Why might James Geake have been brought up in a family which was not his own?
In a previous post I demonstrated how DNA revealed that my great-grandfather, James Geake, wasn't the son of George Geake and Maria, nee Dearing, as was previously believed to have been the case. Today I'm going to explore what might have led to James being brought up by the Geakes.
Looking at old census records, we see various terminology to describe relationships. Take, for instance, the term, step-son. This was used correctly on the 1891 census for William Martin, who was the son of Grace Smale nee Martin because the head of the household and Grace's husband, William Smale, was not William Martin's father. Go back ten years when Grace was living with her own father, Philip Martin, William and his illegitimate sister, Edith, were described as son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Clearly they were Philip's grandchildren so it's surprising to see them referred to in this way.
Returning to the Geakes. James was listed as a son when he was living with George and Maria in both the 1881 census when he was just two months old and also in 1891. The interesting thing is that in 1868, George and Maria had a daughter called Sarah Ann who went on to have an illegitimate child in 1889 called Arthur. By 1891 Sarah was working as a domestic servant in Lifton with a family by the name of Colville. Arthur was living with George and Maria Geake near Peter Tavy and was correctly described as a grandson. He was still with his grandparents in 1901 but this time he was recorded as a son on the census.
In those days it wasn't unheard of for an unmarried daughter to have a baby which would subsequently be brought up as a child of her parents, ie. the grandparents would stand in as parents, but clearly Arthur's true relationship couldn't have been that much of a secret to have originally been described as George and Maria's grandson. The takeaway here is that relationship descriptions on census records can't always be relied upon.
So, is it possible that James was the son of one of George and Maria's children, Sarah Ann perhaps? The answer is that it's very unlikely for two reasons. Firstly, Sarah was the eldest and she was still only about 12 or 13 years of age when James was born. Secondly, the DNA match I referred to in my previous post who I named Emily was originally thought to have been a second cousin to my mum and others of her generation. If James had been the son of a child of George and Maria then this would make Emily my mum's second cousin once removed and would likely share DNA with James' descendants which she doesn't.
Descendants of Robert Geake and Mary Arscott
I next went on a bit of a wild goose chase looking for possibilities on another branch of the Geake family. George Geake's grandparents were Robert Geake and Mary Arscott. One of their sons was Walter Geake who'd served in the 64th Regiment of Foot and eventually became a Chelsea Pensioner. It must have been whilst serving in Ireland that Walter met Maria Boyd who became his wife within the Diocese of Elphin in 1840. One of their daughters was subsequently born in Sligo. Descendants of James Geake show connections to the Sligo area in their DNA.
Walter and Maria had four daughters who all eventually married. None of the grandchildren were old enough to have been James' parent so this left the daughters themselves. Again, DNA came into play. If James was descended through Walter's line we might have expected to find DNA matches to the Geakes and the Boyds. Remarkably, some of my relatives do in fact have tentative matches going back several generations which appear to match on the Geake and Arscott lines. However, I would have hoped to have discovered closer matches to descendants of Walter and Maria if this was how we fitted in. It still remains a possibility that we could have come down through Walter and Maria and just have been unlucky to date that no-one more closely related has taken a DNA test but I am not yet convinced.
I'm not writing off any involvement that Walter and his Irish wife, Maria, nee Boyd, might have had though. Because the DNA has a strong connection to Sligo, I wonder whether Walter and Maria had an influence in bringing James (or his birth mother) to Devon. Perhaps his biological family knew the Boyds. It's difficult otherwise, to see how a child with close genetic links to the Sligo and Mayo areas of Ireland might have ended up in Devon.
Might his mother have died in childbirth? Could she have been unmarried or too poor to support him? What about his father? Were the Geakes financially compensated in any way? Adoption wasn't legalized in England until 1926 so could the informal arrangement have been organised by a third party? There are still many unanswered questions. Only DNA may be able to resolve some of them one day as no documented records are likely to reveal the truth.
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[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]
Looking at old census records, we see various terminology to describe relationships. Take, for instance, the term, step-son. This was used correctly on the 1891 census for William Martin, who was the son of Grace Smale nee Martin because the head of the household and Grace's husband, William Smale, was not William Martin's father. Go back ten years when Grace was living with her own father, Philip Martin, William and his illegitimate sister, Edith, were described as son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Clearly they were Philip's grandchildren so it's surprising to see them referred to in this way.
Returning to the Geakes. James was listed as a son when he was living with George and Maria in both the 1881 census when he was just two months old and also in 1891. The interesting thing is that in 1868, George and Maria had a daughter called Sarah Ann who went on to have an illegitimate child in 1889 called Arthur. By 1891 Sarah was working as a domestic servant in Lifton with a family by the name of Colville. Arthur was living with George and Maria Geake near Peter Tavy and was correctly described as a grandson. He was still with his grandparents in 1901 but this time he was recorded as a son on the census.
In those days it wasn't unheard of for an unmarried daughter to have a baby which would subsequently be brought up as a child of her parents, ie. the grandparents would stand in as parents, but clearly Arthur's true relationship couldn't have been that much of a secret to have originally been described as George and Maria's grandson. The takeaway here is that relationship descriptions on census records can't always be relied upon.
So, is it possible that James was the son of one of George and Maria's children, Sarah Ann perhaps? The answer is that it's very unlikely for two reasons. Firstly, Sarah was the eldest and she was still only about 12 or 13 years of age when James was born. Secondly, the DNA match I referred to in my previous post who I named Emily was originally thought to have been a second cousin to my mum and others of her generation. If James had been the son of a child of George and Maria then this would make Emily my mum's second cousin once removed and would likely share DNA with James' descendants which she doesn't.
Descendants of Robert Geake and Mary Arscott
I next went on a bit of a wild goose chase looking for possibilities on another branch of the Geake family. George Geake's grandparents were Robert Geake and Mary Arscott. One of their sons was Walter Geake who'd served in the 64th Regiment of Foot and eventually became a Chelsea Pensioner. It must have been whilst serving in Ireland that Walter met Maria Boyd who became his wife within the Diocese of Elphin in 1840. One of their daughters was subsequently born in Sligo. Descendants of James Geake show connections to the Sligo area in their DNA.
Walter and Maria had four daughters who all eventually married. None of the grandchildren were old enough to have been James' parent so this left the daughters themselves. Again, DNA came into play. If James was descended through Walter's line we might have expected to find DNA matches to the Geakes and the Boyds. Remarkably, some of my relatives do in fact have tentative matches going back several generations which appear to match on the Geake and Arscott lines. However, I would have hoped to have discovered closer matches to descendants of Walter and Maria if this was how we fitted in. It still remains a possibility that we could have come down through Walter and Maria and just have been unlucky to date that no-one more closely related has taken a DNA test but I am not yet convinced.
I'm not writing off any involvement that Walter and his Irish wife, Maria, nee Boyd, might have had though. Because the DNA has a strong connection to Sligo, I wonder whether Walter and Maria had an influence in bringing James (or his birth mother) to Devon. Perhaps his biological family knew the Boyds. It's difficult otherwise, to see how a child with close genetic links to the Sligo and Mayo areas of Ireland might have ended up in Devon.
Might his mother have died in childbirth? Could she have been unmarried or too poor to support him? What about his father? Were the Geakes financially compensated in any way? Adoption wasn't legalized in England until 1926 so could the informal arrangement have been organised by a third party? There are still many unanswered questions. Only DNA may be able to resolve some of them one day as no documented records are likely to reveal the truth.
Please feel free to follow my Blog on Facebook
[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]
Category: Ancestors Corner