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  • Illegitimate children

    I'm researching an Elizabeth Anne Nurse born 1852 in norfolk. I've found her mother Maria Nurse but can't find any father. I will get her birth certificate but haven't had chance yet.

    Going through census reports I've found that Elizabeth has got 4 siblings but there's no father in the picture. I've found baptism reports on freereg for all the children but no father is mentioned on any.

    What I was wanting to know is surely it would've been very unusual for a women to have several children whilst being unmarried. I have found a possible marriage for her but thats after having all of her children.

    I can't help but think I'm missing something obvious.

  • #2
    I once found a woman who had 8 children and there was no mention of any father or fathers. She never married either.
    Wendy



    PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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    • #3
      There are 4 trees on Ancestry with your Elizabeth Ann Nurse.
      Wendy



      PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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      • #4
        It was almost as common then as it is now, despite what we were taught at school!

        OC

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        • #5
          Originally posted by WendyPusey View Post
          I once found a woman who had 8 children and there was no mention of any father or fathers. She never married either.
          Blimey I was always led to believe it never went on in those days.

          Originally posted by WendyPusey View Post
          There are 4 trees on Ancestry with your Elizabeth Ann Nurse.
          Thanks I had seen a couple but they've got no father listed either which seems to suggest that I'll never find out. I think I'll still order the birth certificate though.

          Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
          It was almost as common then as it is now, despite what we were taught at school!

          OC
          Yep as you say just as much went on then as it does now. It's just I was always led to believe that it didn't, how niave was I.

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          • #6
            If you can get to check the actual parish records you may find the vicar has put the name of a 'reputed father'

            I have a woman who had seven chilren with no father on the IGI but on checking the actual parish register I saw that some of them had a 'reputed father' ........ to cut a long story short I found his will which mentions all his children by this woman by name and leaves them legacies to set them up in jobs (he died in 1825 and his will was on TNA wills catalogue)

            Anne

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            • #7
              Illegitimate children are very common - and more tolerated in villages provided the mother was able to earn a living (or get payment from a father) rather than being a drain on the parish (or as we think of them nowadays "benefits scroungers").

              We hear a lot about people being shunned for sexual looseness - but people only worried about it if it affected their purse or their reputation. Many women didn't have much of a reputation to protect.
              ~ with love from Little Nell~
              Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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              • #8
                When I was a student, and at home for the summer vac, my father passed on to me an enquiring letter he'd received from New Zealand - people asking for Parish Register info about the HOUCHEN family. Well it was right up my street (tho' long before I got properly hooked, as I am now), and I spent many happy hours looking through all the original parish registers for the 7 parishes in his care! What a privilege!

                I was much amused to find that, from time to time, the current incumbent would track down the ... how shall I put this? ... 'overly friendly' lady of the parish, and get all her children baptised in a batch. I don't recall seeing any suggestion that the father(s) of any of the children had been identified.

                Christine
                Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Anne in Carlisle View Post
                  If you can get to check the actual parish records you may find the vicar has put the name of a 'reputed father'
                  Anne
                  Can't really get there it's in norfolk which would be quite a trek for me. Thanks for the suggestion though.

                  Originally posted by Little Nell View Post
                  Illegitimate children are very common - and more tolerated in villages provided the mother was able to earn a living (or get payment from a father) rather than being a drain on the parish (or as we think of them nowadays "benefits scroungers").

                  We hear a lot about people being shunned for sexual looseness - but people only worried about it if it affected their purse or their reputation. Many women didn't have much of a reputation to protect.
                  I can't see that she worked but her parents might have provided for her as she lived with them. Or it could be the fella she later married might have been the father to the children as they always lived close by. This is just an idea though as they got married after his wife died.

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                  • #10
                    Its worth checking FreeReg. Some norfolk Parish Records have been transcribed there FreeREG - Search UK Parish Register Indices

                    Anne

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                    • #11
                      The baptisms's transcribed here, but there's no father named:

                      Wolferton St Peter

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Anne in Carlisle View Post
                        Its worth checking FreeReg. Some norfolk Parish Records have been transcribed there FreeREG - Search UK Parish Register Indices

                        Anne
                        Thanks but I'd already looked on there and no father is mentioned.

                        Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                        The baptisms's transcribed here, but there's no father named:

                        Wolferton St Peter
                        Thanks for that. I'll send for her birth certificate tomorrow but I don't think it will tell me.

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