July 1759 - Sarah BALL's child Bastardy Bonds (General)

by amlet, Thursday, March 24, 2011, 07:16 (5062 days ago) @ Simone

Thank you everyone who has provided input to this thread. Yesterday, I received a message from the Gloucestershire Archives which I'm posting below. Overseers accounts can be a goldmine of information and I'm wondering now how to proceed.

Any thoughts or suggestions gratefully received.

Of course I've written and thanked the Archives for their assistance.

Sarah Ball

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately the attachment you sent appears to have been lost, so I am unable to advise you further, based on the information it contains. The reference you found relates to the overseers records of the Parish of Westbury-on-Severn. These records have been indexed and transcribed, due to their fragile nature. Below is a transcript of the entry relating to Sarah Ball in Westbury-on-Severn in 1760:

Indemnity Bond
1760 Careless and Davis for Sarah Ball’s bastard child.

There is another reference to this in 1759 (P354 OV 5/1/6):

16 Jul 1759 Thomas Careless of Hampton Bishop, Herefordshire, blacksmith, and James Davis of Hampton Bishop, mason, bound for the male bastard child of Sarah Ball of Castle Frome, Herefordshire born in Westbury-on-Severn.

This means that either Thomas or James could have been the father of Sarah’s child. They would have had to give Sarah money to support herself and the child. If they could not do this, they would then have to pay the parish money – this is probably the reason for the indemnity bond. It is possible that more information is held at Herefordshire Record Office, The Old Barracks, Harold Street, Hereford, HR1 2QX (Telephone: 01432 260750 E-mail; archives@hereford.gov.uk) http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/3007.asp.

Unfortunately Gloucestershire Archives no longer possesses the staffing resources to offer a detailed research service. If you would like to obtain copies, please let us know the finding references of the documents you are interested in and we can provide you with a quotation.

As you are unable to visit in person, some private researchers advertise their services through our web site, although we take no responsibility for the quality of the service provided. Their details can be found at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/familyhistory.

I am sorry that Gloucestershire Archives is unable to help you further in this instance, but I hope that this information is of help to you in your research.

Yours sincerely,
Sarah Aitken
Archives Assistant