Tracking down an elusive ancestor often takes patience and a good deal of detective work, and often cannot be conclusively proven. One such possibility is outlined below.
For example, in English parish records for Maulden, Leighton Buzzard, and Cranfield there were always a significant number of illegitimate births. They were given the mother's surname, and some baptisms had notations beside them saying "Mother claims the father was so and so" and in some cases the baby (if male) was given the same names as the purported father.
We are currently looking for an illegitimate child born in one of two or three parishes with specific given names. The father would have been a farrier (a man who made horseshoes and put them on horses). Such a trade involved using a horse and wagon, a portable forge and anvil for heating and bending horseshoes, a number of tools, and regular monthly or quarterly trips to various villages and farms within a radius of 10 to 20 miles. Farmers who used the services could reduce the cost of the service by providing lodging and a meal. The given names we are looking for are slightly unusual to the point if they showed up it would lead to a fairly high probability of the farrier being the father.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
For example, in English parish records for Maulden, Leighton Buzzard, and Cranfield there were always a significant number of illegitimate births. They were given the mother's surname, and some baptisms had notations beside them saying "Mother claims the father was so and so" and in some cases the baby (if male) was given the same names as the purported father.
We are currently looking for an illegitimate child born in one of two or three parishes with specific given names. The father would have been a farrier (a man who made horseshoes and put them on horses). Such a trade involved using a horse and wagon, a portable forge and anvil for heating and bending horseshoes, a number of tools, and regular monthly or quarterly trips to various villages and farms within a radius of 10 to 20 miles. Farmers who used the services could reduce the cost of the service by providing lodging and a meal. The given names we are looking for are slightly unusual to the point if they showed up it would lead to a fairly high probability of the farrier being the father.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.