Research Forum

As you know, the most common reason for an unusual second name for an illegitimate child is that it signifies the father's surname.  There is a vague possibility that the Overseers Accounts for Congresbury might have some information about any payment made to support Mary BATT which might name putative father.

When she gave the name George BATT as father - it could be that the clerk assumed the surname was BATT - Have you found a George PAIN in your researching which could support the DNA connection?

Hi Pat and Dave,

I looked at a few trees on Ancestry and they all give Henry Batt and Mary Shenton as Mary's parents (married at Yatton on 7 May 1805). I was wondering if this might be where things go wrong? I think their marriage is reported on page 4 of the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, Thursday 16 May 1805 edition. "MARRIED  … At Yatton, Henry Batt, esq; Miss Mary Shenton, of Street, near Glastonbury".

This is quite interesting (and confusing) as it suggests Henry is quite well-off (esquire and a notice in the paper) and that Mary came from Street (whereas most Ancestry trees seem to think she came from Yatton/Kenn or thereabouts). There are numerous Shentons at Street but I could not find a Mary Shenton baptised with anywhere near her supposed birth date.

So, this is probably quite unhelpful (!), but perhaps the Henry Batt and Mary Shenton married at Yatton are not the correct ancestors, and if you did find the right one, then perhaps that middle name might make sense (maiden name of an ancestor?) However, of course, you might have a different/correct ancestor to everyone else!

Best regards,
Richard

I think it is probably Thomas Shenton (Mary's father) that is from Street (baptised 7 October 1739 at Street). So the child is wherever the father comes from - They were strange times.

Thank you both for your responses. As ever, there is food for thought in there. I’ll try to deal with each point in turn:

1.     Yes, my original thought was that Luffman was a clue to the true identity of Sarah Luffman BATT’s father. But I couldn’t find anyone that fitted the bill so to speak.

2.     I haven’t been able to find Congresbury Overseers Accounts online. Are they?

3.     Yes, Edward PAIN had a brother called George. He was about 9 years younger. Interestingly two of my DNA matches are to his descendants. But we share very little DNA. So little, that I doubt that George is a direct ancestor of mine. I think it more likely that our most recent common ancestor is a generation or two further back. I have DNA matches with 2 other descendants of Edward PAIN through children born after Edward’s marriage to Mary BATT and I share almost twice as much DNA with them. I recognise that this is not an exact science, but it does seem more likely that Edward, rather than George, is my direct ancestor. What would be helpful is if I could identify a DNA match to someone who is a direct ancestor of Edward through his first marriage.

4.     Mary SHENTON was baptised at Yatton on 12 June 1770. Her brother, Thomas, was baptised the same day. I believe that she was the Mary SHENTON who married Henry BATT at Yatton on 7 May 1805. Henry was buried in Yatton on 16 February1837. Mary was still in Yatton in 1851 and her place of birth was recorded as Kenn.

5.     I have Thomas SHENTON marrying Mary MARCH at Worle on 25 March 1767. According to the marriage record he was “of Kenn”. There is no baptism record for him there. The reference to Street in the newspaper report is intriguing and it does look like the baptism record of 7 October 1739 is probably the right one.

Thank you for the additional information Dave - I didn't know any of that and it is a really interesting "problem" to research. This doesn't help your search much but it does look like the Shentons were related to the Batts before even Mary Shenton's marriage to Henry Batt. It appears that Mary's father, Thomas Shenton, was the son of John Shenton and Mary Batt, who married at Street on 12 April 1726.

The last thing I was going to ask was if you knew Mary Payne/Pain (née Batt) had a sister called Sarah? I noticed this on page 2 of the Thursday 24 December 1829 edition of the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette:

"Sarah Batt, housemaid to Dr. Robertson, of Long Acre, was committed to Newgate, Saturday, from Bow street, for robbing her master of 14 silver table spoons. She acknowledged her guilt, and said she did it to raise a sum of money to pay for nursing an illegitimate child!" [The paper added the exclamation mark]

I was wondering if Mary had "adopted" Sarah Luffman for a family member. I think Sarah got 4 years (ludicrous) and may even have been transported to Australia (it may be the same person - I cannot work it out).

Thanks, Richard.

I got back to that same prior connection with the BATTs last night too, before going to bed. It remains to be seen how the 2 lines are connected.

I don't have a sister Sara(h) for Mary. I've checked a few sources and haven't found a likely birth in Yatton, so it looks as if this is a different family.