General tips re: illegitimate children

[DianaCanada]

As a general comment, as you go farther back in time, illegitimacy seemed to be less of a taboo and illegitimate children were often named in wills. It seemed that with the coming of Victorian times, it probably became more of a taboo and these things were hushed up and not publicly acknowledged.

I have a relative who mentions an illegitimate daughter in his will.  Unfortunately I cannot make out her surname, though am quite sure I found her baptism.  Another brickwall I hope to knock down!

[jbml]

I'm sorry, DIana, but I just couldn't help laughing at the irony of that.

Offer to give any genealogist a will which actually NAMES the illegitimate children and they'd bite your hand off to have it ... and the looks on their faces when that names turns out to be impossible to construe would be priceless! It's like that online forum game, isn't it ... where you grant the previous poster's wish, but with a catch 

[melba_schmelba]

As a general comment, as you go farther back in time, illegitimacy seemed to be less of a taboo and illegitimate children were often named in wills. It seemed that with the coming of Victorian times, it probably became more of a taboo and these things were hushed up and not publicly acknowledged.

I have a relative who mentions an illegitimate daughter in his will.  Unfortunately I cannot make out her surname, though am quite sure I found her baptism.  Another brickwall I hope to knock down!

Have you posted a screenshot in the handwriting deciphering forum ?

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/handwriting-deciphering-recognition/

[coombs]

In my case, there is always the minor wriggle room, the small element of doubt as with any likely father of an illegitimate child, or even father of seemingly legitimate child born in wedlock. My ancestor Mary Ann Walder fell pregnant in about April 1863, unmarried, the very likely father had a dying wife who was dying on phthisis (lung TB), she died in November 1863, and the cert says "several years, certified" as to her phthisis. Then Mary Ann Walder gave birth on 31 Dec 1863, her grandfather John Walder died the following month. Mary Ann then moved to London with the very likely father and they married in July 1864, and the baby was then baptised as the daughter of the new husband and his married wife. So 99% good, only DNA will make it 99.999% certain it was Thomas Roberts, and not another man that side of The Watford Gap. Always a small chance a vulnerable man who had just become a widower met a woman who just had a baseborn child, and they fell in love. If on the minor chance Thomas Roberts was not the father, perhaps the real father died or ran off to America when he found he was to be a father, as he wanted to keep the bachelor life.

[DianaCanada]

I'm sorry, DIana, but I just couldn't help laughing at the irony of that.

Offer to give any genealogist a will which actually NAMES the illegitimate children and they'd bite your hand off to have it ... and the looks on their faces when that names turns out to be impossible to construe would be priceless! It's like that online forum game, isn't it ... where you grant the previous poster's wish, but with a catch 

Very true!  This relative is Thomas Abbotson, born in Hornby, Lancs. (parents Thomas Abbotson and Elizabeth Varley) who is very likely the same Thomas Abbotson who was later a doctor in Hertfordshire.  The surname is quite rare and there were other doctors in the family, and when he married and had children, his first two were given names that occurred in the Abbotson family.  His will named his illegitimate daughter as Elizabeth Hetod (that's what it looks like).  I found a child Elizabeth born in Southwark to Thomas Abotson (sic) and Sarah Bettes at the end of 1798...Sarah died soon after birth.  This fits nicely with the timeline. It's not watertight of course, would love a DNA match to Thomas.  He does disappear from Lancashire and is alive when his father dies, he is mentioned in his will, but it doesn't say where he is.
Hetod, or whatever it is, may be Elizabeth's married name, as she would have been 26 when her father died, if Thomas is indeed her father.

[brigidmac]

I wonder if it could be Herod ..r can look like t.s

Diane Could you post a clip .as Melba suggested the handwriting board is great for coming up with possibilities

[jbml]

Thomas Abbotson, born in Hornby, Lancs. (parents Thomas Abbotson and Elizabeth Varley) who is very likely the same Thomas Abbotson who was later a doctor in Hertfordshire. 

Lancashire to Hertfordshire is an unusual and rather long-distance migration. (OK ... so it might not seem long distance in a country that's wider than the Atlantic Ocean ... but it IS long-distance in a country that's narrower than the North Sea!)

If it is after the coming of the railways (say, 1840 onwards) or to a town on Watling Street (St Albans, King's Langley or Watford, say) I'd be less dubious. But if he ends up in somewheree like Ware, Buntingford or Hertford itself in 1810 or so I'd want to check that one carefully.

[DianaCanada]

I wonder if it could be Herod ..r can look like t.s

Diane Could you post a clip .as Melba suggested the handwriting board is great for coming up with possibilities

I'll see what I can do.  Have to do dig out the will.  I might have time to do some family history. We are having an ice storm now, into tomorrow.  Hope the power doesn't go out!

[DianaCanada]

Thomas Abbotson, born in Hornby, Lancs. (parents Thomas Abbotson and Elizabeth Varley) who is very likely the same Thomas Abbotson who was later a doctor in Hertfordshire. 

Lancashire to Hertfordshire is an unusual and rather long-distance migration. (OK ... so it might not seem long distance in a country that's wider than the Atlantic Ocean ... but it IS long-distance in a country that's narrower than the North Sea!)

If it is after the oming of the railways (say, 1840 onwards) or to a town on Watling Street (St Albans, King's Langley or Watford, say) I'd be less dubious. But if he ends up in somewheree like Ware, Buntingford or Hertford itself in 1810 or so I'd want to check that one carefully.

Yes, I do understand the distance thing, and always try to adjust my thinking re the British outlook vs. Canadian ideas on distance.  On the other hand, Thomas is not found in Lancashire or the surrounding counties.  I have traced his siblings, including two who went to New York City.  I think he might have just gone to where a doctor was willing to take him on as an apprentice.