I almost made a mistake putting families together with the new research I found on my Breilh/Mazou Verges line is Izeste, France. I was working on Jean Breilh and Jeanne Mazou Verges (sometimes recorded as Mazou Berges, Verges, or Berges). I found several children for this couple. When I started to assess the information, I realized the couple would have been 13/14 years old when child #1 was born. Then they would have waiting about 7 years to have child number two. They also wouldn’t marry for about another 5 years.
The unmarried part didn’t concern me much. Someone once told me that the practice in Southern France in the 1800s was to start a family until they had enough money to get married. (Not sure if that was common practice throughout France). I did see women with 3-5 children with “infant naturelle” noted (meaning born out of wedlock), so that seems to confirm this practice.
However, the 13 years old did concern me–and the gap between children. I searched for a marriage, whcih I found their marriage in 1833. This would make child #1 born in 1827–six years before they married.
Going back, I realized that Jean Breilh’s mother died before 1825 and his father, also named Jean Breilh, remarried in 1827. You may have already guessed that wife #2 of his father was named Jeanne Berges, also recorded at times as Mazou Verges. So, now I have father and son with wives with almost the same exact names having children about the same time.
At this point, I am unclear if the father’s second wife was really using Mazou Verges or if it was an error by the person recording the records. And, how the heck does Berges become Mazou Verges anyway?
I’m not sure how I will unravel whose children are whose. The death records don’t reveal too many details about offspring. The marriage records might be more helpful, though.
As with all research, it pays to assess your information. Who knew that father and son would marry people with such similar names?