Had a baby in her fifties??

[suey]

Hello

Can't post the details but can I suggest that you look for Ann and William in the 1911 census and see how many years married and how many children they have had and how many are still alive.   It may help in your puzzle - they are very easily found.

Nesta

I agree with Nesta, look at 1911 if you can.  Then start looking into the daughters,   

[josey]

Do you have Ebenezer's birth certificate [which will give mother] - or baptism?

Josey

ADDED:
Births Sep 1878 
TOMSETT    Ebenezer William        Hailsham    2b   98

[Honor]

Hello

Can't post the details but can I suggest that you look for Ann and William in the 1911 census and see how many years married and how many children they have had and how many are still alive.   It may help in your puzzle - they are very easily found.

Nesta

I agree with Nesta, look at 1911 if you can.  Then start looking into the daughters,   

1911 England Census removed by moderator

[Honor]

Do you have Ebenezer's birth certificate [which will give mother] - or baptism?

Josey

ADDED:
Births Sep 1878 
TOMSETT    Ebenezer William        Hailsham    2b   98

Unfortunately I don't, I think I'll buy it though

[rosie17]

Do you have Ebenezer's birth certificate [which will give mother] - or baptism?

Josey

ADDED:
Births Sep 1878 
TOMSETT    Ebenezer William        Hailsham    2b   98

Unfortunately I don't, I think I'll buy it though


Yes I would agree best way to find out 
Rosie

[coombs]

My first thought was Ebenezer was an illegitimate grandchild passed off as their youngest child. Especially if they were 10 years younger than the penultimate child, unless some were born inbetween who died in infancy.

I have an ancestor who had her penultimate child at 43 and her alleged last child at 51 but I feel the last child is a grandchild.

[Jomot]

I agree that buying the certificate is the right next step, but bear in mind that these can also be incorrect.  My Great Grandmother had an illegitimate child but his birth certificate shows him to be the child of her father and his 2nd wife. 

My Great Grandmother married a few years later and her son then came to live with her, at which point she also had him baptised.

[Greensleeves]

My family were serial offenders regarding passing off illegitimate children as their own, and allowing the daughter to go off and marry elsewhere, leaving child to be brought up by the grandparents.  Interestingly though, the child was often reunited with the mother when older.  Obviously all the local people would know who the birth mother was,  so the chances are that the lie was purely for the census to preserve the family's 'honour', or to protect against official snooping.

[Andrew Tarr]

I'd put money on the concealed grandchild theory too.  In my researches the flow seems to dry up in the early forties.  Much later births are not unusual these days, but obstetrics are a completely different activity now.  In Victorian times the grandchild probability increases steadily from about 45 onwards.

My grandmother had three sisters, widely spaced, and I found out recently that the gaps were filled by brothers who all died young.  Her mother died aged 43 trying for number nine, who didn't survive either.