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| Looking towards Ide Hill from Emmetts Gardens, Kent |
When researching your family history, you should always try to view original records such as Parish Records or certificates. You used to only be able to view Parish Records at the County Record Office, but now several subscription websites have images of the original records. The contents of the Parish Baptism Records can be very useful since most Baptism Records show the names of both parents, their home address, occupation of the father and sometimes the child’s date of birth.
Illegitimate Children
Children born out of wedlock can cause a problem for genealogists. Generally, only the mother is named and the child may later take on the name of the father or stepfather. The attitude of the Church of England clergy to illegitimacy varied; some baptism are written without comment, other clergy make a great point that the child has been born out of wedlock.
These baptism transcriptions illustrate the different ways the parish records show that the child is born out of wedlock.
West Meon
19 June 1881 Eva Mary Titheridge, daughter of Elizabeth Titheridge of West Meon.
Cheriton
22 September 1850 Harriett Titheridge, daughter of Harriett Titheridge a single woman
Alverstoke
6 January 1845 Rachel Titheridge, daughter of Elizabeth Titheridge a spinster from the poor house
Kilmeston
29 March 1807 George Titheridge, daughter of Lydia Titheridge. Illegitimate
New Alresford
9 December 1774 Robert Titheridge, natural son of Sarah Titheridge
Cheriton
26 December 1823 John Titheridge, son of Maria Titheridge a servant. Born 23 November 1823. Base Born.
Swanmore
25 June 1854 Sarah Ann Titheridge, daughter of Ann Titheridge from Swanmore. A Single woman. A bastard of a child.
Occasionally a little more help is available to genealogists, such as the mother adding the father’s name to the child’s name and sometimes the possible father is named and shamed in the parish records e.g.
Gosport St Matthew
11 November 1888 Mabel Dashwood Titheridge daughter of Margaret Titheridge of Quay Lane Gosport, A domestic.
New Alresford
05 July 1778 John Sealy Titheridge illegitimate son of Frances Titheridge, reputed Father John Sealy of Somborne in the County of Southampton.
Southampton St Michael Extra
6 February 1803 Eliza Tetheridge daughter of William Paskins and Elizabeth Tetheridge illegitimate.
In most cases, however, all that one can do is to assume that the father of the illegitimate child is the person the woman marries soon after the baptism.
David Tetheridge – a Mystery
When viewing the online Kent Parish Record for Brasted I found the following baptism entry:
23 February 1812 David son of Sarah Tetheridge B.B. (with the B.B. underlined twice)
B. B. is an abbreviation for Base Born and the clergy man obviously wanted it to be seen by all.
I had never come across David Tetheridge before and had no idea who Sarah was, and I could find no further record of either of them.
Looking through the Brasted Parish Records I found
Jane baptised on 12 January 1806 daughter of William and Sarah Tetheridge
Joseph baptised on 5 June 1808 son of William and Sarah Tetheridge
James baptised on 12 November 1809 son of (the late) William and Sarah Tetheridge
The last baptism had partly solved the mystery. Sarah was a widow and after William’s death had a child with someone else. Since the Parish Records of Brasted showed nothing else useful, I searched further afield. In Sundridge St Mary, one mile along the road, I found the marriage for Sar Totherage and Josiah Hodskins who married on 2 March 1812 (less than a month after David’s baptism).
The Story of David Tetheridge
By cross referencing the above information with 1841 and 1851 census and other parish records I was able to pull together the following facts.
Sarah Linsy (Linsey) was baptised in Warbleton, Sussex on 2 January 1780. In 1797 Sarah was living in Westerham, Kent and on 22 March 1797 she married William Teatherige in Brasted, Kent. William and Sarah had at least 3 children. William died in July 1809. After the death of William Sarah had an illegitimate child by Josiah Hodskins. The son David was baptised on 23 February 1812 and on 2 March 1812 Sarah married Josiah Hodskins . David, who had been christened a Tetheridge, took on his father’s surname. Sarah and Josiah had two addition children. The 1841 census showed Joshia and Sarah Hodskins aged 70 and 60 living at Ide Hill (3 miles away from Sundridge) and living with them was Esther Tetheridge. They were living next door to John Tetheridge, aged 45, and his family. John proved to be another of Sarah Williams’s children and Esther the grandchild. David, now called David Hodskins, married Sophia Welch at Sundridge in 1834 and they had at least 5 children. The 1851 census showed Sarah, now widowed, living in Sundridge with her son David Hodskins next door. Josiah Hodskins died in 1850 and Sarah died in 1854 both deaths registered under the surname Hoskins.
This is a classic example of how difficult it can be to trace children born to single mothers. David Tetheridge became David Hodskins and in fact was not a Tetheridge at all and this explained why I never found any further reference to him.
