First time I believe on the Scotland boards so 'hi'. And apologies in advance for the length of the post....
I'm researching a tree for a friend and am trying to unravel a mystery - the family has been researched many times over the last 50-60 years by her ancestors / relatives but I'm trying to establish the facts, though I appreciate I'm unlikely to uncover the truth.
Margaret Hooper was baptised on 10 March 1839 at St Philip and St Jacob, in Bristol, giving her date of birth as 23 May 1803, daughter of Thomas Hooper, a retired RN surgeon, and his wife Margaret. Thomas and Margaret had married on 26 August 1836 in St Paul's, Bristol, though it seems that they met and lived together in Inverkeithing in the early 1800s, though Thomas subsequently re-joined the navy and moved to Bristol on retirement, joined at some stage by Margaret.
Their daughter Margaret married John Culveer (various spellings over the years) in Inverkeithing on 7 Jan 1827. They had 6 children in Inverkeithing, 1827 (Robert), 1829 (William), 1830 (Margaret Crawford, her mother's maiden name), 1831 (Thomas Hooper), 1833 (Jennet Paton), and 1836 (George Hooper) before the family moved to the Bristol area. Five more children followed between 1837 and 1845.
The mystery surrounds the years between her mother Margaret's death on 30 October 1842, and her father Thomas's will written on 19 April 1844 where he disinherits Margaret (his only known child), claiming that 'whereas I had made a former will making provision for Margaret the wife of John Gulvear, in consequence of her gross misconduct in falsely asserting herself to be my daughter I revoke every bequest made by me in any former will....' and leaves everything to Jacob Crook (and appoints him as executor). Thomas died on 19 May 1845 of old age and anasarca, at Brandon St, parish of St Augustine - this was the home of Jacob Crook.
The Clifton board of guardians took Thomas to court (newspaper report of 8 June 1844) describing him as a gentleman in 'easy circumstances' and asking the court to compel him to maintain his daughter Margaret, wife of John Gilvear, and her 10 children. Thomas had acknowledged Margaret as his daughter, and supported the family, until October 1843. They lost the case as they were unable to provide evidence of her parents' marriage in Scotland.
I've not found a marriage either, despite trying all variations of both names, but her baptism entry is strange. There is an entry in the Inverkeithing baptisms on Scotland's People (page 176) for a Margaret Cooper, daughter of Thomas Cooper (edited from John in initial post), surgeon, and Margaret Crawford, saying 'born in fornication 22 May 1813 - just one day out, and 10 years - and baptised named Margaret'. However, it appears at the bottom of a page of 1803 baptisms, and the following page is for 1803 too. It doesn't appear to be in the same writing nor does it have Margaret's name in large letters underneath as do the other entries on the page. All subsequent records, including her second baptism in Bristol, give her birth in 1803. This does seem to support the ideas made by relatives over the years that the entry was somehow changed as a means of invalidating Margaret's claim to be Thomas's daughter.
I do have the ScotlandsPeople images of the 2 relevant pages around Margaret's baptism, and the marriage of Margaret and John.
While I'm not suggesting anything could be done about this now, I'd be interested to see if anyone can find an earlier marriage in Scotland for Thomas Hooper and Margaret Crawford, though I guess that's unlikely given their later marriage in Bristol. I would also love to hear any comments on this rather strange story.
Thanks for reading.
