goes on for a couple of years but by 1811 James defaults & the parish of Somerford Parva takes him to court as he now owes them 6 pounds & the magistrate jails him for 3 months.  Warrant dated 2/4/1811.  On the warrant his age was given as 28 so he has a dob of about 1783.
A James Clifford Strange did exist as the census testifies to this, born Little Somerford abt. 1809.  Married to Elizabeth Dixon 1834, Brinkworth.  He married as James Strange.
It's known that Ann (the mother of James Clifford Strange) lived with her widowed mother, also called Ann & they were pretty poor as her name appears on various documents as having received poor relief.
Now we have this added problem of James Stratford Strange in 1780 & I have a gut feeling he might tie-in with this scenario 
Do you have Little Somerford connections or did you look that up in the RO?  If you did, thanks so much 

jane

[Nimrod58]

Hi

I have relatives from Little Somerford so looked in the Baptism & Burials records (1608-1837) and found the following, which I hope might help or at least be interesting for you.

The Strange family first appear in 1759: -

Baptisms

2/12/1759    John s John & Ann

18/1/1760    Sarah d Robert & Sarah

8/11/1761    Betty d John & Ann

25/2/1764    Matthew s John & Ann
31/1/1768    Ann d Robert & Mary (BT only)
16/10/1768  Ann d John & Ann (BT only)

15/7/1770    Hester d John & Ann (BT only)
8/9/1771      Hester d John & Ann
4/10/1772    Patience d Robert & Mary
6/2//1774     Robert s John & Ann
6/2/1774      Thomas s John & Ann
10/11/1776  Patience d Robert & Mary

5/3/1780      James Stratford s Ann
5/3/1780      Ann d Ann
8/6/1783      Mary-Cary d Richard & Martha
8/6/1783      Ann Mapson d Richard & Martha
13/6/784      Thomas s John & Sarah
6/11/1785    Mathew s John & Sarah
Apr 1776      Betty bbd Ann
14/10/1787  Ann d John & Sarah

20/3/1791    John s John & Sarah
29/4/1792    Elizabeth bbd Ann
5/8/1792      Robert s Thomas & Ann
6/12/1795    Sarah d George & Ann
17/1/1796    William s Thomas & Ann
8/12/1799    John s Thomas & ann

8/11/1807    Elizabeth d Thomas & Anne

11/7/1814    Sarah d Robert & Elizabeth Labourer
8/11/1816    William s Robert & Elizabeth
7/6/1818      Hannah d Robert & Elizabeth
21/11/1819  Matthew s John & Hester
21/11/1819  Ann d John & Hester
21/11/1819  John s John & Hester

2/7/1820      Charlotte d Robert & Elizabeth
15/9/1822    Thomas s Robert & Elizabeth
27/6/1824    John s Robert & Elizabeth
6/8/1826      Simon s Robert & Elizabeth
17/9/1826    Dinah d John & Rachel
13/9/2829    Thomas s John & Rachel

18/9/1832    Sarah d John & Rachel
26/1/1834    Matthew s John & Rachel
25/9/1836    Fanny d John & Rachel
25/6/1837    Abel Carey s Robert & Sarah

Strange Burials

31/10/1770    Elizabeth (BT only)
17/4/1774      Patience
13/8/1778      Ann (BT) wife of John
21/6/1779      Robert s John
27/4/1784      John a pauper
16/2/1809      Robert
10/5/1809      Mary
28/6/1810      Sarah
28/7/1822      Ann age 71
28/7/1822      Charity age 58
22/2/1828      Fanny infant
29/1/1829      Sarah age 21
10/1/1833      Eliza age 3
12/2/1834      Martha age 77
9/4/1837        James age 57 of Brinkworth


Now I couldn't find any Baptism or Burial record for a James Clifford Strange or any Clifford, but just to make life interesting, having seen the conversation about Ann's  twins born in 1780, I noted the birth of a James Stratford on 17/8/1808, who was the bbs of Ann.   Could this be your James?

Best wishes

[Jane Masri]

Thanks so much for that MrsH.  Yes, you're right, the general consensus is that James Stratford is indeed James Clifford Strange.  Why Ann baptised him thus will probably remain a mystery 
Thanks once again, really appreciate you doing that for me 

jane

[Nimrod58]

You're welcome.  It's quite odd to think that your family and my husband's 4 or so x great grandfather would probably have known each other, as the latter was the postmaster in LS for years.

H

[Jane Masri]

They probably did H and here we are X number of years later talking about them on a computer  unbelievable!

jane