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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Bedfordshire => England => Bedfordshire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: david_f on Sunday 20 November 11 18:47 GMT (UK)
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Jabez Single, born abt 1805 in Eaton Socon, Beds married (Elizabeth) Susannah Weston in London in 1834, but she may previously have been married to James Single (?brother, ?same person). Any suggestions as to how I may research Jabez/James and their forebears? Thanks!
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Hi
Jabez Single bachelor married Susannah Single (wid) on 13/08/1838 at Spitalfields Christ Church with St Mary & St Stephen.
Jabez is down as a bricklayer, Father William Single, Bricklayer
Susannah's Father is Thomas Weston, Bricklayer
Witnesses were Sarah Lawson & Robert Best.
Can not see a marriage to James.
Sharon
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The quick answer to your question is to find Jabez' baptism, from which you'll get his parents' names, then find their marriage and work back from there. And if you get stuck look laterally at possible siblings. You've been given a head start from his marriage cert which names his father as William.
Virtually all Beds baptisms and marriages pre 1813 have been extracted onto the IGI at www.familysearch.org But there's no baptism of a Jabez Single in Eaton Socon, so perhaps the family was non-conformist.
A William Single married Ann Barcock in Eaton Socon on 1 Dec 1786 and they baptised two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah, in Eaton Socon in 1787 and 1788, and possibly a son Thomas in Tempsford in 1790, then... nothing
There are burials in Eaton Socon of Ann Single on 15 Apr 1807 and of William Single age 85 on 21 March 1850. You need to check the parish register to see if Ann is described as the wife of William.
In 1841 living in Eaton Socon was
William Single 75 bricklayer
Mary Darrington 75 FS
Sarah Ives 40
William Ives 4
Sarah Ives 2
All born in Beds
It might be worth checking to see if there's any blood relationship between William and Sarah
William's details in 1841 tie up with Jabez' marriage in 1838. But without a baptism for Jabez it's down to the balance of probabilities that Jabez was the son of William and Ann.
In 1841 Jabez and Susannah were living in Whitechapel with William Single 20, Eliza 15, John 15, Ann 12, Jabez 7 and Samuel 5.All presumably Susannah's children by her first Single husband. Why do you think her first husband was James Single? There are three baptisms on 12 Jan 1814 at St Ann Limehouse of children of John and Susannah Single, bricklayer, born 1808, 1812 and 1813. But Susannah looks a bit young to have been married and having children by 1808. But there was also a William and Susannah Single, a bricklayer inevitably, who baptised Ann on 25 Feb 1829 at the City of London Lying in Hospital, City Road. It was this latter couple - William Single married Susannah Preston on 1 Feb 1819 at Limehouse St Ann. One of the witnesses was ?Martha? Single. See below for Preston/Weston confusion.
Susannah may have died before 1851 as Jabez appears to have tried to remarry on 17 Nov 1851 at St George in the East:
Jabez Single of full age widower builder father William Single bricklayer and Ann Preston of full age spinster father Thomas Preston bricklayer with a note "The former wife of Jabez Single was stated by him to have been Susannah Preston, sister of Ann Preston. This marriage was therefore refused". I can't quite follow the position - unless there's a mix up Preston/Weston.* That's probably it! In 1871 Jabez' wife was Ann.
David
* I think in the 1838 marriage Susannah's father is actually Thomas PRESTON not WESTON, although the P isn't very clever - but it's different to the W of widow and William in the same entry
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Wow, thanks Sharon01 and Befordshire Boy for the amazingly speedy responses! I'm going to have to take time out to digest this new information....
I'm used to convoluted family relationships on my Norfolk Farman/Graves side, but I was rather expecting the Single/Fussell side to be more straightforward, mainly because (so far as I knew) it was firmly London-based. But not so: the Fussells have their roots in Somerset and now I find that the Singles have Bedfordshire roots.
I had not managed to find the Bedfordshire records at familysearch.com (no mention at what I imagined to be the main index page at https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=europe), which has proved invaluable for Norfolk researches. If someone could explain the indexing system to me, I'd be extremely grateful.
Thanks again!
David
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I still use the old IGI ar http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true rather than the new search
Region: British Isles
Country: England
County: Bedford
If you prefer the new search go to the home page at www.familysearch.org and click on Try the updated site at the top of the page. Just put in Eaton Socon as the place. Or Bedfordshire if you want more entries. It couldn't be simpler!
A question must be: What was the relationship between William and Jabez Single. If they were brothers the marriage should have been prohibited, which is not to say that it didn't happen. Or might they have been cousins which was a permitted marriage.
David
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A few random facts and musings:
Susannah Single age 51 of Mile End Old Town was buried at Stepney St Dunstan on 17 Aug 1851.
There's a load of rubbish on Ancestry trees for this family, compounded by the fact that they all have Susannah as Weston and all show her children as being Jabez's. I think most of her children were William Single's, her first husband.
The only burial of a William Single that looks likely is a 30 year of Brighton St at St Pancras on 21 Sep 1836, but the place seems wrong
In 1851 living at 11 New Rd, Stepney (indexed as Lingle on Ancestry)
Jabez Single head marr 46 Bricklayer employing 7 men b Eaton Beds
Susannah Single wife 51 b Bilston Staffs
Eliza Single dau unmarr 26 Dressmaker b Stepney
Ann Single dau 22 dressmaker b St Lukes
Jabez Single son 17 b Cripplegate City of London
Samuel Single son 14 Cigar maker b Whitechapel
On his marriage to Mary Abraham at Whitechapel on 29 Nov 1860 Samuel Single names his father as Jabez Single builder
On marriage to William Jeremiah Murphy at Hoxton St John the Baptist on 25 Dec 1851 Ann Single of full age spinster lists her father as Jabez Single builder. One of the witnesses was Eliza Single
The vicar of St George in the East having refused to marry Jabez Single and Ann Preston on 17 Nov 1851 after publishing the banns, they married by licence the following day at Christ Church Watley St - Jabez Single widower father William bricklayer and Ann Preston widow (?) father Thomas Preston bricklayer
There was more than one Single family in that part of London giving Eaton Socon as their birthplace, all bricklayers
1851
Thomas Single head marr 62 Builder b Eaton Beds
Sophia Single wife 60 b Stepney
Washington Single son unmarr 26 builder b Stepney
Unfortunately they married well before 1837 so there's no record detailing his father
1841
St Ann Limehouse
John Single 63 bricklayer Not b in Middlesex
Susan Single 63 Not b in Middlesex
1851 St Anne Limehouse
Susannah Single head widow 73 b Eton
John Single married Susannah Goodliff at Eaton Socon on 20 Apr 1802
John Single aged 70 was buried at Limehouse St Ann on 24 March 1850
But this John with an implied birth of c1780 seems too old to have been the son of Willian and Ann who didn't marry until 1786
A possible sister of Jabez - Lydia, who married Robert Goodliff at Eaton Socon on 12 Jul 1824 (as well as on the IGI this marriage can also be found at http://www.escan.org.uk/ ). Lydia Goodliff widow 47 father William Single builder married John Morrison 43 widower at St John Clerkenwell on 4 Feb 1854
I can't find baptisms for any of these Singles in Eaton Socon, although I suspect Thomas may have been the one baptised at Tempsford on 5 Jul 1790, son of William and Ann Single
Whilst there are no baptisms to prove that these Singles, with the exception of John, were children of William and Ann, I think there's enough circumstantial evidence to make it very probable, particularly as there doesn't seem to be another Single family in Eaton Socon at that time.
Unfortunately William Single of Eaton Socon doesn't appear to have left a will.
I wrote yesterday that I suspected that Ann (Barcock) was the Ann Single buried in 1807. I think he may have remarried Margaret Emery on 9 Aug 1809 - she was buried at Eaton Socon on 9 Nov 1836 age 82
I can't find a Martha Single though, the witness at William and Susannah Preston's marriage
Nor can I determine if this William might have been Jabez's brother, or just a cousin perhaps.
That should keep you out of mischief for a while
Do you think you are descended from Jabez?
David
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A bit of an understatement: it will certainly keep me out of mischief - thanks very much indeed!
I'm clearly a lot newer to this than you but, for the life of me, I can't see how you manage to amass so much information in such a short time. The IGI is clearly a fantastic resource, but I seem to draw blanks most times I try to use it. For instance, I knew about the 17 & 18 Nov 1851 'marriages' to Ann Preston from the "London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921" transcriptions at www.ancestry.co.uk, but the IGI search engine draws blanks for both events (for me, at any rate!). Your information is more detailed, however, so presumably you have seen a copy of the original document rather than simply a transcript. What am I doing wrong??
Thanks again
David
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Forgot to answer your question: I seem to be descended (on my mother's side) from William, Susannah's first husband, rather than Jabez - but I now need to re-evaluate everything I thought I knew about the Singles!
David
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If you have an Ancestry subscription then you can find the information I found. But most of it, particularly in London, isn't on the IGI. But the IGI is only an index so you don't usually get any more detail, for which you need to look at the parish register. It's great though for Beds where virtually all baptisms and marriages pre 1813 have been extracted
All the stuff on Ancestry which I've mentioned is a scan of the original document, not just a transcription - if you don't have a subscription perhaps all you get is what's in the index. I think this is the cause of the Weston/Preston mix-up. Ancestry have transcribed it as Weston, but if you look at the scan it's much more likely to be Preston - and coupled with the 1851 marriage which wasn't it's clear that it was Preston.
I'm not in the least bit convinced that Jabez and Susannah had any children.
David
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Steep learning curve, but I'm getting there!
Thanks again
David
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This is not a straightforward family! Where the children weren't baptised and where they were born too early to appear together as a family in censuses, it's always going to be a struggle, and in the end will come down to the balance of probabilities.
Which one of the children do you descend from? I can only find a baptism for Ann in 1829.
The other problem of course is that William died before censuses, so we really know nothing about him other than Martha Single was a witness when he married. Not a lot to go on!
David
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If you think the Singles un-straightforward, you should meet my Norfolk ancestors, the Farmans and the Graves. My great-grandmother, Martha Farman, appears never to have married, but to have produced 7 children to who knows how many fathers, the first four being born in a workhouse; meanwhile, the Graves appear to have constituted the greater part of the population of three adjacent small hamlets, and had a fondness for a very limited range of given names - nightmare!
Back to the Singles: I believe that my grandfather, Charles Hosgood Single (1887-1969), was the son of William Single (b 1861), the grandson of John Single (1826-1864) and the great-grandson of the aforementioned William Single and Susannah Weston/Preston.
David
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I've found three more baptisms of children of William and Susannah, at Stepney St Dunstan
Thomas 5 May 1822, born 17 Apr 1822, bricklayer of Mile End Old Town
Eliza 29 Feb 1824, born 27 Nov 1823, bricklayer of Mile End Old Town
John 15 Apr 1826, bricklayer of Mile End Old Town
That seems to establish that Jabez isn't in your direct line.
David
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I can see
Charles Single born 30 Mar 1888 baptised 2 Jun 1893 at St Olave Hanbury St, Mile End New Town, son of William and Ann of 8 Little Halifax St, tobacco cutter. BUT the birth registration of Charles Hosgood Single was in the Dec quarter 1887. Do you have the birth certificate?
son of
William Single and Annie Driscoll who married at Bethnal Green St Thomas on 22 Dec 1878 - William's father: John Single cigar maker. William son of John dec'd and Eliza Caroline baptised at Christ Church, Spitalfields on 31 Mar 1867, born 28 Feb 1861, of 8 John St, cigar maker.
son of
John Single cigar maker of full age, and Eliza Caroline Norris who married at Shoreditch St Leonard on 27 Oct 1844
John Single son of William Single and Susannah Preston baptised at Stepney St Dunstan on 15 Apr 1826.
And now the BUT! On his marriage to Eliza Caroline Norris, John named his father as James Single, bricklayer. Not William. Not even Jabez. James! In 1841 in the household of Jabez Single was John Single 15 (ie actual age 15-19) cigar maker apprentice. So there doesn't seem to be much doubt that this is the correct John, although he can't have been of full age in Oct 1844 - in 1851 he was 24, in 1861 34. With a sister having been born in Nov 1823 he's unlikely to have been born before Nov 1824 at the earliest. I assume that this is why you thought Susannah's first husband was James Single.
Do I think this changes anything? Not really, although I'm surprised that John didn't seem to know his own father's name, even though he'd been dead for some years
David
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Yes, that's where the name James came from, but I have been able to find no other reference to anyone of that name. Clearly more work required here!
I do not (yet) have a birth certificate for my maternal grandfather, Charles Hosgood Single, and had not noticed the marginal annotation in the baptismal register giving his birth date as 30 March 1888: I was simply going by the birth registration quarter of 4Q 1887. I am pretty sure I have the correct Charles Single, however, as I think I have found the source of the unusual middle name: his aunt Eliza married an Osgood, and the cockney 'h' is frequently superfluous or discarded!
Regards
David
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I have for many years researched the genealogy of the Single family but unfortunately my branch of the family originates from Somerset. However, because of the rarity of the surname I have tracked other branches of the family where I have come across them and Jabez plus the other London Singles have crossed my radar.
I think I may have the answer to William/Jabez/Susannah and their relationship albeit from a slightly unusual source! Have a look at www.oldbaileyonline.org, go to 'Search Pages' in the middle and enter Single in the surname box. It transpires that William was convicted of stealing a window sash on 1st December 1831 and sentenced to 7 years transportation (harsh!). Go to www.convictrecords.com.au, search for William Single and the following information appears. He left England for Van Diemens Land aboard the Jupiter on 31st December 1832 arriving there on 31st August 1833. More importantly the website states he was 35 years old, married with 5 children and that he died on 2nd March 1837.
Back to Jabez and Susannah. I would say there is a very strong likelihood they were brothers. When William was transported Susannah would have had no financial support and may well have resorted to living with Jabez. With this scenario in mind the likelihood of Jabez junior (baptised @1834) and Samuel (baptised @1836) being the illegitimate children of Jabez and Susannah is very high. Furthermore, given that William died in March 1837 and allowing for a message to be sent to the UK advising Susannah of his death she was then free to marry again which she did to Jabez on 13 August 1838.
Still need to try and find the missing baptisms of all the Eaton Socon family of William and Ann but I am sure when they are found it will confirm the absent pieces of the jigsaw.
Regards
Richard Nichols
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Excellent sleuthing Richard! That explains a lot. Unless the baptisms are found, which is probably unlikely, it remains to be seen if Jabez and William were brothers. Marrying your deceased spouse's sibling was forbidden at that time, although that didn't stop a lot of people doing it, as Jabez proved a few years later when he married Susannah's sister.
David
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Glad to be of help David. Did you by any chance notice on the Old Bailey website that Jabez also appears in a different trial - but this time as a witness.
Richard
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I did Richard, and possibly Susannah as well
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Apologies for not responding sooner - the advisory email somehow ended up in my 'spam' folder.
Thanks, Richard, for this fascinating information, which gives me a new insight into my maternal line!
David