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  1. #1
    Valued member of Brit-Gen emmteeyess's Avatar
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    Default Marginal notes and other observations....

    I've come across these 2 sets of entries from the Parish Register of Rivington, Lancs. 1840/41 - (Hannah Anderton on the 1st one is my ggg.grandmother)








    In 1841 the reverend Jackson has helpfully (!) marking the illegitimate births with a B in the margin, but any thoughts as to why would he mark the 2 in 1840 with Boy and Girl? - their names are a bit of a giveaway surely.

    ALSO

    I've also seen these entries in the Bishop's Transcripts copies and they don't have the B in the margin - another reason to always go back to 'original source' documents.

    The frugal Rev Jackson 'double entered' the births between the ruled lines, to save space.

    Typically over quite a few pages about 25% of the entries are illegitimate (ie no father listed or spinster entered for the mother). I've seen elsewhere on this forum a comment that this was not so 'shamefull' as we think it was looking back. (a bit like nowadays actually!)

    Lots of the occupations are Weaver or Mill related and if you've seen the recent TV series The Mill you can easily imagine the circumstances of these entries.

    Any thoughts?..



    cheers, emmteeyess

  2. #2
    Super Moderator Sue Mackay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by emmteeyess View Post
    but any thoughts as to why would he mark the 2 in 1840 with Boy and Girl? - their names are a bit of a giveaway surely.
    Maybe he had temporarily forgotten the names when filling in the register and marked the place with Boy or Girl until he could fill in the details later. Does this occur just on this occasion or on numerous occasions in the register?
    Sue Mackay
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  3. #3
    Valued member of Brit-Gen emmteeyess's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sue Mackay View Post
    Does this occur just on this occasion or on numerous occasions in the register?
    From a quick look, it looks like half a dozen times, then previous to that it's letter Bs.

    I first wondered if the parent hadn't decided on a name and that it was added after - but that didn't make sense for a baptism and the writing all looks to be done at the same time.
    Perhaps Rev Jackson just mellowed for a while and thought Boy, Girl was a bit more Christian and less judgemental than a stark 'B'

    emmteeyess

  4. #4
    Spike Harwood
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    Perhaps Rev Jackson just mellowed for a while and thought Boy, Girl was a bit more Christian and less judgemental than a stark 'B'
    Except that given the sequence of the entry numbers he seems to have started with boy/girl and went for bastard later.
    Presumably the novelty of being Christian and non judgmental soon wore off

  5. #5
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    It's not necessarily a matter of being 'judgemental'. There's an important legal and practical issue involved.

    Illegitimate children acquired settlement in the parish in which they were born. This meant that the cost of supporting these children, if needed, fell on this parish and couldn't be unloaded onto another. The register was an important legal document in determining whether someone was eligible for support.

  6. #6
    Valued member of Brit-Gen emmteeyess's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Goodey View Post
    It's not necessarily a matter of being 'judgemental'. There's an important legal and practical issue involved.

    Illegitimate children acquired settlement in the parish in which they were born. This meant that the cost of supporting these children, if needed, fell on this parish and couldn't be unloaded onto another. The register was an important legal document in determining whether someone was eligible for support.
    Thanks for that, Peter. that casts a whole new slant on the entries.
    It also goes a long way to explain why the children were brought to be baptised anyway when I'd thought the mother might say 'why bother?' (unless she was deeply religious and feared for their souls etc etc.)

    Cheers, emmteeyess

  7. #7
    Brick wall demolition expert!
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    I came across this useful blog on FMP, and am still trying to decide whether or not I would have like my ancestors to have been from this particular parish, or whether I am heartily glad that they weren't .........................

    https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2014/ji...ords-go-wrong/

  8. #8
    Wilkes_ml
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    Quote Originally Posted by Megan Roberts View Post
    I came across this useful blog on FMP, and am still trying to decide whether or not I would have like my ancestors to have been from this particular parish, or whether I am heartily glad that they weren't .........................

    https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2014/ji...ords-go-wrong/
    Oh that first entry in the blog is just hilarious...I'd love to find one of my ancestors with so much detail given in a parish register. I have come across an entry where a poor woman was labeled a whore, but she couldn't have been that bad as she was married a couple of years later.

    I have been "fortunate" to come across a description of my runaway ancestor's bigamous brother, whose american civil war pension papers described him a a horrible bad tempered man!

  9. #9
    Valued member of Brit-Gen emmteeyess's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wilkes_ml View Post
    Oh that first entry in the blog is just hilarious...I'd love to find one of my ancestors with so much detail given in a parish register.
    I love those too!! - now they're the sort of things you want to know about your ancestors!
    The only thing I've found from the bride and groom not being able to read is that his surname was spelled wrong and he didn't realise.

    I have seen similar things in the Corder Manuscripts in our local library - see this wiki article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watson_Corder - which includes the comment
    But he was also controversial. His books often contained potentially libelous comments on the people he met. One man was called a ‘worthless nonentity,’ by Corder, another ‘a habitual drunkard.’
    I guess dusty old academics have to get their kicks somehow!

    cheers, MTS

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