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Hello folks

This isn't really a lookup, otherwise I'd have posted it in the lookups section - I'm just wondering if anyone else is researching these families. It looks like I'm descended from both of them via the daughter (Ann NUNES) of a John NEWNS of Monks Risborough and a Mary FAMBEROUGH of Great Kimble who married in Hughenden in 1734. If correct, my descent looks like this:

Me
|
My dad
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Kathleen Ridgley (1919-2000)
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Charlie Ridgley (1884-1967)
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George Ridgley (1839-1919)
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Elizabeth Turner (1800-1865)
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Jane Bignal (1769-possibly 1806, but cannot find a burial; may have died in childbirth)**
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Ann Nunes (1741-?)
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John Newens (1711?-1793) & Mary Farmborough (1713-1770)

There is a baptism for a John NEWENS in Cheddington in 1711 to a James and a Mary (whose marriage I cannot find), but the John who married Mary F seems to have spent the majority of his life in and around Monks Risborough. That said, the surname does seem to be quite rare and Cheddington is "only" ten miles as the crow flies from Monks Risborough, but I'm struggling to see a mechanism whereby he would move from one side of the county to the other.

I think it's good to be sceptical when researching your family tree and testing theories as far as possible, but am I being too sceptical, I wonder?

I expect this post will disappear into the ether, ne'er to be seen again but if not...I'd love to hear from anyone else researching these families.

Martin

*These seem to be the most common spellings I've seen.

**Elizabeth's 1800 baptism record (in Princes Risborough, since I gather there was no church at Speen at the time) list her mother as Jenny, but apparently Jenny was the diminutive of Jane In those days...Jenny as a diminutive of Jennifer seems to have come in in the 20th century).

Eg. Does it mean that one of our ancestors married twice or more and that they had children from more than one relationship/spouse?

Yes. One of my great-grandfathers had a liaison at the age of about 20 with one of my great-grandmothers, the result being my paternal grandfather. He then went on to marry and had another four children, one of whose daughter I have been in contact with. This woman's daughters are my half-second cousins.

Martin

Elizabeth Gristwood could be married 

There is a marriage of a James Gristwood to an Elizabeth in Rickmansworth in 1801, but her surname was Webb...if that's the same one as on the marriage record, I don't think she'd be related to Elizabeth or Joseph, unless she were a widow and Webb was her first husband's name. 

Have you established who the witnesses were, they don't appear to be regular church witnesses - Thomas Allen & Elizabeth Gristwood.

I thought I'd have a look at Elizabeth Gristwood first, given that it doesn't seem to be a very common name. If she was from Rickmansworth, she's the only Elizabeth Gristwood I can find, born in 1785 to John Gristwood and Ann Montague.

It's occurred to me that Joseph Neville may have been a Catholic, as many Nevilles were; it could be one reason why I can't seem to find a plausible baptism (unless there are huge gaps in the records, it seems that despite being "of this parish" at the time he got married, he wasn't baptised in Hertfordshire).

I have no idea where to find the Catholic baptism registers, though.

Where and when did Joseph die

Unfortunately, that's one of the things I'm having trouble finding out.

There's one bap Barking Essex 6 Mar 1778 with parents Henry and Elizabeth - did your Joseph die in 1840?

Do you know his occupation from the daughters marriages?

I don't at present know when or where he died, unfortunately. Plus, his daughters both married in 1835, so just slightly too early to be part of general registration.