Dear list, I am helping a friend and his elderly uncle research their family history. There is a family legend/story that involves a connection with the Duke of Portland in the early 1800s. The story goes that a young woman with the surname of HAYCOCK, a servant at the Duke of Portland estate in Nottinghamshire, had a child out of wedlock who may have been fathered by the Duke. Current research has identified their direct ancestor as Joseph Haycock born about 1831 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Joseph married and lived in Sheffield, Yorkshire. He and his wife Maria Cawthorn had 5 children Fanny Jane, Maria, Lucy, Thomas and Annie. I have not been able to find his christening however there is a John Haycock christened 27 Feb 1820 at St Mary (Priory). John's mother is Ann Haycock a "Singlewoman" living at Bridge St in Worksop. The story of a connection to the Duke of Portland appears in 3 different descendant lines of Joseph. I found a query on the Nottingham message board posted in 2001 indicating a Duke of Portland connection but have been unable to contact the individual. I also made contact with another descendant of Joseph via a different line. The following is what he provided. "I spoke to my mother this morning about the Duke of Portland link and the story, as she recalls it, is that it is possibly John Haycock who was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Portland. Someone in the family, she is not sure who, tried investigating the matter sometime between 1900 & 1950 (a bit vague but she is trying to recall something that was last discussed around 50 years ago).She tells me that there were a number of letters in my paternal grandmother's possession relating to it but they were destroyed at some stage as they were causing a rift in the family. My mother did get to have a look at them before they were destroyed and she seems to recall a letter from a solicitor stating that (whoever) was doing the investigation would be well advised to leave things alone. She seems to regard this as proof that there was some basis in the rumour and this was the Duke's solicitor warning the person off; however I think it could just as easily have been the person's solicitor advising them that it wasn't worth the effort as there was no substance in the matter. She says that the person, who she thinks was named John or Joseph but is not sure, never held down a job but would quite often disappear for some length of time and reappear with money. His wife was obviously suspicious of this and found out that he was being paid for doing jobs around the Duke's estate. On one of these visits the man died and was given a fairly extravagant funeral with a hearse pulled by 4 black horses. If it is John and there is truth in the story then his father could have been the 4th Duke. If it is Joseph then it could have been the 5th Duke who, according to Wikipedia, was a bit of a strange chap." His mother provided a copy of John Haycock's baptism certificate dated in 1903. I am looking for others with this legend/story in their family in an effort to determine as much of the story possible. I would like to know where this family originated as I can't find them in Nottinghamshire prior to 1820. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Bruce Barrett Heath, Ohio