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From: "Anne Treadwell" <>
Subject: [HRT] adoptive/ biological parentage
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:23:13 -0400


This question is Herts.-related but also of a more general nature. It
arises from my attempt to find the parents of my great-grandmother, Mary
Ann BEST, who married my great-grandfather Walter Stanley GRAY in
Harpenden in 1876. They and their descendants are mostly in the
Harpenden area from 1861 onwards.

Mary Ann was born in 1856 in Enfield, Middlesex, and I have copies of
her birth, baptism, marriage and death certificates. Her parents are
consistently shown as Edward BEST, commercial traveller, and Elizabeth
(Mary's birth certificate says her former name was PAIN).

By the first (1861) census after her birth, Mary, 5, is living in
Harpenden with Barnard and Elizabeth INNARD (he's a carpenter) and shown
as their daughter, although keeping her birth name of BEST (well, not
exactly ...... Ancestry's transcription of BEST as BEALT and INNARD as
JUNARD caused some difficulties .......) and is still there with Barnard
(Elizabeth isn't around) in 1871, having INNARD as her surname on that
census.

I have been unable to find any trace of Mary's birth parents after her
birth in 1856 and have no knowledge of what happened to them or why she
ended up with the INNARDs. Perhaps they died, emigrated, or gave her
away. Probably she was not abducted, since the INNARDs did not try to
pass her off, at least in 1861, as other than Mary BEST, and her
baptismal certificate was handed down. On her marriage certificate, no
occupation is shown for Edward BEST, suggesting though not of course
proving that he was deceased or "gone away".

Does sks have a suggestion as to how I should proceed in trying to find
more than the names of Mary's birth parents (none of the many Edward
BESTs and Elizabeth PAINs seem to pan out), or (alternatively) whether I
should "adopt" the INNARDs as her parents? Is there a common or
recommended practice when dealing with and recording such situations?

Thanks for any help you can give -- and Happy New Year, everyone!

Anne Treadwell, Nova Scotia, Canada

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