Genealogy Chat

Denise I would say that was her maiden name I have a family where all the boys had King as their middle name and it wasn't until I got the marriage allegation that I could fit the name in.

Just a thought but if she was Italian then maybe she had the children christened Catholic Italian women, even now, often use their maiden name in a double barreled surname. Sheila

Perhaps someone else can make sense of all this, I've gone round in circles with it! Concerns my g g/father, William Thompson and his family. 1851 census, mother Caroline describes herself as head of household, but wife of a merchants clerk, no sign of said clerk. She has two other sons apart from William, who was 7 at this time. Since William was born in Slough, she's most certainly been in the country at least 7 years - she was born in Genoa, Italy. I cannot find any trace of her prior to this. By 1861, she has married a John Freeman Rengger and has more children, which in itself isn't relevant to this. I cannot find births for any of her Thompson children, thought I'd check marriage certificates. William names his father as John Kempe Devonshire 'gentleman', brother Louis names his father simply as 'Thompson Rengger', a mixture of real Dad & stepdad. William on his marriage certificate gives his own name as William Quirolla Devonshire (!!??), I know this is the correct certificate because it came down to me via a family member. On his daughter's birth certificate a year later, he is named as William Devonshire Thompson. His Mum's name in the registry for her 2nd marriage is given as Caroline Quirolla Thompson. I wondered if the Quirolla part could be her maiden name, as it sounds quite Italian. I've seen that quite a few children did use the Mum's maiden name along with the fathers surname. I don't know if I'm clouding the issue, but there is a Caroline Devonshire of the right age in the Eton Union Workhouse in the 1841 census. If this is her, I can't think where Devonshire fits into this. Does anyone have a clue where I might go from here, I'm so desperate to try and unravel all of this.