Clarke & Gallop in Blagdon & Nempnett

[Ruskie]

This is my first time in Somerset. 

I am researching the following family, and in particular I am hoping to go back with the parents John and Fanny.  I am specifically looking for births/baptisms of John Clarke, Fanny (Frances?) Gallop and the names of their parents.

1851
HO107/1937/277/10
Blagdon
Weston Town
John Clarke head mar 47 farm lab b Somerset Nempnett
Fanny wife 49 b Blagdon
Ann daur 22
Jane daur 17
Charles son 14
+ lodger

1841
HO107/967/4/16
Blagdon
Weston Town
John Clarke 35 Carrier (all born in county)
Fanny 40
Henry 12
Ann 10
John 8
Jane 6
Charles 4

Blagdon St Andrew
John Clarke = Fanny Gallop 1 Apr 1826
wits: William Gallop, Ann Gallop
by Banns and parent's consent.

Charles is the line I am following - he went off to Australia before the 1871 census.

I cannot definitely find them as a couple in 1861. There are a number of possible John Clarke deaths, but none for Fanny/Frances before 1871.

If anyone has any PRs for Blagdon and/or Nempnett a lookup would be most appreciated. I know some records are online on FreeREG but wondering if there are more complete records on CD that someone may have access to.

Thanks a lot. 

[Ruskie]

Added: I have just located the family in 1871. Found John in 1881 - by now a widower aged 80. His place of birth is "Not Known". A possible corresponding burial in 1885 St Andrews Blagdon for an 85 year old John.

1871 census gives place of birth as Blagdon for both John and Fanny.

Also a burial 1875 Blagdon for a Fanny Clark age 79, so age appears to be a bit out but it may be the right one .... 

If anyone knows if there are any MIs for Blaydon St Andrew, I would be interested to know if there is any record of them being buried together?

All that I now need is John and Fanny's births/baptisms. Thanks. 

[Toban]

This baptism would fit in with the 79 age in 1875:

Fanny Gallop, bapt. 17 May 1795, Blagdon, to Thomas & Mary

From FreeREG

T

[Ruskie]

Thanks Toban.  I noticed that one when I was looking earlier.

As age is a little out for Fanny on the censuses I was wondering if there might be another Fanny/Frances.

From the censuses her year of birth is variously estimated to be 1802, 1801, 1803, 1799 - so not drastically different but still enough to make me a little wary.

[DRH123]

The general rule with FreeREG is to include everything which could possibly be of genealogical interest, which usually means everything except the minister's name (and even that should be included sometimes, e.g. if a wedding was conducted by a minister from a far-off parish he may well be a relative of one of the couple). Some files are copied from older paper transcripts rather than the original register or converted from digital transcripts not originally intended for FreeREG, and these may not have all the details, for example leaving out the witnesses to marriages. They will be revised as and when better source material becomes available. In many cases the church name in a FreeREG record is followed by PR, BT or TR to indicate whether the source was the parish register (or images thereof), the Bishop's Transcripts or a previous transcription respectively. Many older files don't have this indication.

You can find details of the coverage of each Somerset parish here:

http://www.freereg.org.uk/parishes/som/frontpage.shtml

Blagdon currently has baptisms 1800-1819 from the parish registers but nothing from the 1700s. Nempnett has up to 1807 from the registers and 1813-1836 from the BTs. So each has gaps around the time  John Clark would have been born. However, there was a John Clark baptised at Nempnett in 1797 or 1798. (The date is illegible but it comes between entries from Nov 1797 and Apr 1798.) His parents were James and Seacey or Leacy. (They have 5 children baptised there, from Ann in 1788 to Benjamin in 1801, the transcriber has read the mother's name differently nearly each time - Se_cey, Loocy, Loucy, Leacy.)

I notice Benjamin married at Nempnett in Oct 1826 - a few months after John married Fanny - and one of the witnesses was Frances Clark. So it looks quite plausible that it is your John in 1798, a little older than suggested.  But on the other hand if parental consent was required for the wedding in 1826, at least one of the couple should have been under 21 at the time, and so born after 1804.
(But nearly every wedding at Blagdon 1822-1827 is shown as "with parental consent", so  there may well be a misunderstanding there.)

DAvid

[Ruskie]

Hi David, thank you for your very comprehensive and helpful reply.

I was convinced that neither Fanny nor John would have been under 21 when they married, so it helps to know that "with parental consent" was the norm in Blagdon regardless of ages of the bride and groom.

I can probably 'claim' the Baptism of Fanny Gallop as it was not such a common name, however John Clarke is common so much more difficult to know for sure which is the correct John. Only on one census did he say he was born in Nempnett - the rest say Blagdon, and on his final census in 1881 as an 80 year old pob was "not known" (which could easily be explained by failing memory or other illness).

As Freereg does not include Blagdon baptisms from the 1700s, so I can't check to see if there are any likely John Clarkes born there, then it looks like a brick wall for the moment - or 'pencilling in' the Nempnett one. I will check for other Fanny Clarkes as I think I recall seeing a number of them on the census (though unsure of locations) in case it is possible that a different Fanny Clarke witnessed Benjamin's marriage.

Thank you once again for your insight David.

Added: The frustrating thing is that I notice on FreeREG that there are Clarkes in Blagdon and Nempnett in the 1600s, so it would be exciting to be able to trace the family further back assuming they lived in the area at that time.

[DRH123]

I've just realised I misread the status of Blagdon in FreeREG. The baptisms from the parish register are covered all the way through from 1555 to 1885. (It is the Bishop's Transcripts which have nothing from the 18th century). Sorry about that.

There's no John Clark in the right time frame, so the one from Nempnett looks a bit more likely. There are other possibilities if you look a little further afield. This link should give you all the John Clarks (on FreeREG) baptised 1790-1810 within 7 miles of Blagdon

http://freereg2.freereg.org.uk/search_queries/5536841e791e3b5ab3000423

(FreeREG2 is a new version of FreeREG with, we hope, a better search function. It is not fully operational yet but is available to try.)

David

[Ruskie]

Thanks again David - very helpful information.

Yes, I am aware of FreeREG2 but have not investigated it yet.

If there are no John Clarkes baptised in Blagdon in the right time frame then I agree that makes the Nempnett one look more likely.

I see that Nempnett is a small place, very close to Blagdon, and I know that on censuses people have been known to give the name of the nearest (larger and more well known) town or village as their place of birth presumably as it was simply the easiest option. This may have been the case with John.