Betty Leaves from Somerset, born c.1760

[jestina_d]

Hi,

A pair of my ancestors were married in Middlezoy, Somerset, on 28 May 1781.
 
The groom was George BEAKE, but on FamilySearch this has been mistranscribed and shows "George BRAKE".  I have borrowed the film and checked, and I am satisfied that this is a transcription error and that the register really does show "George BEAKE".

For the bride the parish register shows her name as Betty LEAVES, but again there is a transcription error, and on FamilySearch it shows as "Betty SEAVES".

However, that is not the reason for my plea for help.  Although a family named LEAVES or LEEVES lived very close to Middlezoy at Othery, I cannot find a baptism there or anywhere nearby for Betty LEAVES, who would have been born in about 1760.

Hezekiah LEEVES and Mary WINSLADE were married (by licence) on 11 Aug 1760 at Chedzoy.  (Source: FreeReg, Marriage transcript.)  I have found baptism records for five children of this couple: John baptised on 10 Dec 1762; John on 07 Oct 1764; Samuel on 05 Nov 1769; Elin on 16 Jan 1775; and Hezekiah on 15 Jun 1777.  All five were baptised at Othery, and the source for all five baptisms is FreeReg, Baptism transcript.

I have found a baptism for a Betty LAVERS on 20 April 1760 at Pitney, but neither parent's name has been recorded.  There are a lot of baptisms in that area for a family named LAVIS, so I suspect that LAVERS is actually LAVIS.  However, given that Pitney (although not distant) is farther from Middlezoy, and there was a family apparently named LEAVES at Othery, my guess is that Betty is from that family rather than the LAVIS family of Pitney.

Is any kind person able to help me solve this mystery, please?

Cheers,
Jestina

[pinefamily]

You say that you have looked at the film for Middlezoy; have you done the same for Othery? Familysearch shows they have films for both the PR's and the BT's. I would check both to be on the safe side.

[pinefamily]

Another line to follow up: was Betty Leaves a widow? Is there a marriage for a Mr. Leaves with a Betty/Elizabeth prior to 1780, and a corresponding burial for the same Mr. Leaves?

[Janelle]

Hey Jestina,

Leeves - what a brilliant family tree name. very elemental to our activities here. 

I'm not having much luck with Betty so I googled Hezekiah LEEVES of Othery when I did not see a Somerset bapt for him (or Betty). It is an unusual name combo. Do you know where your Hezekiah is from?

There is a family of biblical Leeves at Chardstock, Devon/Dorset, with Hezekiah b 1737 s of Jacob and Mary, and child dof same name was apprenticed via Overseers of the Poor c 1746.

http://chardstockwebmuseum.org/index.html

This is a cool site, full of transcriptions and history for that parish. 

I didn't keep on looking because could of course be shaking the wrong leaves (Just punning) on someone else's tree.

If Hez is from far afield, Betty might be too.

Salute,
Janelle

[hanes teulu]

FindMyPast has correctly transcribed Betty's 1781 marriage ie. Betty Leaves.

The "closest" Betty I can spot is "Betty, dau of John and Ann Leaves, bap 13 Feb 1763 at Hawkchurch, Devon" - siblings Mary (1856), Anna maria (1761) and George (1767). (FindMyPast baptismal images)

There's an 1788 death for a John Leaves, Hawkchurch which possibly indicates family did not leave Devon.

[jestina_d]

Thank you all for your responses.

Betty was a spinster.

I don't know that Betty belongs to Hezekiah's family, but their proximity seems suggestive.  Also, the fact that Hez & Mary were married by licence rather than banns suggests haste, and perhaps the birth of a child in late 1760 or early 1761.

Betty's burial record (transcribed by Somerset & Dorset Family History Society and appearing on find my past) shows her age at death as 76.  She was buried on 15 January 1837 so, IF the age shown is correct, this indicates that she was born in 1760.

I have not yet looked at the film for Othery.  I am going to have to order it and have a look -- there is a faint chance there might be a LEAVES baptism there around 1860-61 that has not been correctly transcribed.

Thank you all for you help and advice.  I shall follow up the lines you recommend.

Cheers,
Jestina

P.S. I went to primary school with a former (the first?) deputy coach of the Crows

[pinefamily]

I encountered a similar problem with an Ottery St Mary baptism; just a surname and a date on the transcription. On the original, the information was written in the margin (possibly added later). Why the transcriber did not see it, I don't know.

[DRH123]

The FreeREG transcription for that period was done by one person and checked by another (me) so if Betty was there we both missed her - not impossible of course but I hope unlikely.

The register is rather chaotic. They started neatly, with new pages for each year, but then went back through adding the later years wherever there was blank space. So more likely than missed all together is that she's been entered with the wrong date or even as a burial rather than a baptism.

There is an Elizabeth Leaves in 1791, but that date is quite clear.

There are a few years missing completely in the early 1750s, but it looks unlikely that your Betty was born that early.

If Betty was the couple's first child, as you suggest, then there's a possibility that she was born at her mother's parental home and baptised there. So it may be worth checking the  Chedzoy register.

David

[jestina_d]

Hi David,

Thank you for your advice and information.

I think I had already checked Chedzoy, but did so again on reading your message.  There is nothing for Betty there. 

It seems that she was always known as Betty and not ever as Elizabeth.  However, that does not mean that some vicar did not decide that he knew better than her what her name was.  I have noticed this before in parish registers, particularly with women.  (For example, a seventeenth-century ancestor of mine was named John Day, and he had both a sister and a daughter who were baptised "Easter Day".  Both were clearly born very close to, if not actually on, Easter [Sun]Day.  The elder was born during the Commonwealth when oddly religious names were fashionable.  However, every later record for each records her name as either Esther or Hester.) 

I was wondering if, rather than her parents forgetting to baptise her or a transcriber missing her entry, Betty might be the victim of poor hand writing.  From her marriage record (28 May 1781, Middlezoy) Betty's surname has been interpreted as SEAVES by FamilySearch and as LEAVER by FreeREG.

I have searched for baptisms under both Betty and Elizabeth but without a surname in Othery, Chedzoy and Middlezoy, but cannot find any likely looking baptism.  I have also searched for a "burial" in Othery and nearby, but no luck. 

I realise that there might be no record in existence, or that her parents might for some reason have had to make an urgent trip to somewhere far away around the time of her birth.  Or she might be Betty Laver from Pitney.  However, I want to be sure that there is no clearer information available before a take a break from beating my head against this particular brick wall. 

Am I able to view images of the actual registers anywhere online?  (I am in Australia.)

Cheers,
Jestina