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Hi Jan, and everyone else who helped me,

I think this one has gone as far as it can here and now so I just wanted to say thanks again for all your input.

Very best wishes,
Zoe

All of you have been so generous and helpful - thanks indeed.

I have the info about Jabez and Amos's spouses but what I'm trying to do is find details of their parents to confirm (or deny) that they are also children of Jonathon Tester and Mary White. I've seen other trees on GR and ancestry that have Jabez and Amos of brothers of each other, with parents Johnathan and Mary, but no-one has been able to provide me with the sources for this so that I can satisfy my pernickety self.

I've been able to trace Jabez and Amos and their families in all the censuses but John Tester (their supposed brother, ie the one who was baptised the same day as Suzanna and Martha), my direct ancestor is *impossible* to find (though of course I would love to be proven wrong here )

The original source for our supposition that John, Jabez and Amos are brothers is this letter:

Tythorne House
Stoneygate
Leicester
Dec 10 1908

Dear Miss Wilson,

In answer to your note, I have been able to arrange for you to stay at my aunts for the two days you are in Leicester.  I suppose hyou will come here the day before, namely the 16th.  Please let me know the day, train and line you travel by.  Someone will meet you at the station. 

My aunt, Mrs. Bland, lives at: 10 Tennyson Street, St. James Road, and is daughter of Jabez Tester, your great-grandfather’s brother.  I am afraid to tell you more as to my own identity but perhaps shall explain when you come to Leicester or you will be somewhat mixed up in our relationship.

Yours sincerely, Charles Kirk

[On the back of the note was the following family tree:]

JOHN            JABEZ            AMOS
|
Anna      Emma|   Annie      Eileen   Martha   |
A. Wilson                  Bland      Bugby      Bills
|                                          |
Jim, John, Annie, Emma, Job, Walter          Nellie, Pattie   
           |                                 Kirk
Walter, Lily, Daisy, Chris, Walter, Tester
PS Being a teacher you will probably understand the above


...............................
I've been able to work out that this (jumbled) tree is basically correct. The only thing I can't find evidence to confirm is that John, Jabez and AMos were indeed brothers. Also this tree doesnt' mention the sisters Martha and Suzanna. John married Martha Robinson and what other info I have about him is at
http://www.kuvik.net/ztoft/jansentofttree/ppl/a/9/a9c0e95676225a5acc9.html

Thanks again everyone for all the snippets of information about various Testers,

Zoe

Many thanks Jan. I am never sure when I use the IGI if _all_ records for a given parish are online so that's why I was hoping someone might have access to a full copy of the PRs for Eaton Socon. If there is a way to be sure that all records for a given parish are in the IGI could you let me know?

Thanks again for such a speedy response.
Zoe

Hi Pauline, and fellow listers

I cannot find him on any census - but then the story is that he also taught in Germany which if true might account for (some of) his absence in UK censuses - all of this is based on the text of an advertisement (I do not have the original) which said the following:

15 Sept 1869
Northgate Street, Leicester.  Day and Evening schools.
Mr. J. Tester (late Classical and Mathematical Master, and Chemical Lecturer at the University of Bonn on the Rhine, and formerly one of the Assistant Masters at Clapham Grammar School, London) will open a select Day School for Boys, and an Evening School for Young People and Adults of both sexes, on the following terms:

Day School Pupils from 8-10 yrs:         4d per week
Day School Pupils from 10-14 yrs:      6d per week
A Plain English Education
For Classics, Mathematics, French or German   1s per week

Evening Pupils (males)            1s per week   to be paid in advance
Evening Pupils (female)            6d per week   to be paid in advance

I also know that he married his wife Martha Robinson 30 March 1818 Netherseal, Leicester. I am confident of 1 child, Anna, born in Essex in 1826, and there may have been 3 other daughters, Susan, Emma and Elizabeth, but I haven't been able to find any evidence of them.

A John Tester was granted a passport in 1858, but I don't know if this is "my" John Tester.

I wondered if the records of Clapham Grammar School had been deposited in an archive somewhere and searching them might be a way to confirm the story and throw up some new leads to finding out more about John.

Zoe