David Tetheridge – a Mystery

When viewing the online Kent Parish Record for Brasted I found the following baptism entry:

23 February 1812 David son of Sarah Tetheridge B.B.  (with the B.B. underlined twice)

B. B.  is an abbreviation for Base Born and the clergy man obviously wanted it to be seen by all.

I had never come across David Tetheridge before and had no idea who Sarah was, and I could find no further record of either of them.

Looking through the Brasted Parish Records I found
Jane baptised on 12 January 1806 daughter of William and Sarah Tetheridge
Joseph baptised on 5 June 1808 son of William and Sarah Tetheridge
James baptised on 12 November 1809 son of (the late) William and Sarah Tetheridge

The last baptism had partly solved the mystery. Sarah was a widow and after William’s death had a child with someone else. Since the Parish Records of Brasted showed nothing else useful, I searched further afield. In Sundridge St Mary, one mile along the road, I found the marriage for Sar Totherage and Josiah Hodskins who married on 2 March 1812 (less than a month after David’s baptism).
 

The Story of David Tetheridge

By cross referencing the above information with 1841 and 1851 census and other parish records I was able to pull together the following facts.

Sarah Linsy (Linsey) was baptised in Warbleton, Sussex on 2 January 1780. In 1797 Sarah was living in Westerham, Kent and on 22 March 1797 she married William Teatherige in Brasted, Kent. William and Sarah had at least 3 children. William died in July 1809. After the death of William Sarah had an illegitimate child by Josiah Hodskins. The son David was baptised on 23 February 1812 and on 2 March 1812 Sarah married Josiah Hodskins . David, who had been christened a Tetheridge, took on his father’s surname. Sarah and Josiah had two addition children. The 1841 census showed Joshia and Sarah Hodskins aged 70 and 60 living at Ide Hill (3 miles away from Sundridge) and living with them was Esther Tetheridge. They were living next door to John Tetheridge, aged 45, and his family. John proved to be another of Sarah Williams’s children and Esther the grandchild. David, now called David Hodskins, married Sophia Welch at Sundridge in 1834 and they had at least 5 children. The 1851 census showed Sarah, now widowed, living in Sundridge with her son David Hodskins next door. Josiah Hodskins died in 1850 and Sarah died in 1854 both deaths registered under the surname Hoskins.

This is a classic example of how difficult it can be to trace children born to single mothers. David Tetheridge became David Hodskins and in fact was not a Tetheridge at all and this explained why I never found any further reference to him.