RootsChat.Com

Hi all, I'm hoping to get some fresh eyes on this part of my tree to 'check my working', so to speak, and see whether I have the relationships right.

To begin, I'm fairly sure I have this particular line of my tree correct back to my 4x great grandparents Elisha Howells and Anne Beddoes, married on the 23rd of May 1791 in Culmington Shropshire. The signed witnesses were 'Obad. Beddoes and Thos. Pearce'. At first I assumed 'Obad.' was short for 'Obadiah', but when I looked into the various local records I found that the given name was most likely actually 'Obed', a different biblical name.

Where I'm not sure if I'm right is my assertion that this Obed was Anne's father. When I first added Anne to my tree, Ancestry suggested a number of trees which had her parents listed as a John Beddoes and Elizabeth Brookes, with their daughter Anne being baptised on the 10th Nov 1776 in Diddlebury.

I was initially somewhat doubtful about this parentage, as it would make Anne 15 at the time of her marriage to Elisha. I instead found a baptism of an Anne Beddoes in Edgton on 21st June 1774, parents Obed Beddose [sic] and his wife Mary, which would make Anne 19 at the time of the later marriage.

Now Diddlebury is closer to Culmington than Edgton, but I think that Obed may have moved to the latter location when he married. There is a 31st January 1772 marriage between Obed Beddoes of Seifton and Mary Griffiths of Edgton. Seifton is right next to Culmington.

While there are a number of later Obed Beddoes born in the area over the following decades (likely all in the same wider family) as far as I can see, there is only one candidate for the birth record of this eldest and seemingly first Obed, namely a Quaker birth record in 1741, in Seifton, parents Richard and Mary Beddoes. To my mind the Quaker faith likely explains the choice of name. Obed was baptised into the Anglican church on 2nd of Nov 1817, just a few days before his death. The parish record mentions his being resident in Seifton Batch and his previous Quaker religion.

So that's where I currently stand. I've pencilled in Obed as Anne's father because there are only a certain number of local baptismal records for Anne Beddoes between the 1740s, when Obed was born, and the cut-off point of around the 1770s where the prospective Annes become too young for the later marriage.

I'm interested to know what other Rootschatters think. Do I have a strong enough case to pin Obed as a direct ancestor and the father of Anne?

Hi all,

I'm posting to see if anyone has any more information relating to the Reverend James Mackel, parish priest of Ardtrea (b. c1756 - d. c1832).

He was buried in Ballyeglish Old Graveyard (sometimes referred to locally as simply 'Eglish') a very ancient burial ground that was used by all denominations, about 1km south west of the Loup cross roads. Rev. Mackel was apparently a man with a very holy reputation; so much so in fact, that local people apparently used to take handfuls of soil from his grave to try and cure ailments. Eventually, so much soil was taken that the Reverend was almost uncovered and local priests had to put a ban on the practice.

I happen to be a descendant of Mackles (the usual spelling in our tree) from the local area, some of whom lived in the Loup, and I was fascinated by the story. I was wondering if it could be discovered precisely where he placed among the local Mackle families. 

What I know about the Rev. Mackel so far is that according to his memorial he died on the 4th of March 1832 at the age of 76. At that point he had apparently been parish priest of Ardtrea for 'upwards of 40 years'.

I found the following death notice in the Belfast Newsletter of 11 Mar 1831. The death date is off by a year and a couple of days, but the rest of the details would seem to match. The 1832 date comes from a tombstone transcription; many of the tombstones in Ballyeglish are very worn or damaged, so there's possibly a mistranscription at play.

The Rev. James Mackel P.P. of Ardtrea. This venerable and highly gifted Ecclesiastic expired on the 2d inst. at his house in Ballynagarve near Magherafelt at the advanced age of 76 years, upwards of 40 of which he was priest of this, his native parish.

This is all I have on him so far. Obviously with Irish history this far back, records can be very piecemeal, but I was thinking with someone seemingly so well known locally, there might be other fragments of information floating around.

Thanks in advance for any help or information!

Hello all,

I'm trying to determine whether the girl in this photo from sometime in the 1940s (exact year unknown) is my grandmother. I've attached a composite comparison image below.

My grandmother was born in 1929 and I would estimate that the girl in the older photo would be around mid-to-late teens, maybe early twenties at a push. The location is correct, being taken on Medley's Farm, Pattingham, Staffs. which was the village where she lived at the time.

Things I think are in favour of it being the same person: same chin/jawline, same or similar nose, similar forehead and (maybe) eyebrows.

Things I'm not 100% sure about: the eyes - though I think the glasses may be distorting them slightly in the later picture.

Any thoughts would be gratefully accepted! 

Hi all!

Looking for a little help reading a surname split across two lines of a catholic parish record in 1832.

My initial reading would be 'Benning-am', perhaps 'Benningham' with the 'h' missing. Thing is, I've seen this surname nowhere else in the local records, so I'm not sure I have it right.

Any thoughts and suggestions gratefully appreciated!