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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Northumberland => England => Northumberland Lookup Requests => Topic started by: sandon on Thursday 06 March 14 04:53 GMT (UK)
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Hi, I am researching my G G Grandmother Jane Middlemiss Born 1819 in Branxton, Northumberland
Died 1909 in Ford, Northumberland - she was married to my G G Grandfather William Gray Born 1813 in Ford, Northumberland, Died 1889 in Ford.
My cousin found a 1791 birth for Jane Middlemiss' mother, also named Jane. I have nothing else to go on for either Jane.
Is there someone who can look up births/deaths in pre-1800 Branxton or Ford or Glendale areas?
Thank you!
Sandon
Canada
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Have you tried FreeReg (.org.uk) or FamilySearch (.org)?
GenUKI details for Branxton: http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Branxton/index.html
Read the section Church Records.
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I think the 1791 birth date for Jane's mother is questionable due to this 1861 census entry
William Gray 49
Jane Gray 43
Robert Gray 15
Margaret Gray 14
Jane Gray 11
Elizabeth Gray 9
Mary Gray 7
Isabella Gray 4
William Gray 10/12
Elizabeth Middlemiss 59 <<<<< sister in law
As you will see Jane's sister is corn c1802 so if she had the same mother as Jane then that would make her mother only 11 when she was born
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And going by what should be the 1841 census for Jane and Elizabeth it would suggest their parents names are William and Margaret (NB in 1841 family relationships not given)
William Phiddlewriss* 73
Margaret Phiddlewriss* 68
Elizabeth Phiddlewriss* 39
Jane Phiddlewriss* 23
Margaret Hay 91
*Phiddlewriss is a bad transcription of Middlemiss
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THANK YOU so much DAVIDFT - Yes, it makes sense that Jane's mother's birth cannot have been in 1791. We had no idea that Phiddlewriss was converted to Middlemiss. This is fascinating! I wonder if all Middlemiss' were originally Phiddlewriss or if this was just a one-time sloppy transcription.
Does the Census go back further or are there other records in Northumberland that I can check?
I must check the origin of Phiddlewriss. Perhaps Scottish?
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1841 is the first real census
I have just looked at the 1851 census and Elizabeth is still with William and Margaret (Middlemiss is written as Middlemis this time) and this time it does confirm her as the daughter of William and Margaret. So looks to confirm Jane's parents as William and Margaret - I will have a look tomorrow to see if I can find a baptism for her
I am suspecting the Margaret Hay in 1841 may be Margaret Middlemiss' mother - but that is only speculation
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This is fascinating! I wonder if all Middlemiss' were originally Phiddlewriss or if this was just a one-time sloppy transcription.
Does the Census go back further or are there other records in Northumberland that I can check?
I must check the origin of Phiddlewriss. Perhaps Scottish?
Phiddlewriss is just a transcription error, the name is correctly Middlemiss
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"Phiddlewriss is just a transcription error, the name is correctly Middlemiss"
Ah, thank you davidft I misunderstood
Thank you also kgarrad, I'll research Middlemiss further on FreeReg and Family Search
Cheers,
Sandy
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Hi
I went to have a look for the baptism of Jane Middlemiss today but unfortunately had no luck as I had not realised the records I was going to look at only went up to 1812.
The records for Branxton do exist but it would involve going to Northumberland Archives, Newcastle or Durham as explained on the Genuki page for Branxton.
http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Branxton/
Another problem you will have is all the places you are interested in are very close to the Scottish border and there is a large non conformist population so not finding say a baptism in the Anglican records does not mean there is not one, as it may be in a non conformist register somewhere.
I did look at an index for Branxton from 1813 to 1839. There were no baptisms for a Middlemiss (but as this is only an index it could be Jane was missed). There is a marriage in 1824 for an Andrew Middlemiss – possibly a brother to Jane and Elizabeth. He married Elspeth Tarbit and this was a dissenter marriage. There are some Middlemiss burials but none that I could tie in to your Middlemiss’
What follows is conjecture but may help as a suggestion as a way forward.
From the 1841 census we see Jane and Elizabeth (sisters) are living with a William and Margaret Middlemiss aged 73 and 68 respectively. This suggests that William was born c1768 at Norham (from 1851 census) and Margeret was born c1773 at Tweedmouth (from 1851 census). Also with them is a Margaert Hay aged 91 (born c1750) who I suspect is Margaret the youngers mother. Margaret Hay was born out of county according to the 1841 census.
Looking at Tweedmouth marriages there was a marriage of a George Hay to a Margaret Nesbit on 31 Aug 1771 (familysearch says 1772). This Margaret could be the 91 year old Margaret in 1841.
There was then an earlier baptism of a George Hay son of George Hay of East Ord on 8 Apr 1749.
Then there was a marriage of a George Hay to a Frances Stamford on 4 Aug 1745.
Before that the Hays do not appear to come from Tweedmouth, and neither does Margaret Nesbit (later Hays)
From the GRO indexes the death dates of William Margaret and Margaret are
Margaret Hays 1842
Margaret Middlemiss 1855 (or 1860)
William Middlemiss 1853
All this would have to be verified to your satisfaction but I hope it gives some useful pointers
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Thank you so much davidft. I appreciate the possible links that you have suggested and amazed you have uncovered so much information! It is more than I hoped for and now I have something to follow up with a cousin who is also interested in this line.
Perhaps the Hays and Nesbit families have come from Scotland since Tweedmouth is so close to the border. I have not heard of the non-conformist register so thank you for mentioning that as well!
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Can't see a baptism for Jane, but this could be Elizabeth at Etal Presbyterian:
Elizabeth Middlemass daughter of William and Margaret Middlemass of Grindonridge, was born September 17th 1801 and baptized by David Aitken Mnr.
Births and baptisms at the same at same Chapel, with same parents :
17 June 1793, Isabella Middlemass, of Grindonridge.
11 Feb 1795, George Middlemass, of Grindonridge.
20 Feb 1797, William Steward Middlemass, of Grindonridge
13 June 1799, Margaret Middlemass, of Grindonridge
5 Oct 1803, James Middlemass, of Grindonridge
13 Oct 1805, Andrew Middlemass, of Grindonridge
27 Feb 1807, John Middlemass, of Brankston
16 Feb 1808, Thomas Middlemass, of Brankston
28 Feb 1808, John Middlemis of Mareldown (same parents names as Thomas 12 days earlier? or is this a repeat of John born 27 Feb 1807, register jumps all over date wise)
16 March 1812, Ann Middlemiss
No more Middlemass baptisms at this Chapel after Ann until 1837.
Alan.
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Thank you WolfieSmith - I think my ancestor's are Middlemiss rather than Middlemass, but it's always interesting to read about names / people who are similar as they may be, in fact, the correct ancestor.
I am searching for William Gray as well, my G G Grandfather: This is all I have on him, other than the fact that he married Jane Middlemiss:
BIRTHDATE 1813
Ford, Northumberland
DEATH DATE 1889
Ford, Northumberland
In our family papers, there was mention of a place called Boscombe, but I can't seem to locate this town?
Thanks so much again!
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Just curious but have you a Marriage Cert for William/Jane?
I cant seem to find a Marriage.
The Cert would help find Williams Fathers name/occp
Trish :)
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Hi Trish1120, no, I'm afraid we don't have a marriage certificate for William and Jane, just the fact that they were married, and this was from a GedCom file from a cousin whom I've never met. If you can't find a marriage, could that mean they were married elsewhere?
Thank you so much for helping!
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William Gray in the 1851 Census - we assumed he was married to Jane Middlemiss, but I cannot find a marriage record either....I searched only Northumberland and through the years 1830-1860
1851 census for Ford
William Gray 38 labourer
Jane 33 b Branton
Robert 5
Margaret 4
Jane 1
HO107 Piece 2422 Folio 196 Page 35
In 1861 they had the following children plus sister in law
Elizabeth 9
Mary 7
Isabella 4
William 10 Months
Elizabeth Middlemiss 59 sister in law unmarried b Norham
RG9 Piece 3890 Folio 93 Page 8
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there is a mary middlemiss born Branxton 1817
on the 1851 cenus at ford
her marriage 1841 at Coldstream just over the border in Scotland states her father William of Crookham which is near Branxton her husband Andrew Middlemiss was from Loanend
their children have the family names
info in
Irregular marriages recorded by the Berwick advertiser 1808 to 1864
The hays were mostly from Berwickshire Scotland having migrated from East Lothian over the centuries and there are middlemiss also in the same area