Was the child still born?

[Durham Lady]

For many years now I have assumed that the child my great grandmother was expecting when g grandfather William Northey was killed in a coal mine in January 1866, 3 weeks after arriving in Cramlington, Northumberland from Cornwall, was a girl.
The inquest report said,
The poor unfortunate man leaves a widow about to be confined and six children to mourn his loss.

There was no birth registered in the March nor June quarter of that year but I wasn't too worried as the 1871 census has

Mary A Northy Head 48 born Torpoint Cornwall
Mary J Northy dau 22 born St Blazey Cornwall
William Northy son 18 born St Blazey Cornwall
Richard Northy son 16 born Gunislake Cornwall
Ann M Northy dau 14 born Tavistock Devon
John Northy son 13 born Tavistock Devon
Clara Northy dau 4 born Cramlington, Northumberland
James Biggar lodger 24 born Ayrshire, Scotland

Clara didn't appear on any other census and I found a death for her in October 1871 dying age 5 from smallpox. The certificate gave the information as daughter of Mary Jane Northy and informant Mary Jane Northy present at death. I and my cousin in the US always thought the registrar must have got the mothers name wrong putting Mary Jane instead of Mary Ann and we assumed (that word again) that the informant was the eldest daughter Mary Jane.

Last week while looking at Ancestry I spotted a birth registration in the Tynemouth district for a Clara Northy in the 4th quarter of 1866. A wee bit late for Mary Ann's daughter but wondered if births could be registered at any time back then.
I decided to send for the certificate and it arrived this morning. It's thrown all my suppositions out the window.

The mother is Mary Jane and there's no fathers name in the box so, it looks as if Clara was an illigitimate child of eldest daughter and not Mary Ann and William.

Now I have to wonder, was Mary Ann's child still born as there seems no sign of another child withing the family at all.

[kiterunner]

It sounds the most likely explanation, Daphne.

[peppie]

I'd agree it's unlikely you'd find out now so it's the most reasonable explanation

[Nell]

You would need to check the burial registers to see if you can find a likely stillborn child.

[kiterunner]

There might not be an entry in the burial register though, Nell.

[Durham Lady]

Thanks everyone for reading my query. I thought this would be a dead end (no pun intended) when I read the certificate.
There's no other death in the first quarter for Northey/Northy apart from William who was killed and I thought no one can see still birth registrations apart from the parents, (were they recorded back then) I didn't think still birth burials were registered or do parishes have a separate book to record them in? I've never noticed anything when at record offices.

[GenieDi]

I shall come back to this thread if anyone can post anything to help, my Nan apparently had a baby and it died. I have found no trace of her and wondered if she was still born, I do remember a long time back a post maybe on genes about a lady who had a list of some kind of still births?

[Oakum Picker]

I have seen still births recorded in PRs during the 1700s for certain. Not sure about later.

[Nell]

You won't know unless you look. I'm not saying it would be in the burials, but if it were it would solve the mystery.

[Mary from Italy]

Stillbirths aren't normally recorded in parish registers, although I believe there are some exceptions.

However, burials of stillborns are recorded in at least some municipal cemetery registers (there are loads recorded in the main Leicester cemetery).

[JayG]

Not sure about Northumberland but i've seen many burial registers for Co Durham that recorded still birth burials. One included a child of a set of 2 x great grandparents in the 1890's.

[JBee]

I've found a stillborn registered in a grave - it didn't say whether it was a boy or girl though.

Alternatively I haven't found the birth registration of my grandmother in 1876 - everyone else seems to have been registered so wonder if they forgot. I did find a christening for her though which I've just sent off for.

I do wonder whether the child was born and was given away to be looked after by another relative??? Grief can be a funny thing and it maybe the new parents thought the child had already been registered and so never gave it another thought. The child would be known by the new parents names.

[Durham Lady]

I've found a stillborn registered in a grave - it didn't say whether it was a boy or girl though.

Alternatively I haven't found the birth registration of my grandmother in 1876 - everyone else seems to have been registered so wonder if they forgot. I did find a christening for her though which I've just sent off for.

I do wonder whether the child was born and was given away to be looked after by another relative??? Grief can be a funny thing and it maybe the new parents thought the child had already been registered and so never gave it another thought. The child would be known by the new parents names.

I don't think the child would have gone to relatives as there were none in that area.
They had only moved from Cornwall 3 weeks before G grandfather was killed in the mine.

Unless I can get up to Northumberland and search parish records I'll have to keep wondering.
Just another thing added to a list as long as my arm to look for when I do go north.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

My friends mother had twins in the 1940's - one was stillborn and the other little one only lived for an hour or two.

Both births are referred to in the parish bp register, as the doctor baptised the living child.
Again, the burial of the named child is recorded in the burial register, along with a note to say her stillborn twin sister was buried with her.

On the burial plan, the grave is marked as "C.... R.... 2 hrs and her stillborn twin."

However, there are no other references to stillborn children in either register.

Jay

[JayG]

Just checked the coverage on the BT's for Cramlington on familysearch but they stop at 1858!

[Durham Lady]

Thanks for all your input on this.

Jay, I was so disappointed when the pilot site opened and found Cramlington BT's stopped before my family went there.:(

I was talking on skype yesterday to one of my 3x cousins from another family line and as he lives in Gateshead he's going to go to over to Newcastle to have a look for me to see if they have any records there before making a journey up to Woodhorn.
I've a feeling the family might have been Methodist so finding anything could be like looking for a needle in a haystack.