It strikes me that there are four generations of relinquished daughters in my grandmother’s family tree, as far as I can see back.
Mary Ann Hurford (my gggggrandmother) seems to have had a daughter out of wedlock. Her name was Flora, and in the census records she seems to be living with a different family member every ten years until her marriage to George Parsons. Perhaps Mary had to relinquish care of her daughter Flora until she could marry James Batten – who was recorded as Flora’s father at her christening before Mary and James were married.
Flora grew up to marry George Parsons, and have a stack of Parsons children, including my gggrandmother, Ellen Parsons. The Parsons seem to have all contributed to the running of the West Monkton Post Office Stores and the census records are consistent with Ellen living under the care of her mother, or at least her family.
Ellen married Oliver Ridgway and somewhere along the line had to give up care of her daughter Evelyn, my ggrandmother. I know this is due to the break up of her marriage, but I have no idea the extent to which certain factors played in the circumstances.
Evelyn was raised in Australia with her father, until she became pregnant with my grandmother Olwyn. Olwyn was a few months old when Evelyn relinquished care of her and she was adopted by the Hann family. There are photos of Evelyn with Olwyn at about 7 months and 15 months of age. My opinion is that if Evelyn had found herself pregnant now instead of in 1929, it would have been more socially acceptable for her to keep her child.
Olwyn was raised by the Hann family until she met my grandfather and became pregnant at 18. She married him and had two children – my father and my aunt. However, she doesn’t look very happy in any of the photos I’ve seen. She left my grandfather and her two children when they were toddlers. The daughter she left behind, my aunt, was too young to understand and was very distraught.
My aunt was raised by her father and became pregnant out of wedlock too. She adopted her daughter out, but now has contact with her. My cousin is going to have a baby with her boyfriend quite soon. I think the cycle has been broken.
Evelyn married and moved to New Zealand with her two daughters from that marriage. Unfortunately I don’t think her life was easy or happy. One of her daughters had a son out of wedlock, which would have brought up painful memories for her. However, Evelyn’s daughter was able to keep caring for her son, which adds weight to my theory that the cycle of having to relinquish care of children has been broken. Which begs the question: when did the cycle start?
Did the cycle start with Mary Ann Hurford or earlier? Did it start with Ellen Parsons? I suppose I won’t know the answers to those questions unless I can find living relatives or other documentary evidence. Unfortunately the Parsons are quite tricky to find. I’m still using family tree methods to try to find them, but I’m running out of options. One of my cousins in West Monkton suggested I try contacting people with the last name “Parsons” still living in the town. Perhaps I will.
