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Topic: Looking for Mark Martin/James Mark Martin (Read 159 times)
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marp
RootsChat Member
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Posts: 137
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I have been looking for the date of birth/baptism/parents of a James Mark Martin for some time. Initially he seems to have been known as Mark Martin and as time went on and he became more prosperous then he adopted the name James Mark Martin. He was born around 1819-1823 possibly in Bedford and his father's name was also James, occupation navigator.
My information regarding him comes mainly from Derbyshire where he lived much of his life. In the 1841 census for Chesterfield, Derbyshire Mark Martin was a brazier and ironmonger aged 20 in the household of William Hall age 30 ironmonger (not born in Derbyshire) and wife Ann Hall wife age 35 (not born in Derbyshire). In later censuses he states his birthplace as Bedford.
I have plenty of information about the elusive Mark Martin aka as James Mark when he was a brazier and ironmonger in Chesterfield. I have nothing before the 1841 census.
Any help, advice and the like would be much appreciated.
Thanks, marp
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bedfordshire boy
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Hi marp
I assume you got his father's name from one or other of his marriage certificates? Is his father's name and occupation consistent?* Did he marry two or three times?
There's a James Martin age 33 buried at Bedford St Paul on 8 May 1823. If you check the parish register there may be more detail which might confirm or otherwise if it's your James' father. Similarly there's a marriage of James Martin and Ann Curtis at Bedford St Paul on 26 Oct 1817 which would also be worthwhile checking. There's also a burial of MaryAnn Martin age 12 months at Bedford St Paul on 9 Mar 1823 whose baptism I can't see. I can't see any other James Martin who could have been producing children around 1820 in Bedford.
A bit far fetched perhaps but could Ann Hall have been James' mother?** If her actual age was 39 (nearly 40) in June 1841 the timing would just about work, but it would be very tight.*** Have you found William and Ann Hall in subsequent censuses? I can't find the family in 1841 on Ancestry - do you have the reference? Were there any Hall children?
Probably a coincidence, in which I don't usually believe, but there's an Ann Martin age 25 in Bedford St Paul in 1841 occupation brazier. I believe she was the widow of Joseph Martin.
Bedford St Paul baptisms are on the IGI but, like you, I can't see one for James. How did he turn up in Chesterfield?
David
* Just seen your very first post on Rootschat, which unusually elicited no response, on the subject of the Martins. In that you say that James Martin senior was an excavator. You now describe him as a navigator, which I had mentally questioned, as Bedford is a fair distance from the nearest sea, but I wondered if he might have navigated craft on the River Ouse which was navigable from the sea almost as far as Bedford.
** No she couldn't!
*** Found them in 1841 now. You must have been looking at a different version! "Mark James Martin was a brazier's journeyman and ironmonger aged 20 30 in the household of William Hall age 30 ironmonger (not born in Derbyshire) and wife Ann Hall wife age 35 25 (not born in Derbyshire)." James age as 30 seems to be wrong, and is 10 years out from his ages in 1851 and 1861.
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukBeds: Cople: Luke/Spencer Everton: Hale Henlow: Cooper/Watts/Sabey Potton: Merrill Southill: Faulkner/Litchfield/Sabey Woburn/Husborne Crawley: Surkitt Hunts: Gt Gransden: Merrill/Chandler/Medlock Toseland: Surkitt/Hedge/Corn Cambs: Bourn: Bowd Eltisley: Medlock Graveley: Ford/Revell |
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marp
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Posts: 137
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Hi, Just a quick response. Mark Martin married three times, father's occupation was variously described as navigator and excavator on the wedding certificates.
On the point of 'navigator' and 'excavator' I may have this entirely wrong, but I thought that navigators (navvies) were the blokes who did the digging, excavating, drilling and the like for the construction of canals, railways etc. The term navigator sounds like a sea-faring job, but I have this idea that a navigator and excavator may have been very similar. Can someone explain please?
I have no idea how James Mark Martin turned up in Chesterfield. I assume (always dangerous in family history!) that he may have travelled with the Hall family in whose household he lived at the 1841 census.
I have a photograph of him, I have various bits and pieces from census data and newspapers (obituary notices of wives #1 and #2) also his own obituary notice and a copy of his death certificate. He died 25 February 1863 in Sheffield aged 44. He died poverty stricken as he had lost all his money as a bondsman and left his family bereft of money. The children had to be boarded out with relatives.
Chesterfield census data for 1851 (with wife #1 Sarah Cantrill) :
1851 Census Chesterfield location 128 High Street
James M Martin age 31brazier born Bedford employing 1 man and 1 apprentice** on this census form there is a notation indicating he was either blind/deaf/dumb.
Sarah Martin wife age 40 born Stretton, Derbyshire
Lydia Martin daughter born about 1848 Chesterfield
Mary Martin daughter born about 1847 Chesterfield
Ann Draycott born about 1833 born Stretton, Derbyshire servant
In the 1861 census this is wife #3, formerly Sarah Short
1861 Census Chesterfield location Knifesmithgate
James Mark Martin age 40 born Bedford ironmonger
Sarah Martin wife age 25 born Chesterfield
Mary Martin daughter age 14 born Chesterfield
Lidia A Martin daughter age 13 born Chesterfield
John Martin son age 5 born Chesterfield
Sarah Martin daughter age 19 months born Chesterfield
Mary Hopkinson servant age 21
James Mark Martin of Knifesmithgate is listed # 373 in the List of Burgesses in the Borough of Chesterfield September 1858/9 (amended 1858 list).
The idea of tracking the Hall family is a good one and may yield some clues. Indeed if Mark Martin was about 20 in the 1841 census it is possible that Ann Hall was his mother (??). I had not considered this!
marp
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bedfordshire boy
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You're absolutely right about navvy being an abbreviation of navigator. I learn something every day! So excavator and navigator were roughly the same thing.
I started off thinking that Ann Hall might have been James' mother who had remarried William Hall, but then I discounted that theory later when I found them in 1841 with Ann being aged only 25 and born in Derbyshire. There's a marriage in Sept 1840 in Chesterfield registration district where two of the eight parties on the page are William Hall and Ann Taylor, but it would take the marriage certificate to confirm this. But it would explain why they had no children in June 1841 just 9 months or so later, although this never seemed to stop my ancestors whose premature first child was usually born 1-4 months after the marriage!
David
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukBeds: Cople: Luke/Spencer Everton: Hale Henlow: Cooper/Watts/Sabey Potton: Merrill Southill: Faulkner/Litchfield/Sabey Woburn/Husborne Crawley: Surkitt Hunts: Gt Gransden: Merrill/Chandler/Medlock Toseland: Surkitt/Hedge/Corn Cambs: Bourn: Bowd Eltisley: Medlock Graveley: Ford/Revell |
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marp
RootsChat Member
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Posts: 137
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Thanks for all of this. I will continue to pursue James Mark Martin's life (before 1841). Thanks for the helpful info. regarding the Hall family, it looks promising.
thanks again, marp
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