Calling all Leicestershire Deacon family experts

[TonyV]

My g x3 grandmother was Elizabeth Deacon but I can find nothing about her before she married my g x3 grandfather in Leicester on 21 February 1831. In the 1851 and 1861 censuses she claimed to have been born in Kilby but there is no mention of her in the parish records for that village. When her husband was alive she claimed to have been born around 1804/5 but after he died the age she gave to the 1861 census enumerator would have meant a birth in 1799/1800. I believe that she married a William Coton about 4 years before marrying my g x3 grandfather but even with the help of posters here I've been unable to find out what happened to him. Did he die or was she a bigamist?

The name is very common and there were several women born by that name around Leicestershire but apart from her apparently incorrect claim that she was born in Kilby, the only clue I have was that in the 1841 census after her second marriage there was a young couple sharing the same house with them in Uppingham where the husband was called William Deacon and he may have been baptised in Oadby in 1818 to Richard and Hannah Deacon. Maybe Richard was Elizabeth's brother? Who knows but it seems quite possible that William and Elizabeth were related.

I am aware of a long association of the name Deacon in Fleckney, not far from Kilby, but other than that I am stumped. All help greatly received.

Tony 

[Jomot]

A possible burial William Coton:

11 Mar 1829, Lutterworth, William Coaton aged 26.

[TonyV]

Thanks Jomot. The dates certainly work because Elizabeth married William Coton about 6 months before William Coaten died in Lutterworth. I'll try to check your lead out.

Tony

[Jomot]

On the basis that even a small piece of the jigsaw might help, this may be the parents of William Deacon born Oadby:

3 Feb 1817, St Margaret, Leicester, Richard Deacon & Hannah Callis.  Bachelor & Spinster, both OTP

Burial at Oadby, 25 Jul 1837, Richard Deacon aged 45.  Also 10 Aug 1844, Hannah Deacon, aged 50.

[TonyV]

Yes thanks. I'd found the Richard and Hannah Callis marriage (but not their burials) and like you thought that they might be the same Richard and Hannah who had William baptised in 1818 in Oadby. It all fits date-wise very well. FamilySearch also gives a birth for a Richard Deacon in Fleckney that fits both his age profile and makes his birth within reasonable distance of Elizabeth's, again suggesting that they could be brother and sister. It's a big stretch however without other evidence and I don't think that I'm in a position yet to claim Richard, Hannah or William as relatives, let alone prove that Elizabeth was from that family.

Thank you for taking an interest.

Tony

[Artypie]

They are way too close in age to be Elizabeth's parents if she was born between 1799 and 1805 but the male of the couple might be her brother, making the other fellow her nephew. Women had children over a 30 year period in those days but the mother would have been no older than 11 when Elizabeth was born, if she died in 1844 age 50.

[TonyV]

They are way too close in age to be Elizabeth's parents if she was born between 1799 and 1805 but the male of the couple might be her brother, making the other fellow her nephew. Women had children over a 30 year period in those days but the mother would have been no older than 11 when Elizabeth was born, if she died in 1844 age 50.

Yes Artypie. My thought was that maybe William's father was an older brother to Elizabeth making William her nephew, as you said above. According to the burial referred to above Richard would have been born around 1792/3 which is close enough to Elizabeth's dates. However I can only find a suitable Richard baptised in 1790 which either means that he was not the same Richard or that someone got the dates and ages wrong which was often the case.

My problem is that Elizabeth thought that she was born in Kilby and yet there is no record of her baptism there. However, Fleckney (an adjacent village) in particular was the home of generations of Deacons so it is quite possible that some may have lived in Kilby shortly after Elizabeth was born and if they included Elizabeth her earliest memory may have been of living in Kilby.

All speculation and so far nothing bears this wishful thinking out

Sadly I am no further forward yet.

Tony

[Artypie]

A Wm Coaton of Lutterworth did have a wife called Elizabeth and they had a couple of children:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMJP-DH2 - William Coaton in entry for Mary Coaton, 01 Dec 1809; citing LUTTERWORTH,LEICESTER,ENGLAND

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NP4 - William Coaton in entry for Elizabeth Coaton, 03 Jun 1812; citing LUTTERWORTH,LEICESTER,ENGLAND

There was also an Elizabeth Deacon christened in Catthorpe, which is close to Lutterworth: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NYTQ-KXG : 30 December 2014), Elizabeth Deacon, 18 Aug 1801; citing CATTHORPE,LEICESTER,ENGLAND

There is also another child born to a William Coaton and Elizabeth:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NGNT-HYN : 30 December 2014), William Coaton in entry for James Coaton, 01 Feb 1824; citing ASTON JUXTA BIRMINGHAM,WARWICK,ENGLAND

As you can see the children were born too early for it to be your Elizabeth. Not sure if this is any help but it was interesting searching.

[lizdb]

When she marries your ggggandad in 1831, is she Deacon or Coton?  Does the PR specify if she is a spinster or widow?  Who are the witnesses?