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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wiltshire => England => Wiltshire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: Jane Masri on Tuesday 21 August 07 18:32 BST (UK)
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I'm looking for confirmation of a baptism in Little Somerford, that of;
James Clifford STRANGE about 1809. His mother was Ann STRANGE and he was her illegitimate son. James Clifford was the alledged father.
Also the baptism of Ann Strange herself, supposedly about 1780. There is one submitted entry on the LDS IGI for Ann Strange with mother also Ann so Ann junior might have been illegitimate herself,
jane
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Hi Jane,
I could not find the baptism of James Clifford Strange in Little Somerford in 1809, but found the following baptisms in Little Somerford.
5 Mar 1780 James Stratford Strange and Ann Strange son and daughter of Ann.
Cheers Dave
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Hi Dave,
Many thanks for that look-up even though it causes 'the plot to thicken' as they say. The information concerning James Clifford Strange has been sent to me by another researcher & although this researcher cites bastardy orders etc from the WRO (which I don't doubt) why doesn't his baptism appear in the Somerford registers ???
The info you've just sent suggests that this James Stratford Strange & Ann were illegitimate twins, is that the way you see it?
Jane
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Hi Jane,
I was most surprised not to find James Clifford Strange, I could have missed him however in all the spidery writing! Neither the 'Bastardy Book' nor the original records and documents are not available in the WSRO at the moment as they are in the throes of moving premises from Trowbridge to Chippenham. They reopen at the end of November. All that's available are microfiche copies of the parish records. If you've not resolved the problem by the end of the year either re-post the request or send me a PM and I'll have another look.
There's no way of telling if James and Ann were twins, but I feel it's highly likely. They seem to be illegitimate as no father was mentioned. I wonder if their father's surname was Stratford.
Cheers Dave
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Thanks for the feed-back, Dave. I need to 'speak' directly to the original researchers as I had the information via a third party so I'm not sure what their sources are :-\
Apparently James Clifford was brought before the magistrates & admitted to being the father of Ann Strange's child (not sure if the child is mentioned by name) & agreed to pay maintenence having a bastardy order slapped on him which bound him to honour his commitment. The order itself did not survive but other records pertaining to the case did. The first date mentioned is 1809 when the overseer reports paying on James's behalf a sum of money to a solicitor & later James repays the overseer. This goes on for a couple of years but by 1811 James defaults & the parish of Somerford Parva takes him to court as he now owes them 6 pounds & the magistrate jails him for 3 months. Warrant dated 2/4/1811. On the warrant his age was given as 28 so he has a dob of about 1783.
A James Clifford Strange did exist as the census testifies to this, born Little Somerford abt. 1809. Married to Elizabeth Dixon 1834, Brinkworth. He married as James Strange.
It's known that Ann (the mother of James Clifford Strange) lived with her widowed mother, also called Ann & they were pretty poor as her name appears on various documents as having received poor relief.
Now we have this added problem of James Stratford Strange in 1780 & I have a gut feeling he might tie-in with this scenario :-\
Do you have Little Somerford connections or did you look that up in the RO? If you did, thanks so much :D
jane
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Hi
I have relatives from Little Somerford so looked in the Baptism & Burials records (1608-1837) and found the following, which I hope might help or at least be interesting for you.
The Strange family first appear in 1759: -
Baptisms
2/12/1759 John s John & Ann
18/1/1760 Sarah d Robert & Sarah
8/11/1761 Betty d John & Ann
25/2/1764 Matthew s John & Ann
31/1/1768 Ann d Robert & Mary (BT only)
16/10/1768 Ann d John & Ann (BT only)
15/7/1770 Hester d John & Ann (BT only)
8/9/1771 Hester d John & Ann
4/10/1772 Patience d Robert & Mary
6/2//1774 Robert s John & Ann
6/2/1774 Thomas s John & Ann
10/11/1776 Patience d Robert & Mary
5/3/1780 James Stratford s Ann
5/3/1780 Ann d Ann
8/6/1783 Mary-Cary d Richard & Martha
8/6/1783 Ann Mapson d Richard & Martha
13/6/784 Thomas s John & Sarah
6/11/1785 Mathew s John & Sarah
Apr 1776 Betty bbd Ann
14/10/1787 Ann d John & Sarah
20/3/1791 John s John & Sarah
29/4/1792 Elizabeth bbd Ann
5/8/1792 Robert s Thomas & Ann
6/12/1795 Sarah d George & Ann
17/1/1796 William s Thomas & Ann
8/12/1799 John s Thomas & ann
8/11/1807 Elizabeth d Thomas & Anne
11/7/1814 Sarah d Robert & Elizabeth Labourer
8/11/1816 William s Robert & Elizabeth
7/6/1818 Hannah d Robert & Elizabeth
21/11/1819 Matthew s John & Hester
21/11/1819 Ann d John & Hester
21/11/1819 John s John & Hester
2/7/1820 Charlotte d Robert & Elizabeth
15/9/1822 Thomas s Robert & Elizabeth
27/6/1824 John s Robert & Elizabeth
6/8/1826 Simon s Robert & Elizabeth
17/9/1826 Dinah d John & Rachel
13/9/2829 Thomas s John & Rachel
18/9/1832 Sarah d John & Rachel
26/1/1834 Matthew s John & Rachel
25/9/1836 Fanny d John & Rachel
25/6/1837 Abel Carey s Robert & Sarah
Strange Burials
31/10/1770 Elizabeth (BT only)
17/4/1774 Patience
13/8/1778 Ann (BT) wife of John
21/6/1779 Robert s John
27/4/1784 John a pauper
16/2/1809 Robert
10/5/1809 Mary
28/6/1810 Sarah
28/7/1822 Ann age 71
28/7/1822 Charity age 58
22/2/1828 Fanny infant
29/1/1829 Sarah age 21
10/1/1833 Eliza age 3
12/2/1834 Martha age 77
9/4/1837 James age 57 of Brinkworth
Now I couldn't find any Baptism or Burial record for a James Clifford Strange or any Clifford, but just to make life interesting, having seen the conversation about Ann's twins born in 1780, I noted the birth of a James Stratford on 17/8/1808, who was the bbs of Ann. Could this be your James?
Best wishes
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Thanks so much for that MrsH. Yes, you're right, the general consensus is that James Stratford is indeed James Clifford Strange. Why Ann baptised him thus will probably remain a mystery ???
Thanks once again, really appreciate you doing that for me :)
jane
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You're welcome. It's quite odd to think that your family and my husband's 4 or so x great grandfather would probably have known each other, as the latter was the postmaster in LS for years.
H
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They probably did H and here we are X number of years later talking about them on a computer :) unbelievable!
jane
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I have a one place study of Little Someford if you need any information from here in the village :)
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I have a one place study of Little Someford if you need any information from here in the village :)
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