David Beddoe

[LilyAllenfan86]

My 4x great Grandmother was a woman named Mary David she had been born in Nevern, Pembrokeshire in 1808 she was christened there on June 26th 1808 a sister was also baptised there on April 28th 1811 named Anne, their Father is named as a David Beddoe their Mother is not mentioned and I can not find a marriage for David Beddoe, I am a little bit puzzled why a Father would not give his children his surname and instead give them his firstname could it be that they are illegitimate? I would be very grateful if anyone could help me out with this problem.

Kind Regards
Bethan Catherine Price

[PaulineJ]

Firstly, have you examined the original record?
You say sister Anne, but Anne (what surname)??

Pauline

[LilyAllenfan86]

I have not seen the original document just a transcript on the igi website and Anne's surname was also David.

Beth

[Orielbenfro]

My suggestion is that David Beddoe mrd Ann Lewis at Nevern in 1807.

I wonder if the parents of the above David are David Beddoe and Mary nee' Rees who mrd at Nevern in 1775.

It might be worth a look at wills for the Lewis family of Nevern at ;
http://cat.llgc.org.uk/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon?skin=profeb&lng=en

Rgds
Orielbenfro
ORIEL a welsh window on a surname

[LilyAllenfan86]

I did have a look at the Lewis family wills and the only one that could possibly be is a will of a tailor named Evan Lewis who died in 1806 and had a granddaughter named Anne by his son William but I can find no birth records to confirm this.

Beth

[No-one]

Hi Bethan,

I think that the reason may be that at that time many people did not have family surnames as we have now, but used patronyms - the first name of their father - as their second name.

So Mary was given her father's first name to become Mary David - i.e. Mary, daughter of David. In England names such as David-son, John-son and Richard-son reflect this system, but Wales retained the patronymic for longer.

For a while the patronymic and the family name system seem to have co-existed before family surnames predominated.

With best wishes

Moni

[LilyAllenfan86]

Thanks for that it has explained a lot.

Beth

[Orielbenfro]

Beware in all the years I have researched Pembrokeshire I have never seen the use of patronyms post circa 1725.
Of all those that suggest the possiblility I have never seen anyone produce a valid 3 generation listing confirming the use of patronyms.
The above said venture into the likes of Llanboidy or Kyffig and deepest rural Carmarthenshire or north to mid wales and above and search pre 1650 then the further you go back the more the use becomes apparent.
Rgds
Orielbenfro
ORIEL a welsh window on a surname

[No-one]

Hi Orielbenfro,

Thanks for your input. I agree with you that caution is always necessary.

I'm sorry to disagree with you about the use of patronyms in Pembrokeshire post 1725.

The baptism records of my Watts family from Manordeifi from 1799-1812 show the use of both the patronymic and family surnames. I.e. John Watts' children, Hannah (1799), Rachael (1801), Mary (1806), Ebenezer (1808) and Martha (1812) all have the second name John, not Watts, in the IGI extracted christening records for the locality. However I gather from another researcher that the family name Watts has been used in other sources.

Caution must always be used, but given Bethan's description of the problem, I think that the use of patronyms in this instance may be a possibility.

With best wishes

Moni