Amanda Annie Gething b.1858 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, June 11, 2011, 14:24 (4918 days ago) @ Gill C.

Good morning Gill,
apologies as I havn't followed all the line thro as you have, I had assumed from these threads that she was definitely descended from George, sorry if thats wrong. I also thought the thread suggested a Annie Gething was descended from James Gething, but perhaps thats her mother ?. Again sorry for not paying proper attention, it was a hard day here yesteray !.

Reading the Directory it struck me that of the four? Gethings listed there was indeed a James, a "Haulier", who I thought may have been her true forefather, but is presumably not on the same scale of wealth & social standing as the Georges?.
To be honest if I were in her shoes, and was born a Gething, perhaps its easier & safer to keep your true surname but "accidentally" link it to a different and altogether "better" family, the George Gethings ?. Such a con trick might give her social advantages when she was in Glostershire, especially with bankers say, where George would probably be known of by his hopefully sound business reputation but not in sufficient detail for her to be found out as an imposter.

If she had been base-born(I love that phrase!) to one of the wealthy Georges, yes I expect they would try and keep it quiet but maybe not to the dramatic & cruel extent the novelists and your family tales suggest. Perhaps they were kindly decent gents who only found out about her when she was older and tried to minimise the scandal by paying her or her mother to go away, ie Glostershire ?. Perhaps it's worth looking up the Census's for these Georges, did they have any pretty young Miss Gethings working in their households I wonder... What do you know about her husband William's history, where did they meet ?. I presume he moved to Burton because of the brewing trade, or ?. What about the wedding witnesses?. There might be some clues there ?.

Of course this is all supposition, but in essence no, I don't think it unlikely she would think it a good idea to keep her real surname yet pretend she was part of a wealthy family.