Sarah Piggott of Spaldwick

[0191alex11]

Hi!
    Can anyone help with the following?

I am looking for a baptism (if any) for a Sarah Piggott, born circa 1799 at Spaldwick? Cant find anything on Familysearch at all. On the 1851 census for Woodford, Northamptonshire, Sarah is married to Thomas Sykes and lists her place of birth as Spaldwick, Hunthingdonshire, and age is 52 (born 1799?).

Sarah and her husband Thomas Sykes had the following issue:

Johannah (Joanna) 1823, Ann 1825, Sophia (Sophy) 1828, William 1829, Susannah 1832, Thomas 1836, Jane 1839, Mary 1840 and George 1844.

The only information I can find is for a John Pigott marrying a Joanna Abbot on October 10th 1799 at Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.

On Find My Past there is a Johannah Piggott buried 1800 at Spaldwick and also a Jane Piggoot buried 1800 at Spaldwick but it doesn't list there ages?

There is also a couple of trees which list a John Piggott of Spaldwick born 1778 died 1836 Spaldwick who married a Caroline Carter and had a lot of children (including a daughter Sophia in 1817)?

Any help with any of the above much appreciated!

[bedfordshire boy]

You won't find any Spaldwick baptisms on the IGI. The LDS was refused permission to film Spaldwick parish register so baptisms don't appear on either the IGI or BVRI. Nor is a transcript available from Hunts FHS. You either need to go to Huntingdon Archives or use their reasonably priced research service.

Hunts isn't an easy county to research online.

The only information I can find is for a John Pigott marrying a Joanna Abbot on October 10th 1799 at Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.

Dangerous, when so few Hunts marriages are online!


There are no Piggott marriages in Spaldwick that would have resulted in a child born in 1799, so the Bletsoe marriage is a possibility, although the parishes are 15 miles apart. Have you checked Bletsoe microfilm to see if John was of the parish of Spaldwick? Or you could post a query on the Beds board where I know of at least one person who has Bletsoe microfilm which includes parishes of residence. There's a marriage in Spaldwick though of John Piggott widower and Caroline Carter in 1803 (per Hunts Marriage Index).

Ages weren't shown routinely on burials until 1813. But the parish register might state, "Johannah wife of John, labourer" or "Jane infant" or "Jane daughter of John and Joanna". Indexes are just that. You need to check the parish register for the full story.

Ancestry trees are unreliable and should be used as general guides only, with anything in them being checked. eg do any of them include the detail that John was a widower  on marriage to Caroline Carter?

[jbml]

Hi Alex -

I can't help with your immediate enquiry; but is Solomon Piggott (born in about 1805) one of your family? He looks as though he may be your Sarah's little brother.

He plays a bit-part in my family history, and I'm trying to make sense of him.

Solomon Frances Piggott married Angelina Rhodes Todd in the St Pancras registration district in 1838 (Q1 volume 1 page 204).

In the 1841 census he is at Up Thorp, Spaldwick with 20 year old Charlotte Piggott (who I am assuming to be Angelina under a different name ...) 8 year old Elizabeth Piggott (Angelina / Charlotte's daughter? Or the daughter of a previous marriage that I have yet to discover??) and 4 year old William Piggott.

In the 1851 census he is a 45 year old agricultural labourer born in Spaldwick, living in Spaldwick with his 29 year old wife A Piggott (born in Diddington), 13 year old son W Piggott, 4 year old son R Piggott, 0 year old T Piggott and 45 year old wife's aunt Sarah Whitney.

Solomon Piggott died in the Huntingdon registration district in 1859 (Q4 volume 3B page 169)


The wife's aunt Sarah Whitney was my great x4 grandmother, born Sarah Clifton and baptized in Diddington on 21 September 1806, the second of seven children of Charles and Elizabeth Clifton. She married Thomas Whitney in Kimbolton on 12 October 1822 and they later moved to Great Staughton (living first on Highway, then in Agden Green) and had at least nine children (there are a further three possibles who died between censuses whom I have yet to check out).

I have not been able to identify her death, unless she was the Sarah Whittome who died in 1879 aged 71 (Huntingdonshire, Huntingdon 1879 Q1 volume 3B page 173).


If Solomon Piggott is one of yours, and you have researched him and his wife Angelina / Charlott, I'm wondering if you have established the relationship with Sarah Whitney? I am assuming that Angelina Todd's mother was one of Sarah's sisters - Mary, Jane or Elizabeth - and that she married somebody called Todd. But which? And who? And when? And where?

If you already have answers to any of these queries I'd be very interested to know.

[0191alex11]

Hi!
    Have done a little research and found the following which I don't know may be of use to you?

There is a marriage of a Solomon Pigot to Ann Tatham in 1842 at Huntingdon. Ann Tatham is baptised on June 1st 1823 at Diddington, daughter of a Wliiam Tatham and Ann Clifton, so I think this is where your Clifton link comes in?

There is also a marriage for a Solomon Piggott to a Sarah Page on June 29th 1835 at Ringstead, Northampton (witnesses Joseph Rawson, Elizabeth Hailes).

I think on the 1841 census the Charlotte Piggott living with Solomon (aged 20) could have been his sister as I will explain?!

If you check on the internet there are a few trees for Solomon Piggott. He is the son of a John Piggott (born 1778 Spaldwick) and his second wife Caroline Carter (born 1774 Spaldwick) who married in 1803 (John is a widower). I believe that this John Piggott married Joanna Abbot in 1799 at Bletsoe as his first wife and maybe the parents of my ancestor Sarah Piggott born 1799/1800 at Spaldwick.

John and Caroline had: William 1805, John 1806, Solomon 1808, Charlotte 1810, Reuben 1813, Glaseden 1813, Jeremiah 1816, Charlotte 1817 (maybe living with Solomon in 1841 census aged 20?), Sophia 1817 and Caroline 1821.

Ann Piggott (nee Tatham) married in 1861 Huntingdon as her second husband Joseph Head (baptised 30 December 1811 Molesworth, son of John and Sarah Head), and had a son John Head 1863 Spaldwick.

Will try and do some more research today and see what I can find but I hope this has helped in some way!

Cheers, Andrew

[jbml]

Andrew -

Wow! Yes, that does all help a lot.

So ... there is a connection there, and when I have a moment I'll try to get my head around it all.

All of these marriages HAVE to be the same Solomon Piggott ... as there are only three of them in the entire country in 1841!

Don't feel you have to do any more research on my behalf - you've given me more than enough to answer my questions. But if you want to do it anyway, I'll be very interested in anything you may uncover.

Regards,

Jeremy

[johnP-bedford]

I have access to a Genes Reunited tree put there by John Piggott born 1938 who is a descendant of Soloman Piggott (his gt-gt-grandfather) b 1808 Spaldwick who first married Sarah Page & then Ann Tatman. Soloman's parents were John Piggott & Caroline Carter. This was John's 2nd wife, previously it was Johanna who died 1800 (a note says "in childbirth") There is no mention of her previous name or marriage date. John & Johanna had daughter Sarah b 1800 Spaldwick but no other details.

You may know most of this.

Cheers John 

[0191alex11]

Many thanks for this information John. It sort of confirms what I thought. Still cant find anything on Johanna/Joanna Abbot apart from her marriage to John Piggott in 1799, but at least a daughter Sarah is mentioned so that's something to start on again!
Many many thanks for all your help - very much appreciated!

[bedfordshire boy]

For any future readers of this thread, there's another related thread at  http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=708360.0

And to correct a couple of statements

Solomon Frances Piggott married Angelina Rhodes Todd in the St Pancras registration district in 1838 (Q1 volume 1 page 204).

Whilst the GRO index shows Solomon Frances Piggott, the marriage entry shows quite clearly Solomon James Piggott, father William Piggott, labourer. More seriously though he didn't marry Angelina Rhodes Todd (another GRO mistranscription, it should be TIDD) but Lucy NEW. Both Solomons appear in the 1851 census, Solomon in Spaldwick, Hunts, and Solomon James, appearing as plain James, in Gloucs. Two separate people.

Angelina is a complete red herring so far as the Hunts Piggotts are concerned

[jbml]

Well done, Beds Boy, for linking that and putting it right.

Yes, a red herring. I started that particular hare running with my assumption - now shown to be false - that the Charlott Piggot of the 1841 census was Angelina under another name. I had in turn assumed that the marriage to Angelina Rhodes Todd was the right one because of the four possible names for Solomon's marriage in 1838 she was the only one who began with A ... and his wife in the 1851 census is listed as A Piggot, born in Diddington. This however, gave rise to serious age difficulties - so I kinda assumed an underage elopement (which would explain the marriage in London rather than Diddington, and the return to Huntingdonshire under a different name).

The truth of the matter, however, appears to be that Solomon married in 1842. The 1838 marriage does not appear to be him after all, but a different Solomon Piggot (of whom there are only three in the entire 1841 census ... but the relevant one appears in the census as James, not Solomon!)

And the moral of the story?

Assumptions may sometimes be necessary, but check, check and re-check, and don't torture the evidence to fit a theory. If the evidence doesn't fit the theory, it is the theory which must be abandoned or modified ...