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Topics - coombs

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10
The Lighter Side / Things being put into perspective.
« on: Thursday 17 August 23 23:01 BST (UK)  »
A recent discovery of a direct ancestor being sent from Suffolk, England, to Sydney, Australia in 1791/1792 does make me realise that an ancestor moving from Norwich to London in about 1780 seem a walk in the park in comparison, and that internal migration around the UK was rife, and many people did it. A trip from Norfolk to London in the 1780s took about 16/20 hours at most, and not 6 months travelling thousands upon thousands of miles to the other side of the world.

I have many ancestors who moved 50 to 200 miles across the UK since about 1800, and I thought what a distance, but it really was very doable and not that far at all, especially when you compare it to a direct ancestor sent 12000 miles or more to Australia.

11
The Lighter Side / Singlewoman, not always a spinster. Ditto for singleman and bachelor.
« on: Monday 24 July 23 20:19 BST (UK)  »
One ancestor of mine wed her first husband, and he died just months later. She remarried under her previously married name in the same parish but said she was a singlewoman, the witnesses confirmed though that it was the right marriage, plus the name of the groom and the bride's first name. Also the first marriage when she signed her first name "Elizabeth" the signatures matched to her 2nd marriage.

Also her children's baptisms gave her maiden name, in the 1810s, in a rare occurrence where a parish gave mmn's for all couples "Jones, late Smith" for example. And that tied in with Elizabeth's first marriage when she wed under her maiden name.

So you cannot always assume a singleman and singleowman had not been married before. This may explain why you may not find a baptism for the bride, if she was actually a widow and using her previous married name, but said she was a singlewoman when she remarried.

For instance, an example is, a Sarah Bloggs wed James Hamilton in 1800, James died in 1803, and Sarah remarried as Sarah Hamilton in 1805 but said she was a singlwoman. Yet any researcher would assume her birth name was Hamilton and be unaware she had been married before.

12
The Lighter Side / Amazing discoveries when doing things the old fashioned way.
« on: Saturday 22 July 23 20:40 BST (UK)  »
When you are in the record office and look for various records that may relate to my ancestors. Pauper accounts survive for 1760-1820 for the Loes and Wilford deaneries of Suffolk where many of my ancestors lived.

I found out that my ancestor Sarah Jacques of Rendlesham and her children were receiving poor relief in 1788, 1790 and 1791 and the reasons are, in 1788, her husband Thomas Jacques was in jail.

By 1791 it had said Sarah Jacques' husband had absconded, leaving her without support. When she remarried 7 years later in 1798, she said she was a widow.

That 1791 ref to Thomas absconding explains why I could not find a suitable burial for Thomas Jacques. He was born 1751 in Campsea Ashe, Suffolk. So in 1791 he was about 40.

Makes you wonder where he went, and did he start a new life, or could he have gone abroad, or changed his name? Something new for me to look into.

13
The Lighter Side / New GRO feature? How are you finding it?
« on: Wednesday 12 July 23 19:04 BST (UK)  »
Now you can get an online copy of births from July 1837 to 1922 and from July 1837 to 1887 within 30 seconds or so for £2.50 each, how are you finding the new service? I have bought about 15 or 16 certs so far. It also shows how "phthisis" (pulmonary TB) was a major killer in those days. I am really grateful for this new service, and can understand why the online downloadable births only go up to 1922 yet you can still order a 1923-onwards birth cert online and send off for it.




14
The Lighter Side / Birthdays and anniversaries of our ancestors.
« on: Monday 26 June 23 14:35 BST (UK)  »
I doubt they were as high key as today, but no doubt our ancestors will have marked landmark anniversaries or birthdays (providing they knew their exact age). For example I found out that 1929 would have been quite full of such events for my ancestors. Two great grandparents would have had their 10th wedding anniversary in Oct 1929, and the aforementioned great grandmother had her 40th birthday in Sep 1929. Also another set of ancestors would have had their 60th wedding anniversary in Sep 1929, and a great grandfather would have had his 50th birthday in Nov 1929.

Another set of great grandparents would have had their 10th wedding anniversary in June 1930. And one great grandfather and his 2nd wife had their 25th wedding anniversary in October 1956, their last as he became a widower in April 1957.


15
The Lighter Side / Ancestors who never actually married.
« on: Monday 12 June 23 21:25 BST (UK)  »
I am sure we will have come across instances of direct ancestors, their siblings and cousins etc who appear to never have married. I guess it is easier to find this out if they were supposed to have married after civil reg began. I have a couple (ancestors brother married ancestor's sister) who claimed to have married in about 1902 according to the 1911 census, but no marriage has been found, and the groom had a rare forename. All variants and the like have been checked.

Of course this will apply to couples who seemed to have married before civil registration, however I doubt all the 1754-1837 marriages that took place in the UK are all indexed and put online now or indexed by FH societies etc, so this could explain an absence of a marriage. Also there will be a few 1754-1837 marriage registers that have not survived.

I guess some were reluctant to get married for religious reasons or other reasons. I have a few instances of a banns being read but no known marriage yet the couple stayed together according to later documents and the woman took the man's surname.

16
Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / Comparing signatures.
« on: Thursday 08 June 23 21:47 BST (UK)  »
Not so much asking for help but showing how comparing signatures can help eliminate or help prove someone is the same person.

For instance Sarah Davey who wed George Coombs in 1810, and Sarah Bradford witnessing her eldest son Matthew G Coombs wedding in 1835, who could potentially have been the same person. The signatures of Sarah Davey and Bradford seem quite different. I know 25 years apart but Sarah Davey's seems to be a different style and also her lettering is joined whereas my ancestor Sarah Bradford, (prev Coombs, nee Unknown) did not join her lettering.

17
The Lighter Side / Brickwalls, and the chase of trying to tumble them.
« on: Saturday 03 June 23 22:05 BST (UK)  »
I may have posted about this subject before on The Lighter Side although cannot seen any recent threads in the past 2 or 3 years, but as we will all know, we will come across several brickwalls in our ancestry from time to time, some may be permanent such as gaps in PR's etc. Some may be demolished as more comes online or more trips the old fashioned way like looking through reams of census sheets/parish registers at the FRC or any record office (I did that 20 years ago or more).

But I do like a challenge. I have 3 direct ancestors who said "not born in county" in 1841 census (Essex, Oxfordshire and Middlesex), but the Grim Reaper claimed 2 of them in 1849 and Feb 1851 respectively, the last one died just 5 weeks prior to the 1851 census. If they had all lived to see the 1851 census which gave birthplace (often some just gave a county if living in a diff county, or even country if from abroad) then it would be too easy and I would know. The fact I am always digging for new info is the thrill of the chase.

I think the Essex resident not born in county in 1841 was born in Cambs or Suffolk. The Oxford one, not sure, maybe Bucks due to a lead, as he was a tin plate worker, and in 1851 (he was dead by then of course) about a third of the tin plate workers living in Oxford came from other counties such as Bucks, Berks, London, Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire, one from Norfolk and one from Cornwall. The London (Middlesex) one not born in county in 1841, well a long story as I cannot find her marriage to her first hubby, he was from Dorset originally.




18
The Lighter Side / Ancestors as witnesses to marriages.
« on: Wednesday 31 May 23 21:51 BST (UK)  »
I know we often examine names of witnesses to ancestors marriages but on the flip side, I am sure when trawling through parish registers on fiche or film or scans of original PR's online etc, we will have seen ancestors acting as witnesses to marriages of people in the parish, including ones who may or may not be relatives. It does help if you find an ancestor witnessing a marriage to someone of their surname. But you may be surprised to find an ancestor witnessing a marriage in the parish of a couple who you have not linked to your family, they may be family but they may have been friends or neighbours of the couple and they agreed to act as witnesses.

One example of an ancestor witnessing a marriage of a couple is my 4xgreat grandmother Sarah Bradford, previously Coombs, nee Unknown c1790-Feb 1851. She died just 5 weeks before the 1851 census and lived from at least 1812 in London. "Not born in county" in the 1841 census of Marylebone, Middlesex. Her first husband, my ancestor, died in 1831 and she had her banns read at St Marylebone church to James Bradford in July 1834, both widower and widow respectively, but I have never found a marriage yet they remained together and she took his surname. Sarah wed her first husband George Coombs circa 1810, I have a beady eye on the 1810 marriage in Axminster, Devon of Geo Coombs to Sarah Davy. But nothing concrete.

Sarah's eldest son Matthew George Coombs married at St James Paddington in July 1835, and Sarah and her 2nd husband James Bradford witnessed the wedding. Just under a month later on 10 August 1835 at St James Paddington, James and Sarah Bradford witnessed the marriage of William Smith, bachelor to Ann Jenkins, spinster. Having trawled through 1830-1840 marriages in Paddington Church these 2 1835 weddings are the only 2 instances where Sarah Bradford witnessed a wedding. I have had trouble trying to trace William Smith and Ann after their marriage due to the common name. They may have been family of the Coombs/Bradford's or just friends.

Goes to show how ancestors witnessing marriages can bring up leads, whether they turn out cold or not.


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