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Bedfordshire Lookup Requests / Hannah Armstrong of Cople
« on: Friday 16 July 10 14:27 BST (UK) »
Another Armstrong stray!
The Cople Armstrongs arrived in 1766, in the person of cordwainer's apprentice (thanks, JohnP!) William Armstrong b 1754 in Wilstead. He married Mary Robins in 1799 and they had 6 children in Cople. Mary died in 1801. He then had a liaison (and got as far as calling the banns in 1802!) with Mary Tatman, which produced a son Henry in 1803, who was baptised as an adult in Cople in 1826, according to the IGI extraction, under the name of "Henry Tatman or Armstrong".
I've now been contacted by the descendants of a Hannah Armstrong, b 1806 in Cople according to census returns, who believe Hannah to be the sister of Henry. I've managed to locate her and her husband John Bassett in the census returns, and have identified the baptisms of their Beds-born children on the IGI in Cardington: George in 1828, Thomas in 1830 and Benjamin in 1832. (Member entries, sadly, rather than extractions, but full dates are given, so plausible....) There should also have been a Mary in about 1835, but she seems to be missing, not baptised or of no interest to the church member doing the lookups! In the census returns, the birthplace of John and the above Beds-born children is given as Fenlake, less than spitting distance from Cardington.
I cannot find a baptism for Hannah in Cople on the IGI under Armstrong or Tatman. I even checked all the Hannahs in the IGI batches for Cople, on the assumption that William may have taken up with another lady....no luck. Nor can I find a marriage for any Hannah Armstrong (or Tatman) with any John Bassett anywhere - much less in Bedfordshire - on the IGI. I've tried other sources available on Ancestry and The Genealogist as well without luck.
But though I can find no evidence, this looks like another of those circumstantial Armstrong things... There were only two Armstrongs baptising children during the late 1700s-early 1800s in Cople - William Armstrong and his two Marys, and - a little later - Henry Tatman/Armstrong. If Hannah WAS born in Cople, there is only one father she could have belonged to, and her birth date suggests she's either a full sister to Henry Tatman/Armstrong or perhaps a half-sister if old William had found another ladyfriend!
There's a naming pattern, too - Henry Tatman/Armstrong and his putative sister Hannah both named sons George and Benjamin, and Henry named his eldest daughter Hannah. These do not seem to have been family names from earlier Armstrong generations. George is a common enough name, but Benjamin only crops up again once in our huge Armstrong tree, in Thurleigh many years later. Hannah only crops up in this branch once more too, again in Thurleigh and again, many years later, daughter of Charles Armstrong and Sophia Partridge.
Can anyone help, or give me any clues on where to look next? I have more or less run out of ideas....
Wendy
The Cople Armstrongs arrived in 1766, in the person of cordwainer's apprentice (thanks, JohnP!) William Armstrong b 1754 in Wilstead. He married Mary Robins in 1799 and they had 6 children in Cople. Mary died in 1801. He then had a liaison (and got as far as calling the banns in 1802!) with Mary Tatman, which produced a son Henry in 1803, who was baptised as an adult in Cople in 1826, according to the IGI extraction, under the name of "Henry Tatman or Armstrong".
I've now been contacted by the descendants of a Hannah Armstrong, b 1806 in Cople according to census returns, who believe Hannah to be the sister of Henry. I've managed to locate her and her husband John Bassett in the census returns, and have identified the baptisms of their Beds-born children on the IGI in Cardington: George in 1828, Thomas in 1830 and Benjamin in 1832. (Member entries, sadly, rather than extractions, but full dates are given, so plausible....) There should also have been a Mary in about 1835, but she seems to be missing, not baptised or of no interest to the church member doing the lookups! In the census returns, the birthplace of John and the above Beds-born children is given as Fenlake, less than spitting distance from Cardington.
I cannot find a baptism for Hannah in Cople on the IGI under Armstrong or Tatman. I even checked all the Hannahs in the IGI batches for Cople, on the assumption that William may have taken up with another lady....no luck. Nor can I find a marriage for any Hannah Armstrong (or Tatman) with any John Bassett anywhere - much less in Bedfordshire - on the IGI. I've tried other sources available on Ancestry and The Genealogist as well without luck.
But though I can find no evidence, this looks like another of those circumstantial Armstrong things... There were only two Armstrongs baptising children during the late 1700s-early 1800s in Cople - William Armstrong and his two Marys, and - a little later - Henry Tatman/Armstrong. If Hannah WAS born in Cople, there is only one father she could have belonged to, and her birth date suggests she's either a full sister to Henry Tatman/Armstrong or perhaps a half-sister if old William had found another ladyfriend!
There's a naming pattern, too - Henry Tatman/Armstrong and his putative sister Hannah both named sons George and Benjamin, and Henry named his eldest daughter Hannah. These do not seem to have been family names from earlier Armstrong generations. George is a common enough name, but Benjamin only crops up again once in our huge Armstrong tree, in Thurleigh many years later. Hannah only crops up in this branch once more too, again in Thurleigh and again, many years later, daughter of Charles Armstrong and Sophia Partridge.
Can anyone help, or give me any clues on where to look next? I have more or less run out of ideas....
Wendy