Joshua Barton and Mary Birch

Queensland, Australia [va Pixabay]

Joshua Barton (bap. 3 Jul 1886 at St Paul's Church, Woodford Bridge), son of Thomas Barton and Elizabeth Ann Fuller, by 16 Jun 1915, had emigrated to Australia, because that's the date he married Mary Birch (b. 1 Oct 1894, in Queensland, Australia) there, daughter of James William Birch and Albertine Augusta Bucholz. Joshua and Mary were second cousins because Joshua Barton's paternal grandmother was Ann Birch (1812-1885) while Mary Birch was the granddaughter of Ann's brother, James Birch (1815-1879).  

The couple had at least one son:

1. Thomas James Barton b. 27 May 1917 in Queensland, Australia

Joshua Barton died on 16 May 1968 and was buried at Caboolture Cemetery, Caboolture, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. His widow, Mary Barton, died on 26 Jun 1989, is buried with him.

While unpicking the two families of another pair of brothers who married two sisters: Thomas Barton and Elizabeth Ann Fuller and Peter Barton and Annie Fuller, inevitably, I encountered Thomas and Elizabeth Ann's youngest son, Joshua Barton, who was born in 1886, to whose record at FamilySearch, someone had attached records of a birth in 1888, merely stating the reason for doing so was "Correct Information", but offering no justification for why they believed this to be so. This is the genealogical equivalent of a red rag to a bull, because that just couldn't be right, so I sought to solve the puzzle ...

These records belong to two different people, as the evidence shows. This Joshua Barton was registered in 1886, so there'd be no need to register him in 1888. The person who attached the 1888 record - at a guess, probably someone related to the above Joshua Barton who went to Australia - had obviously missed the correct 1886 registration and, of course, if they ordered the birth certificate on the basis of that later one, they've got the wrong one. 

So, that just leaves us with the 1888 birth registration ... If it doesn't belong to this Joshua Barton, who does it belong to? The answer is, his nephew, illegitimate son of his older sister, Ann Jane Barton, baptised as such.