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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wiltshire Lookup Requests => Wiltshire => England => Wiltshire Completed Lookup Requests => Topic started by: tauntonbuff on Monday 08 September 08 17:30 BST (UK)
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I have discovered via National Archives documents that my grandmother gave birth to a child on 3rd May 1897. I have absolutely no idea what the sex of the baby was or what name it was registered in, if indeed it was registered. My grandmother was Jessie Sabina Potter (nee Pothecary) and she had a number of adulterous relationships according to the divorce papers. The father is alleged to be a Frederick Sellars who is supposed to have lived at Shirley, Southampton. It appears that he worked near Poole/Bournemouth, Dorset as the adultery is alleged to have occurred at Poole. Can anyone make any suggestions please as to how I could trace the child. It is annoying knowing the exact date of birth but not the name.
Kind regards
Alan Potter
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Hi Alan
Is the child not with her in the 1901 Census?
Regards Judi
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You beat me to it, Judi!
Also - do you know where Jessie was living at time of child's birth? was she in Dorset/Hampshire as was alleged father - tho I see yuo have posted this on Wiltshire board. If yuo know where she was you can see how many Potter babies were registered in the right quarter in the right area
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I see Jessie Sabina Pothecary married Sidney John Potter in Oct/Nov/Dec qtr of 1894 in Westbury Wiltshire, ref 5a 279
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The child was definitely not with her on the 1901 census. Her two children that I know of were "boarded" with relatives in Tisbury, Wiltshire; one of these was my father. She was living in Blandford, Dorset on the 22nd October, 1894 when she registered her child and in Dilton marsh, westbury, Wiltshire on the 24th October, 1894 when she married Sidney Potter. The only other dates I have for her are census dates 1881, 1891 & 1901. She was in service for most of her life it appears. I have no information as to where Jessie was when living at the time of the birth. It could have been in any of at least counties. I know she was my grandmother but she certainly appears to have less than truthful about many things including who my grandfather was. He is shown on my father's birth certificate as an apparently fictitious man!
Regards
Alan
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I see Jessie Sabina Pothecary married Sidney John Potter in Oct/Nov/Dec qtr of 1894 in Westbury Wiltshire, ref 5a 279
She was divorced from him in December, 1901 and the divorce petition by Sidney Potter alleges that he was not the father of the child but that Frederick Sellers was.
Regards
Alan
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I have very recently discovered that she remarried in Croydon in 1927 but apart from that there is a large gap in my knowledge. It appears that my 3 decade search for the truth about my grandfather will continue. Not only were her morals questionable it seems but she was most unhelpful to her grandson!!!!!
Alan
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FreeBMD has 4 children registered in the Ap/may/Jun qtr of 1897 in Wiltshire
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of course the child may have been registred as female / male,
hve you looked in the parish notes - prr relief records or bastardry records ?
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Just out of curiousity, where was she in 1891 and 1901?
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Good morning wifeywebb.
Jessie was living at Barrs Farm, Sutton Veney, Wiltshire in 1881; at Fisherton Delamere, Wiltshire in 1891 and Combe Grove Mansion, Monkton Combe, Near Bath in 1901. She is shown as a scholar, a kitchen maid and a cook domestic servant respectively.
Regards
Alan
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of course the child may have been registred as female / male,
hve you looked in the parish notes - prr relief records or bastardry records ?
Good morning Toni,
No I haven't. I may have been at this for many years but still consider myself very much the amateur. This is why I ask the next question - are the parish relief records and bastardy records held at the county records offices or would they be available online somewhere?
Regards
Aaln
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yes they would be at the local RO, if you are not close you can contact them in other ways - email phone write etc.
so i think that it would be best to contact them, now as you know a date for the childs birth it shouldn't be too hard for them to find any records if there are any in the poor relief records - that is assuming she claimed poor relief and bastardary records likewise, these would only occur if she wanted to claim poor relief for the child the parish would try to gain this money back off the alleged father
my other suggestion would be to have a look on FHO to see if the child bp. occurs on there, the child would be listed as a bastard if he/she was illigitmate
perhaops if they died in infantcy there would not be a record for poor relif applicane so the burila record on FHO migth alos be applicable
if you know where the child was bp. the fiche at your local LDS centre might help, if they do not have the Fiche they can order it in and it be with you i think in abotu 3 qweeks.
finally school attendance records will hold furtehr clues and the small pox records each child had to be vaccinated and shoul appear so int eh small pox reocrsd with regards to the school records they are very much like todays -name of child
parents
fathers occ.
address if they leave school to go to anotehr one the details shoudl be included int he reocrds and also of course whow well theydo at school.
these records were important as the money the school got from the government depended upon attandance so these should be around somewhere
the school records hold other information but i cannot think at themoment
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Toni,
Thanks for all your thoughts. They have left me with plenty to think about. As I have said elsewhere it is normally that one knows names but not dates but with dates and no names it seems almost impossible. I find it very difficult to believe anything connected with my grandmother at the moment!!!!
Regards
Alan
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re the parish releif records / bastardry bonds etc
you have the date
amd the mothers name
so they should be searchable under these details
if you know the potential fathers name even better for the quarter sessions would say something like this for example
(this is one of mine!)
Quarter Sessions Order Books - ref. QS/1
FILE - Quarter Sessions Order Book - ref. QS/1/11 - date: April 1825-Jan 1831
item: Sessions held at Bodmin - ref. QS/1/11/398-427 - date: 14 October 1828
[from Scope and Content] Child: F.; When born: 25 Sep.; Parish; Mother; Alleged father: Kea; Elizabeth Chegwidden, singlewoman; John Holman of Kenwyn,
and as you know the date i would search the next 4 quarter sessions
for this child (int he example above i believe her to be Louisa) was born 25th Sept but the alledged father was held accountable at the next qtr sessions on 14 October 1828 unfortunately in my case this was not proven if he was the father or not, this is the only referecne i have to the possible child being born to John who is my 2 x great grandfather and would have been 20 at the time of this childs birth, mined youi have not actually searched th Parish Relief records where Elizabeth Chegwidden would have gone to the parish for money for the upkeep of her child, and thus the Parish would have taken John Holman to court [sic] for she named his as the purtative father - anyhow this is irrelevant
i came across this by searching A2A for John Holman Kenwyn
perhaps if you search the A2A for the fathers or mothers anme and the place it might prove lucrative
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Hi Toni,
I really do apologise for not acknowledging your last post. I honestly thought that I had but there you go - old age doesn't come on its own!!!! I will be following those suggestions of yours at some stage soon.
Kindest regards
Alan
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no problems Alan
i hope my ideas help - i am full of bright ideas but when it comes to doing them they don't seem to work - something to do with logic!
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Have within the last couple of days found someone on Ancestry. Her family tree thereon shows that she is descended from my father's brother. I am waiting for contact from her so there is just a possibility that I may have more information. Fingers and everything else crossed
Regards
Alan
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To bring this thread to a conclusion I have traced the child. She was born in Poole, Dorset and died a few months later at Tisbury, Wiltshire from malnutrition. The details have been confirmed by birth and death certificates. But many thanks for all the interest and advice.
Regards
Alan