What are spurious baptisms? In the Parish Records for Lapley, Staffordshire, England, there are a number of baptisms followed by the word "spurious". Is there any interpretation possible other than "illegitimate" for these? The Mary Hitchcocks below is a candidate child for my 5th great grandfather John Hitchcox who married Elizabeth Whitson on 5 Apr 1752 at Lapley but I think the absence of his name from this record and the inclusion of the word "spurious" must rule him out as being the father. John and Elizabeth christened another daughter Sarah on 7 Feb 1759 at Lapley. ![enter image description here](

An archaic meaning of spurious was illegitimate. See: <