Family Historian User Group

I came across this today. It looks like Thebe James is described as Nurse Child, does the FHUG community agree with this reading? Assuming Nurse Child is correct, does anyone have any idea what a Nurse Child is? As can be seen in the line above Thebe, Ann Wilkins is described as foundling and there are various nephews, nieces and sons above her so Thebe must have had a different relationship. I am wondering if she was an illegitimate grandchild, can't think of anything else.

Thebe can be found in 1851 in Chertsey, Surrey in the house of James and Elizabeth Cavy - HO107/1593 Folio 189 (incorrectly transcribed as folio 127 on FindMyPast when the 189 is clearly stamped on the page), page 33. FindMyPast also transcribed her as James Thebe despite everyone else on the page being first name, last name and she is listed as female. I have reported this and the folio error.

FMP have already corrected the errors you reported.

A Google search for Nurse Child says "usually an illegitimate or unwanted child being brought up by foster parents for a small fee." or "cared for by someone else for money. A foster child."

Thanks Mike.


Never expected FMP to fix it so fast.

Though similar, the first letter of the child's forename doesn't seem to be a complete match for the capital 'T' in other entry for Thomas on the same page.

Possibility:

There's a Phoebe JAMES registered in the 4th Quarter 1850, which looks to be a candidate as the closest name match (Chertsey, Volume 4 Page 100). The 'new' GRO Online Index shows no entry for the Mother's Maiden Name, so she was probably illegitimate.

There's a corresponding Baptism entry for Phoebe James at Chertsey (St.Peter) - Bapt. 1 Dec 1850, Born 15 Oct 1850, Mother Mary Ann James (image on Ancestry.co.uk)

There is no other 1851 Census entry for this Phoebe James listed but
- she does appear in the 1861 Census (Chertsey) as the niece of Elizabeth Wilsey, a widow; and
- in the 1871 Census (Holborn) as a Domestic Servant.

Probably married before 1881 Census.

Mervyn

mjashby wrote:Though similar, the first letter of the child's forename doesn't seem to be a complete match for the capital 'T' in other entry for Thomas on the same page. ...

Mmm - I think it's sufficiently close to convince me that "Thebe" is what the enumerator intended. However, I suggest it doesn't really matter as there must be a distinct possibility that "Phoebe" is what was intended and it just found someone with a different spelling of the name. Or put another way, if a bit more work supported the conclusion, then I'd standardise "Thebe"'s spelling as "Phoebe".

And looking at the entry above Thebe/Phoebe, Ann Wilkins is described as a "foundling", so it appears that this family takes in 'waifs and strays'.

Could a 'nurse child' be an infant for whom someone in the household is a wet nurse? Not all members of the household are shown, so I can't see if there is anyone of appropriate age to be a wet nurse.

https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/q/3015/104 (How might a “nurse-child” have been placed with their carers?) and the answers to it might provide some useful information.