| Notes |
- John Rigg was born in 1828 in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. His mother was only 18 when she gave birth to him. She was 16 when she married his 20-year-old father.
Although John Rigg was married to one woman for his entire life, they never had any children. Yet it appears he had at least two, and possibly as many as six, illegitimate children with two or three teenage girls who were staying in his home. One of them was his niece. Either that or wayward unwed teenage mothers just gravitated to him for him to look after them and adopt their children as his own.
In 1841, at 14-years-old, John Rigg was residing at Sugar Town Alley in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, with his parents and siblings. His father was employed as a sweep.
On 22 Apr 1850, at age 22, John Rigg married 22-year-old, Mary Ann Lowther. Her father died when she was a child and she was raised by her stepfather. John Rigg and Mary Ann never had any children of their own.
In 1851, at age 22, John Rigg was residing at Aldcliffe Street in Queen's Ward, Lancaster, Lancashire, England, with his wife. He was employed as a steam loom weaver. Also residing with them were his wife's younger teenage siblings, James Lowther and Rosannah Lowther.
In 1861, at age 30, John Rigg was residing at Bath Mill Cottages, Lancaster, Lancashire, England, with his wife. He was employed as stoker for a cotton mill. Also residing with them was 5-year-old Mary Wignall who is recorded as his "adopted daughter." She was the illegitimate daughter of her same-named mother, Mary Wignall. No father's name is recorded at her birth. No record of mother Mary Wignall can be found aside from the birth of her daughter. She's not found in any census record, birth or death record of her own. It appears she may have been dead by 1861. Why would John Rigg adopt a strange woman's illegitimate daughter and raise her as his own? That question will keep coming back.
Also residing with John Rigg in 1861 is his 28-year-old sister-in-law, Rose Ann Lowther, and 24-year-old border, Mary Lucas and her 2-year-old son, Robert W Lucas, as well as 23-year-old, Nancy Whitaker.
There is no record of Mary Lucas having been married to anyone. She has not been found in any census prior to 1861 when she's found living with John Rigg. In 1871 she was living with her four children and no husband. She had no husband when she resided in the home of John Rigg in 1861 either. It would appear that all her children were born while she was living with John Rigg. Her children include (in 1871), Robert Lucas, age 12, Margaret A Lucas, age 5, Mary J Lucas, age 3, and Fanny Lucas, age 1. No birth registration has been found for Fanny. The birth registrations for Robert, Margaret and Mary list no parents. Margaret's later marriage record gives her father's name as James Lucas, while her sister Mary's marriage record lists her father's name as William Lucas. No marriage record has been found for Mary Lucas with either James or William Lucas or anyone, for that matter. James and William Lucas have not been found in any census record. They're ghosts, or, perhaps, fiction. While Mary Lucas' four children are not recorded as illegitimate, neither can any verifiable father be found for any of them, and they all seem to have been born while Mary lived with John Rigg.
Margaret A Lucas was later admitted to an asylum on 20 Jun 1883.
John Rigg has not been found in 1871.
In 1881, at age 51, John Rigg was residing at Bath Mill Cottages in St. Ann's Ward, Lancaster, Lancashire, England, with his wife. He was employed as a vertical engine driver. Also residing with them were his teenage nieces, 19-year-old Mary Jane Angus and 18-year-old Rosannah Angus (likely named after her aunt Rosannah Lowther who lived with John Rigg in 1851). They were daughters of William Angus and Margaret Lowther, John RIgg's in-laws. Also 15-year-old lodger, Mary Bretherton.
Sometime around June of 1881, while Rosannah (Rose Ann) was residing in the home of her uncle and aunt, she became pregnant by an unknown man. On 7 Mar 1882, just a month after her 19th birthday, she gave birth to an illegitimate child whom she named John Rigg Angus. The father was not named in the baptism record or birth registration.
7 years later, in Dec 1888, at age 25, Rose Ann Angus died while still residing with her uncle John Rigg. She was unmarried and left her 6-year-old son orphaned.
In 1891, there is no sign of 9-year-old John Rigg Angus in the census. However, John and Mary Ann Rigg, now in their sixties, suddenly have a 9-year-old son named John Rigg (Jr). There is no birth registration for John Rigg (Jr). He is not found in 1901 or later census records. In fact, there is no record of his existence other than the 1891 census. In 1894, John Rigg Angus died at the age of 12 and John Rigg (Jr) vanishes from record. It seems clear that John Rigg (Jr) and John Rigg Angus are the same person. And that John Rigg (Sr) took his niece's illegitimate son (who was named after him) and raised him as his own.
Either Rose Ann Angus named her illegitimate child after her uncle, John Rigg, in honour of the fact that he raised her, and then, after she died, he adopted her illegitimate child as his own (in which case we would expect to see the child identified in 1891 as John Rigg Angus, and listed as stepson or adopted), or, what seems tragically more likely is that John Rigg is the father of his teenage niece's illegitimate son. The cause of the premature deaths of Rose Ann Angus and John Rigg Angus are unknown.
In 1891, at age 63, John Rigg was residing at 5 Bath Mill Cottages in Park Ward, Lancaster, Lancashire, England, with his wife. He was employed as a stationary engine tenter. Also residing with them were his alleged 9-year-old son, John Rigg, noted above. Also residing with him was his 29-year-old niece, Mary J Huntington (nee Angus, sister of the late Rose Ann Angus) and her 4-year-old son, John Huntington, whose father died the same year John was born.)
John Rigg died in March 1894 at age 66. His wife, Mary Ann Rigg, is listed in 1901 as a widow, living with her nephew. During his lifetime, John Rigg had no children with his wife but he had an unusually high number of single young women boarding with him and he appears to have been the father of at least two illegitimate children (Mary Ann Wignall and John Rigg Angus) by teenage mothers, one of whom was his niece, and both of whom died very young. And he may have been the father of Mary Lucas' four children, Robert, Margaret, Mary, and Fanny.
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1828 - 1894 (66 years)
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