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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Leicestershire => Topic started by: PERKO14 on Tuesday 11 May 21 14:47 BST (UK)
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I’ve found a 1871 census listing for the Cotton family living in Sheepshed, Leics. with the following people listed
Ann 59
Mary 26
George 22
Hannah 19
Lois 10
Arthur 7
pleasant 4
William 0
Ann’s husband died in 1862 so I’m wanting to know who the last four Children’s mother really was. I know Plesant is Mary’s illegitimate child as I have a copy of the birth certificate. I’m wondering if the others Lois, Arthur and William are too but struggling to find birth records. Could anyone help please?
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Baptism: Shepsted, Leicestershire
23 January 1873, William child of Mary Cotton
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4M-HDS8
Added
Baptism: Shepsted, Leicestershire
5 December 1867, Pleasant child of Mary Cotton
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPW1-GNHC
Baptism: Shepsted, Leicestershire
18 December 1864, Arthur child of Mary Cotton
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPW1-RQ64
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Thank you for finding those for me. Pretty unusual back then to have so many illegitimate children don’t you think ?
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Hi..
A family tree on Ancestry has a photo of a birth cert for Lois in 1861 . No father and mother is Ann daughter of William and Ann who is aged 21 on 1861 census.
Tazzie
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Here's the reference for Lois:
COTTON, LOIS -
GRO Reference: 1861 J Quarter in LOUGHBOROUGH Volume 07A Page 120
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Lois Cotton's birth was registered in the second quarter of 1861, Loughborough Registration District. No mother's maiden name on index so I'd also assume this was Mary's child (although might be worth getting certificate to make sure)
Thank you for finding those for me. Pretty unusual back then to have so many illegitimate children don’t you think ?
I have an ancestor who had four children outside of marriage so not sure how unusual it was. It was probably very frowned upon.
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Who ever out the tree together made the mistake of listing the parents of Lois as William and Ann....the grand parents.
Haven't looked for any other mistakes but that's a bit one.
Ann the daughter and mother of Lois appears to have 2 more children by 1871 Emma and Jemima.
Tazzie
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Thanks I imported them onto my tree from a match on a site. It’s only when I was looking at the dates I began to wonder how children were born after the father died ! I don’t think it helps when you use census data alone as it seem people lied about who was the mothers and fathers of illegitimate children. Really appreciate everyone’s help in sorting it out it’s been puzzling me.
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Many widows had children some time after the husband's death - obviously fathered by someone else. Sometimes they would be registered as if the husband was still alive, naming deceased husband as father! Sometimes a baptism record would clarify the situation. John base born son of Mary Smith widow - for example. I have even seen one once where vicar helpfully recorded when husband died and in one case when transported. I have a woman on my tree who had 5 illegitimate children. Her sister had three
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In my research, I've found quite a few women who had a few illegitimate childen that seem all to have the same father. The clue has usually been that in amongst the clutch of children are one or two registered with a different surname, and that a census or two later, Mum + children are living with someone of that surname. or the children are given a different surname as a middle name. I suspect that Dad wasn't free to marry.
Women did what they had to do to keep body and soul together and to keep children fed, and sometimes that meant entering professions where the was a high risk of pregnancy (you know what I mean!) And sometimes a woman was what we would now consider "vulnerable" and was taken advantage of by men.
And of course there's always the rather nasty possibility that the children were fathered by someone else in the family -----
There are lots of reasons for women to have several illegitimate children. You might think of more.
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Shepshed was a small close knit community.... my great grandfathers first wife was from Shepshed, she was illegitimate along with her 5 siblings and looking at her family it was not unusual as two of them went onto have children without being married
One thing I have found in Shepshed is that the women married or not, worked mostly as FWK, spinners, Lace Embroiderers , Glovers, Cheveners and the mens employent tended to be in quarries, mines, or as boatmen which suggests dangerous jobs and also a potential transient male population which may explain why more then 'normal' ( for that time) there are more single mothers
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Have checked GRO and none of the children have a mother's maiden name shown
However on my subscription site Arthur b 1864 and William 1870 have a mother's maiden name of Cotton.
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Sorry shouldn't have been so hasty. On same subscription site are 2 baptisms in Shepshed.
William 23/1/1871 mother's name Mary
Arthur 18/12/1864 mother again Mary
No clues on GRO, b or bp for Lois.
Hope this helps