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  1. #1
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    Default I've got the Hump(hreys)

    When my paternal great grandmother married my great grandfather she already had a 10-year-old son William Humphreys - her surname. She was described as a spinster on the marriage certificate so logically William was born "out of wedlock". His birth certificate gives no father's name.

    William eventually got married and gave his father's name as George Humphreys and his father's occupation as "Weaver". I have spent many hours checking whether I have the correct William. There was another William Humphreys born in the same city a year or so earlier. I found his marriage, his father, and was able to check to see whether he was a legitimate son to a different father, which I believe he was. If further corroboration was needed 'my' William had a marriage witness also called William Humphreys at his ceremony, which was also the name of my Great Grandmother's older brother.

    So all the pieces fit except for the father. It is not inconceivable that William's mother had a fling with a cousin but I have not been able to find a cousin with the right name. The more unpalatable alternative is also unlikely since neither her father nor her siblings had the name given as father on William's marriage certificate.

    So I wondered whether any of you have come across a case of an illegitimate child inventing a father to avoid embarrassment when he got married?
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  2. #2
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Love the title of your thread Tony.
    My great great grandfather was illegitimate and no father named on his birth certificate or his baptism record. On his marriage certificate he gave his father's name with the surname Yates which is his mother's maiden name, and Gentleman as the father's occupation. If you are going to invent a father might as well go the whole hog. His mother had one possibly legitimate child and three more illegitimate ones. I wonder how ggrandad explained to his wife's family why his mother was selling secondhand goods from home.
    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  3. #3
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    Hi Christina

    I'm not really cross...it all happened a long time ago. Clearly my man was less ambitious than yours, claiming only that his father was an elastic weaver. Perhaps he was a contortionist?

    Joking apart, it was a common occupation where he lived (elastic weaving that is - not tying yourself in knots as I am right now) but William was in the boot and shoe industry so he could easily have used a job title from that genre.

    Nevertheless thanks for confirming that it was not uncommon.

    cheers
    Tony
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  4. #4
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    I have two people in my tree who gave their Grandfathers name when they married.

  5. #5

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    My Great Uncle gave the wrong name for his mother on his father’s death certificate. I think it was because she had died while he was still a child, his father died when very old so a long time had elapsed, and the children probably only knew her as “Mother” or one of the variations, and he did’t want to admit that he didn’t know.

    Tony, you don’t mention a time period, but this sort of thing does not seem to have been rare in the 19th century, for all sorts of reasons. Some people just didn’t want to admit that they didn’t know parental forenames. His uncle’s name might just have been the first one that came to mind when he was asked.

    The only thing that I can think of would be to look for his baptism and see what is said. Unfortunately, English entries don’t seem to be as informative as those in Scotland.

  6. #6
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
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    My g g grandfather was illegitimate (surname Richards, his mother's name). When he married, he said his father's name was Thomas Richards, a farmer, who was either his mother's brother or completely made up. I know his real father, because he was named at the baptism.

  7. #7
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    Thank you everyone for strengthening my suspicion that he made his father's name up. As far as I could ascertain it was not a name from the family, just a random one, as indeed was the 'father's occupation.

    He was born in 1860 Lesley and his birth certificate is blank where the father should be.

    It is quite an important link for me to follow down through his descendants because his mother married one of my most controversial ancestors (and of course became my great grandmother in doing so). So getting the right Bill is key.

    Tony
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

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