My illegitimate great grandmother: Rachel Brown b 1877 @AbbeyTown

[This Boy]

Having recently solved two illegitimacy cases from 140 and 160 years ago using DNA, I am now in hot pursuit of the father of my illegitimate great grandmother Rachel Brown. Wish me luck!

Her mother was Rachel Brough b 1829 at Holme Cultram, Cumberland which I think is effectively the same place as AbbeyTown, Cumberland.

On 17th November 1852 Rachel Brough married a John Brown ay All Hallows, Cumberland.

The couple had three children: Jane b 1853, Grace b 1857 and John b 1859. They were all born in Abbeytown.

By the time of the April 1861 census the family were living in Gateshead where Rachel's brother had a Fish business and John was listed as working as a Fish Curer. The business quickly hit trouble and I think that husband John is the John Brown I found working in a railway yard and being killed in August 1861 when sheets of metal fell on him.

In any case Rachel moved quickly back to AbbeyTown and in December 1863 (conception in March 1863) has an illegitimate son there called Joseph Brown who in adulthood changes his surname to Jefferson which was his maternal grandmothers surname. Rachel is recorded as a widow in the 1871 census and then goes on to have two more illegitimate children at AbbeyTown: Hannah Brown in 1873 and Rachel Brown (my great grandmother) in 1877.

I seem to have exhausted all the hints on Ancestry so I am now looking for any suggestions about lines of enquiry I can follow in addition to the painstaking process of corralling my DNA matches into groups of shared matches and hoping to work out which group point to Rachel's father before searching for the common ancestor in or around Abbeytown that all the group share.

One lead I think I need to follow is to locate any Bastardy Records. (Bonds, Examinations, Warrants, summonses and orders etc). Does anybody know which such records may exist for Abbeytown/Holme Cultram and where I could view them?

I also intend to go through the 1871 and 1881 census returns for Holme Cultram and list all men between 60 and 65 as my suspects.

Any other suggestions about what other clues I could look for?

Thank you. 

[CaroleW]

Did either of the girls name a father when they married - other than John Brown.

Very occasionally an illegitimate child will have contact with their biological father - but don't get your hopes up!

1881 has an 8mth granddaughter Mary Jane Brown who was also illegitimate

[Gan Yam]

There are some records of bastardy bonds at Carlisle Archives. Quick look at the CASCAT catalogue is showing that there are some for Wigton, which I would expect Abbey Holme to come under.

Can check for you next time I go, but not sure when that would be!

[This Boy]

Did either of the girls name a father when they married - other than John Brown.

Very occasionally an illegitimate child will have contact with their biological father - but don't get your hopes up!

1881 has an 8mth granddaughter Mary Jane Brown who was also illegitimate

Thank you. Sadly the marriage certificate of Rachel Jnr doesn't help as she lists her father as John Brown, a deceased agricultural labourer. The problem with that is John Brown died, most probably in 1861. Joseph, her older brother was born in 1863 and is recorded in the parish register as illegitimate. Rachel Brown Snr is listed in the 1871 census as a widow. Rachel Jnr wasn't born until 1877 and no father is listed on her birth certificate. So Rachel Brown, my great grandmother was definitely illegitimate.

I would definitely want to view the marriage certificate for Hannah Brown, Rachel's older sister b 1873. The problem is that the last record I have found that I can be confident is her is as an 18 year old servant in Hesket in the Forest in 1891. That said with a name like Hannah Brown it is so difficult to distinguish her from any namesakes.

My mum says that my grandmother, Evelyn Ronson - Rachel Browns daughter used to say that her mum Rachel would never ever speak about her family and seemed totally estranged from them. 

I haven't looked at the marriage certificates for Jane Brown b 1853 or for Grace Brown b 1857 because John Brown really was their father.

With regards to the 8 month old granddaughter, Mary Jane on the 1881 census that you refer to; you are right she was illegitimate too. She was born to Grace a couple of years before Grace married James Johnston. Mary Jane went on to marry and have children and grandchildren.

I really appreciate your comments and suggestions. The more I get prompted to consider all suggestions the greater the chance of me finding an error in my research, finding something I had not found previously or stumbling on the crucial piece of information that unlocks this secret.

Thanks again. 

[CaroleW]

To be honest - in this situation DNA is probably the only way to go.  The illegitimate children could have had different fathers or may have been by the same man.

My friends great grandmother had 4 illegitimate children.   She was widowed with 3 young children when she was in her late 30's & effectively became a prostitute to enable her to feed her children.  So sad

[This Boy]

There are some records of bastardy bonds at Carlisle Archives. Quick look at the CASCAT catalogue is showing that there are some for Wigton, which I would expect Abbey Holme to come under.

Can check for you next time I go, but not sure when that would be!

Thank you. Yet again you jump to my rescue! If you can find out what the situation is with the registers and if there are any entries that could relate to my query then that would be fantastic as I am a two hour drive away in Lancashire.

[This Boy]

To be honest - in this situation DNA is probably the only way to go.  The illegitimate children could have had different fathers or may have been by the same man.

My friends great grandmother had 4 illegitimate children.   She was widowed with 3 young children when she was in her late 30's & effectively became a prostitute to enable her to feed her children.  So sad

Thank you.

I think it is unlikely that Joseph, Hannah and Rachel all had the same father as their births span 14 years when Rachel Brough was between the ages 34 and 48 years. Rachel Brown Snr had lived in Abbeytown all her life except for a brief (and tragic) couple of years in Gateshead. I think she will have had a lot of support and had quite a large family in the area. Whether her liaisons with a man or men were due to hardship, romance or fun is going to be almost impossible to determine I think.

I tend to agree that DNA is my best hope but just want to ensure I have left no stone unturned with regard to documentary evidence, especially the bastardy records.

Your last post about the marriage certificates has prompted me to search for more information about Hannah. If I can establish if she married and had children then finding her descendants who may have had, or be prepared to have, DNA tested could be useful. Having revisited it I think I can only be absolutely sure that she lived at least to 8 years as she is listed on the 1881 census with Rachel Snr and Rachel Jnr. The 1891 census is for a "Annie' Brown, 18 years born in Abbeytown and resident as a servant in Hesket. Does anyone know if Annie and Hannah were interchangeable in those times?  After that I am completely lost in trying to fathom what happened to Hannah with regards to marriage, census returns or death.

Thanks again.

[CaroleW]

Hannah can be shortened to Ann or Annie

EDIT

I think you are right about the 1891 entry for Annie Brown

[Deirdre784]

I researched a family a few months back for a friend whose great grandmother was illegitimate. My friend's granny aged 95 knew nothing about her father other than he was possibly a cousin, with the birth causing a rift in the family. She knew little about her mother either, though she was brought up by an aunt. The GRO entry had the mother's maiden name as '-' but i suggested ordering the certificate just in case it contained anything useful. And it did! It actually named the father and his occupation, but it was all crossed out. And sure enough, they were first cousins, the mother having been living with her aunt and family (including the father) in the 1901 census a few months earlier. I can only surmise that the mother - who was 29 when her daughter was born - was asked about the father and gave the details, with the registrar assuming (given her age) that she was married so entered the details on the certificate before realising the situation. A rare occurrence i'm sure.