Unknown wife

[drhewitt]

Hi, I hope someone can help me out here.

I have an ancestor named George Mallin (name is also spelled Mallen). He was born in Stourport in 1832 and his parents are Joseph and Isabella Mallin.

He appears in the 1841 census. The whole family is missing from the 1851 census and they appear again in the 1861 census, though by this time his father had died.

This is my problem.

In the 1861 census, Isabella, her son George and a grandson are shown living in Lombard Street, Kidderminster. George is 29 years old and unmarried. The grandson is also called George and he is 3 years old. His place of birth is Middlesex. I later discovered he is the son of George Mallin and was born around 1858. I'm assuming he was born illegitimate.

The census reference is RG9/2081/24 page 1 Lombard Street


This is where it gets complicated.

In 1864 George Mallin married Jane Williams - his marriage certificate indicates he was widowed! I have never been able to discover the identity of his first wife. I assume that he did not marry till after the 1861 census and that his wife must have died before 1864. I ordered a couple of marriage certificates for George Mallins in the Staffordshire/Worcestershire areas but they were not the right ones.

In the 1871 census, the grandson, now 13 years old, is living with his father George and his stepmother Jane, so we know that he is definitely George Mallin's son and not his nephew. However, his place of birth is now given as Stourport, Worcestershire, which is also the birth place of his father.

I have not been able to find a birth cert. for George Mallin in the time period 1857-1858. There is a George Mallin in the BMD index for Middlesex but this is not the correct one. I ordered a birth cert for a George Mallin in Dudley, 1858 and this too was not the right one. I would love to be able to find his birth certificate to know who his mother was, which would almost certainly be the first wife of George Mallin, and then I could look for their marriage certificate.

[Siamese Girl]

Thinking about this in a roundabout way. People didn't always tell the truth when they married. The 1861 census suggests that George and his mother have taken care of George his illegitimate son. Presumably for some reason George never married the boy's mother (perhaps she was married already?/died?)

George meets Jane. She doesn't know that the boy is illegitimate and quite possibly George tells her that he is a widower. She hasn't any way of checking this and when they marry he just keeps up the pretence and says he's a widower. This might account for you not finding the boy's birth, as if he was illegitimate he would have been registered under his mother's surname.

Carole

[Rena]

It seems strange that a father would look after an illigitimate child -I'd have thought the mother and/or her family would have cared for the baby.  Or a childless family would have taken him in.

I'm inclined to think that the register is either illegible or has been mistranscribed.  Furthermore, if the family travelled outside their area it's not unknown for a name to be misunderstood.

I've actually got a baptism record where the vicar has given the child his father's name and the father has the child's name - the vicar did the same thing for the second baby which just happened to be a girl - I think the man might have liked a bit of the good stuff      

[Finley 1]

Mango Walk  by Rhona Martin, tells the wonderful story of a single man towards the end of the war, that finds a child on a bomb site -- and becomes her Father.....  fantastic book ... well I thought so. 

xin

[danuslave]

It seems strange that a father would look after an illigitimate child

Unusual perhaps, but I wouldn't say strange - especially as he lived with his widowed mother and unmarried sister who probably did most of the 'looking after'

drhewitt  FYI Lombard Street is actually shown as in the hamlet of Lower Mitton, town of Stourport

Linda

[Siamese Girl]

If there was some reason why George couldn't/wouldn't marry the boy's mother I see no reason why he wouldn't take the child into his family. There's no law that says fathers can't be compassionate and love their children. Especially if an orphanage might be the only alternative.

Carole

[jorose]

I have one case where the father had his illegitimate children in the household living together with his wife and the "housekeeper" who was their mother!    After he died I think the wife kicked them out, though.

I would look for a christening in Lower Mitton/Stouport, maybe Kidderminster, for an illegitimate child but with an address or other note that links him to the Mallin family.

[Redroger]

Unless I've missed it one thing that seems to have not been considered is the possibility that the boy's mother died in child birth, and if he was illegitimate then her husband and or family wanted nothing to do with the child.

[reflectionsliz]

I can't help identify the unknown wife, and this information may or may not be relevant, but during my research into the previous residents of the houses in my Regency terrace I came acroos the name 'Mallin'.  In the Worcester Record Office Poor Rate Lists for Summer Place, Kidderminster Foreign a person of this name is listed as renting No 10 in one of the two lists for October 1st 1857. (the other list shows the house untenanted, as it had been since 1855).  The name 'Mallin' is still listed for the 1858 list for January 1st, but by the July list of that year another tenant has taken over.

Pure speculation I know, but maybe your George and his wife/partner moved into the house in October, before thier baby was born.  She then sadly died in childbirth - an all too frequent occurance - and Geroge then moved back home to his mother's house, with his new-born son?
I know we'll never know for certain but it seems a pooible scenario.