Genealogy Chat

I have three children born to William Jevons (1839) who I'm unsure of their mother. William (1863), Ephraim (1866) and Hannah (1867) were all christened in Bordesley, Warwickshire on the 22 May 1867. On IGI their mother is Betsy (no surname) and father William Jevons, so far so good.

However William married Elizabeth (Betsy) Burgess (1839) in September 1867, also in Bordesley. Now I'm unsure if Betsy is William's second wife or if the children were born illigitametly. I'm confident that the marriage certificate is correct, as all of the info matches with what I already know. I have sent off for what I hope is the eldest son Williams birth certificate and hope this clears up the mystery.

What I really want to know is would it be normal for an adoptive mother to be quoted as the childrens mother on a baptism?

I have as yey been unable to find a reference to a first marriage for William, although without any knowledge of what her name might have been this is not surprising!
Can any body help.

This is the correct census, and certainly ties in with what I know. Was it common to have the children baptised all in one go? I can't find Hannah other than for her baptism record, so I asume that she died at a young age.
Of the children that were born subsequently I can find find baptism records for those born in Warwickshire, but as soon as the family moved to West Bromwich they seem to have stopped baptising their children. I did wonder if they used a non conformist church, but certainly their youngest son was married in a C of E church, so this seems less likely.

As for getting married after the fact, at leats one of Williams children and one of his grandchildren had a child suspiciously close to the wedding! But at least it was before the child was born!

Thanks for your reply.

Susan, you could do with a birth cert really to confirm mother's maiden name. There is only 1 Ephraim!

Births Dec 1865
Jevons Ephraim Birmingham 6d 96

There is this marriage though:

Marriages Sep 1867
BURGESS Betsy Aston 6d 345
JEVONS William Aston 6d 345

Jan

I've just got it on order!
So here's hoping!!

Thanks again

Elizabeths were called Betsy,,,,now Betty is used,

Hi

I'd suggest that you get the birth certificate of the most important child to you. If William was previously married, well, it is nice to find that out, but not likely to influence your genealogical line.

Yes, it was common to have bulk christenings - people couldn't get away from work to do them individually and re your family in West Brom, it might just be that the records have not been transcribed yet.

Margaret

I find it intresting to know more about the family, as it tells me more about the kind of people they were. That's why I would like to know if William was married before, it also means that my records are more accurate. I'm not just in it for the number of generations I can find, I'm also into the collateral information.
For example I know that Betsy was illiterate despite being a certified midwife - that would be impossible today! I'm also confident that Elizabeth and Betsy are the same person as the census returns switch between them.

Are you certain that Betsy was illiterate or are you basing that on the fact that she signed her marriage certificate with an "X".

Sometimes women would do this if their husband couldn't write as they didn't want to embarrass the husband by appearing better educated.

Kath. x

I have several birth and death certificates where the info was provided by Betsy, where it is written "the mark of"(including her husbands), and her marriage certificate where there is an X. My grandmother, (Betsy's granddaughter) related that her grandmother thourght reading to be a waste of time. My grandmother was something of a book worm!

It's now definate, that William and Elizabeth (Betsy) had several children before they were married - I recieved Ephraims birth certificate today. This also has "the mark of Betsy Jevons", so this would also seem to confirm my opinion that she was illiterate. I have about seven certificates all with "the mark of" for Betsy.

Thanks for the help!
Susan

Looks like the vicar was being kindly in baptising them with the surname of the father, expecting them to marry shortly. I have read elsewhere that church records often name the father even though the birth certificate does not. Which is another good reason to visit records offices.

Margaret

I have birth certificates for two of the children born (1864 and 1865) before the marriage (1867) - Williams name is there, and Betsy is down as Elizabeth Jevons formerly Burgess. Both boys were born in the parish of St Martins in Birmingham, the baptisms (their sister was also baptised the same day) take place in Bordesley in may 1867 and the marriage also takes place in Bordesley in sept 1867! Although the baptisms took place in Holy Trinity Church and the Wedding in St Andrews, don't know why - maybe the vicar at Holy Trinity didn't know they weren't married. I have another daughter baptised (Holy Trinity Church) on the 4th march 1868, so Betsy must have known she was pregnant at their wedding! It seems odd that they used two different churches.

Two different churches might have meant that the vicars shared the job, so it didn't matter which church. Or that the vicar moved church and the family preferred to stick with the same vicar.

Margaret

The baptisms were all at the same church, the marriage at a different church, and took place after the first baptisms but before the last baptism, so maybe the vicar worked several churches and they stuck to the same one, and it was coincidence which church they used.

I've read that weddings often took place on a free afternoon with not too much fuss (would seem likely in this case). Would baptisms have only taken place on sundays?