stephen pilcher petley

[cathieee]

hi all

i have just realized that my great great great grandfather was base born ,i have seen the original record ,i d seen it manytimes but i was on an obscure kent genealogy site where they d been transcribed properly and it said baseborn on it ,when i went back to the original i could see it written at the end ,before i d just thought it was registrars name or something as it was nt very clear untill you knew what it was meant to say

i dont know why this part of the info on him was nt copied on to any of the transcripts from big sites ,like ancestry etc ,but its not ,would have saved me a lot of time looking for the marriage cert of parents

what i want to know really though is ,this is what it says on original "stephen pilcher son of mary petley .... base born" ,how come this man stephen pilcher bapt 3 rd sept 1797 has always as an adult anyway ,gone by the name stephen pilcher ?? ,he married elizabeth arnold 1819 with that name and is on all the census s with that name (he was born eastry deal,he says so on all census s etc ,and that birth to mary petley is the only one) ,so how could he go by stephen pilcher and not stephen pilcher petley ,because there s no records anywhere for the latter ,also all his decendants go by the name pilcher ??

also what do i do now to try and find out his fathers identity ,all i know for sure is his surname is pilcher ,probs stephen but thats just a guess

any help most welcome ,thanks

[Peter Goodey]

He was baptised Stephen Pilcher PETLEY at Eastry on 3 Sep 1797. This is a very common way of naming illegitimate children, if Mary PETLEY married Mr PILCHER, the child's surname would automatically become PILCHER (did she marry?).

Otherwise it's part of English law that you can use whatever surname you like so long as it's not with criminal intent. He chose to call himself Stephen PILCHER. It's not unusual.

If you want to try and track down the father, try bastardy bonds.

[cathieee]

hi thanks for that , i can find no marriage cert for a mary petley marrying any pilcher , where would i go to look up bastardy bonds , im on fmp at moment , thanks again

[Megan Roberts]

Try the local record office, or go to your local library and see if they have access to searchable old newspapers.

You could also buy this book from the National Archives:
https://bookshop.nationalarchives.gov...Was-A-Bastard/

[cathieee]

hi again , why would it be in the newspapers , do libraries have records from different areas, i live in liverpool ??

[Peter Goodey]

Going off at a tangent, is this your Stephen Pilcher?

https://www.kentarchives.org.uk/CalmV...2fT%2f10&pos=5

I can't spot a corresponding entry in the National Probate Calendar so if it is the right man you may want to order a copy from Kent Archives.

PS I would also recommend the book My Ancestor was a Bastard

[Megan Roberts]

hi again ,why would it be in the newspapers ,do libraries have records from different areas i live in liverpool ??

Yes is the simple answer - there are lots of on line searchable collections that Libraries have access to. Also don't assume that it will only appear in a local newspaper. Newspapers used to syndicate stories around themselves.

[cathieee]

hi

i dont think thats my stephen pilcher as he did nt die till 1885 he died 2 feb 1885 buried at st peter n pauls charlton by dover,his wife elizabeth pilcher (arnold) was buried there ten years later in 1895 she was 97 ,he was a gardener though ,they were both living at maison view or diew place

his name is down as being stephen pelcher on transcript at fmp but its obvs pilcher on actual record

is there anything for free on line i can do ,thanks again

[cathieee]

hi , i ve been on here before with same query but have still got no further, im still looking for the father of stephen pilcher petley bapt 3/0/1797 st mary s eastry kent

i know his mother was called mary petley, and i know on the bapt rec pilcher is his middle name not surname, it says baseborn on original record

by the time he married elizabeth arnold in 1819, 31 st jan he is going by the name of stephen pilcher only,i have only been able to find the original record of marriage banns for them online, the marriage record itself only shows the printed version, with no original record to look at, why is nt it online (original) as maybe it would have stated fathers name on it

i sent off for his death cert but has no mention of parents on it, i ve been told to look at wills ,but i can t find anything with my pilchers in will, even one s i have all the info on

would there only be a church record of bapt in 1797

i ve been stuck now for 3 years, any help most welcome

[Sandyhall]

Baseborn means of illegitimate birth.
Unless there are any Bastardly Bonds (I think that's what they where called) in court records I don't think you will find a father.
As you say his mother's name was Mary Petley and she named him Stephen Pilcher Petley.
I'd be saying a Mr Pilcher was the boys father.
Have you looked at the Parish records for Mary Patley Christening to see if there are any Pilcher children christened around the same time.
I'm not saying they were the father but a possible because you will never find out for sure.
As he calls himself Stephen Pilcher when he marries I suspect he knew who his father was.

"would there only be a church record of bapt in 1797" answer Yes records didn't start until a lot later in 1800's