Who is Susan?

[Speedwell]

Who is Susan Yarborough?
My relative is Harriet(t) Yarborough whose father was a fisherman in Boston Lincs. According to the 1841-1871 censuses, his wife is called Mary. However according to the Baptism/Christening records (at the church where TY married Mary Rylatt) the mother's name is Susan.

Is this the same woman or could Harriet have been born our of wedlock and been accepted into the large Yarborough household?

I couldn't find any Thomas Y marrying a Susan.

Can anyone cast light on this puzzle?

[Kay99]

Looking at baptism record on Family Search my thought is that Susan is the same woman. Later  children were baptised with the mother's name Mary and in 1851 the mother was still listed as Mary

Kay

[Speedwell]

Thanks you Kay.
I thought that too but it seemed so odd to call yourself Susan when you were married as Mary, are in the Census as Mary and there are other children with Mary as mother. On the other hand, it also seems odd that you would a child born out of wedlock to the same church you got married in.

Maybe if I find more about Mary? Perhaps a middle initial of S. 

[Speedwell]

In many countries, it is customary for a person being confirmed in some dioceses of Roman Catholic Church and in some Anglican dioceses to adopt a new name, generally the name of a biblical character or saint, thus securing an additional patron saint as protector and guide.

St Botolph's Church, Boston is Anglican Perhaps this is what this is all about. Susannah (a variation of Susan) ministers to Jesus (in Luke). This could have been Mary's confirmation name and therefore used on religious records Baptism/Christening) rather than legal (Census, Marriage - which could be both religious and legal).

Are there such things as confirmation records?

[Kay99]

I have never come across conformation records but someone else might have.

Could it have been a simple error??   

Kay

[rosie99]

I also think it was possibly an error by the clergy.

If she had been given an additional 'religous' name this would not have replaced the name given to her by her parents

[LizzieW]

Probably an error by the parish clerk or whoever wrote up the parish register.  I couldn't find my gran's baptism for ages, even though I had the baptism of her siblings.  As I knew her date of birth, I took a punt that she had been baptised at the same church as the sibling who was older than her and the one who was younger than her (the others had been baptised elsewhere).  She had, but instead of her name being shown as Mary Hannah, the parish clerk had written her name down as Seth    That was her father's name and her parents were shown as Seth and Alice which was correct.

She was definitely female, she had 10 children and she lived with us until her death when I was 8 so I knew her too.

[Speedwell]

Thanks to everyone. I too have come to a conclusion it is an error. I also noticed that their first child was called Susan and she was 13 when Harriet was born. Perhaps the clerk wrote her name down by mistake.

[trish1120]

Mothers mn is confirmed on her Birth Reg;
YARBROUGH, HARRIET, Mother RYLATT
GRO Reference: 1841  M Quarter in BOSTON  Volume 14  Page 262

Trish