« Reply #4 on: Saturday 29 September 18 13:32 BST (UK) »
I have a ‘real’ one, on my husband’s tree, though not biologically related 😀
Baptism entry - after the child’s name and date - says ‘no father recorded, Martha, spinster. NB this woman has previously been entered as Martha LEIGH. It has been ascertained that she was not married.’
From what we have found she had an eventful life. When we first found her on the 1851 census, she was a 25 year old ‘widow’ with 6 children from age 12 downwards.
Sounds like Martha was a bit of a "character", to put it politely
I've transcribed a few more pages today. I'm becoming quite fond of R.F. Walker, the curate of Purleigh, who made all these interesting annotations. So it was sad to transcribe the death of his wife, aged just 34.
Indeed she was 😀 We eventually discovered that she wasn’t the mother of the eldest 4 (their mother had died when the youngest was only 6 months old so she was presumably employed to look after them). She then had 2 children before her ‘husband’ died aged 32, and had a further 6 children, all with no father named. Several of them quoted her ‘husband’ as their father on marriage, despite being born up to 10 years after his death. Martha herself never married, lived to be 83 and was referred to on her death certificate as the widow of Richard 😀
CARDIFF:Lord,Griffiths,Barry,Cope,Mahoney ~ PEMBROKESHIRE:Griffiths,Rees,Owen,Thomas ~ ESSEX:Lord,Foreman,Hatch ~ SOMERSET:Lord,Cox,Hockey,Linham,Bryant ~ STAFFORDSHIRE:Cope,Elks,Hackney,Gallimore,Davenport ~ SUFFOLK:Lord,Lockwood,Hatch,Rix,Foreman ~ IRELAND:Barry,Meany,Cummins,Grogan ~
PONTYPRIDD:Leigh,Brooks,Adams,Davies,Thomas ~ KENT:Leigh ~ CHESHIRE:Adams,Tudor,Illidge ~ DENBIGHSHIRE:Edwards,Bolas ~BRECON:Leigh,Thomas,Davies ~SOMERSET:Adams,Keitch,Bridge ~ABERGAVENNY:Minton ~ MERTHYR:.....