Thomas Johnson marred Sarah Ann Davies in Treorchy in September 1883. The birth of their first child, Robert Richard, was registered in Pontypridd, March quarter, 1884. Born Treorchy. He was still lving with his parents in 1901. He married Mary Jones in March quarter, 1906. Registered in Pontypridd. Thomas and Sarah's 12th and last child was registered in Pontypridd, September quarter, 1909, named Robert Richard. In 1911 RRJ(1884) was living with his wife and RRJ (1909) was recorded with his parents. This family is a twig at the end of a branch of the tree. The only certificate I have is for the marriage of Thomas and Sarah Ann. Can anyone detect a flaw in my reasoning or, alternatively, suggest a possible explanation for the duplication?
I suspect that this is really their grandson, the child of one of their daughters. Looking at the GRO record, no mother's maiden name is given, indicating that the baby was illegitimate. Just the surname of JOHNSON is given.
Could the second Robert Richard JOHNSON have been the illegitimate son of one of the daughters of Thomas & Sarah? The birth registration for the first Robert Richard in 1884 shows the mother's maiden name to have been DAVIES but there is no mother's maiden name shown on the birth registration of the second Robert Richard in 1909 which normally indicates that this was an illegitimate birth. Janet
Thanks, Jan and Janet. That makes perfect sense. I don't know why I didnt check the GRO Index before. Looking at 1911 Sarah is the only daughter of child bearing age still with her parents so is quite possibly the mother. Thomas and Sarah Ann declared that they had had 12 children - 11 at regular intervals between 1884-1901 then Robert Richard arrives in 1909. I guess they counted him as theirs. As I said, this family is at the edge of the tree and I'm satisfied with this plausible explanation and so I'll leave it there.
This was the case with my maternal grandmother who was in fact illegitimate. Her actual mother died when she was 18 months old so she grew up thinking her grandparents were her father & mother - caused me a few hiccups when I first started my family research as I was a lot greener then!! Janet
