Time to Admit Defeat!!??

[Pinetree]

My ABBOTT/DURRANT ancestors from Suffolk have always been problematic but I think I finally give up 

William ABBOTT was born in 1840 in Hoxne to Elizabeth ABBOTT.  On 31 May 1841 Elizabeth married William DURRANT in Laxfield.  She was a spinster and he was a bachelor - great should be able to find them altogether in Laxfield on 1841 census 

Well Elizabeth (now DURRANT) and William her son age 11 months are there living in the household of William BALDWIN (who was a witness at the wedding by the way) but hubby William is not with them.

Elsewhere in Laxfield there is William DURRANT in the SMITH household with a child Samuel DURRANT age 10 months!  If this William is Elizabeth's husband where on earth did Samuel come from    He's not Elizabeth's and if he was William's from a previous marriage why was William a bachelor when they married.

Hubby William DURRANT died in 1844 in Gislingham but was buried in Thorham Magna - I think.  But the informant was Mary DURRANT, was she his mother/sister or is this the wrong William and another one who was married to Mary!!

I know Elizabeth his widow married again in Gislingham in 1849 so the place of death seems to fit.

See now why I give up 

If anyone has any thoughts on this lot that might help I would certainly welcome the input 

Pinetree

[Rena]

Hi,
As soon as the parents Eliz Abbot and Wm Durrant married in 1841, the child William Abbott b1840 would automatically assume the father's surname.

You're being rather hard on Wm Durrant - if his grandfather had half a dozen sons all those sons would name a child after him.  I think you ought to check the line further back which would give you an idea if Wm Durrant had any male cousins called Wm. Durrant who married a Mary, which would explain the neighbouring Wm.  Of course baby Samuel may have been born to a relative not in the household or old father might have remarried a younger woman.  Also it was done in those days for younger women to work and older relatives to house and look after the children.   Actually I think it possible that spinster Elizabeth named her son after bachelor Wm and Wm's father may have been Samuel.

As to Mr Baldwin - you may find he was a stepfather or a brother/uncle-in-law by marriage.    You didn't give any occupations - the census was taken at lambing and sowing time, maybe menfolk were sent out of the district to help on another estate.
Good luck,
Rena
=

My ABBOTT/DURRANT ansestors from Suffolk have always been problematic but I think I finally give up 

William ABBOTT was born in 1840 in Hoxen to Elizabeth ABBOTT.  On 31 May 1841 Elizabeth married William DURRANT in Laxfield.  She was a spinster and he was a bachelor - great should be able to find them altogether in Laxfield on 1841 census 

Well Elizabeth (now DURRANT) and William her son age 11 months are there living in the household of William BALDWIN (who was a witness at the wedding by the way) but hubby William is not with them.

Elsewhere in Laxfield there is William DURRANT in the SMITH household with a child Samuel DURRANT age 10 months!  If this William is Elizabeth's husband where on earth did Samuel come from    He's not Elizabeth's and if he was William's from a previous marriage why was William a bachelor when they married.
Hubby William DURRANT died in 1844 in Gislingham but was buried in Thorham Magna - I think.  But the informant was Mary DURRANT, was she his mother/sister or is this the wrong William and another one who was married to Mary!!
I know Elizabeth his widow married again in Gislingham in 1849 so the place of death seems to fit.

See now why I give up 

If anyone has any thoughts on this lot that might help I would certainly welcome the input 

Pinetree

[Arranroots]

As Rena says, Samuel could belong to anyone.

The most suitable candidate in 1851 is with parents George and Hannah

A

[Pinetree]

Thank you both for your input.  William was Ag Lab, nothing given for Elizabeth in 1841.

There is another odd thing in this saga. 

Elizabeth ABBOTT was from Hoxne and when I first started my research (a number of years ago) I noted down from the parish records that banns were read there for Elizabeth ABBOTT spinster and William DURRANT bachelor both otp on 5, 12 and 19 April 1839 but I could not find a marriage entry.  I also tried Boyds index, IGI and GRO but couldn't find a match.

When I discovered the Laxfield marriage in 1841 I thought I must have written 1839 by mistake but now I'm not so sure.  Would banns be read in April for a marriage at the end of May and would banns for two people from Hoxne be valid for a marriage in Laxfield?

My Elizabeth ABBOTT was not married when her son was born in June 1840 so if 1839 is the right year for banns and this is my couple, the marriage does not seem to have taken place in 1839.

I know these are not the most unusual names and these could be different people but I am not aware of any other ABBOTT families in Hoxne at the time.  Sadly the 1841 Laxfield marriage did not give fathers's names so no help there.

I just have this feeling William DURRANT may be the natural father of William ABBOTT and therefore my direct ancestor, which is why I've got so hung up with all of this 

Hopefully one day I will sort this couple out and thank you again for your interest. 

Pinetree

[Dave Francis]

Hmmm.  The interesting question is: what happened to baby Samuel Durrant.

In the 1841 Census I can see three Samuel Durrants in Suffolk in this age group - one in Laxfield, the other two in Walton. The Walton boys are the sons of William & Mary Durrant and George & Hannah Durrant.

In the 1851 Census, I can see only the two Walton boys.

Looking at the 1841 Census image, the surname of baby Samuel has been overwritten - I can't see what was written underneath.  I wonder whether he was actually a "Durrant" in the first place.  Perhaps just an error by the enumerator?

Dave

[Pinetree]

Dave,

I didn't notice that overwritting, if Samuel isn't really a DURRANT it certainly removes one complication.

I'm sure its my imagination getting the better of me but I just picture this young couple who wanted to get married in 1839 but perhaps because of some family objection this did not happen.  However they would not be parted so easily and after the birth of their son ran away together to be married in another parish.  Yet only three years later poor William dies of typhus and his remains are whisked away by his family and buried in the family plot in Thornham Magna!!

I know its more Mills and Boon than genealogy but you never know it just might be true 


Pinetree

[Dave Francis]

Hi Pinetree

Regarding the marriage ...

You've said that the banns were called in April 1839, but that the marriage didn't take place until May 1841. Correct?

Banns would be called on the three Sundays prior to the marriage itself, so the 1839 banns would be no use two years later in a different parish!  If the 1841 marriage was "by banns" then they would have been called again, certainly in Laxfield.

Yes, it does look like the first marriage ceremony was called off for some reason.  Perhaps someone raised a legitimate objection? When was Elizabeth born?  Was she under 21 in 1839?  If so, she wouldn't have been able to get parental consent.  (Father unknown?)

Dave

[Pinetree]

Dave,

Elizabeth was born bef. Feb 1818 so was 21 in Apr 1839.  I know her father was William ABBOTT (his name was given at her second marriage in 1849 to Walter OSBORNE).

I can pretty well track Elizabeth throughout her life but William DURRANT is much more of a problem.  I've had great fun with her son William who appeared under the surname ABBOTT, DURRANT or OSBORNE at various stages of his life.  Still it keeps things interesting I suppose 

Pinetree

[Rena]

Hi,
I think you need to read up on the local customs for acceptable marriages in that time span.  Marriages usually took place in the bride's parish so that's usually where to look for the record but not always and of course the marr. records may not have survived.   
If the landowner hadn't built a church the couple had to wait for the circuit preacher to call. Depending on the religion the ceremony could be in a back room of an inn or in a stone structure built for the purpose in a field or in a farmhouse.   In some areas all it took to be married was for banns to be posted 3 times - no ceremony needed (some places these banns were posted on the town hall door or some other posting place).

There's several reasons why baby William's father can't be found - name mis-spelt, out of the area or (as so often happpened) he died due to a farming accident - (gored by a bull, bled to death from a scythe accident, got crushed when working in the windmill, etc.)

Good luck,
Rena