2
« on: Sunday 14 January 24 11:41 GMT (UK) »
Hi all
Thoughts please. I'm trying to trace the parents of my 4th great-grandmother Jane Harman, who married a James Bashford in Reigate, Surrey, in 1801 and settled in Chipstead, Surrey. At marriage they were both of Reigate.
Jane died in 1817 and was said to be aged 37.
However, no Jane was born in or around her expected age of birth of 1780.
There was a Jane Harman, a twin, baptised in Betchworth a few miles from Reigate in 1773 to John and Elizabeth. But this seems to be stretching the 1780 expected birth year beyond the reasonable. Also, a Jane Harman married a James Ockenden in Reigate in 1793.
There was a Jenny Harman baptised in 1781 to Abraham and Sarah at Leigh in Surrey, again a few miles from Reigate. This person does not appear again in the records as far as I can tell and I've read in a few places that Jenny was sometimes an alternative name to Jane.
Up to now I've thought of 1773 as the more likely option but now I'm not so sure. Has anyone experienced the use of Jenny and Jane interchangeably in this part of the world at this point in time?
Thanks
Stephen Finch