My illiterate great-grandfather - dead, dying, deceitful or discarded?

[Mart 'n' Al]

One thing that I should add, and I apologise for not making it clear earlier, when my grandfather was born in 1900, his birth certificate shows his mother Jane calling herself Thomson, her earlier married name rather than Leggett, the name she used at the time of the births of her earlier five children. This does seem a little bit odd, although I'm not trying to prove or disprove my theory that they had some strange rift, but if they did it was probably while she was pregnant with my grandfather.

I'm just puzzled by the fact that the father, George Leggett is so hard to track.

Martin

[lisalisa]

Have you been able to find baptism records for the Leggett children?
Why I mention this, is that the clergymen often seem to point out the status of the parents/children when completing registers, and on occasion I've seen a name added and crossed out, which I've often thought might shed more light rather than simply being an error.
Just a thought,

Lisa

[Mart 'n' Al]

Lisa, thanks for the reply.  I only have the baptism record for one of the children, and it shows the parents named as George Daniel Leggett and Jane Leggett.  That has made me wonder a bit.  While a person might not worry about using a different name on a census, perhaps they would be less likely to infer that they were married on a church document.

Also, I know that protocols were different then, but if Jane was just 'living with' George, it seems at odds with getting one of the six children baptised, especially if she was aware that George was still married, although possibly she din't of course.  You've given me one more thing to discuss with others.  Thank you.

Martin

[Nanna52]

Martin I wouldn't worry about the daughter saying her father was deceased on the marriage certificate.  When my great uncle first married in 1925 there were many untruths on his certificate.  He said he was 22, he was 19 and he said his father was deceased, he died in 1942.  From my cousin I know that he was estranged from his father.  From memory i think his older sister said he was dead too.   

[Mart 'n' Al]

Nanna, thank you.  That is reassuring, but it does infer that there was some sort of rift.  It does seem spiteful to claim that your father was dead!

But then, there is no record of any of the altercations in my family during my own lifetime.

Thanks again.  But where was George Daniel Leggett when we don't know his whereabouts...?

Martin

[medpat]

I have a rift between my gt gt grandparents, on a census my gt gt grandfather states he's a widower and living alone whilst my gt gt grandmother with her youngest 2 children, both in their late teens, moved about a mile away and stated she was married.

When gt gt grandfather died there was a inquest as he was found dead after picking himself up after a fall - death cert stated he fell and didn't ask for help with his injuries due to senility.  He may have slowly become impossible for anyone to live with him and that's what caused the separation. He was just into his 70s.

[josey]

The next 20 years of George's life are very unclear as he has not been found on the 1871 nor 1881 censuses, (possibly at sea?).  He appears on 2 crew lists in 1882 and 1884. 

Is it not possible to get George's 'ticket' - don't know the correct term - which shows his history in ships? There is a rootschat member called seaweed who is a genius at mariners records.

[lizdb]

I'm just puzzled by the fact that the father, George Leggett is so hard to track.

Again I wouldn't attach too much significance to that. As a Mariner he was most probably just at sea each year on census night.   I have numerous mariners of various sorts (fishermen, oyster dredgers, merchant navy etc) amongst my ancestors and they often don't appear on any censuses.

[Mart 'n' Al]

Josey and Liz, thank you. I have some crew information for him, but I don't think he was on much of a ship. But don't tell my great grandmother that.  I don't know how strict regulations were then, but I think the sort of ship was he was on, and I have a living relative who remembers her father going out on his boat, I can't imagine health and safety practices were followed too much.

Even his occupation seems to vary a lot from fishermen to Captain merchant trawler, etc. Oyster catcher sounds quite exotic.

Martin