Illegitimate birth questions

[Erato]

I'd love to have a look at the original parish baptism record to see if Charlotte could possibly be Charles but, since I live in Ecuador and am impoverished, I doubt I'll have an opportunity to drop by Stogumber for a peek.  If anyone else happens to be in Stogumber on other business .... well, I'd appreciate their taking a look. 

[janan]

Hi Erato,
You could try emailing the archivist at Derbyshire records office - someone at the Bedfordshire office checked an entry for me and found, as I hoped, that it had been mistranscribed and did not charge for this - I would imagine they'd be as helpful in Derbyshire. Good luck and happy searching  Jan

[paullo]

Hi,
may be worth checking the Stogumber bastardy bonds at the Somerset Record Office for more information. If Sarah Hunphries is listed you may find more info re Charles's father. I'm going there in a few weeks - will only take a few seconds to check as they have a filing cabinet with a card index. They were very keen on knowing who the father was in those days to save the parish paying maintenance costs. Sometimes they used to lock up the father if he did not pay his way. Will try and remember to check. Also, may be interesting to check apprenticeship indentures. There are a good collection of these for Stogumber. I have them on fiche somewhere at home. Will try and check sometime.

[Erato]

Thanks, paullo, I'd appreciate that.

[janan]

Hi Erato,
You could try emailing the archivist at Derbyshire records office - someone at the Bedfordshire office checked an entry for me and found, as I hoped, that it had been mistranscribed and did not charge for this - I would imagine they'd be as helpful in Derbyshire. Good luck and happy searching  Jan

Derbyshire No idea why I said that! Far better to try the Somerset Records Office as Paullo suggests   

[paullo]

Hi, checked through Stogumber card index bastardy bonds and removal orders. Found a Sarah Humphries removal order in 1820 (Crowcombe 13/3/3.20). Seems to also refer to her as Sarah (Dafter) - presumably an alias. There are a few other references.
Sarah - Crowcombe 1821 dd/sas/pr 482
Sarah (Dafter) - bastardy order 1821 crow 13/5/1
Sarah (Dafter) - bo/be 1821 dd/sas/sx 39 folder 6 nos 3-4-20
some refs under Duddridge
John and fam B.Stogumber se 1820 dd/sas/pr 482.1.240
Didn't get a chance to track down any of these. There are a few refs to Abraham Duddridge son of James as well.

[Erato]

Thanks for your efforts, paullo.  It's all Greek to me, though.  What's a removal order?  What do dd/sas/pr, bo/be, dd/sas/sx, and se mean?

[paullo]

Hi,
a removal order was when someone was removed from the parish. Often, when someone fell on hard times (or possibly was expecting a baby they could not support!) the parish did not wish for any extra expense on the poor rate. They would thus remove them back to the parish from whence they came (usually their birth place though the rules were a bit more complicated than that).
BO is a bastardy order - they went after the father for maintenance just as is the case today.
The DD/SAS are the Record office refs for various docs.

[paullo]

Sarah Humphries was removed from Crowcombe back to Stogumber around 1820 as she was expecting a baby. It seems from the bastardy order that it was a girl, the father was a certain Mr Dafter (not a Duddridge!). He was not from nearby which would suggest that Sarah Humpries had probably been sent to work elsewhere for a while. I have more info if required.