Seeking birth details of James Rogers Saunders

[Ozymandias]

Hi to everyone, I am new here and this is my first post and afraid asking for something of a miracle. Here goes:

The family diary dated 1832 states that James Rogers Saunders, my great grandfather, was 'born 13th April 1834, St John's Street, Clerkenwell.' London
His parents, as far as we know, are John Saunders and Maria Rogers who married 31 October 1836 in St John, Margate, Kent, .some length of time after James was born. No other children being born to them between 1836 to 1855 have been discovered.

John Saunders was said to have been the skipper of a Margate Hoy, which ran cargo from Margate to London, and as such could have known his way about the area. It could be possible that Maria Rogers had become pregnant and been ferried to London to have her child in Clerkenwell, then she and John had later married in Margate?

It is generally given that James Rogers Saunders was born in Margate, Kent but no details of his birth can be found, either by professional genealogists or amateurs like myself. The family diary has newly come to light giving his actual birth details, and I would be so grateful if anyone with superior expertise to mine could possibly locate the actual birth details of James Rogers Saunders and a possible birth certificate.

I and others have been seeking this birth detail for very many years, so thank you and fingers crossed. Jim

 

[Haylsea]

Hi,

I found a James Rogers being baptised on 1st June 1934. Abode on the record is St Johns, Clerkenwell. The record doesn’t give his DOB only the baptism date.

The record states parents as James and Maria Rogers.

There is a chance that he was born to Maria Rogers and that she added a fathers name to the baptism record as she had him out of wedlock.

 

[Ozymandias]

Hi,

Many thanks for your very interesting reply, which is greatly appreciated. The thought that my g grandfather had been born out of wedlock is one I have conjured with for many years, but had hoped that he might have been the biological product of both John Saunders & Maria Rogers. However your suggestion is a very sound one, as having searched the records for Clerkenwell myself, I had not considered Maria might have given a false fathers name.

The family diary that came to light was that of one of Maria's sisters, which was initiated in 1832 and gives meticulous details of the births and deaths of James Rogers Saunders marriage and family up until 1873. Would such attention to detail be considered unusual for a child of your sister? Perhaps, but not if the child had been that of the diarist? However, this particular sister married twice but no children have yet been discovered for either marriage.