Hello again: Another year of trying to untangle the Susan Seamons or Simmons mystery. I have been studying the Simmons family of Aston Abbotts. Robert Simmons (1767-1841) and his wife Sarah Hedges (1770-1851) had 10 children baptised in Aston Abbotts between 1790 and 1817 according to records I can see at ancestry. The Posse Comitatus of 1798 lists Robert's occupation as cordwainer, (which I find means he was a shoe maker) and shows he is the only Robert Simmons in Aston Abbotts at the time.
Now to James Simmons (1799-1877) of Aston Abbotts. I can't view the originals of the records at the ancestry site, only a transcription. His baptism record says his father was Robert Simmons of Aston Abbotts and wife Mary. Since there was only one Robert Simmons around at the time, I wonder if this is an error on someone's part. The question could be settled if a full copy of James Simmons marriage to Sarah Cock on 4 January 1821 were available because his father's name and occupation would be listed. Is it possible to obtain this information without purchasing a copy of the record?
As I said in my first post on this subject, my great great grandmother called herself Susan Seamons when she and William Kempster were married in 1845. After her death in 1867, her two youngest daughters went to live with James Simmons in Aston Abbotts. I now believe that Susan Simmons was her actual name, and like her aunt (a daughter of shoemaker Robert Simmons, who changed her name from Susanna Simmons to Susanna How Seamons around 1824-1828), and her sister Hannah Simmons (whose name is recorded as Hannah Seamons on her marriage to William Rayner in 1854) Susan followed the family trend of changing their name to Seamons.
To wind things up, can anyone find the details of James Simmons' baptism in 1799, and his marriage in 1821? It's a long story I know, and thanks for your patience if you made it this far.
