Intruiging puzzle - unknown mother

[acookey]

Hullo Rootschatters

I thought I would put this one in for your collective wisdom to work on.

I have Edward Cullen born 1833.  I don't know the date as there is no BMD
record.  However, there is a baptismal record, which another researcher got from St Marys Cathedral, Sydney.  I have not yet seen it, but I am told it says Father James Cullen, convict, mother unknown.

Edward's DC (3/5/1901) has Father James Cullen Stonemason, mother not known.  Born Sydney NSW.

I can understand that a father is not known, but a mother?  Someone gave birth to him and that raises the question of who reared him.  I have not found any records of entry to an orphanage.

The Col. Sec. Index 1788-1825 has Sept 8 1821 James Cullen Stonemason On list of all persons victualled from H.M. Magazines.

There is a list of convicts who were working on St James Church and the Court House on September 8, 1821 and James Cullen appears under Ambrose Bryan's gang of Stonemason.  But neither of those entries state which ship he came on.

So who was James Cullen? and who was the mother of his child, Edward?

Where else can I look?  Any help or suggestions, gratefully received.

acookey

[MarieC]

G'day acookey!

This is intriguing and unusual!  It sounds to me as though you have the right James Cullen, even if you can't find the final couple of pieces of evidence.  With a small population, the odds of two James Cullens who were stonemasons (and convicts?) would be small.  I haven't researched convict records myself, but maybe if you looked in these for a James Cullen, arrival and description, date of emancipation...

Re the lack of a mother - I could wildly surmise that the mother died in childbirth, and that James, who by then may have been well-established, gave the baby to people he knew to rear.  Otherwise, you'd think that at some stage of his life, James would have told Edward who his mother was!

I suppose you could look for deaths of young women shortly before the baptism date.  But this won't tell you which of them she was! 

Did Edward or any of his descendants have a strange middle name you can't account for? 

MarieC

[trish251]

Not sure if it helps, but there is a record on the AVRI giving
Catherine Cullen baptised 1832 Sydney, St Mary's Roman Catholic, father James mother Ann

Could this be a sibling - there is nothing on the AVRI about Edward. If you can get access to the registers, they could be useful to browse

There is a record of a marriage James Cullen and Ann West, 1831 NSW Sydney St Mary's RC

Trish

[acookey]

Thank you both MarieC and Trish. 

The Ann West/James Cullen marriage has definitely been proven not to be of the correct family.  But I do appreciate your efforts.  They did not have a son Edward, even though some records say they did. I have been in contact with the descendants.  The Catherine you mention is their child.

My own theory is that James got someone from a "good" family into trouble, and she was sent away to have the baby, and I believe there were women in those days who looked after the girl and found a home for the baby.  That could be why no mother is mentioned. 

Indeed in another branch of the same family there is a record of a girl who was pregnant and went to another part of the colony under another name, but she was lucky because she met a man and married him, under her assumed name.  He accepted her child.

I am waiting anxiously to see if there are sponsors on the baptismal register, they might give a clue as to who cared for him. 

I would be interested to know whether anyone else has come across a similar situation.

Acookey

[acookey]

Just a couple more thoughts.  If the mother had died, there would be no reason not to mention her name and death at Edward's baptism, I would think?  Unless there was a reason to hide it, so she still could have died in childbirth of course.

I think James Cullen was named as the father, so that the baby had a name.

How I would love to get to the bottom of this.

Acookey.

[AMBLY]

Hi  Acookey

Long shot perhaps - but  did notice on the NSW Indexes : 


V1833198 126/ 1833   - CONNORS , EDWARD    - Mother  ELLEN
No Father listed, no District listed

V1833261 126/ 1833   - COLLINS  EDWARD - parents:   JAMES   and ELLEN 
It's the only COL*IN*  birth to parents of those names
No District listed

Googling, I found that there are researchers of the same Edward CULLEN who believed his father was the James CULLEN of Co. Wexford/Wicklow who came out on the Atlas 2 in 1802, an Irish Rebel Captain.  Nothing I found on him stated he was a Stonemason or what his age was.......And  then someone was wrting that she  thought this James off the Atlas2  had quite a different occupation in the 1828 Sydney Census and may not be Edwards father at all....just wondered if you had come across/were aware all of that?

Cheers
AMBLY

[Ruskie]

Might the mother have been aboriginal? Still doesn't explain why she didn't keep the child, unless she died?

The theory about the mother being from a 'good' family rings truer, and explains why she didn't keep the baby, but wouldn't it be unusual for the baby to be given to the father in those days, rather than a married couple willing to take the child? Surely there would be questions asked about the identity and whereabouts of the mother.

What a puzzle!

[acookey]

Hi All

Thanks for your lookups and considered ideas.  I know that some Cullen researchers thought his parents were James and Ellen Collins, but now think they may have been a bit hasty.
Don't know about the first one, as we know the father but not the mother.

My theory is that someone or a couple took the child and brought him up but gave Edward his father's name, as no doubt in those days it would have been just about impossible for a man to look after a young baby.  It is interesting that the Baptismal record states father's name, as if someone wanted the name to be carried on (I hope I am not being fanciful here!).

I know this is just a theory, but I have thought about all the different scenarios and it is the only one that makes sense to me.

I have been through lots of convict records that I can access, mainly through Ancestry etc. and have not been able to form an opinion that has any real basis.

It would be good to know which ship the James Cullen in the Col. Sec. Index came on.

Ambly, where did you come across the other researches and the Atlas reference, Please.

[deeiluka]

There were odd occasions where the father took responsibility for the child. My gg-grandfather registered the birth of a son in 1859 in Victoria, no mother's name given on the certificate. When the son died in 1878 his mother 's name was on the death certificate, as well as his father's name....but the mother's name was not the name of my gg-grandmother! My gg-grandparents had married in 1851.....so there is some sort of skeleton in the closet!   

There was an inquest into the death of the son, so I know he was living with his father.

.....dee