Chediston Parish - ADAMS / TOWNROE

[dmollison]

I have an ancestor John Mayhew, farmer of Redisham, who with his wife Elizabeth had 11 children at Westhall between 1772 and 1795; his will of 1823 gives much information on them.

Various family trees identify his marriage date as 13 Nov 1770 and give his wife as Elizabeth Adams.
The IGI doesn't have Westhall marriages between 1753 and 1813 so I don't know what the source is for this.  [Info on a source would be welcome, especially as otherwise there's no firm evidence that his wife's surname was Adams.]

Some family trees go on to identify her as the Eliz. Adams christened at Chediston on 20 Mar 1752, the oldest of perhaps 5 children of John Adams and Rebecca.  And there's a marriage at Chediston in 1751 [claimed in an ancestry.co.uk Family Tree  to be on 3 Sep] of John Adams and Rebecca Townroe.

My lookup request is for the marriage of John Adams & Rebecca Townroe, and for the christening of Eliz. and/or her siblings Mary (9 Jan 1755) and John (30 Dec 1756, 26 Mar 1758, 1 Jan 1763 - presumably the first two Johns died as infants), in the hope that these entries might give other information, such as their residence, names of witnesses or John's occupation.

Any help will be appreciated.

[LisaRobinson87]

John Mayhew
Marriage year   1770
Marriage date   13 Nov 1770
Place   Westhall
Church   St Andrew
Elizabeth
Adams
Spouse parish   Wrentham
County   Suffolk
Country   England

I got this from FindMyPast hope it helps it only has the transcription

[smudwhisk]

Transcribed from the original registers on microfiche (typed into a spreadsheet) on previous visit to SRO:

Chediston:

Elizabeth Adams baptised 20 Mar 1751 to John and Rebecca, Labourer
Mary Adams baptised 9 Jan 1755 to John and Rebecca, Labourer
John Adams baptised 30 Dec 1756 to John and Rebecca, Labourer
John Adams baptised 26 Mar 1758 to John and Rebecca, Labourer
John Adams baptised 1 Jan 1763 to John and Rebecca Labourer

John Adams buried 14 Apr 1758, infant
Rebecca Adams buried 6 Feb 1762, dau of John and Rebecca

No burial for John senior (could have been missed) but there is the following:

26 Apr 1764 Rebecca Adams and Thomas Burgess married.  No other details, it may have been from a Transcript in the SRO rather than the original registers on microfiche.

We've not extracted the Adams from Wrentham I'm afraid.  But Adams is a very, very common surname in that area, something we've found from our own research.  The Chediston Adams family aren't as far as I'm aware connected to our own, although interestingly direct ancestor George Adams was residing in Chediston when he married at Metfield in 1779, but was born in Weybread and had his children baptised at Linstead Parva and Wenhaston.  There is also a James and Dorothy Adams having children baptised in Chediston at the same time as John and Rebecca so could possibly be related.

I suspect you need to see the Wrentham PRs to see if there is an Elizabeth Adams baptised in there, unless of course that is her mother remarrying and the family went into the parish.

There may be other Adams entries in the Chediston PRs.  Most of what we transcribed were done looking for a George Adams born around 1750 and we didn't at the time transcribe that large a time period from most of the parishes.

[dmollison]

Many thanks for these quick replies.
That John Mayhew's spouse Elizabeth Adams came from Wrentham makes it unlikely she's the one born in Chediston.  But I can't find any Elizabeth Adams from in or near Wrentham :-(

Incidentally, the record I'd seen said Elizabeth Adams of Chediston was christened on 20 Mar 1752 not 1751 - is this the difference between new and old style dates (1751/2 will have been the last year in England for which the official year ended on 25 March I think)?

Thanks again for your help.

[smudwhisk]

Incidentally, the record I'd seen said Elizabeth Adams of Chediston was christened on 20 Mar 1752 not 1751 - is this the difference between new and old style dates (1751/2 will have been the last year in England for which the official year ended on 25 March I think)?

Spreadsheet note says 1751 in original register but 1752 on transcript.  Would need to check the OR again but they were done some years ago.

[smudwhisk]

There are two Elizabeth's baptised at Mendham - (1) 11 Feb 1748 to Thomas and Elizabeth and (2) 19 Feb 1750 to William and Elizabeth - don't have any other details about them and that's even further than Chediston from Wrentham.

[smudwhisk]

Suffolk Marriage Index shows the Rebecca Adams who married Thomas Burgess in 1764 as a widow.  Suffolk Burial Index does show a Thomas Burgess burial in Chediston in 1802, but the only other entry is "wife" of John Burgess in the same parish in 1800.  I wonder if that could be a transcription error (or for that matter error by parish clerk) and should be Thomas?  Would need to see the original.

[dmollison]

Thanks for the further information, though I'm not sure finding more alternatives counts as progress!

In favour of Elizabeth Adams of Chediston, her mother remarrying could be a good reason to move to another parish.

In favour of the Mendham alternatives, there is a family connection with Mendham: John Mayhew's son Elias (1785-1860) farmed there from 1818/19 onwards.