Hi All, Relevant to the recent discussions the question of doubtful parentage and unplanned pregnancies springs up in my tree several times. My paternal grandmother having been a widow for over ten years suddenly found herself pregnant at the age of 47! A quick dash to the register office for that one to make it all legal. I searched for years for my maternal grandparents wedding only to find that they married on the day my mother's birth was registered. She was two months old at the time of the wedding and Harry MOORLEY was thus the father according to the BC or was he? Perhaps he was one of many but my grandmother convinced him he was the father.Who can tell? Ah well thats life. Mike Waterlooville

'Morning from a sunny Isle of Portland, It is documented that there was a time down here when proof of pregnancy was almost obligatory before the in-laws would sanction a marriage. Examination of early PRs around the country would also suggest that this was sometimes the case in other places - it's just that, like so many of the other marriage rituals etc. that were celebrated into the 19th century, they didn't go down too well with Victorian society and were eventually out-lawed, and as a result have been white-washed from history - much like the beautiful interior decoration of some of our older churches. Some would call the Victorians a civilizing influence, whereas there are times when you might almost describe them as the new barbarians? Paul Portland, where it is said that the pixies were still alive and well in the 19th Century ;-) On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 05:10:11 EDT, Hillmoore@aol.com wrote: >Hi All, > >Relevant to the recent discussions the question of doubtful parentage and >unplanned pregnancies springs up in my tree several times. My paternal >grandmother having been a widow for over ten years suddenly found herself pregnant at >the age of 47! A quick dash to the register office for that one to make it >all legal. > >I searched for years for my maternal grandparents wedding only to find that >they married on the day my mother's birth was registered. She was two months >old at the time of the wedding and Harry MOORLEY was thus the father according >to the BC or was he? Perhaps he was one of many but my grandmother convinced > him he was the father.Who can tell? > >Ah well thats life. > >Mike >Waterlooville > > >==== ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT Mailing List ==== >Visit the knightroots website at www.knightroots.co.uk > >============================== >Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. >Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx 50.33.50N 02.26.70W http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html