Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a second pair of eyes to look at this and confirm if my suspicions are correct.
I've been trying to find the baptism of an ancestor, John Willingham for a while, but the details I found for the baptism didn't make sense. Up until today, I think I'd only ever seen a transcribed record, not the original because of the pay wall.
However, having looked at it, I think that transcription is wrong and that's what has been confusing me.
Basically, I know that John Willingham was born in Ottringham, Yorkshire, sometime around 1800.
The only person I can find going by that name is noted in transcriptions across various sites as being baptised on 24th August (or sometimes it says 9th) 1800. Father John Willingham, mother Francis Willingham. Although in some transcriptions Francis's name is omitted.
I couldn't make sense of this because the only John Willingham (the elder) I could find was married to a Sarah Capes and having children with her around the time he supposedly had a child with Francis. Which is not impossible I suppose but it seemed unlikely.
I couldn't find any evidence of a marriage between a Francis and a John Willingham that would fit the dates.
Today I've found the original image and I think that it actually says
"John Ill son of Francis Willingham August 24"
I am assuming this means John is the illegitimate son of a Francis Willingham. I don't think there is a father named John, unless 'Ill' stands for something else.
Supporting evidence for this is that there are two female Francis Willinghams who get married in Ottringham in 1800 and 1801 respectively, so there were at least two women of child bearing age of that name in that area at the time.
Anyway, I would just be very grateful if someone else can look at this and see if they agree about what it says. Thank you.