Pigott or Anderson in SHEFFIELD

[catey1484]

Hi Di, thanks very much for the headstone inscription, that's great.

Good news, I've had a bit of a breakthrough with the Henderson's! I think things are becoming a bit clearer, here is what I've found:

- The Samuel Pigott baptised at Sheffield parish church May 7 1837 with parents Samuel & Ann Pigott, and the family of Samuel & Ann Pigott with their children including Samuel in the 1841 & 1851 census is <b>NOT</b> our Samuel! Apparently this Samuel Pigott died aged 22, and was buried Nov 10 1859 at St John cemetery. I don't think this family are connected at all to our Samuel. (which is a shame because I had been happily tracing them back in Ecclesfield for a while before I found the Henderson name!)

- Our Samuel seems to have been living with <b>James Henderson</b> and his wife Mary in the 1841 & 1851 census, at Allen St in 1841 & Hammond St in 1851. He is listed as son of theirs in the 1851 census. James is still living with Samuel in 1861 at 20 West John St, Mary died in 1860.

- On Samuel's marriage certificate to Ann Wilson his name is Samuel Pigott but his father is <b>William Anderson</b>. So it seems that William Anderson/Henderson was his real father but he was raised by James Henderson.

- I've found a baptism for James Henderson, 30 Nov 1806 at Sheffield cathedral, parents Samuel (a cutler) & Betty Henderson. James has a younger bother William Henderson baptised 3 Aug 1814 at Sheffield cathedral with the same parents Samuel & Betty Henderson.

- So it seems that William Henderson might have had a child in 1837 called Samuel, but for some reason his older brother James Henderson brought the child up. Maybe Samuel was illegitimate, or maybe it was because James & Mary couldn't have children themselves and so adopted Samuel (they don't have any other children in the 1841 or 1851 census).

- Maybe the name change to Pigott which first shows up at Samuels marriage in 1857 was because Samuel found out that James wasn't really his father, maybe someone told him this for the first time because they knew he would have to put his fathers name on the marriage certificate?

- I still don't know where Samuel chose the Pigott name from. Maybe James wife Mary was called Pigott (can't find a marriage record for James yet so don't know), or Samuels real mother who had the child with William was called Pigott.

- The only connection with a Pigott name I've found so far is that a sister of James & William Henderson called Ann Henderson (baptised 1 Dec 1802) might have married a John Pigott 31 Oct 1830 at Ecclesfield. If so that John Pigott would be Samuels uncle.

- The parents of James & William Henderson were Samuel Henderson & Betty Beardshaw married 24 May 1802 at Ecclesfield.

- Betty Beardshaw was baptised 12 May 1782 at Sheffield cathedral, parents John & Rachel Beardshaw.

- John Beardshaw & Rachel Calow married 28 Aug 1774 at Sheffield cathedral.

- Samuel Henderson and Betty Beardshaw had 10 children, all baptised at Sheffield cathedral:
  - Ann 1 Dec 1802
  - John 4 Jan 1805
  - <b>James</b> 30 Nov 1806
  - Sarah 3 Jan 1809
  - Betty 22 Feb 1811
  - Samuel 25 Apr 1813
  - <b>William</b> 3 Aug 1814
  - Martha 4 Jul 1817
  - Mary 10 Jan 1821
  - Jane listed on sheffieldindexers.com as born 11 Dec <b>1822,</b>, but baptised 2 Oct 1842??

I'm still looking for a birth/baptism for Samuel in 1837, if he was illegitimate there might be a bastardy order for him. Also looking for marriages for James or William Henderson.

[dobfarm]

Check the marriage where the father is/was William Anderson to see if Samuel 'left is mark' or whether he signed his name or his bride Ann, as if the vicar or whoever filled in the register made a mistake with the name Anderson for Henderson. Thus if they 'left their marks' the would be couple would not spot or read the mistake, but if one of the couple 'signed' they could/should have spotted the error which would bring doubt on the theory.

[catey1484]

Thanks for that good idea dobfarm. I've just checked the marriage certificate and both Samuel and Ann made their mark, so they probably wouldn't have noticed the spelling.

The name Anderson is on the 1861 & 1871 census for Samuel too, I think it's probably just the person writing it down wrong after mishearing it. In a sheffield accent Henderson would be 'enderson which sounds very like Anderson.

Now I need to try and find a birth/baptism for Samuel in 1837. Do you know if illegitimate children were usually baptised?