There are many possible reasons for someone being raised in a family with a different surname or affiliation to their birth parents - life was precarious, people could die from illness or accident, the father might have gone as a soldier or sailor and never returned, the wife might have returned to her mother's house, an older boy might have been sent to his aunt or grandmother's home if she was widowed and needed help with the heavier tasks and used her surname whilst under her roof.
A widow might have remarried and had a children who were known by the stepfather's surname, not out of any thought of deception, just to emphasis their acceptance as one of the family - I had an aunt who was half sister to my mother, and it was never mentioned by anyone in the family all the time I was growing up. It was not a secret just not relevant to anything considered important in everyday life.
Anne the Pleater :ootd:
I presume to dictate to no man what he shall eat or drink or wherewithal he shall be clothed."
-- The Hon. Stuart Ruaidri Erskine, The Kilt & How to Wear It, 1901.
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