Hi Sandra :) I've had your email sitting in my inbox and now I can't find my reply to you, so I'm now wondering if I DID email you? I'm sure I did, but I can't remember if I told you the "story" behind the PROWSE name. Family history has it that PROWSE was indeed Richard's father's name. There were a few PROWSE and PROUSE families in the vicinity of Elizabeth's residence on the 1851 Devon census, so there were a couple of candidates for Richard's father. The main problem I've had in tracing his parentage any further back is that there were no bastardy orders filed!! :(( It seems Elizabeth was living as a pauper in the 1851 census and by 1861 she'd left For Australia. I can't recall the details of the 1841 off the top of my head, but in both 1841 and 1851 there was at least one child from the family "missing". My theory at the time I found them was that perhaps Elizabeth Jr. was off on "holiday" with family to give birth to John EASTLEY because I really do believe SHE is the mother! , not Elizabeth Sr.!! My reasoning for this is that Elizabeth MUGRIDGE was a loving wife, she travelled to the other side of the world to be with her husband so why would she be unfaithful to him? Yes, there's the money issue, especially as she was living as a pauper. But if money WAS the reason she was unfaithful, why didn't she file bastardy orders?!?!? This one has been a real headache for me and I seem to be no closer to finding any information to help knock down these 2 brick walls. I still haven't found John EASTLEY's baptismal records so it's looking more and more like I'm going to have to come to England myself and sit for days looking through parish registers ... sigh!! I'm saving for a trip now actually, hoping to get there by next spring/summer, but I really wanted to leave Germany with at least a little more than I have now, so that I won't have to spent so much time in pokey little rooms trying to read old-fashioned handwriting. At the same time, I'm actually looking forward to finding this information on my own. Does that make sense or does it make me sound even MORE crazy than I am?!? lol Anyway, my biggest goal is to prove that Elizabeth Jr. was in fact the mother of the boys, not Elizabeth Sr. and to find birth/baptismal records for each and every one of them, as well as go back at least one generation on Elizabeth MUGRIDGE's side. I don't even have her parents' names as yet. I have William EASTLEY's parents' names, not that it's done me much good though! :(( Can someone please remind me WHY we beat ourselves up about dead people so incessantly?!?!? lol If you want to see every bit of information I have on this family, it's all on my website on William and Elizabeth's page ... http://www.honeyshome.com/fampages/fam1099.html ... you can work up to Robert and Elizabeth's page from there, where you'll find Charlotte EASTLEY listed as William's sister. You'll find the 1841 and 1851 census information on this page though, which will show you that I think on the 1841 Elizabeth was living with a MOGRIDGE woman. I've been told MUGRIDGE was a posh way of saying MOGRIDGE, so this could be a relative of Elizabeth's living with her at the time. So much to work on, so many records to search ... so many headaches to come!! ;D Take care, Rob. IBSSG Stuttgart, Germany, Honey's Home of Genealogy www.honeyshome.com ----- Original Message ----- From: sandra@windeatt.f2s.com To: ENG-DEV-SOUTHHAMS-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 6:11 AM Subject: [SOUTHHAMS] Re: Eastley What a fascinating story! PROWSE is a very likely candidate to be the name of the father of the two illegitimate children? Unless it turns out to be Elizabeth's maiden name or another surname from the family you already know about. There's a will of a William Prowse - died 1843 - in the Devon Record Office: FILE [no title] - ref. 1078/IRW/P/1270 - date: 1843 [from Scope and Content] William Prowse of Diptford, Devon - highly unlikely to be relevant but - if you don't mind wasting 3 pounds 50 on a very long shot - it might be worth having a look to see if he might be the father and acknowledged it in some way in the will. (Having said that I recently took a look at the will of someone we know to be the father of an illegitimate child that was acknowledged and financially supported by his family - but she isn't mentioned in his will.) Also in the A2A archives are the following apprenticeship orders for Diptford: Diptford Parish Catalogue Ref. 3095 A-2 Creator(s): Church of England, Diptford Parish, Devon OVERSEERS Apprenticeship indentures FILE - Apprenticeship indentures - ref. 3095 A-2/PO 8 - date: 1750-1793 item: Grace Eastley apprenticed to Stephen Boon, yeoman - ref. 3095 A-2/PO 8/69 - date: 1787 item: Mary Eastley apprenticed to Roger Lavers - ref. 3095 A- 2/PO 8/86 - date: 1791 item: Jane Eastley apprenticed to David Manning junior, yeoman - ref. 3095 A-2/PO 8/91 - date: 1792 These could be likely candidates for sisters of William? Or aunts? Poor children were often apprenticed out at a very young age - 7 or so. There's also a Robert Eastley mentioned in the Modbury archives but the wife's name is different: OVERSEERS OF THE POOR Removal Orders from Modbury FILE - Judith, the wife of Robert Eastley (a private in the first battalion of the 5th Regiment of Foot) and Elizabeth their daughter aged 6 mths to Ermington - ref. 269A/PO 204 - date: 1789 It's worth keeping an eye on the A2A results because they add stuff every month or so. Currently there is nothing yet for North Huish but it will be coming some time. Not a lot of help but . . . Best wishes, Sandra sandra@windeatt.f2s.com Home Page: http://www.windeatt.f2s.com ============================== You can manage your RootsWeb-Review subscription from http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/