A Scandalous Sale

I bought the February issue of WDYTYA? Magazine mainly because of the ‘Around Britain’ article on Wiltshire records, intending to use any links that were new to me to research one of my ancestors who was born in Goatacre, part of the Hilmarton parish in Wiltshire. Before I moved onto my computer, I read the ‘Off the Record’ article about annotations and comments written in the margins of parish register books. Alan Crosby ended his article with a baptismal record from the Hilmarton parish register: “Baptised, 2 Feb 1806, Aaron son of Olivia Draper of Goatacre, who was sold by William Draper her husband in Calne market to James Harper her brother-in-law with whom she now shamefully cohabits.” Alan finished with the

Alan’s column mentioned this entry for the baptism of Aaron Draper in 1806 throwaway question,

“Who wouldn’t want that story in their family history?” Well, please tell Alan that the aforementioned James Harper was my 4x great grandfather!

It must have caused quite a stir because even when his son Abraham Harper married in 1823 the vicar or curate wrote on the marriage register: “Son of a woman named Draper who was sold in Calne Market by her Husband to Harper the Father of the man.”

Back to the ‘Around Britain’ article – in the directory, the website address for the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre is mistakenly written as wshc.eu when it should be wshc.org.uk.

Linda Dodimead, by email

EDITOR REPLIES: Wow Linda, I will certainly share that with Alan. Who would have thought that a reader really would have that story in their family tree.