Genealogy Chat

See below in a min

My very peculiar family has thrown up a baptism today. It reads as follows: 1st December, 1882 - privately baptised John Thomas Trafford. Parents names: A BLANK SPACE for both mother and father,but in brackets (Traffords, farmer). What was going on? The Trafford family had been in the area for at least six generations and were consistent church-goers. I am thinking all sorts here - why would you want to conceal the names of the father AND the mother????? Have I uncovered a very dark family secret? This Vicar is not a bit averse to writing 'Bastard' firmly against a child's name..... Olde Crone

Dear Olde Crone Ooo eeer! Clearly the lad was a Trafford. Perhaps none of the Trafford men knew which of them had fathered the baby and maybe they found the baby on their door step and didn't know who'd left it there, being a randy lot of so and sos. Or perhaps the mother was called something unusual the vicar couldn't spell. One for the experts, I think nell

Have you got the birth cert, Olde Crone? It's a bit of a mystery isn't it??! Is it down the bottom of the right hand page in the register? Maybe the vicar quickly jotted down the baby's name when in a rush, so he wouldn't forget and then turned the page....and forgot to go back?? (Maybe his inkwell was nearly dry? lol) Was there any entry for baby being welcomed into the church? (no, because these were the days of the pre-printed forms for baps??) Perhaps there had been some gossip about the presumed parents (''It's not his, you know''!!). Was he a ''middle'' child in a family, or first/last?? Sarah

In 1891 when John Thomas Trafford was 8, I see there are two Trafford adult men in the house. Hubby, John, 41, and his unmarried bro, Thomas, 53. Wonder how long Thomas had been living with the family? He's not there in 1881. Maybe rather unfortunate to name baby after hubby and his bro, IF they were all in one house in 1882!!?? Was bro Thomas feeling frustrated??! (Perhaps not lol!) Gossip theory looking more possible? Sarah

The entry was firmly in the middle of the page, along with the other 'ordinary' baptisms.The register was well-kept, with lots of additional info in the margins and only a few errors are flagged at the bottom of the page over the entire 400 years of the register. No date given for being received into the Church. As I only found the entry today, I have not been able to check deaths etc - maybe he died soon after birth, so was not formally received into the Church? But still, why no parents names recorded? If someone rushed to the Vicar to tell him they had privately baptised a baby in extremis and he was moved enough to enter it in his register, and presumably knew the family well, wouldnt you have thought he would have asked 'Who has just had a baby, then?' I like the baby on the doorstep one, though! Well, I like it better than my other, awful suspicion that maybe this child is the product of incest, gulp gulp. Olde Crone

Suppose the birth cert will just say John and Emily for the parents? Births Dec 1882 Trafford John Thomas Macclesfield 8a 155 If it says Emily and no father, or Emily and bro-in-law, Thomas, as the dad, I will send you a bottle of wine to get over the shock!! Howzat? Sarah

Oh, you lot have been busy while Ive been faffing around trying to change page! Thankyou for the 1891 info and also the birth cert - I will HAVE to send for that out of sheer curiosity! You may be onto something here -that Thomas was a bit of an oddball. He was in fact not the son of his parents, but the illegitimate son of his father's sister. His Birth Cert gives him as the son of James and Hannah Trafford, but the PR baptism tells a different story! (Presumably they didnt mind lying to the Registrar, but balked at lying to the Vicar!!!) The sister was a bit of a goer, because she also produced my 3 x GGM under the same circumstances. Hmm, I have a Catherine Cookson style story in my head, now - Thomas, the unloved, unwanted son, condemned to a life of drudgery and shame, dependent on the goodwill of his Aunt and Uncle for everything, unable to get himself a wife because of his shameful birth and ugly as a pig, finally goes off his head and rapes his half-sister........in the misguided belief that she will then have to marry him and he will inherit the farm... To be continued...when Ive got the cert....

Blimey - can I have a signed copy? (of the book, not the cert lol!) Sarah

Catherine Cookson couldn't have written it!!