William Coles b ca 1803 Marston

[josey]

William Coles married Sarah Simson on 8 May 1827 in All Saints & St John, Hertford, Hertfordshire. They stayed in Hertford Heath for the remainder of their lives. William died in 1887. He worked at the East India Company College [now Haileybury].

William on the censuses:
1841 aged 35 watchman not born in county
1851 aged 47 gamekeeper born Somerset
1861 aged 57 gen serv born Marston, Somerset
1871 aged 67 widowed labourer born Marsden, Somerset
1881 aged 77 widowed gamekeeper born Marston, Somerset

Their children were named Caroline, Frederick, William Thomas, Mary

I am trying to see if I can identify William's parents.

There are several possilble Somerset baptisms on ancestry:
William Coles 17 Jun 1804   Chard, Somerset, England   Samuel, Mary
William Coles 24 Jun 1804   Bruton, Somerset, England   James, Mary
Adam William Culverwill Coles 23 Oct 1803   William, Susannah
William Coles 8 Jan 1803   Holy Trinity, Frome, Somerset, England   Miles, Mary
William Coles 1 Sep 1803   Pilton, Somerset, England   William, Ann
William Coles 1 Sep 1805   Paulton, Somerset, England   James, Ann
William Coles 9 Dec 1804   Church-Stanton, Devon, England   William, Mary
William Coles 28 Mar 1802   Hillfarrance, Somerset, England   Henry, Jane

I do not know Somerset geography at all well but wondered which William might be the most likely. I also wondered if anyone had any knowledge of the the Miles & Mary Coles family? The name Miles never occurred in the Hertford Heath Coles family.

Many thanks, Josey

[jusnoneed]

Hi,  Marston Magna is near Yeovil in South Somerset so none of those you list would be near that, but there is also Marston Bigot which is near Frome.
Di

[DRH123]

GENUKI is useful for this sort of question.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/parishes.html

At the top of each parish's page there is a link to "Nearby places".

As Di has said, there are two Marstons in Somerset, none of the places you list are particularly near Marston Magna, but Frome is about 3 miles from Marston Bigot.

If you search on FreeREG you'll find several more Williams, including one from Whatley which is about as near to Marston Bigot as Frome is.  Coles looks to have been a common name in that area, it's going to be difficult to determine the right one.

David

[jacquelineve]

 Any Coles witnesses at marriage?

Jackie

[josey]

Thank you all for your replies.

Di - that's useful to know; I'm slightly embarassed that my lack of knowledge of some UK geography.
David - a useful link, thanks. With it being a fairly common name in the area, I agree it may be impossible to identify William's parents. I am doing the Coles tree for a 96 yr old Coles cousin of my mother but I'm sure  he'll be pleased I got to this William anyway. I was hoping his childrens' names might help with his parents - don't know where Caroline came from (perhaps named after royalty  as also Frederick if it hadn't been a family name).
Jackie - as it's before civil registration, there isn't a certificate. I got the marriage from familysearch, so I haven't yet seen an image of the parish entry.