I've done some reading up on the laws and customs surrounding bastardy in those times, and I've read that the support of the illegitimate child typically was administered through the mother's home parish. Ann (Lang) Saunders was from Plymstock. I'm quite certain that she was christened there, and they married there. Phillip was not from Plymstock. Now, if they were living in Brixton when she conceived and bore Richard by another man, would she not have been more or less obligated by law to return to Plymstock? At least if she wanted help from the church for his support. Now suppose that Richard was born in the fall or winter. Wouldn't they have waited till spring to make the move back to Plymstock? We've written off Richard as a child of the same Ann that is married to Phillip, mostly because we haven't seen much precedence for a wife stepping out on the husband, and them sticking together. We've also discounted it because if the short amount of time between richard's and the next child's christenings. But, given the circumstances, I haven't written off the possibility that Richard was 6 - 9 months old (or more) when the arrived back in Plymstock in the spring... Just food for thought.

Hi, it seems to me the whole point of settlement was to give security to a child who could in hard times call on the poor law relief etc of that parish . You say you are certain that Ann was christened in Plymstock , have you found this ? is there an Ann Saunders chr c ? was she a sister of Philip ? Where was Philip from ? and Plymstock would only be responsible for Ann and her illegitmate child if she Ann was born there And applied to the overseers of the poor for poor relief . And they managed ,as we still do here in the UK , to move about in fall or winter and spring !!!! we aren`t talking 100s of miles here .. life is hard . soften it with a cat \\\=^..^=/// ----- Original Message ----- From: "Blaine Sanders" <utvairs@yahoo.com> To: <devon@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2013 2:28 AM Subject: Re: [DEV] Richard Page SAUNDERS > I've done some reading up on the laws and customs surrounding bastardy in > those times, and I've read that the support of the illegitimate child > typically was administered through the mother's home parish. Ann (Lang) > Saunders was from Plymstock. I'm quite certain that she was christened > there, and they married there. Phillip was not from Plymstock. Now, if > they were living in Brixton when she conceived and bore Richard by another > man, would she not have been more or less obligated by law to return to > Plymstock? At least if she wanted help from the church for his support. > Now suppose that Richard was born in the fall or winter. Wouldn't they > have waited till spring to make the move back to Plymstock? > > We've written off Richard as a child of the same Ann that is married to > Phillip, mostly because we haven't seen much precedence for a wife > stepping out on the husband, and them sticking together. We've also > discounted it because if the short amount of time between richard's and > the next child's christenings. But, given the circumstances, I haven't > written off the possibility that Richard was 6 - 9 months old (or more) > when the arrived back in Plymstock in the spring... > > Just food for thought. > ------------------------------------------ > The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon > ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) > and > the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) > List archive for Devon can be found at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >