Genealogy Chat

My Gt Grandmother married a Henry Thomas in 1902. In 1913 she had a son called William Thomas who died soon after being born. I have his birth cert but the fathers name is blank! In 1914 she gave birth to a girl Lilian, my grandmother. Mothers name Thomas nee Coomber Fathers name George Plested (Lilian was born in the house next door to the one William was born in). They had 2 other children together. George Plested died in 1935 and have been looking for a marriage but to no avail. Gt Grandmother then married a H Langridge and on their marriage cert her name is Thomas nee Coomber so doesn't look like she married George Plested. Was wondering why Williams fathers name was blank and why she never married G Plested or am I being naive? Can't find a death for Henry Thomas (loads of them) could he have died during the !st war? could he have run off? Jen

As she clearly had the children with Mr Plested out of wedlock, it isn't unlikely that she had the other one the same way. Perhaps her husband couldn't father children.........for whatever reason. Perhaps her husband was still alive when she had the Plested offspring, and remained so until shortly before she married for the second time. Or the chap Plested was married to someone else......... Reg

Thanks Reg You kind of validated all that I had been thinking. Don;t think I'll ever know. Thanks Jen

Have you looked for the first husband in the WW1 medal cards or the cwgc deaths?

Though of course we will never know for sure , as they were so close in age it is possible that both baby WIlliam and Lilian were George Plested's offspring. The father's name could only go on the birth registration of illegitimate children if he attended to register the birth so if George didn't go with your gt grandmother to register William's birth it would have been recorded under her name.

William Thomas' death certificate might hold some clues. Maybe he will be referred to as son of George....or maybe George will be the informant, with relationship shown. As Mrs Thomas, any children are likely to have been registered with this surname, regardless of paternity, unless a different father was present at the registration. Gwy

Perhaps she was deserted by Mr Thomas. As she didn't know if he was dead or alive she couldn't remarry until she was informed that he had died.