Accepted Child

[AMJohn]

I am not a Welsh speaker, but I can offer the following perspective. A great aunt and great uncle were unofficially adopted out of the family in the early 1900s after their parents died. They were born and brought up in Caernarfonshire, and were all Welsh speakers.

It took me years to find my great aunt in the 1911 census, and that was because her adoptive mother had changed her surname to her own, and described her in Welsh as her daughter. She even filled in the columns about how many children had been born alive in the marriage, listing just the one, my great aunt, who of course was not born to the marriage.

My great uncle, whose surname wasn't changed to that of his adoptive family, was described as "nai" or nephew. They were not related.

My great great grandmother brought up the four older children and at the time of the 1911 census she described her grandsons as "nai" or nephews, and her granddaughter as "wyres", which is granddaughter. As a widow she should not have filled in the parts about years married and numbers of children etc. Luckily for me she did!

So I think the point that I am trying to make is firstly to wonder whether or not the person filling in the form understood it correctly, and just how literate that they were.

Yes there is a lot of creativness wehn filling in these forms, a lot of stigma attached to some of the circumstances people found themselves in, thanks.

[arthurk]

Having just read Megan's post, another thought came to me, that the head/family did actually know what adoption was. It wasn't on an official basis then, but I suspect that sometimes there might have been agreements drawn up by lawyers.

In this case, if there wasn't any documentation, might they have decided to use a word other than 'adopted', and 'accepted' was what they settled on?

[AMJohn]

Having just read Megan's post, another thought came to me, that the head/family did actually know what adoption was. It wasn't on an official basis then, but I suspect that sometimes there might have been agreements drawn up by lawyers.

In this case, if there wasn't any documentation, might they have decided to use a word other than 'adopted', and 'accepted' was what they settled on?

Yes I think thats sort of where we started from and are coming back to that conclusion, I remeber my childhood on Anglesey and the amount of times that my family refered to their friends - when talking to us was - Aunty Mary, Uncle John - when in fact they were not relations just family friends.

[christanel]

Mary Jane's parents are named on her baptism 21 Oct 1903 as Richard Roberts and Catherine Hughes which tallies with her birth registration on the GRO index. Maria's birth is August 1903 and her parents marriage is Sept 1/4 1903 so they married very close to Maria's birth. Maybe the word accepted was a deliberate choice by the person who gave the information on the 1911 census
She is named as the eldest child by her mother Catherine (widow) on Richard's UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 entry on Fold 3. I can't see it as I don't have a sub for it, only ancestry.
Christina

[almach]

Taken from....

"UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960"

Richard Roberts, trimmer, 581S T.S. (PO), RNR HM Trawler "Merse"
Birth date 28 04 1880, Holyhead, date of death 22 05 1917, wife: Catherine Roberts 5, Baker St, Holyhead.

[AMJohn]

Taken from....

"UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960"

Richard Roberts, trimmer, 581S T.S. (PO), RNR HM Trawler "Merse"
Birth date 28 04 1880, Holyhead, date of death 22 05 1917, wife: Catherine Roberts 5, Baker St, Holyhead.

Yes, that was a bit later, my gtGrandfather, my grandmother was 7 at time of cencus and 14 when her father was killed on the Merse

[almach]

Marriage

13 Jul 1903, Caergybi / Holyhead, Anglesey
Richard Roberts age 23, father David,
Catherine Hughes age 21, father Robert.

Please ignore if I'm giving info already posted, my concentration isn't good this evening.

[almach]

Yes, that was a bit later, my gtGrandfather, my grandmother was 7 at time of cencus and 14 when her father was killed on the Merse

Have you found a birth record for Richard based on his date of birth on the above record?

[AMJohn]

Thanks all, we’ve got most of the history, its the accepted child that was causing us confusion, that period from when she was born 1903 to the cencus date 1911 is blank, everything after the next cencus date we have all the history, thank for all the updates so far, 1903-1911 is the data were missing.

[almach]

Thanks all, we’ve got most of the history, its the accepted child that was causing us confusion, that period from when she was born 1903 to the cencus date 1911 is blank, everything after the next cencus date we have all the history, thank for all the updates so far, 1903-1911 is the data were missing.

Yes, I understood that you had the ancestry, but I thought you were trying to establish if there was a family relationship between Owen Hughes and Maria Jane Roberts's family, if so, the more info posted here helps those trying to help.

Please say if you are struggling to connect Maria Jane to Owen and Elizabeth Hughes, if you are I do sympathise, there's so many Hughes' in the Holyhead area with the same forenames. If you have it sorted, well done.