Name Change ?

[mary45]

Hi Michael

You are correct I was wrong. It was IGI FamilySearch.org
and not BMD.

Now to the Certificate of Baptism it shows as follows :

On the ...........day of .........1887 was born Ethel Vallaney and on the 26 day´of Febraury 1889 was baptized ...above name adopted (handwritten) daughter
of Charles and Mary Vallaney    by Rev M Forster.
Godfather was Thomas Harrison
Godmother was Mary Vanally ?? ( difficult to read)

When Ethel Vallaney (married name Watson) wrote to St. Marys Cathedral in Newcastle in 1946 applying for a copy of her certificate of Baptism the reply
she recieved said "You will see there is no date of birth given, only the year 1887. You will see from the certificate that Mr. & Mrs Vallaney adopted you when you were about 2 yrs old. So At birth you would be registered under another name, that is why you cannot get it. God bless you, and best wishes.  Canon E. Wilkinson.

Mary45

[carol8353]

Is it likely that Ethel was born to unmarried mum Mary-before she then married Charles 9 months later. The only 'adoption' that took place would then have been for Charles to adopt her as his and give her his surname?

Just a thought 

Carol

[Northerngirl]

Mary - sorry to hijack your posting.

Hi Michael - I don't know if my grandparents were baptized in their Latin name (I can't find any baptism certificates at present) but their marriage certificate gives their names as Jacob and Helen.  Their witness - Martin is Martinus.  The local priest in Gortmellia, Mayo was an ardent Latin enthuesiast and so the names were latinised.  My grandmother in particular was born as Eleanor - got Ellen in the censuses, at home, on her passport and on her death certificate - was variously referred to as Ellen, Nelly etc but never Helen

I was recently looking at my grandfather's burial entry in 1960 and that too is latin though I can't recall if he was James or Jacob.

I was born a week after his death and my mother was advised by the priest to give me my name which now that I investigate it is the anglised version of Jacob!!!

[Michael Dixon]

Northerngirl,

I see that the priest in County Mayo was an "ardent Latin enthusiast"

In RC churches in England, it did not matter whether the priests were Latin enthusiasts or not..... the baptism, marriage and death registers were already part pre-printed  in Latin .... and priests just filled in the gaps for names and dates  in Latin....

I particularly liked "Dionysus".... priests best effort for parents wanting their child baptised "Dennis"

Jacobus= James
Joannes= John
Joanna= Jane or Joan

Micaelis

[mary45]

Hi Carol

I,ve had those thoughts too...

Maybe Ethel was Mary's daughter. Since Mary came
from a RC family it must have been awkward for an umarrried mother ,and so maybe
she was never registered at birth. If she had been registered in Newcastle
Upon Tyne in 1887 she would have her mothers surname Gallagher.

Its a brick wall.

I,ll probably come back again later and repeat my request !

Regards
mary45

[mary45]

It has also crossed my mind she ´(Ethel) may have come from one of
Mary Gallagher's family members in Ireland.

Mary45

[Northerngirl]

Mary

I know it used to be tradition for the oldest child to stay with grandparents or aunts and uncles many years ago.  Perhaps as others have suggested - Ethel was Mary's and she was left in Ireland until Mary got more established.  I know that when my grandparents emigrated to England in the early 1920's their first born was left behind and only moved to England when he was 10 years of age.  I can vaguely remember him as he used to speak gaelic.

J.A.

[mary45]

Hi J.A

Mary was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1865 her father
Michael Gallagher was certainly from Ireland.

I,m told Ethel could remember visiting relatives for short periods in Ireland when she was small.

This maybe explains why I can not find her on the 1891 -1901 census 

She got married when she was 21.

Thanks again for your input

Mary45

[Michael Dixon]

I saw Ethel's baptism record today ( at least film of it from St Mary's RC Church, Newcastle)

The surname was written as VANELLY on the original record, but the name VALLANEY had been pencilled onto the record.  At what stage, it is impossible to say. !

In normal baptism records the priest would have written
"Ethel filia Caroli et Maria" for "daughter of Charles and Mary" but this time he wrote "Ethel adoptera Caroli et Maria", confirming what Ethel herself later discovered.

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The godfather ( patrinus fuit)  and godmother (matrina fuit) were Thomas Harrison and Mary Mary Vanelly.

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Incidentally I could not see the record of the marriage of Charles and Mary in 1887 in St Mary's records ( nor in St Andrew's or St Dominic's, other RC churches nearby )

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When Ethel herself married, what maiden name did she use ?



Michael Dixon
Newcastle