Blogging A-Z - April Challenge - B is for.......

B is for Bastardy Bonds

About twenty years ago I was merrily working my way through my maternal family line and encountered my first Bastardy Bond.

Samuel Harris was born in 1766, the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Harris in the Surrey parish of Frensham. The location with the parish is very close to the border with Hampshire, at the parishes of Bramshott and Headley.

As was common practice, the unwed and expectant mother was to report her situation to the officials in the parish of settlement. At this point Elizabeth submitted a Bastardy Examination which "forced" the mother to name the father of the expected child. This allowed the parish to seek the father and request that he pay a contribution for the child's upkeep rather than the parish being expected to.

The Bastardy Bond,which you see here was filed on 10th November 1767. Elizabeth clearly names the father as Samuel Holt with the baby being born eighteen months prior.

Bastardy Bond Samuel Holt & Elizabeth Harris
Surrey History Centre ref 1505/30/1767/BB37 - Page 1

Bastardy Bond Samuel Holt & Elizabeth Harris
Surrey History Centre ref 1505/30/1767/BB37 - Page 2

Baby Samuel had by this time already been baptised and is recorded as a Samuel Harris, he is then named Samuel Holt on the bottom of page one above and then marries in 1787 to Sarah Diggins as Samuel Harris.

Marriage of Samuel Harris to Sarah Diggins 9th April 1787 Frensham Surrey
Image courtesy of Ancestry, although I have a copy obtained from
Surrey Heritage Centre dated 1989

There is something rather wonderful that I an see Samuel Holt's spidery and shaky signature, yet his illegitimate son could only sign with a X. There is no further documentation to suggest that Samuel Holt did not keep good on his promise to pay for his child. 

What is worth noting is that the Overseer to the Poor in Farnham was Richard Avenell. Avenell is a well known surname in the area, linking to a clock making family and the name appears in my one-place study for Puttenham about the same time. A generation further on and there are more instances of relationships and children between members of the Harris and Holt families, but that is another story!

Note - If you want to see a larger image of the documents shown please visit

Blogging A-Z - April Challenge - A is for.......

This year I am keeping with a genealogical & historical theme.
A is for Archives.

There is something very special accessing an archive of material whether that is a collection gathered by an individual, group, regional or national facility.

An archive is a link to the past. A past that our ancestors lived, played and worked in, regardless if you are researching your ancestry or not.

An archive is an opportunity to explore the bowels of an establishment, to absorb, delve, be curious in. An environment in which we can ask questions and hopefully identify items and documents that answer those questions.

Of course, once you are in an archive it is very easy to be distracted and head off into a tangent and explore other things. Personally I find that as I look at documents other questions or thoughts pop into my head that perhaps are not related to the quest I am exploring. I record those thoughts in a short mind map style note in my notebook, capturing the essence of the thought whilst keeping on the path of research.

Puttenham Surrey - 2007

There are some great archives in existence and not just the more established ones. There are local archives, that perhaps relate to a particular location. In those instances they are typically run by a team of volunteers. It was such an archive that got me involved with my One-Place Study of Puttenham. My own Puttenham archive is a constant work in progress and I am currently in the process of putting all the material on-line, either at the website or blog.

Here are a few examples of some other local archives. Firstly, this one from the English county of Surrey - Shere Museum. An early branch of my maternal family hailed from Shere, having hopped over the border from Sussex before meandering their way across this part of Surrey.

Where Shere Museum is run as a private entity, Guildford Museum is run by the Borough Council and I spent many a happy Saturday afternoon their in earlier years. Attached to the Museum was originally part of the Surrey Records Office in a rather dusty and dark basement. The room was called the Muniment Room and I spent many, many hours looking through the card indexes which usually meant that I called for a document or two from the archive store. Here I discovered lots about my family that came into Guildford from Shere. More recently, well within the last fifteen years, the Muniment has closed its doors, but the documents are now located in a newly built Surrey History Centre at Woking.

Some records are found at a more national level at The National Archives located at Kew. Records pertaining to Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom are houses in typically the capitals of those locations - Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, but. there are many, many places that may house archives and material that could assist you in your research.

This post has featured Surrey, because that is where my maternal family hails from, but there is more than likely near your own location an archive of whatever description simply waiting for you to walk through its doors and experience and delve into the archives confined within the walls.

Photo of the Bowring Collection at
Royal Albert Memorial Museum Exeter
June 2013 - J Goucher

Sometimes, there can be some really unexpected finds. Last June I visited the Museum in Exeter. I had always wanted to visit and simply enjoy the experience rather than visit with a particular task in mind. So there I was on a rather dismal day in June wandering around the Museum. I have a distant ancestor who was born and died in Exeter yet lived all over the world and had a fascinating life.

His name was Sir John Bowring. As I wandered round I gave a quick ponder to would I see anything mentioning Sir John? Well I did and that prompted me to delve a little deeper into what material was on offer and located at the Museum. I did write a blog post about the visit and you can read that here.

A - Z April Blogging Challenge 2014

The sign up page for the A-Z Blogging Challenge is now LIVE!

Once again I have signed up and have already got organised with some plans for posts. You can read my previous
A-Z posts and details HERE

To read the details, rules and sign up CLICK HERE.