Sarah Jane Peel b. 1863 Snape, Yorkshire

[JackB015725]

Having trouble finding the parents of Sarah Jane Peel, born 1863 in Snape, Yorkshire. In 1881, she married John Leonard Raw (1857-1896), and on her marriage certificate it states the parents as:-

"Francis Peel, Farmer"

and "Mary Ann".

The aforementioned Mary Ann, later married a man called Thomas Lund, but I can't find traces any of Mary Ann and Francis. Weirdly, on Sarah's birth certificate', there is just a line on the column labelled "Father", and the mother is just credited as "Mary Ann". Sometimes Mary Ann was credited as "Mary Ann Peel" (was that her maiden name or married name? (ie:-the last name of Francis?))

Along with this, I can't find a marriage certificate of Mary Ann and Francis, but there is a marriage certificate of her later husband, Thomas Lund, where it credits her as "Mary Ann Peel". There is a "Francis Peel, farmer", listed in the 1861 census, but his wife is labelled as "Alice", and he does not live in Snape, so we can rule this out.

So the questions are:- 1. Did "Francis (Peel??), Farmer" actually exist?

2. Did Mary Ann even marry Francis? (if he did exist) or was Sarah Jane born out of wedlock?

[hepburn]

I'm not sure of this...Sarah Jane Peel born in Beldale 1864...I thinks Beldale is  about 5 miles from Snape?

[tillypeg]

Sarah Jane Peel was born on 9th Feb 1864 at Snape.  She was the illegitimate daughter of spinster Mary Ann Peel.  Mary Ann Peel married Thomas Lund on 9th June 1874 at Holy Trinity, Hartlepool.  Mary Ann was the daughter of Thomas Peel and Jane Todd, who married on 19th Nov 1825 at St Gregory, Bedale.  Mary Ann's birth ref is D1844 Bedale MMN Todd.  She died in 1915: D1915 Auckland 10a 319 age 70.

Mary Ann Peel also had an illegitimate son, William, born 14th Dec 1867 at Snape.

Like you, I did not find a marriage to a Francis. 

I researched this family on behalf of a (Raw) cousin, several years ago.  At that time, there were some trees on Ancestry which had some copy certificates and some photos.  I don't know if you have seen them.  My Ancestry sub has lapsed so I can't check.

[JackB015725]

Thank you for your reply.

I do have a photo of both Mary Ann and Sarah Jane (somewhere!), and I understand that she was most likely illegitimate.

What I do not understand though, is on Sarah's marriage certificate, she states the father as "Francis, farmer". Now, I do not know if he actually existed (I highly doubt it), but I wonder why she noted this down? Was it compulsary to note down the father on a marriage certificate? Was it truth? Or was it just to not appear illegitimate?

Thank you

[tillypeg]

I think the latter - to not appear illegitimate!  There are many threads on RootsChat discussing this particular topic.  Perhaps Sarah's mother Mary Ann had made something up to tell her, perhaps she'd heard stories about her supposed parentage, who knows?

One thing I did note down when doing this research for my cousin: the only 1861 Census entry I could find at the time for Mary Ann Peel was an 18 year old Mary A Peel, born Snape, a house servant for John & Margaret Wilkinson in Yafforth.  In that household there is also a Francis Buckle, 22 a carter.  Further investigation might help with this, or it could be a wild goose chase!

[JackB015725]

Thank you so much for your reply.

It appears that Mary Ann was born in 1843, which would match up with her being 18 in 1861, and this Francis fellow proves to be very interesting! I'll have a look if I can find him on the census anywhere, and see if he was a farmer or something. If so, than I think (75%) that this could be the man. But more often than not in genealogy--you can never be sure!

Thank you

[Neale1961]

Hi JackB015725
In my experience with children born out of wedlock, on marriage, it is quite common for them to just make up a father's name. Sometimes they might know the forename but change the surname - anything to avoid the shame of being illegitimate.

Also it is not unusual for people on their marriage to inflate or embellish the occupation or status of their father. Society was very class conscious.  So an 'agricultural labourer' might be recorded as a 'farmer'.