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Hello,

I hope that my post finds you well?

I am struggling with my 8 x great grandfather and wondered if anyone has encountered the below problems before and whether you might be willing to share some of your tips for getting around them please? I currently use Ancestry and FindMyPast but wondered if there might be other places to look for specific information?

Whether baptised at Colwich or Hanbury my ancestors state their abode as Morton (now known as Moreton I think) a tiny collection of houses in Staffordshire between Colwich and Hanbury on old OS maps. They use the names Biddle and Biddulph interchangably but mainly revert to Biddulph for burials suggesting Biddle may have been an alias or nickname.

When looking for a possible baptism for Benjamin to investigate further I found one at Hanbury - Son of Richardi baptised as Biddle in 1665. Benjamin married Maria/Mary Biddulph at Lichfield Cathedral under license 1700 which says they are both of Hanbury, on page 2 it says he was a husbandman aged 33 and she was a spinster age 23 and other things in latin which I can't read. The age and abode of this Benjamin tallies with the baptism. I am not sure how related Benjamin and Mary/Maria were. They raised their family in Morton and bapisted their Biddulph children in Hanbury. One of their children was William Biddle/Biddulph (my 7 x great grandfather) and he moved to Colwich but on his children's baptisms the abode remained Morton.

I am trying to piece together the family relationships of the Biddle/Biddulphs of Morton using wills to try and get back further. I am trying to find out if 'my' Benjamin was indeed the son of Richard and whether this Richard could be the son or brother of Humphery Biddulph.
Humphery was married to Grace and his will mentions sons called Richard and Benjamin. Maybe 'my' Benjamin was actually the son of Humphery?? Humphery's 1700 will also shows he owned land and property including a road, Biddulph's lane and also property in Marchington.

Searching find my past there are a few images of Biddulph wills that can be read and some images are just indexes.

I would really like to read these will to piece things together but FindMyPast only has images of the indexes:

Grace Biddulph's (nee Clark) will of 1703
Richard Biddle's will of 1695, I think this could be a key one as he could be Benjamin's father.

I would also like to find Humphery and his children's baptisms but can't find them anywhere, please could someone suggest alternative place to look as I am a bit lost?

It might be that the family were secret Roman Catholics hence the lack of baptism records for the earlier generations as William had a son called Thomas Biddle/Biddulph 1747 and he had a daughter  Catherine Biddulph 1781 who's daughter Ellen Ball married Joseph Moss 1841 Abbots Bromley. Joseph's mother was called Elizabeth Beck and she was confirmed in 1807 at St. Francis Of Sales, Hoar Cross Yoxall (Roman Catholic chapel). This was built 1794 after the 1791 relief act but prior to this I think there was a mission house and previous baptisms were probably recorded by the priest and the records lost to time. There were many Biddulphs in and around Yoxall over time and some were Roman Catholic land owners who had to record their lands.

If the image of a will is not on FindMyPast is that usually because it has been lost to time or just not photographed yet or is there anywhere else anyone can suggest to look please?

Does anyone know where might be the best place to look for Roman Catholic registers for this area/time period please? I know some are on FindMyPast but I can't find any relevant ones.

Maybe the Hanbury parish registers for up to about 1665 haven't been fully transcribed yet?

Thank you so much for reading through all of this. I would greatly appreciate your help in breaking down this brickwall as it is almost as if some of the people mentioned didn't exist and if it wasn't for the wills I would never have heard of them!

Best wishes, Emma

Hello,

I wondered if anyone might have access to the parish registers for Acton Trussell and if so whether you might be able to look up the baptism of my 5 x great grandmother please? Her name was Mary Harvey and I would really like to breakdown the brick wall and find her parents.
 
She married Richard Haywood 1804 in Stafford.

In 1841 she is living in Little Bridgeford, Seighford with her husband and daughters Catherine and Mira (and a 1 year old that I can't place called Tilsedale) - b1781
In 1851 she is still there, with her husband and grandchildren via their daughter Catherine, she says she was born in Acton Trussell 1781
In 1861 she is widowed and living with her son Thomas in Stafford, again b 1781 at Acton Trussell.

I have searched Ancestry, Find My Past and family search and in all cases it looks like baptisms were recorded from 1783 but perhaps they haven't yet transcribed the earlier ones.

Many thanks for reading this.

Best wishes,
Emma

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone might be able to help with making out the name of the person present at my 3 x great grandmother's death please as I am trying to make out if they were a member of staff at the infirmary, a potential friend (or even better the name of the father of Fanny's illegitimate daughter Sarah.

In 1861 Fanny can be found working as a domestic servant in Norton. In 1863 she has a daughter Sarah Whittingham, the father is not named on the birth certificate. On 21st July 1864 she dies of Typus Fever at Stafford Infirmary.

Sarah is born in a house where Fanny's sister Anne can be found in Brewood in 1861 but Sarah is a border in 1871 in Brewood staying with the White family and visiting is the illegitimate daughter of Fanny's sister Eliza called Sarah Ann (a nurse). In both cases Whittingham is mistranscribed as Whittington.  In 1884 Sarah marries Joseph Haywood in Cannock.

I know quite alot about Sarah after 1871 (and my mum met her when mum was a little girl!) but I don't know who her father was and hoped Fanny's death certificate might shed some light on this.

If anyone can make out the name I would be very grateful, it looks like either Mr Jedstall, M Jedstall, Mr J Edstall but I am not sure, the J could be a T!

Best wishes, Emma

Hello,

I wondered whether anyone might be able to help me please?

I have Simeon's marriage to Sarah Barlow in 1814 and the 1841 and 1851 census records and the baptisms of their children but what I don't have is Simeon's baptism.

Is there an online site that has Staveley's parish record images please for this time frame (select baptisms don't have him listed but I prefer to look at actual registers as I have found loads of people that were not transcribed for the usual websites)?? I have read the marriage register and have found other Goodwin marriages which are not recorded on Ancestry or Find My Past.

The most intreguing marriage being Thomas Goodwin of Eckington and Elizabeth Shipstone (?) of Staveley at St John's 1787. It is intreguing as according Simeon's death registration he was born c1787.
GOODWIN, SIMEON 67 GRO Reference: 1854 J Quarter in CHESTERFIELD UNION IN THE COUNTY OF DERBY Volume 07B Page 351

In 1841 his birth year is estimated at 1796 and in 1851 it is around 1787 just like his death record.

If anyone can help I would be hugely grateful as I need to get through this brick wall!!

Best wishes,
Emma