AGM followed by “Don’t let the Bastards get you down!!”

A.G.M. notes are available here in .pdf format.
AGM Minutes Secretary’s Report
The speaker for the evening was our own President, Wim Zwalf, and the chosen subject was “Don’t let the Bastards get you down!!”
Wim began with the information that the first mention of Bastard was in the Book of Kings in the Bible, so it is not a new invention. Indeed, some very illustrious people have been Bastards, such as William the Conqueror or William the Bastard as he was know in his homeland. Not to mention the many Royal Bastards who have cropped up in history down the years.
About 3% of the population were thought to be bastards at one time and the average would have been higher but for the ‘Shot-Gun Marriages’ of the earlier centuries.
In the 17th Century there was a population explosion, and between 1820 and 1860 was recorded the highest number of illegitimate births.
Some of these were ‘hidden’ from the public eye, by the simple act of not baptising the child until the parents had married, as the child would not then be classed as base born, illegitimate or a bastard in the Church Records, as was usually the fate of any child of an unmarried woman.
A German saying, amongst the many quotes by Wim, “Every child has at least 1 father” !!
Wim interspersed his talk with comments on how he had traced the ‘unknown/undisclosed’ history of an elderly female relation, who would probably have been mortified if she had known what he managed to unearth!! However, we must all have found a few skeletons in our Family History cupboards, so she may not be alone in having her secrets revealed.
When looking for information about possible members of a family whether base born or legitimate, always check the original records. Many a Vicar has written revealing notes in the margin of his Church Records, including the actual date of birth of a child, which when compared with the marriage records of the parents can be quite illuminating.
It is also very helpful when several children of the same family are baptised at the same time, if only to prove that the poor woman had not produced 6 children in one birth!!
One telling comment which I found in a Church Marriage Record, “ the groom absconded the following day”. One wonders why!!
Check unusual names, they can often give clues about the parentage of an illegitimate child, especially when checked against the census returns, and the neighbouring families !!
Check and check again, and use some lateral thinking. A child baptised as William James Gibson Howsdon , with no father mentioned, was eventually believed to be the son of James Gibson, who lived a few doors away from the unmarried Howsdon mother, both similar age, but not married at the time.
Court Records can be a useful source of information, giving details of bastards, and charges made on men cited as the father of bastards.
Church Warden’s Accounts are also very useful, as they may give details of maintenance charges, or payments to unmarried mothers.
As usual Wim gave a very informative and amusing talk. As on listener commented “We should have taped it”. Yes, we probably should have done just that.
[Judy Green]