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Goldberry
01-02-2010, 11:58 AM
I’m currently stuck on researching one family member – THOMAS GERRY born c 1798/99 in St Agnes, Cornwall (married ELIZABETH POLLARD 25 May 1822 in Crantock, Cornwall as THOMAS GERREY, and was buried as THOMAS TREGERRY 1872 age 74 in St Columb, Cornwall). :confused:

I had been unable to find any information regarding his birth or baptism, so I decided to ‘think outside the box’ and did a search in the parish records (Find My Past) for “Thomas” “baptised circa 1798 Cornwall” and to my utter surprise the first name above a long list of Thomas’s was THOMAS GERRY ADAMS.

The record shows that Thomas Gerry Adams was baptised in St Agnes on 21 Jan 1799 and his mother’s name was JANE ADAMS (no father’s name). I subsequently did a search on Jane Adams, and I could only find one in St Agnes, baptized 20 Jun 1771 (parents Williams Adams and Elizabeth).

Whilst trying to find the birth details of Thomas (Jr) I've done a huge amount of research on the Gerry families living in the area in the 18th century, mainly to try to see where, if anywhere, he might have fitted in. I do know that there was a Thomas Gerry (son of John Gerry and Jane Pengilly) living in St Agnes at the time and, coincidentally, he was born in the same year as Jane Adams (1771). In a small village like St Agnes, presumably they grew up together. I’ve also found that there was another Thomas Gerry (son of Sampson Gerry and Mary Cocking), but I think he may have died in 1776 – I’ve certainly been unable to find any record of him showing that he lived past this date.

Thomas (Sr) went on to marry Grace James in 1803, although Jane Adams appears alone at the age of 70 in the 1841 Census. I believe Thomas (Snr) was buried in 1836 (age 65) in St Agnes (residence Mingoose), and Jane Adams may have died in 1842 (Mar) or 1843 (Dec) (there are two Jane Adams - Truro - freebmd - with no ages).

Searching on the Internet I’ve found some suggestion that mothers of often name their illegitimate children with the father’s name as their forenames, particularly if there was an intention to marry. So I have a strong feeling that Thomas (Sr) is the father.

However, Thomas (Sr) and Grace did have a son called Thomas in 1822 (amongst their many children) - so I don't know whether that would discount my theory?

I’d be most grateful for any advice either regarding the family, or how to approach this matter of illegitimacy, as I really would hate to have to end my research into the Gerry line at this point. |sad1|

Many thanks. :)

Jan1954
01-02-2010, 12:08 PM
Searching on the Internet I’ve found some suggestion that mothers of often name their illegitimate children with the father’s name as their forenames, particularly if there was an intention to marry. So I have a strong feeling that Thomas (Sr) is the father.Hello Goldberry - welcome to Brit-Gen,

One of my several greats was named Mary Ann Dean CROSS at her baptism. This was pre-1837, so I was unable to access a birth certificate, but also recorded was that her mother Sarah was "a single woman". However, when I ordered her marriage certificate, her father was named as one William DEAN.

Meanwhile, you may find this (http://www.parishchest.com/shop/index.php?cmd=viewproduct&cat=&id=P87687&pageOffset=0) to be of both help and interest. :)

stevenpenny
01-02-2010, 12:10 PM
Hi,

My understanding of this is that many clergymen would insist that the Father's surname be included the child's second name if the child was illegitimate. In some cases they entered the Father's name in the registers even though he was not married to the mother.

As a ceveat I should say that in our own family tree we have a David Anderson Leslie, but the name Anderson seems to be derived from a Godparent. The original register is very feint but it looks as is the words 'Godparent' have been inserted in the right hand column as a reference.

You can find 'Bastardy Bonds' in the Cornwall Quarterley Sessions at the National Archive, although i'm sure that somebody more knowledgeable than myself can comment futher on this subject.

Steve

Goldberry
03-02-2010, 5:24 PM
Thanks for your replies. :)

I've checked the bastardy bonds to no avail, and apparently there are no annotations on the records.

I think for now I'm going to concentrate on corroborating the facts I've picked up so far on my more recent ancestors.

I think I'll eventually go with the advice of noting my assumptions of Thomas's parentage, and continuing to follow that line back (if I can).

benny1982
25-02-2010, 2:00 PM
Hi

Jan's story is a good indication of fathers surnames used as middle names for illegitimate children. But not all illegitimate children were given their fathers name as a middle name.

Ben

Peter Goodey
25-02-2010, 6:15 PM
And not all middle names that look like surnames are necessarily fathers' names :)

benny1982
27-02-2010, 2:50 PM
And not all middle names that look like surnames are necessarily fathers' names :)

Very true. The middle names that look like surnames given for a base child could be the maternal grandmothers surname or even the name of a local vicar, doctor or even lord of the manor or the married surname of one of the mothers siblings. In mid Sussex the local lord of the Slaugham manor was Warden Sergison. During his reign the first and middle name Warden suddenly rocketed for births in the area. I have a William Warden Walder born at the time Warden Sergison reigned.

bibliojunkie
27-02-2010, 3:54 PM
For a long time I was puzzled by a distinctive middle name in one of my lines because, as far as I knew, there was no link with Scotland. Eventually, I found the family in the 1871 census living in a house with the same name. A different family was living there ten years earlier. Could this be the answer?! I’m still on the trails of other ‘odd’ middle names that do not have any obvious connections with family lines.

Ali

Jane Elderfield
15-03-2010, 5:07 AM
Ah, those mysterious middle names....

I have a family where two children (of 17 !) have the middle name BENSLEY. Turns out they were named after a favourite aunt's married name.

There's also one in that family with BUTLER as a second name, and one with MARTYN. No idea where they come from. Then in the next generation there's FEISLEY/FAIZLEY as a daughter's second name, and another daughter with ESCRITT as the second name. (These were all legit. children.) None of these names have shown up yet as ancestors--I somehow suspect they were Methodist Church heroes....

Onward!

--Jane E

Peter Goodey
15-03-2010, 7:27 AM
I notice the original question was about Cornwall. GenUKI has this note (http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonMisc/MidnameNotes.html) about West Country naming patterns,

jeanburton
17-03-2010, 10:27 PM
In my family it seems to be the tradition to use the mother's maiden name as the first childs middle name