Amy at No Story Too Small has come up with a new challenge for 2014 - to write a post each week on a specific ancestor.
John Danson, the eldest son of my great, great, great grandparents - Henry Danson and
Elizabeth Brown of Carleton, Lancashire, was the Black Sheep of my Danson family - as evidenced in this document which I was delighted to find at at Lancashire Record Office.
For John, In 1810 at the age of 21, was served with an affiliation order ordering him to contribute to the upkeep of his “said bastard child” - a daughter by Ann Butler of Marton. The poor child was repeatedly given this tag in the document below which is fascinating on its choice of language:
“Ann Butler, single woman, was upon the 27th
day of August last, delivered of a female bastard child in the said
township of Marton…and that John Danson, husbandman of Carleton did
begot the said bastard on her body and is the father of the same.
Thereupon,
we order… for the better relief of the said township…and the sustenance
and relief of the said bastard child…John Danson pay unto the
churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor…the sum of One Pound Eighteen
Shillings for and towards the charges and expenses incident to the
birth…further sum of four shillings towards the cost of apprehending and
securing the said John Danson….the sum of Two Shillings weekly…towards
the keeping, sustenance and maintenance of the said bastard child”.
In 1810, £1 18s 0d would have the same spending power of today's £131. with 2s 0d being worth today £6.88 (- not much for bringing up a child! (http://www.measuringworth.com)
Unfortunately
I have been unable to trace anything further on this story. John
Danson died in 1836, aged 46, as far as I know unmarried, and he predeceased
his father Henry by three years.
Copyright © 2014 · Susan Donaldson. All Rights Reserved
Take a look at earlier postings in this series
1. Alice English (1884-1945) - A Brick Wall at My Grandmother
2. Edith Danson (1907 -1885) - My Feisty Aunt
Have you tried to find if she remarried, or looked for the child's marriage, though Butler would be tricky to trace. Parish registers if she didn't move might just do the job.
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