----- Original Message -----
From: "Allen Powell" <Allen.Powell(a)aneddle.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <GLAMORGAN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday 06 2001 5:19 AM
Subject: Unwed chidren
In the not too dim and distant past bringing an illegitimate child
into
the world was considered to be a mortal sin. The 'sinners' were,
midway
through the Sunday evening service, called out to 'The Big Seat' and in
front of the congregation, severely harangued by the preacher and some of
the senior Deacons and their membership of the chapel terminated. I can
assure all readers that this was not a pretty sight ! They were allowed to
rejoin if and when they got married. The Methodists were particularly hot on
this one and I can remember an example in our village around 1947. I have
not heard of any cases since then.
To avoid this and also sometimes because the parents of the girl did
not
think the lad was good enough, they would announce that they, the parents,
had had another child and bring it up as such. I think this helps to explain
at least some of the strange age groupings.
Following this line, in Julia's example of the Davies ladies,
when Grace
was
born, Ellen (senior) would have been 52, Ellen (junior) 28 and Mary
23.
The chances are that she was the daughter of one of the two youngsters !
Allen
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