RootsChat.Com

Very handy. I did noticed that in certain parishes in Co Durham, such as Cockfield, a few of the miners who had children baptised 1798-1812 were originally natives of Westmoreland or far west Yorkshire.

My ancestor William Mason (c1758-1826) had some children baptised in Cockfield, Durham inbetween 1800 and 1809 and on each of the baptisms he says he was a native of "Dent, Westmoreland". Dent was actually in the far north west of Yorkshire but next to the Yorks/Westmoreland border.

His daughter Jane Mason married in Cockfield in 1811 to Hugh Stones and they had a son Thomas baptised later that year but the Barrington register says "Hugh Stones and Jane his wife, daughter of William Mason native of Mickleton, Yorkshire". Mickleton is a long way from Dent, and is actually where William lived as an adult, and is next to Romaldkirk, just outside Middleton In Teesdale, Mid In Teesdale being where William married in 1785. As of yet the witnesses to his 1785 marriage are unknown as the Durham registers online are from bishops transcripts as opposed to the originals. I think William was from Dent originally but moved to the Mickleton area, as he always said he was of Dent in his own children's baptisms.

Jane may have given where her father lived as an adult in her son's baptism as opposed to where he was born.

William died in 1826 and was buried in Romaldkirk, and his age at death says he was 68, so born c1758. I have not been able to find a baptism around 1755-1760ish in Dent, but one was born 1748 in Dent, son of Edward. 10 years out from his death date.

I had my eye on Susan Riches born 1694 in Norwich, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth as being the Susan Riches who wed Henry Helsdon in 1725 at All Saint's Norwich. But I never had the definite proof it was her. But I have just found definitive proof it isn't her. I had never added the 1694 one to my tree but had a good idea it may be her, as Isaac Riches was a weaver, and lived in the same Norwich parish as Henry Helsdon who wed Susan Riches. Goes to show that things are not what they seem.

A Susan Riches had a marriage bond to a Charles Brandon in 1744, both of Timberhill, and he left a will in 1756, mentioning his late father in law Isaac Riches, weaver of Timberhill.

My Susan Riches who wed Henry Helsdon (no licence or bond, just banns) had children up to 1739. Dennis, Robert, and two Elizabeth's the last baptised 18 Sep 1739. Susan Helsdon died in 1762, no age given at death, and no will. Henry left a will but only mentioned close family.

A Susan Riches born 1702 at Pockthorpe Norwich, died as a unmarried woman aged 59 in 1761.

There was a Susan Riches born 1691 at St Stephen Norwich to James and Deborah, but that would have made her 48 when she had her last child, and 34 when she first married.

Obviously due to the two counties being close together, FH in Essex will very likely at some point take you to Suffolk. And you may find several Essex ancestors with Suffolk roots, and find a Suffolk born ancestor in the Essex 1841-1921 censuses.

But I have found out through pre census settlement examinations, certs, wills and marriage licenses, and locative surnames that a huge amount of Suffolk people moved to Essex in the 1600s onwards.

My ancestor was Timothy Wallaker born 1803 in Foulness, Essex, which is right in South East Essex. His father was Lorken Wallaker from Kedington in Suffolk, a good 50 miles away, perhaps 40 as the crow flies. Also I have a Foulness, Essex, born ancestor, John Lucking, born 1755 in Foulness to a local father but a Suffolk born mother from Stanstead, Suffolk near Sudbury. He was mentioned in the will of a Suffolk uncle as being "my nephew John Lucking of Foulness, Essex".

And a few of my ancestors in the early 1800s who lived in Rochford, Essex, had a Suffolk born parent. My Newman,s Whales, Wallaker's, Groves, Otleys and Bradford ancestors of South East Essex all had Suffolk roots, and some from South east Cambs. I know London was a huge magnet for people from all over the country including Norfolk and Suffolk, but it seems Essex was also a huge magnet for Suffolk folk to move to. Shows how in the olden days people did certainly move around.

I think genealogy perhaps is not for me in many ways if DNA testing is revealing family secrets long thought to have been buried forever, and no doubt if I did DNA, it would reveal some many not be my blood ancestors?

I know people will disagree strongly but I always feel if an ancestor is not a blood ancestor, then they are not a real ancestor, as they are not actually responsible for my existence, or anyone else thought to have descended from them.

Shall I just use tracing my ancestry as simply family history instead of hoping I blood descend from ancestors, some of whom I have become attached to for some odd reason. Uncertainty is something I seem hard to accept, even if it is quite small. Since my father died, it has worsened the possibility of my tree having NPE's.

For instance I have a male ancestor who wed a female ancestor when she was 7 months pregnant, and the baby was born 2 months after the wedding (and was christened in the same parish, as the daughter of the man her mother married and the mother herself), in a part of London that was still half rural at the time, and the man came from an area in the country I grew up in but not where my parents are from, so one of my parents has ancestors from the area she moved to, so finding this link made me feel at home, as my family. Going back to the "shotgun" wedding, the baby born during the parents marriage was my direct ancestor, and while it is highly likely the recorded father was the real father, there is always the 1% chance of doubt as with any paternity in a family tree. That 1% doubt is what can niggle away at times, even if the marriage took place over 200 years ago, so the ancestral link is several generations back, so quite a negligible amount of ancestry from the area I grew up in, as it was a 6xgreat grandfather.