Bendall and Hooker families Bristol - possible lookup and advice

[julieann1]

I've posted my search for my ancestor Mary Bendall previously, so I'm trying a new angle on this family. According to census returns Mary was born around 1823 in Bristol. However, her marriage certificate states that she was 28 in 1842, giving her a birth year of 1814.  I know that the age given on the census can be wildly inaccurate. I have read recently that details on marriage certs are occasionally mistranscribed. Has anyone ever come across this?   If anyone has access to Bristol parish registers, it would be really helpful if I could cross reference this marriage. The details are:  1842, 8th May, St James Church Bristol. John Thomas Hooker 27, bachelor, Mason, and Mary Bendall 28, spinster.

Also John Thomas Hooker and Mary Bendall had several children while living in Bristol.  I cannot find details of any of these births. Surely they must have been registered, although not necessarily baptised?
In 1851 the family was living at 4 Anchor Lane, Bristol, in the parish of St Augustine the Less.  The children were: John Thomas Hooker, born abt 1848, Edward George Hooker, born abt 1850, Emily Hooker, born about 1846 and Mary Hooker born about 1843.
If anyone could check out the parish register for me or suggest why I can't find birth registrations I will be grateful.

[Meliora]

hello,Julieann1,

During the time span that you are expecting to find birth registrations for the Hooker family children there was no law enforcing parents to register them, this did not become mandatory until 1875 when parents could be fined if they did not register their children within 6 weeks of birth.  So I am afraid there were very many babies unregistered until 1875.  Even after 1875 it was not unknown for parents to "fiddle the books" by giving a birth date for the baby within the 6 weeks when registering even when the child had been born earlier.

With regard to the varying ages for Mary Bendall, mistakes in transcription have been made in both census & certificates.    You have the marriage cert. so can you post the name of Mary Bentley's father which shoud be shown.  ?    I ask this as there are 2 baptism entries for Mary Bentall in Bristol, one in 1813  & one in 1822 & it would help to know her father' name.

Meliora

[julieann1]

Thanks. Her father's name was John Bendall.

[Meliora]

The entry in the IGI baptisms is for a  Mary Bendall
25th April 1813  St Philip & St Jacob, Bristol

Father  John   Mother Catharine.

I have not been able to trace any info on these parents.

The only other bapt for a MAry Jane Bendall was for 1st Aug. 1822 Berkley Glos, Father George  Mother Harriet.

In the 1851 census for John T Hooker & Mary, John is shown as being 33 years of age & Mary 29.  If your Mary is the one bapt in 1813 she should have been 37/8 years old, thus a few years older than John.   This 1813 bapt is more in keeping with the age shown on her marriage cert.     It is not unknown for a woman to sometimes give her age as slightly less than that of her husband's when someone asks her age, There was always a slight feelling that the husband should appear to be elder.  I have a couple of instances where the husband has upped his age so he appeared older than the wife but I have documented proof that they were quite a bit younger.

Can you tell me where you searched for the birth registrations for the children, Mary, Emily, John & Edward ?

I have found the following in the ONS birth registration that you might like to consider as yours.

Mary Hooker
Mar. ¼ 1843  Bristol  XI 147

Emily  Hooker
Sept ¼ 1845  Bedminster  XI 54
   Bedminster is an adjacent reg district to Bristol

John James Hooker
Dec ¼ 1848   Bristol    XI  128

Edward  George
Dec  ¼  1850   Bristol  XI  140

I hope this is clear & I haven't confused the issue too much.

Meliora

[julieann1]

Thanks. That's great. I've been looking them up on ancestry. Not sure about the registration for John, as he's John Thomas, not John James.  They also had 3 more children- Margaret born Bristol about 1854, Louisa born St Georges, Bloomsbury, Middlesex abt 1856, and Ellen born 1860 Bloomsbury (I've actually found her!).

Just confused about the age thing. Which was why I wanted to check the marriage on the parish register. On the marriage cert John Thomas Hooker was 27 and Mary Bendall 28.  I guess they may not have been sure of their ages. They were illiterate, so wouldn't have known what was being written down.

Where did you find the 1813 Mary Bendall baptism? Someone found that one for me before, but I never came across it on the IGI.  It certainly ties in with her age on the marriage certificate and her father's name.

Thanks again for you help. I'll keep searching..