I was extremely fortunate with my research into my own surname, the family stayed firmly rooted in Harwell (BRK) generation after generation so that tracing back was a fairly simple matter. Right, who's next? I decided to have a look at the family of my father's mother and almost immediately ground to a halt.
It transpired that my great-grandfather assumed a different surname some time after his marriage, and my ten-year search to sort this out formed the basis of two articles in Oxfordshire Family Historian in 1996 and 1997. This page tells the same story.
My father's sister (born 1880) told me that her mother, with the unusual forename Rubacelle, was the daughter of Thomas Tanner, Publican at Berrick Salome (OXF), and his wife Emma, née Whichello. Fine! I found the Baptism at Newington (OXF): Rubacelle, daughter of Thomas Tanner, Publican, and Emma. Let's now find Thomas's parents.
Thomas and Emma appeared in the 1841 census in the same house as Elizabeth Tanner, a Farmer born in Oxfordshire, age given as 50. It seems I am making progress, so now I am looking for an Elizabeth born in the 1790s who married a Tanner. In 1996 I declared three possibles, by 1997 I had four, and quite incredibly two of the Elizabeths had the maiden name Tanner.
One by one, these were rejected. I was rather hopeful with one, a farmer called James Tanner (widower), who married Elizabeth Slatter (spinster) in 1835 at Berrick Salome. I considered the possibility that Elizabeth could be step-mother to Thomas, but I discovered that his birth clashed with the birth of one of James Tanner's own children, so that was rejected as well. My list of 'possibles or probables' was now empty.
Finding g-grandfather's marriage would (hopefully) give me his father - I couldn't find his marriage. I did find a marriage at Berrick Salome for Emma Whichello in 1841 but according to the Register she married Thomas Slaughter. I tried an in-depth look at that family, the spelling of which the Parish Clerks changed at the drop of a hat between Slater, Slatter and Slaughter.
I discovered that the Elizabeth Slatter who married James Tanner in 1835 had an illegitimate son called Thomas, and this Thomas married Emma Whichello at Berrick Salome. Everything pointed towards Thomas Tanner and Thomas Slatter being one and the same. Proving it was the problem, but I was eventually able to do so, as follows:
1815 Baptism at Bensington (Benson OXF) of Thomas, son of Elizabeth Slatter, Single Woman.
1835 Elizabeth Slatter, spinster, married widower James Tanner.
1841 January. Thomas Slaughter (no father shown) married at Bensington to Emma Whichello.
He signed as Slatter and the Berrick Salome Banns Book shows Slatter.
1841 June. For the Census, Elizabeth, Thomas and Emma together at Berrick Salome, all as Tanner.
1844 First child born - registered as William Thomas Tanner Slatter son of Thomas Slatter and Emma formerly Whichello.
1851 Second child born - registered as Rubacelle Tanner Tanner daughter of Thomas Tanner and Emma formerly Whichello.
1871 Son, William Thomas Tanner married, as son of Thomas Tanner. Rubacelle was one of the Witnesses.
1875 Daughter, Rubacelle Tanner married (to William Talbot), as daughter of Thomas Tanner.
1892 Thomas Tanner died. Informant on his death certificate was his daughter Rubacelle Talbot.
Although my grandmother is shown in the index of the General Register Office as Rubacelle Tanner Tanner I took this as a simple clerical error and just ignored it, and even the inclusion of Tanner in the 'Name' column on the birth certificate didn't strike me as strange. It wasn't until I got her older brother's birth certificate that the pieces of the jig-saw really began to fit together.
But why the change of surname? Berrick Salome is a very small village, so everyone would have known him, his background, and possibly even the identity of his father. The father could have been the James Tanner who eventually married his mother, so was this some form of public acknowledgement of his background? Could it have been to do with an inheritance ? I can find no Wills for either James Tanner the Farmer, or Thomas Tanner the Publican (or even Thomas Slatter). I am only sure of one thing here - that I will never know the reason.
William Slatter/Tanner and his family haven't finished confusing me yet. I was given to understand that Rubacelle's younger sister had an illegitimate child and moved down to the Wimbledon (SRY) area where she married and raised a family. This was verbal information from the family which contains a half-truth and a very vague location.
The supposedly illegitimate child's birth certificate shows her as Nellie, daughter of Thomas Edward Galloway Williams, Gentleman, and Louisa Emma Williams, formerly Tanner. Sounds legitimate to me.
Louisa would have been 24 at the time of Nellie's birth and her marriage must have occurred after she had reached the age of 21 (she signed as Tanner when witnessing Rubacelle's wedding). Rubacelle's Birthday Book records the birth of 'Niece Nellie' and the Will of Emma Tanner (née Whichello) refers to her as Nellie Tanner or Williams.
I couldn't find the wedding of Louisa and Thomas E G Williams, but I did find her wedding to widower James Marcham in 1881 at Newington OXF and they subsequently had children registered at Greenwich, Lewisham, Wandsworth and Deptford (I suppose that is vaguely in the Wimbledon area!) On the marriage certificate she is not shown as a widow, spinster or even divorced, but under her status are the words 'Formerly illegally married'. !?!?
No! Don't ask! I have no idea, but I have only been working on that one for about five years, so it is early days yet.
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