Author Topic: Random father's name on baptism record  (Read 3487 times)

Offline sid bird

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Random father's name on baptism record
« on: Wednesday 31 December 14 10:37 GMT (UK) »
Why would my ancestor, born 1820 to a spinster have the father's name on the baptism record?
He married a much older woman the following year. The child eventually married and named her son after the father on the baptism record. Is this just normal and  wonder how the spinster managed
to support her and the child in those days. :-\

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 10:48 GMT (UK) »
Are you saying that your ancestor's parents were not married but a father's name was given on her baptism certificate? This man, named as the father, married another woman the following year?

If so, perhaps he was her father. Fathers were sometimes named when a child was baptised.

As to how the mother supported the child, that would depend on a number of factors such as did she have support from family or the parish, was she able to work and provide for the child, was she of independent means, plus other considerations. She may have been in a better position as a single mother of one child, than a married couple with many many mouths to feed on a low income.

Others will probably have more ideas for you.

Offline Milliepede

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 11:52 GMT (UK) »
I too would suspect he was her father and not just a random name.  If the child named her own child after him then they may had had a relationship of some kind even if he didn't marry her mother.

The mothers own parents may have looked after the child whilst she worked, there are many possibilities  :)
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Offline youngtug

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 12:21 GMT (UK) »
1820 was before registration certs, do you mean that the father was named on the parish register?
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  WILSON;-Wiltshire.
 SOUL;-Gloucestershire.
 SANSUM;-Berkshire-Wiltshire
 BASSON-BASTON;- Berkshire,- Oxfordshire.
 BRIDGES;- Wiltshire.
 DOWDESWELL;-Wiltshire,Gloucestershire
 JORDAN;- Berkshire.
 COX;- Berkshire.
 GOUDY;- Suffolk.
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Offline Galium

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 14:18 GMT (UK) »
If the father was known and named in the baptism register, he probably provided for the child, either voluntarily or after being subject to a bastardy order.  If the latter, you may be able to find a record of this, depending on whether the relevant county archives has bastardy records surviving.

If the father was perhaps of a higher social class than the mother of his child, he may have been unwilling to marry her, or his family may have been unwilling to permit him to, but he might nevertheless have been happy to acknowledge and provide for his offspring.
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Offline jennifer c

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 14:22 GMT (UK) »
Have you managed to find the named father in the 1841/51 census to get an idea of his social standing, he may have been the son of her employer?

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Offline djct59

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 14:29 GMT (UK) »
In parts of northern Scotland it was virtually obligatory for the putative father to admit paternity (or at least be prepared to be examined by the parish elders) before a child could be baptised.

This could be open to abuse. My great great great grandmother had a sister whose husband was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock, conceived when his wife was pregnant. He denied paternity so the child was not baptised.

Then came the news that a villager who had gone to be a soldier in Ireland had fallen into a loch and drowned, whereupon the mother suddenly remembered that *he* was really the infant's father. Honour now being satisfied all round, the child was baptised.

Offline youngtug

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.http://www.rootschat.com/links/05q2/   
  WILSON;-Wiltshire.
 SOUL;-Gloucestershire.
 SANSUM;-Berkshire-Wiltshire
 BASSON-BASTON;- Berkshire,- Oxfordshire.
 BRIDGES;- Wiltshire.
 DOWDESWELL;-Wiltshire,Gloucestershire
 JORDAN;- Berkshire.
 COX;- Berkshire.
 GOUDY;- Suffolk.
 CHATFIELD;-Sussex-- London
 MORGAN;-Blaenavon-Abersychan
 FISHER;- Berkshire.
 BLOMFIELD-BLOOMFIELD-BLUMFIELD;-Suffolk.
DOVE. Essex-London
YOUNG-Berkshire
ARDEN.
PINEGAR-COLLIER-HUGHES-JEFFERIES-HUNT-MOSS-FRY

Online Ruskie

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Re: Random father's name on baptism record
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday 31 December 14 14:39 GMT (UK) »
It also depends on what this girl named her own child.

If you assume she called the child William (for example) after the man named on her baptism record as her father, you may have jumped to the wrong conclusion as William is a very common name and he could have been named after any one of a dozen William's in the girl's life.

If her father's name was Fordyce Smethwick (for example) and she named her son Fordyce Smethwick then you might be right to assume she named her son after her father.
 :)

How common was the father's name? Are you sure it is the same man who married another woman a year after his daughter's birth?