Woman's firtility 1780 - 1790

[Shirleyjjj]

yes they produced a child every couple  year until they were late 40s early 50s latest - i just found an extra one of my great grandma and i didnt know about it was on the grave and she was 50 - (baby died age 2)however they had had a GAP of 5 years inbetween so its hit and miss at that age -

the 17 years of marriage before the first born seems a bit iffy though -

Have you looked into the possibility there may not have been a church there and there was one built nearby so they might not have been able to baptise the early ones ?

At a stretch he could have been in prison/shipped to Australia for a while ?
I think that Annes comment is perfectly plausable as they may have been adult baptisms but if that was so why no all the same time ?

I had one of mine baptised age 6 as they went to Amercia for a few years and came back and baptised him later -

there are several possibilities as to why and hopefully you will solve it at some stage

do the marriages of the children include the fathers occupation on them at all - does anything tie in there ?

[groom]

Is this the marriage you were looking at?

Isaac Hardy
Spouse's Name:   Ann Everet
22 Nov 1766
Thetford, Norfolk, England

[jc26red]

I've a few where a man marries a second wife with the same first name as the first wife which gives the impression the poor woman is having babies very late in life....

Given the 17 year gap between marriage and children arriving, perhaps wife one died quite early on?

[Shirleyjjj]

i think that is a strong possible what Red said as i found one who had children after the wife had died - i found another marriage for a different lady for him only she had the same first name too !!!

(and we found they had been having children during the time when wife 1 was alive as well as there were several illigitimate children with the second lady on the next census 1841)

[bevj]

As so often seems to be the case, unfortunately it would appear there may be two couples with the same names.
FreeReg has a William Hardy baptised in Thetford in 1773 to Isaac and Ann Hardy, followed by Isaac Joseph in 1775 and John in 1777.
These overlap with the dates of the children you mention.
Bev

[mikehardy]

Thank you, I have considered the marriage in 1766 but it is 17 years before the first child, Mary Ann in1783.  The Thetford marriage Produced children in the 1770's all baptized in Thetford with the mother 'Ann'  I think in this case Ann is one family and Anne is another.  Anne Hardy (nee Everett)  and Isaac were definitely producing children from 1783 -1791, there must be a marriage somewhere in Norfolk c1780 ish. The baptism register (for Saham Toney) shows the parents to be Isaac and Anne late Everett.

Mike.

[Deirdre784]

Looking for Isaac Hardy in Norfolk on FamilySearch results in the 22 Nov 1766 (Isaac Hardy - Ann Everet) marriage followed by a baptism for an Isaac Hardy to Isaac and Ann in Thetford on 21 May 1769. Maybe it is only the one couple with variations in the name of the mother 

[Deirdre784]

There's also a burial of an Isaac Hardy at St Mary's Thetford on 11 Aug 1770 (though it doesn't give any age) which could explain the later Isaac Joseph baptism.

[Viktoria]

 I know of a couple, married for many years without children and so they adopted .Hey presto, baby on the way.I lived with them after the folllowing story.
 It is quite common for women to get so tense about the fact that they do not get pregnant that  they just don`t conceive. As soon as the tension goes( either thriough adoption or caring for a child) they become pregnant( assuming "relations" are normal between the couple).
 I went to live with a long married childless couple when I was evacuated. Within months the wife was expecting her first baby at 40+ years of age.
 She retired to bed for the rest of the pregnancy and I went to live with the first  couple. However I was not the" reason" for that pregnancy, that was the adoption. Viktoria.