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Topics - wdurham

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1
Bedfordshire Lookup Requests / Hannah Armstrong of Cople
« on: Friday 16 July 10 14:27 BST (UK)  »
Another Armstrong stray!

The Cople Armstrongs arrived in 1766, in the person of cordwainer's apprentice (thanks, JohnP!) William Armstrong b 1754 in Wilstead. He married Mary Robins in 1799 and they had 6 children in Cople. Mary died in 1801. He then had a liaison (and got as far as calling the banns in 1802!) with Mary Tatman, which produced a son Henry in 1803, who was baptised as an adult in Cople in 1826, according to the IGI extraction, under the name of "Henry Tatman or Armstrong".

I've now been contacted by the descendants of a Hannah Armstrong, b 1806 in Cople according to census returns, who believe Hannah to be the sister of Henry. I've managed to locate her and her husband John Bassett in the census returns, and have identified the baptisms of their Beds-born children on the IGI in Cardington:  George in 1828, Thomas in 1830 and Benjamin in 1832. (Member entries, sadly, rather than extractions, but full dates are given, so plausible....) There should also have been a Mary in about 1835, but she seems to be missing, not baptised or of no interest to the church member doing the lookups! In the census returns, the birthplace of John and the above Beds-born children is given as Fenlake, less than spitting distance from Cardington.

I cannot find a baptism for Hannah in Cople on the IGI under Armstrong or Tatman.  I even checked all the Hannahs in the IGI batches for Cople, on the assumption that William may have taken up with another lady....no luck. Nor can I find a marriage for any Hannah Armstrong (or Tatman)  with any John Bassett anywhere - much less in Bedfordshire - on the IGI. I've tried other sources available on Ancestry and The Genealogist as well without luck.

But though I can find no evidence, this looks like another of those circumstantial Armstrong things... There were only two Armstrongs baptising children during the late 1700s-early 1800s in Cople - William Armstrong and his two Marys, and - a little later - Henry Tatman/Armstrong.  If Hannah WAS born in Cople, there is only one father she could have belonged to, and her birth date suggests she's either a full sister to Henry Tatman/Armstrong or perhaps a half-sister if old William had found another ladyfriend!

There's a naming pattern, too - Henry Tatman/Armstrong and his putative sister Hannah both named sons George and Benjamin, and Henry named his eldest daughter Hannah. These do not seem to have been family names from earlier Armstrong generations. George is a common enough name, but Benjamin only crops up again once in our huge Armstrong tree, in Thurleigh many years later. Hannah only crops up in this branch once more too, again in Thurleigh and again, many years later, daughter of Charles Armstrong and Sophia Partridge.

Can anyone help, or give me any clues on where to look next? I have more or less run out of ideas....

Wendy

2
Kent / Thomas Wilson of Boughton Malherbe
« on: Friday 18 June 10 17:04 BST (UK)  »
My 4 x great grandfather John Wilson was born in Boughton Malherbe in 1804. I have traced him successfully to Faversham and Lynsted.

His elder brother Thomas, b 1802 in Boughton Malherbe, also moved east, and married a lady named Jane born in Faversham, probably in a timeframe between 1830 and 1833. Jane was around 3-4 years older than Thomas. They can be seen living together in 1841 and 1851 in Stockbury with their children. Their daughter Ann was baptised in Faversham on 23 Jan 1833. She had left home by 1851, but bore a baseborn daughter Kate in Stockbury in 1854. Subsequent children of Thomas and Jane from 1835 onwards were baptised in Stockbury, where Thomas was a farm bailiff.

Can anyone help with a marriage for Thomas and Jane in Faversham in that timeframe?

3
Cambridgeshire Lookup Requests / John PARR Swaffham Prior PRs
« on: Saturday 18 July 09 11:51 BST (UK)  »
I am trying to track down a John Parr and his father Charles in Swaffham Prior, both originally from elsewhere.

Charles was born in 1710 in Isleham, and moved to Exning where he married Grace Buntin. Grace died in childbirth and was buried on 11 Sep 1738, the same day as their son John was baptised.

Both Charles and John disappear from the Exning records at this time.

However a Charles Parr married Sarah Long in Swaffham Prior in December 1738, according to an extracted entry on the IGI, nicely timed for her to take on his infant son!
I have also found burials in Swaffham Prior for Sarah, wife of Charles in 1762, Charles (widower) in 1782, and John, shoemaker, in 1769.

Would some kind soul with access to the records please look up for me:

1. Any baptisms of Parr children to Charles and Sarah between 1738 and 1762
2. A possible marriage for John between 1755-ish and 1769
3. Any baptisms of Parr children to John in the same period

Many thanks
Wendy

4
Suffolk / Brand PARR of Exning
« on: Friday 10 April 09 08:46 BST (UK)  »
I'm trying to trace the origin of Brand PARR (sometimes aka PURR) born in Exning around 1740.

I have his burial at St Martins in Exning on 26 Jun 1821 aged 82.

I have his marriage from Boyds in Landwade in 1768 to Elizabeth Starling

But I have had no luck at all with a baptism, in Exning or anywhere else.

The name is subject to a lot of original spelling errors/differences - PAR, PER, PARRE - and transcription errors, mostly PURRE, where the top of the A was not properly closed off and has therefore been misread.

The closest I have come is an extracted entry on the IGI for a Brand Per BRAND, son of Elizabeth BRAND, christened on 30 Dec 1744.

This seems to bring together the Cambridgeshire tendencies to (a) use mother's maiden names as first names, and (b) give an illegitimate child its father's surname as a first or second name. The Parrs were originally Cambs folk from Burwell/Wilburton/Isleham before they settled in Exning.

Is anyone tracking the Exning Parrs that might be able to help?

5
Berkshire Lookup Requests / Cornhills in Wokingham - 1820-1840
« on: Saturday 07 February 09 17:29 GMT (UK)  »
I am looking for three baptisms in Wokingham:

Joseph Cornhill - c 1825
William Cornhill - c 1826
Elizabeth Cornhill - c 1835

and a marriage:

William Cornhill to a Martha, last name not known, approx 1820-1825

The IGI has some Woking records, but they stop in 1813. Until then there are no Cornhills in Wokingham. There are also a few female baptisms in Batch No: I013282 between 1828-1831.

Can some kind soul give me some help with this?


6
Bedfordshire / Charles GREEN of Thurleigh
« on: Sunday 16 November 08 11:49 GMT (UK)  »
Charles Green was the eldest son of Richard Green (my g-g-g-g-grandfather) and Mary Elderkin, baptised in Thurleigh in 1801.

In 1841 he is listed as 35, and is living in Thurleigh with Ann 25, Jesse 14, Mary 11, and Benjamin aged 1.

I have assumed Ann is his wife! However, due to Ann's age Jesse and Mary can't be Ann's children.

In 1851, Charles and Ann Elizabeth, his wife, are 46 and 36 respectively, Mary Ann is 15, and there are several younger children including Benjamin now aged 11. Jesse is 23 and doing 4 months hard labour for poultry stealing!

The inference is that Ann Elizabeth must have been a second wife, and at least Jesse and probably Mary (depending on what her correct age is) are children of a first marriage. 

There's nothing on the IGI, as Thurleigh stops at 1812, so would some kind soul see if they can find in the later Thurleigh records:

1. A marriage for Charles and Ann Elizabeth - I would guess the earliest possible date would be about 1830 and the latest 1837 as there's nothing on FreeBMD. 
2. A baptism for Jesse, probably in 1827 as his age is pretty consistent throughout the census returns, in order to get his mother's name.
3. A possible first marriage for Charles to that mother, prior to Jesse's birth in 1827?
4. And of there is such a marriage, a possible burial for that wife?

I've checked the NBI on FamilyHistory online, but there are so many deaths for female Greens (if there WAS a first wife, I don't know her first name) in Bedfordshire between 1827 and 1840 that it simply isn't practical (or affordable!) to look them all up.

Any help gratefully received!

Wendy

7
Cambridgeshire Lookup Requests / Jane Swan of Cambridge
« on: Thursday 03 July 08 10:39 BST (UK)  »
I am trying to help a friend link her tree to the right Swan family in Cambs.

I have, from the Cambs FHS baptism database, the baptism of 6 children to William G Swan and Susanna (probably nee Collett) in St Botolph, Cambridge. These include Jane H Swan, baptised in 1814.

Jane Harriet Swan married Robert White, a grocer, before 1841. The marriage could have occurred in one of the Cambridge parishes, possibly St Botolphs, or could concievably have been in St Ives, Huntingdonshire

In census returns from 1841 to 1861 Jane and Robert are living with their family in St Ives, Huntingdonshire. Jane's birthplace is given as Cambridge and her age in 1851 is 37.  A birth certificate for her eldest son Lilly born in qe Mar 1838 in St Ives confirms his mother as Jane White formerly Swan.

What I hope is that SKS can find the marriage of Jane Harriet Swan and Robert White, and that the record will show the name of her father.

Any help gratefully received.

Wendy

8
Australia Lookups completed / William GRIMSTEAD - Launceston, Tas
« on: Sunday 27 April 08 15:01 BST (UK)  »
I have found the following entry in the Colonial Family Links Database at Tasmania Archives:

GRIMSTEAD, WILLIAM
Born 1831 in England
Died 1895 in Launceston, Tasmania 

This guy has been linked by LDS church members (more than one!) to a William GRIMSTEAD born in Winsham, Somerset in 1831.

A James GRIMSTEAD died in Hobart in 1877 according to the same database. He was buried at Cornelian Bay as a pauper on 3 Jan 1877. He is likely to have been the James GRIMSTEAD who was transported to Tasmania in 1843, arriving on the Cressy.

Grimstead James   
Arrived 20 Aug 1843 on the Cressy which departed 30 Apr 1843 from Plymouth

Info from Ancestry's Australian convict records:
James Grimstead
Convicted at Taunton Quarter Sessions, Somerset on 9 Jan 1843
Transported for 15 years on 28 Apr 1843
Vessel: Cressy 
Listed in Tickets of Leave/Pardons 1852/1853

It is possible that this James was the father of one of the TWO William Grimsteads born in Winsham about 1831/1832, and who disappeared after the 1841 census, never to be seen again. His wife Elizabeth co-habited for a while with a Henry Hillard and eventually married him in 1860.

Both of the Williams b Winsham in 1831/1832 have been tracked to deaths in Crewkerne and Swansea respectively. One was probably the son of James above, and the other the son of James's sister Charlotte, born out of wedlock to a John Aplin.

If SKS has access to the Launceston death records, I'd be very grateful to know if there is any other information other than a birth in England in 1831 that might have led the LDS members to link the death of the Launceston William with Somerset, let alone with Winsham!

Many thanks if anyone can help....

Wendy

9
Bedfordshire Lookup Requests / Houghton Conquest Marriage - ARMSTRONG
« on: Sunday 13 April 08 10:01 BST (UK)  »
I now have just one loose end in the tracking of the "posh" Armstrongs from Thomas Armstrong of Stonestown  and Frances Thompson.

Charles Armstrong b 1712 was their son. He married at least three times. He had one son named Charles by second wife Althamia Priaulx in 1750, b Steppingley. It is probable that this Charles was buried in Ampthill in 1751. Burkes and an Armstrong family history written in 1775 say that all the children of Charles and Althamia Priaulx died in infancy.

Charles 1712 last married in 1759 Mary Barton of Grafham, Hunts, with whom he also had a pre-marital affair. They had several legitimate children, all baptised in Grafham, whom I have identified with the help of the nice folk at Hunts record office.

He also mentions in his will "Charles Armstrong alias Barton" one of the sons of his wife Mary, to whom he leaves the residue of the proceeds of the disposal of his Grafham estate. Wife Mary (also an executor) is to retain possession of his Houghton Conquest lands and other lands in Grafham on behalf of their sons John and Philip.

There is no baptism in Grafham for a Charles Armstrong or Barton between 1750 and 1780.

In Feb 1783 a Charles Armstrong, yeoman of Houghton Conquest aged (or possibly over) 21, applied for a marriage licence to wed Sarah Larkins or Larkinson. This appears on Ancestry as one of the "Shotley Taxpayers". Another 1783 Houghton Conquest "Shotley Taxpayer" is Althamia Armstrong, a minor and seemingly daughter of Mary Armstrong, who was to marry George Townsend. She did, on 27 Apr 1783.

The Armstrong/Larkinson marriage is on the IGI as an extraction as follows:
CHAS ARMSTRONG
  Marriages:
  Spouse:  SAR LARKINSON OR LARKIN 
  Marriage:  25 MAY 1783   Houghton Conquest, Bedford, England

Would some kind soul look up the original marriage record for me and see if there is any additional information given? I am particularly interested in the age and/or parentage of Charles Armstrong, which would help establish whose son he was - or alternatively, was not!

Many thanks in advance if anyone can help

Wendy
 

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