THOMAS/MOUNTJOY/BRISCOE - previous threads (General)

by unknown, Friday, September 02, 2011, 02:49 (4614 days ago) @ sechelt

My name is Geraint Briscoe and my great grandfather was William Briscoe born William Thomas (1884-1958) and he was another child of Elizabeth Sophia Thomas, who in turn was a child of Mary Ann Mountjoy who became a Thomas and then finally a Briscoe when in 1861 she married William Briscoe, (1825-1897) the Forest Keeper.

There were 8 children all born between 1880-1889 at Sallow Vallets Lodge which was the home of William Briscoe and Mary Ann. All of these children had no father on their birth certificate and were born Thomas. On the 1891 census all these children appear at Sallow Vallets Lodge as William Briscoe's "nieces and nephews".

On the next census in 1901 William Briscoe, Mary Ann Briscoe and Elizabeth Sophia Thomas,the mother of all those 8 kids have died and the kids all now have the surname Briscoe and that is how they all stayed up to when they died or married for the females. The illegitimate part comes from a lot of people (including me) think that William Briscoe was the father of all those 8 Thomas kids born to Elizabeth Sophia Thomas.

If that was the case then it means that William Briscoe was getting his step-daughter pregnant many times and Elizabeth was having relations with her Mother's husband. That would explain why he couldn't allow his name as father on the birth certificates. Of course this can never be proven unless we dig him up and do DNA and I have been in touch with people who don't believe William to have fathered the 8 Thomas kids so it is a matter of how you see things.

If William was not the father though, then who was? Was it the same father or many different men? I do know that in the 1880's William and Mary Ann were struggling financially and healthwise. Raising children didn't come cheap so unless William was the father I struggle to see that he would allow his step-daughter to become pregnant 8 times and continue to live in his house.

I think everyone that could answer that question has now taken their secrets to their grave and as I say, only DNA now can tell the truth and I doubt very much that anyone will bother. I don't even know if it would be allowed. I have a great many birth, marriage and death cetificates on this family.