George's missing ancestors

[Olicana]

I am looking for information about the parents and grandparents of George Bickley (1801–1889). I know his mother was called Ann (and it is quite likely that his father was George).
He was baptised in 1801 in Leyton, Essex and died Oct 1889 in Hackney. He married Margaret Hand (1806 - 1885) on 31 Jul 1826 at Hackney St John. Any help would be appreciated 

[rosie99]

The transcript of his baptism on familysearch does not name a father, just mother Ann Bickley. Does the register show whether he was illegitimate

[Olicana]

If he was illegitimate, assuming his mother was at least 15 and not more than 40 when she gave birth, she must have been born between 1760 and 1786. Are there any birth or baptism records for an Ann Bickley in this period? I would guess that her father may have been a "George" too, as it seemed to be the habit to pass on names from one generation to another.

If she ultimately married, it would most likely be between 1801 and 1840, probably still in Leyton, so it may be possible to locate her from marriage records. Alternatively, if George was not illegitimate, there may be a record of a male Bickley marrying an Ann between about 1780 and 1800. Are any such marriage records available? Any help would be much appreciated 

[lizdb]

Sorry, but I cant see any reason to suppose his father was also a George!    Yes, names were passed on, so yes, someone called George may well have a son called George. But he equally may have had several sons, bit only one would be called George!
Thus, your George's father may well have passed on his name as you suggest, bu tthat doesn't mean he was called George! He could have been Tom,Dick or Harry, and passed that name on to one of his sons as you suggest, but then your George was another son.

But, going back to your George - would be good to see the original Baptism Parish Record to see if it was annotated that he was illegitimate, or if a father was named there.

If only a mother's name is given, it is likely he was illegitimate.

[Olicana]

I was suggesting that Ann's father might be called George if her son was illegitimate. The reasoning was that if the birth was illegitimate, it might be Ann's first child (unless she made a habit of it!), so may have been named after his grandfather, a common occurrence in my family.

Yes, it would be a good idea to see the original Baptism Parish Record. How could I do that?

[dawnsh]

You haven't updated your profile so we don't know where in the world you are.

The LDS has the registers on this microfilm

https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&query=%2Bfilm_number%3A1564254

which can be ordered and viewed at any LDS family history centre or The National Archives a Kew

The original registers seem to have been deposited at Waltham Forest Archives

https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/waltham-forest-archives-and-local-studies-library

[smudwhisk]

Waltham Forest Archives has an agreement with Essex Record Office so that digital copies of their parish registers are hosted on ERO's SEAX pay-per-view site.  Leyton St Mary the Virgin are available here - http://www.rootschat.com/links/01htn/.  You will need to register for a free account and take out a subscription, the cheapest is £10 for 24 hours or £20 for a week - see http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hto/ for details of the subscription service.  They are colour images of the original registers.

My subscription lapsed the end of last year so I can't take a look for you I'm afraid.

[Olicana]

Thank you for your replies and the useful information. I am in the UK so if I visited Waltham Forest Archives, would I be allowed to see the original registers?

[smudwhisk]

You would probably get free access to SEAX there (although you would need to check with them) to view the colour digital images of the original registers, but I doubt you would be able to see the original books themselves now.  In the past you would have probably had to see the microform copies unless they were completely unreadable.