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From: "Jenny De Angelis" <>
Subject: Re: [Ess] Strange terminology
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:40:27 +0100
References: <000301cca86c$70771b10$51655130$@com>
In-Reply-To: <000301cca86c$70771b10$51655130$@com>


HI Graham,

I can't see that the word "leaper", as you are reading the word, would mean
that this child was base born because the father and mother are both noted
as if they were husband and wife.

If William Taylor was Illegitimate then he would be noted as the
illegitimate or Bastard/Base born son of Hannah. If she had named the
father then the entry might also state "Reputed father --------- " with the
name of the father as given by the mother, or words to that effect.

Is the word Leaper clearly written or is Leaper how you are reading a word
that is hard to read and Leaper is your best attempt at reading it?.

I have found in PRs from a similar period of time where the incumbent has
noted each child in numerical order according to the child's sex, 1st Son,
2nd son, 1st Daughter, 2nd Daughter, and so on. With daughters being
numbered separately from sons, numbered by their sex rather than their order
of birth through the years. You find some entries written as "William 1st
son 3rd child of William & Hannah Taylor" this would show that there must
have been 2 daughters before William came along, making 3 children in all in
the family. It struck me that maybe you have found an entry written
similarly to this.

Often the figures are written in Latin such a Primo or Secundo signifying
1st and 2nd respectively. If the incumbent for Messing at that time was
writing the words in Latin then this might make it difficult for you to read
the entry and perhaps get the word Leaper out of what should be read as the
numerical order of William Taylor within the Taylor family children. You
sometimes find that an incumbent's latin was not all that good and you get
some strange words to try and decipher. Even though Latin was dying out in
PRs some incumbents still clung to the old ways of filling out their
registers.

Is the entry you have found written in Latin, or at least partly in Latin?

Can you copy out the wording of the entry exactly as written in the register
into another mail, you haven't given a date in your message only the year
1788. Seeing exactly how the entry is written in the register so we can see
the word "leaper" in context could help the rest of us to decide what is
meant by the word as you are reading it. I am sure it must be to do with
the date of baptism or to do with young William's numerical order within the
children of this family.

Regards
Jenny DeAngelis

<<Looking through Messing PRs I came across the baptism of a William Taylor,
in 1788, leaper son of William and Hannah. Is that another term for base
born or bastard? Or does it refer to the disease?>>

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