Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hello dear friends, It has been a while - a brief detour into my husband's Irish side and a visit to Ireland this summer. I also returned to Wales in my continuing search for Harriet Hughes and a stop to see my cousin in Widnes, which unfortunately, did not coincide with your monthly meeting.

However, my visit to you this morning has to do with Eleanor, Harriet's (out of wedlock) child. It was suggested that I look at the Bastardy Bonds. But after an hour of searching for where those might be (family search, national archives, ditton church records and Lancashire Record Office) I could use some help. Eleanor was born in Ditton in 1878. She was christened at St. Michael's in Ditton.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Bets Radley (Brooklyn, NY)

Have you used the Lancat search http://archivecat.lancashire.gov.uk/calmview/

I believe many Bastardy Bonds would be held in the Lancashire RO rather than locally, but search for "Filiation" orders too, or even "Affiliation", as they are not always known as Bastardy.

I also found when searching for one myself, that I didn't discover anything listed under the child's name and it wasn't until I believed I had an idea of what the mother's name was, that the entry turned up in the catalogue. Luckily you have this.

Hi,
Ditton would have come under Cheshire back then....

Baptism: Hughes, Eleanor
Christening Year: 1878
Christening Date: 20 May 1878
Mother's Forename: Harriet
Mother's Surname: Hughes
Record Group: Part 1 - 1; Record Number: 58;
County: Cheshire
Record source: Diocese of Chester parish registers of baptisms 1538-1910

The Cheshire Archives may hold something..
http://archives.cheshire.gov.uk/what_we_hold.aspx

You continue to be incredibly helpful. I'll try these two ideas first and let you know. If I have no joy, I'll move the post over.

Thank you for your quick responses. I have my work cut out for me now.

I could not find anything in either on the http://archivecat.lancashire.gov.uk/calmview/ or http://archives.cheshire.gov.uk/what_we_hold.aspx

Sometimes I wonder if I don't know how to conduct a proper search or if it's truly not there. I will put my post on the main sub-forum and see if someone there has any other suggestions.

However, I have always found the situation of Harriet's first born child, Eleanor, to be a mystery especially as she came to live with the Haughton family. Perhaps it was an informal arrangement and since Eleanor would be taken care of, there was no need for a hearing.

Thanks again and good to hear from you all and especially for the "craic" which I was glad to know the meaning of before going to Ireland.

Bets

Cupcake wrote: I will put my post on the main sub-forum and see if someone there has any other suggestions.

Where's that?

DS suggested doing this to reach more eyeballs. I'm glad you are as bewildered as I am as to its location as I looked and wondered where I was going to post and not be redundant.

I did move this post over to the Liverpool board but generally speaking I suspect most of our crew check nearly all the messages in case one gets in the wrong place.

Thanks for doing that as I saw it in there and didn't know where else I could put it.

The more I think about this, it makes sense that there may have never been a hearing if the child was taken care of by the Haughtons.

We have a new show in the USA - Genealogy Roadshow. You can view it at http://www.pbs.org/program/genealogy-roadshow/ I submitted my Harriet Hughes mystery and have hopes of finding her family that way.

Bets

Re:

I could not find anything in either on the http://archivecat.lancashire.gov.uk/calmview/ or http://archives.cheshire.gov.uk/what_we_hold.aspx

It is possible that the child's father did not live in Cheshire or Lancashire, or in England for that matter. If there was a court submission for a Bastardy Bond I believe it would have been where the alleged father lived?

Possibly. Harriet was abt. 18 when she gave birth to Eleanor. Harriet was living and presumably working in Ditton. But that is not to say, the father was from elsewhere or as they say in Maine, "away." Perhaps she worked in a house where someone visiting took advantage of her. So many possibilities. Good to keep expanding my mind on these things. Thanks for that thought.

For now I'm guessing George Houghton was the father and see what I can learn about him/his family and where Harriet might have worked. Which is to say I am just hoping George and Harriet (or possibly George's wife) might they have a connection and that will lead me to Harriet's whereabouts between 1859 - 1878.