Please can someone help? I'm trying to get to the truth! My 3 x great grandmother was a Mary Ann Halford born in about 1830. Her father was George Halford they lived in Blakeney and were native to there as far as I know. George was a Sawyer.my problem is that there was more than one George Halford at the time. But which is mine? One is connected to the Newland area and one in Blakeney. However Mary Ann Halford married James Thomas who was born in the Newland area. See my confusion! I'm thinking they may be connected by don't know how. Father/son? Uncle/nephew? Or no connection at all and which one is Mary Ann's Father? There is also an on going debate as to the 1841 census when the family appear to be listed as Jenkins ( not Halford) but this could be the fault of the person who took the census and wrote it down wrong. Just wondered if any of you kind people had an opinion

Ive spent all evening looking again at this and have come to the conclusion that George Halford was born George Jenkins the illegitimate son of Ann Jenkins of Awre. At some point after 1841 but before 1849 the name was changed to Halford. Maybe one of the Halfords in that area was his Father? And that's why he started using the name!

Hello,A bit of a coincidence my Great x4 Grandather was John Halford Jenkins born 1802 to a single mother Nancy Jenkins,he married a Ann Willetts in 1826 as a Jenkins and some of his children were baptized as Jenkins but in the census's,Death and Will he was a Halford.

Yes this is all very strange isnt it? The Ann Jenkins that I found, who I think was George's mother later married a James Virgo. Although im not sure that what I'm seeing is correct. I wonder if there is some sort of connection. I don't understand the name change and very funny that you have found the same thing with a Jenkins and Halford. I don't know where we go from here. This really is a brick wall!

There's some prior threads relating to Halford/Jenkins at:

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=21636
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?mode=thread&id=29197

James Thomas was a resident of Yorkley Slade at the time of the marriage, which is in a detached part of Newland parish and adjacent to Blakeney Hill. So he may not have been from Newland itself.

Thank you for this. I am not local so information such as this is really helpful.
I discovered today that James Thomas was one of the witnesses at the wedding of Harriet Halford who was Mary Ann's older sister. She got married a few months before James Thomas and Mary Ann Halford were married. So i'm on the right track. Just don't understand the Jenkins / Halford name change. Why do This? Or am I looking at the wrong people. Don't think so. There's a lot of us that are seeing the same thing.

Thank you for posting the links,in the 1st link and the 15th comment list's Nancy Jenkins that's my family line she is my 5th Great Grandmother.
Also she had another child out of wedlock Sarah Coles Jenkins baptized 1797.

For what it's worth. Having now spent some time looking at this, and even though I started with a good deal of scepticism, I'm of the opinion that George did change his name. Why? I don't know. But, as you suggested, maybe he discovered who his father was and then changed it.

It's interesting ! There's a great story here. Just wish I could find out what was going on then . It's very unusual for a whole family to change their name. Maybe they were on the run ! Ha ha ! Or his biological father decided to reconise him. Maybe he felt a sense of shame being born illegitimately.
I suppose it's unlikely that we will ever know for sure. It's all going in my family history book even though we don't have answers. I think George Jenkins/Halford was quite a character. A prison record from 1861 describes him as having 2 fractured legs! Someone on ancestry has said that he died in the Westbury on Severn workhouse. However I can't find evidence of this. If anyone can help I would be very grateful