Where do I go from here?

[kwilt4u]

I was given a copy of a family tree and have been working through it confirming the information.  There is a gap in the tree the father of James Willans

James Willans born 1817 in Batley.  Mother listed as "Sarah" on the IGI

He married Mary Firth Dixon on 9th March 1843 - so I ordered the Marriage Certificate hoping to get the father's name - nada zippo that area of the certificate was blank.  The age on the marriage cert just says "full age" what does that mean?

Is there a way I can find his father?

Any suggestions gratefully received. 

Heather

[charlotteCH]

Hi Heather, I'm not an expert on this but it looks to me that you've had bad luck in hunting info via tha marriage cert.  That the father's name is not mentioned is almost certainly because the child was illegitimate & the mother doesn't knbow the father's name or has a reason for not having passed it on to the child- don't know how you'll find the name unless it happens to occur in some bastardy bond doc.
The "full age" I assume means that the person is of legal age to marry. Once it was 21 but don't know what it was in 1843. Someone on list will know.

have you checked the IGI to see if there is anything about James in Batley parish baptism regs?  That might tell you that his mother's maiden name was Willans thus showing she was unmarried at the time of his birth. If IGI doesn't have it online maybe the LDS have films you can order to check- they nearly always give more info than the transcription online.

Others on list will probably have better ideas but maybe this is a start.

charlotte

[carolanne]

IGI Batch Numbers
James Willans 21 September 1817 Batley Yorkshire
Sarah Willans ( mother)

I have the same problem but this marriage was in 1899 so I'm off to the library tomorrow to look at electoral records but on a happier note i have a 1858 marraige certificate that has the mothers name and occupation is spinster ( i thought good on yer lass) lol
Regards Carolanne

[pharmakon]

It's unlikely that there'll be any further information in the baptism register but you must have a look. It sounds as if you don't know what happened to the mother, so that's another reason to check the parish registers.

After that your best bet is to search old poor law records - bastardy bonds etc. If that yields nothing you'll probably have to reconcile yourself to it being a dead end.

[kwilt4u]

The local LDS history center is open tomorrow - so I'll head out and see what if anything I can find out.

I do have a silver tankard dated 1816 which suggests that one of the Willans was called John.

The inscription says
"Presented by J Nussey & R Sykes to John Willans as a memorial of his merit and integrity in his profession" "1816"

Don't know his profession, but most of the relatives were wool merchants etc.

I've found a reference in the IGI to a Sarah Willans with a father named John so I'll also take a look at that tomorrow also.

Here is a photo of James Willans - hope I can unravel his parentage.

Heather

[charlotteCH]

Great photo Heather.

If you don't have a date for it, why not put it on the Photo Restoration/Dating site of rootschat and ask someone to date it- use the word DATE in the Subject line.  The type of card/its shape etc and his clothes will get someone to date it pretty accurately.   That will tell you that at that date he was alive and well etc.  Every bit of info helps.

charlotte