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I believe the marriage of James and Mary took place on 14th January 1784 at St James, Clerkenwell, which is about 6 miles up the road from Chipping Barnet.

The detail is James Holborn and Mary Lawrence.

This fits in nicely with the christening of their first child, James William Holbourn, on 28th March 1785.

This record is now availably on Ancestry.  Unfortunately I have not been able to trace Mary any further.  There were a lot of Lawrences on the Clerkenwell records and I have not been able to find baptisms on line after 1754.

James is my Gt Gt Gt Gt Gt Grandfather.

Christopher married Sophia Rouse who was from a very well connected family - there is some suggestion that he was in service to her so married the boss!  As DSR says, Sophia's line runs and runs.  Sadly I am not connected with Christopher/Sophia either and have a similar line to you.

Christopher was, in fact, a son of John Durston (1707?) and brother (I think) of John on your line.  My line is through Henry Durston, half brother of these two.  Unfortunately this does not give us a connection to Sophia Rouse :-(

Yes, these Weldon Champneys (or Champness) are a bit of an enigma are they not.  And there are more.  The first Weldon Champneys was born in 1736 and he was the grandfather of two of the subsequent Weldons.  His mother's maiden name was Weldon so that is where the name came from.  So I think there are three distinct people.

1. My Weldon Champneys, born 1803 who married Nancy Rawlins (1800-1828), had a daughter, Amelia Lavinia born 1824 and who seems to disappear from view after that.  He was described as a clerk in 1823 on his marriage certificate and an attorney in 1847 on his daughter's marriage cert.

2. William Weldon Champneys, who was the famous clergyman and Dean of Lichfield (1807-1875) who was cousin to my Weldon (their fathers were half brothers)

3. Weldon Champness - don't know much about him.  I think he was the person who married Sarah Taylor in 1829 because as you say, it states he was a bachelor so unlikely to be the same as my Weldon.  There are later census entries when he is described as a caretaker or a chapel keeper so again unlikely to be mine as its a bit of a come down from an attorney! Surname spelling varies between Champneys and Champness.  There is a death of a Weldon Champness in Shoreditch in 1886 which I am guessing is this one, and I have traced a christening of a Weldon Champness on 23/8/1807, born 22/7/1807 at Academy Chapel, Hoxton, London - parents William Champness and Mary.  I do not know the back ground of William and Mary though and have not bothered to look further as its not my line.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Brett

Hi Dawn,

Thanks for the pointer.  I do have a subscription to Ancestry so I have just had a look through these records.  Unusually they are clear, concise and not too many of them, but she is not there unfortunately so still looking!

Thanks again for your help

Best

Brett

I have traced back to William Crouch and Sarah Roberson who married at Northwood, Cowes, IOW on 26th December 1769 per IGI - their first child was baptised on the anniversery two years later.  IGI do not seem to carry the baptism records, though there are some earlier marriage records for the surname Crouch back as far as 1653 at Cowes.

Hence I am wondering if anyone has access to these baptism records for either William Crouch or Sarah Roberson - probably looking at the 1745-50 period or thereabouts.

Grateful thanks for any assistance.