Family:James Langsford and Elizabeth Beer (1)

In 1871, Betsy Beer (age 29 but giving her age as 25) was the live-in housekeeper in the household of James Langsford (age 60). Her three youngest children at the time also lived in the household. James Langsford had a son also named James Langsford (age 28) living in the same household.

Betsy's daughter Polly's marriage certificate lists James Langsford as her father. The question is whether it was James Langsford, Sr, who lived long enough to father Betsy's youngest child (Richard Henry, baptized most likely as an infant 5 Aug 1877), or James Langsford, Jr, who died 29 Nov 1875 in Cleave, Calstock, age 33.

While it is tempting to suggest that the father of Betsy's last 5 children was James Langsford, Jr, who was close in age to Betsy, it is equally likely that it was James Langsford, Sr. If the youngest child was at least a year old by the time he was baptized (possible, since 3 older siblings were baptized at the same time), then James Langsford, Jr could have been the father of all the last 5 children. However, the 1881 census suggests that Richard Henry Beer was born in 1877, not 1876, and if true, could not have been the child of James Langsford, Jr.

Betsy's second child James Beer lived with James Langsford, Sr (as a lodger) in the 1881 census. This fact, taken together with the likelihood that Betsy's youngest child was born more than 9 months after the death of James Langsford, Jr, suggest that it was James Langsford, Sr who fathered Betsy Ann Beer's last 5 children. Another possibility, of course, is that James Langsford, Sr fathered at least Betsy's youngest son and James Langsford, Jr fathered the others, but there is no particular reason to assume that she had children by both men.