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Post by sarahpatterson1 on Aug 21, 2009 3:26:11 GMT -5
I thought I would put this one to you. I am looking at Edward John Patterson born 19 March 1847 in Plymouth. I cannot find his birth anywhere. But I can find a birth in the name of Edward James Knight of the same time period. On the 1851 Census he is living with James Pat(t)erson and Grace Patterson (was Ford) and is noted as being a Grandson with the name of Edward James Knight. In the 1861 Census he is with Grace Patterson and her brother going by the name Edward John Patterson and is noted as being a nephew. After this time he joined the Navy after giving a different dob to get in. My assumptions are that James and Grace adopted Edward and then changed his name. James was previously married and had 2 children. These children were John Mitchell Patterson, he died in a workhouse, and Elizabeth Mitchell Patterson, I have found no connection with Edward and Elizabeth (this being the only way he can be grandson). I do not believe that Grace can be the mother. It would be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on this brick wall. Sarah  |
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Post by donne on Aug 21, 2009 6:37:18 GMT -5
Not really very helpful, but you could fork out the 7 pounds for the birth certificate of Edward James Knight and see what it says about parentage. You risk wasting your money of course if it's the wrong person altogether but the censuses gives you reason to suspect that they are connected. How come you have such a precise birth date for Edward John Patterson if you don't have a birth record?
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Post by Cornish Terrier on Aug 21, 2009 6:38:01 GMT -5
Interesting problem Sarah!  I have had a bit of a look around while I try and think of some options. Using IGI (I believe you know my thoughts on that!) it appears that this will be Grace:- Grace d/o John and Margaret FORD bp. 22nd October 1797 Ermington, Devon Unless show married another Ford this eliminates a previous marriage for her. The reference to young Edward in 1851 being 'grandson' usually indicates that the family link is to James Patterson although this is not always the case. Whilst adoption might be a possibility I would be thinking about the possibility that Grace might have had an illegitimate daughter and that she was the mother of Edward. I decided to see if there might be any marriages for KNIGHT and FORD. I restricted the search to Devon and found three possibilities:- 1842 September Qtr Vol 9 Page 398 Plymouth R.D. Thomas KNIGHT Alice FORD 1846 March Qtr Vol 10 Page 735 Taunton R.D. John KNIGHT Amelia Parsons FORD 1848 March Qtr Vol 9 Page 490 Stoke Damerel R.D. John KNIGHT Mary FORD In each case there are multiple marriages to a page so there is no guarantee that the marrige was actually to the FORD girl. However they are possibilities that could be considered. One other possibility is that Edward was actually a nephew to Grace with a sister being the mother. The only reason I could think of for him being recorded as 'grandson' of James Patterson is that his parents had possibly both died. And when Henry FORD named him as 'nephew' in 1861 that is more an indication that the relationship is on the FORD side. Best can do right now. CT |
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Post by sarahpatterson1 on Aug 21, 2009 7:24:53 GMT -5
His Naval records show his date of birth as 19 March 1945. He changed his year of birth because he was too young to join.
I have found most of Grace's siblings and there is a Mary B 1787.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I have been ponding this one for a little while, there is a copy of the birth certificate, but not with me. Will try and obtain information.
Sarah
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Post by Cornish Terrier on Aug 21, 2009 9:29:39 GMT -5
If Edward was son of a sister to Grace then that sister would need to be much younger. It would be more likely that the mother of Edward was either an illegitimate daughter of Grace or a niece of Grace. But that is working on the theory I outlined earlier. The Birth Certificate is the obvious way to approach the problem .... BUT - if Edward was an illegitimate child then the details of parentage on the certificate might not necessarily be truthful. I have more than one certificate to prove that point with one in particular where the names of the parents recorded were actually the grandparents!  CT |
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Post by sarahpatterson1 on Aug 21, 2009 11:54:42 GMT -5
The youngest daughter was called Sarah and she was c 1804. I have found 12 children so far.
Sarah
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Post by Cornish Terrier on Aug 21, 2009 14:31:39 GMT -5
If she were the mother she would have been 43 when Edward was born so I would expect he would have been near the last of a number of children. If that were the case then where were the others? We would be now looking more at Edward being the son of a niece. That is unless Grace had an illegitimate daughter of her own prior to the marriage to James Patterson. The question then would be - why the surname of KNIGHT?? And the only answer I can think of right now would be that the daughter married someone named Knight and they both died soon after Edward was born. But there is still the Adoption theory! |
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Post by sarahpatterson1 on Sept 9, 2009 10:08:20 GMT -5
Sorry for the delay coming back, Edward's father was called William Knight who was a lawyer born in St Germans and his mother was called Betsey Bishop born in Buckland Monachorum, Devon.
I am going to do some investigation on these 2 people to see if I can come up with anything.
Sarah
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Post by Cornish Terrier on Sept 9, 2009 18:53:04 GMT -5
Okay Sarah - thanks for the update.
Please keep us informed but I will also try to take another look at this later on today.
CT
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