Jeremiah Andrews b. 1820 North Curry

[maddys52]

I may be wrong, but I think the death of 25 year old Thomas Southwood at Shepton Mallet in 1841 buried St Peter are a few reports in the Taunton Courier of a Thomas Southwood (stealing various items and sentenced to various amounts). This of course, may be just coincidence. Somerset Record Office apparently has the Wilton Gaol and House of Correction Register 1839-1841, someone might be able to do a search for you to find out some more and see whether it is the same Thomas.

The other Thomas who died in 1842 registered at Taunton I think was buried at Creech St Michael 6 Nov 1842. There was a Thomas Southwood in the 1841 census at Creech St Michael, with a wife Elizabeth and children including son John, but the ages don't tally with your family.

[MiniHistory]

It may also be that Jeremiah and Elizabeth didn't marry until 1853 because Thomas was still alive. Not that there's a convenient death in 1852 but I'll keep exploring Mr Southwood to see what became of him. *

On a tangent, I note that the last three children of Jeremiah and Elizabeth didn't carry "Dinham" as a second name. They were all born once the marriage took place. My greatgrandmother was the last to have her mother's surname. She was born Mary Dinham Andrews in 1851. She later had an illegitimate daughter in 1872 and named her Ann Forward Andrews. Given the fact that the Forward family crops up in records of the time I think my greatgrandmother was making a point.

* Further research would point to Thomas, a shoemaker on his son's birth details, being the shoemaker Thomas Southwood who is in the Shepton Mallet House Of Correction on the 1841 census and who dies there in September 1841 aged 25. That all makes perfect sense.

[maddys52]

Sounds like a sad story doesn't it. You wonder why a shoemaker would need to resort to petty crime (I guess he wasn't a very good shoemaker?).

I wondered about the "Bicknell" name, but noticed a William Southwood married Mary Cox Bicknell at Hatch Beauchamp on 7 Nov 1816, and baptised Thomas at North Curry on 22 Feb 1818 (William was a baker), as well as some subsequent children. So this could explain John Bicknell Southwood (Andrews) middle name. Also saw you can track John Bicknell Southwood in later census, seemed to just have the Andrews name in 1851, possibly enumerator error, or just to make things easier.