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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Shropshire => Topic started by: kiwi249 on Friday 27 December 13 21:31 GMT (UK)
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I have just joined this great site and live in New Zealand which restricts my research capabilities to the internet only.
I am due to revise our family tree and on checking the entries which have been passed down in a family bible it is possible the first entry is a mistake.
It states that Benjamin Little married Martha Mitten in 1829 and that Martha's parents were John and Jane Mitten(married 1791).
On checking parish records and the census data Martha was born in Dawley 1809 or 1810 and died in 1887.
My problem is that other members of our tree state that Martha's parents were George and Martha
(marriage date unknown) and they had a daughter Martha born in 1809.
John and Jane had three children- Thomas, George and Hannah, no record of a Martha, their last child being born in 1797 leaving a large gap to 1809.
Which is correct and how could the first entry to a family bible be so far off the mark.
Regards Ron
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Welcome to Rootschat. :)
I personally wouldn`t alter my tree to fit "other members of our tree" unless they could provide evidence. Sometimes online trees just find the nearest "hit". Records online for Shropshire are sparse as I have found in my research and mostly consist of Church of England records. Whilst marriages in the time frame had to be performed by the Church of England (apart from Quakers and Jews), baptisms could be conducted in any faith they followed. Non conformist baptisms online are few and far between so keep searching regularly and always remember that not all registers are online and some haven`t survived.
Kind regards,
Mo
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From Familyseach.org
Benjamin Little & Martha Mitton Possibly Mytton
Mar. 22 Mar 1829 Wellington
Benjamin Little bap. 29 Mar 1809 Madeley son of Thomas Little and Sara
Hope this helps. I will check this in the new year, as this will give Martha's father.
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Hi and welcome to Rootschat
On checking parish records and the census data Martha was born in Dawley 1809 or 1810 and died in 1887.
The 1851 census shows both Benjamin & Martha were born in Colebrook Dale Shropshire. Benjamin in 1807 and Martha 1811
In 1861 - Martha's birthplace is Madeley Wood 1811
In 1871 it's 1809 Madeley
In 1881 - it's 1812 Shropshire
No census shows her birthplace as Dawley but I suspect somebody has made assumptions about this entry because it "fits" her birthyear and her mother was Martha
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5WW-32L
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Hi There,
Thanks Mo, Alberbury and CaroleW for a quick response to my query.
I agree that to disregard our family bible entries for Martha would be unwise.
I understand that Madeley, Ironbridge and Colebrokedale are all in close proximity to each other resulting in different census entries, also birth dates can vary by one or two years in the census.
The gap between the last known child of John and Jane Mitten and the birth of Martha worries me but the cause of that could be due to no record of more children being available.
Thanks for the offer of further research Alberbury in the new year. If I could find the name of one of her parents it would put the matter to rest.
Happy New Year to you all.
Regards Ron
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https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5WW-32L
Carole W - could you educate me please
re
System origin - England ODM .....what does ODM mean please ?? ( online data material ? )
does ODM mean it is NOT an extracted record ?...
thanks ...it will be good to know for future reference
:)
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Visited Shropshire Archives today.
No. 155 All Saints, Wellington 22nd March 1829
Benj m Little of this Parish
and Martha Mitton of this Parish
were married in this church by Banns with consent of
this twenty second Day of
March in the Year one thousand eight hundred and twenty nine
By me Thomas Riddell Curate
The marriage was solemized between us Benj Little X mark
Martha Mitton X mark
In the presence of John Roden signed
Francis Edge signed
Benjamin bp. 29th Mar 1809 Madeley son of Thomas & Sarah Little
Martha bp. 16th April 1809 Holy Trinity, Dawley Magna dau. of George & Martha Mitton
26th Dec 1798 St.Chad's, Shrewsbury
George Mitton of this Parish and
Martha Williams of the same were
Married in this church by Banns
this Twenty Sixth Day of Decr. in the Year One Thousand Seven hundred
and Ninety Eight By me John Warter assistant minister
The marriage was solemnized between us George Mytton signed
The mark X of Martha Williams
in the Presence of The mark X of Richard Langford
The mark X of Maria Langford
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Hi There Alberbury,
Thanks for your research about Martha and Benjamin. The information is very helpful.
In your opinion then is the information in our family bible, ie Martha 's parents named as John and Jane Mitton right or wrong.
It is quite possible that George and Mar/tha could be her parents?
Kind Regards
Ron
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Sorry Ron, I missed something.
John Mitton & Jane Dod
Mar. 17th Nov 1791 Dawley Magna familysearch.org
Martha bp. 18th Aug 1816 Donnington Wood F. John Mitton & Mary
But no Martha, daughter of John and Jane Mitton.
If it is not indexed I cannot help find your Martha, daughter of John and Jane Mitton.
If you can look for the 1841 and 1851 Census.
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Do you know when the bible information was written? It might make a difference whether the person writing it was going by oral family history alone, or not.
George and Martha Mitton appear to have had the following children:
George 1802 Wombridge*
Rebecca 1805 Wombridge
Martha 1809 Dawley
Philip 1811 Dawley
Mary 1812 Dawley
Wombridge isn't far from Dawley and the timing would fit with the marriage - but of course the first two aren't necessarily the same family.
I can't see a likely George or Martha Mitton in Shropshire in 1841 who would be the right age to be the parents of these children. However there is a couple named John and Jane Mitton in Madeley, aged 74 and 73 respectively. It might be worth exploring the possibility that George and Martha died fairly young - there don't seem to be any children born to them after 1812 - and that the children were brought up by John and Jane, who perhaps are relatives. Looking at burials for Dawley or Madeley might be helpful.
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Hi Alberbury and Galium,
Thanks for the effort in putting this query to rest.
I did see the family bible many years ago and it was probably 19th century.
I have copies of the original hand written entries and the very first entry states "Martha Mitten daughter of John and Jane Mitten was born Nov 12th 1810 married Benjamin Little who died Oct 11th 1865 aged 60yrs"
I suspect this entry was written before Martha's death in 1887 as it is not mentioned in the bible and she would have confirmed she is the daughter of John and Jane.
With this thought I will leave the entries as found in the bible and get on with my life.
Once again I must say how much I appreciate the effort and interest showing by you all.
Kind Regards
Ron
It is probably time to put this issue to bed and I will stick with the