Hi Lillian, Thanks for your reply. Illegitimacy was my favourite solution to the riddle but with the name Sutton, living in Sutton, she could be a foundling, it could be an error, or something else I haven’t thought of. But I left out reasons so as not to put preconceptions in other’s minds. Thanks again Christine From: Lilian Andrew Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 12:32 AM To: Christine Benson ; Cheshire List Subject: Re: [CHS] Sarah SUTTON m 1843 father James GOODWIN ??? Hello Christine, I may have an explanation for Sarah Sutton stating her father to be James Goodwin. I have a couple of these instances in my tree. It probably means that Sarah was born illegitimately, but she was told her father was James Goodwin and she's had this put on her marriage certificate. In one case I found a bastardy bond taken out by the mother as a way of making the father contribute towards the child's upbringing. Something to consider is that Sarah's mother may have married this James Goodwin after her birth and she passed as Sarah Goodwin in the census return until she came to marry. This happened to my great Grandfather, James Weaver. Good hunting Lilian Andrew Sydney -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christine Benson via <cheshire@rootsweb.com> To: CHESHIRE mailing list <CHESHIRE@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, 2 September 2014, 23:38 Subject: [CHS] Sarah SUTTON m 1843 father James GOODWIN ??? Hi All, Sarah SUTTON was the first wife of Josiah WHITTAKER. They married 20 Aug 1843 in St George's Chapel, Sutton. Josiah was born 1821, Gawsworth so I presume Sarah was of a similar age. On the parish record Sarah was a spinster at marriage but her father was James GOODWIN. That is strange. He was a farmer and Josiah is shown as a farmer when he married. Sarah presumably died as Josiah remarried in Jun 1851. However although he states he was living in Macclesfield when he remarried I cannot find him in 1851. There is a highly probable daughter of Josiah and Sarah, Sarah bap. Oct 1847 at Sutton. But I cannot trace her thereafter. Can anyone throw more light on Sarah Sutton and/or find any of these people in 1841/51? Any help gratefully received Christine ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message