Finding Agnes Jenkins

[MarieC]

Just wondering if anyone would have any wild thoughts on this one!

My ggggrandmother Agnes Jenkins married Thomas Martin in the Parish Church of St Marylebone in 1802.  They were Roman Catholic, which makes records very difficult to find.  From her death certificate, she would have been born about 1771, and on the 1841 census (the only one on which she appears) she was of course only shown as born out of county.

There is a bit of a family story that she was Welsh, which the surname would support, I suppose.  The IGI is no help, and it's my understanding that many church records in Wales have not been made available to the LDS.

The only possible clue I have is that one of her grandsons, a C of E priest, worked in parishes in Wales for over thirty years - Bettisfield and Berriew.  He was London born and Oxford educated, and there seems to be no reason for him to go to Wales unless there was some kind of family connection there!

I'm in Australia and know very little about resources in Wales.

Are there any counties where Jenkins is a more common name?  Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Desperately,

MarieC

[adicol]

Hi,

Where was Agnes in 1841?
I may be able to locate a death.

Who else was living with her also?

Thanks,

Colleen

[Cell]

Hi,
In regards to how common the name was in certain areas, I  have this website below in my fav's ,which may be of some interest to you showing the distribution of the names in 1881.

 It's a bit after the era you are looking at, but I doubt it  altered  greatly that much (except  that Glamorganshire would of course house the most in the 1800's and onwards due to the huge migration of people into the area for the industry - Swansea according to the below website held the most number of people with the Jenkins name in 1881, but I'd personally take this with a pinch of salt for the much earlier years - Swansea and  many places in Glamorgan are full of migrants who moved in for the industry in the 1800's from other areas in Wales and beyond).

Even looking at the  recent 1998 map  it hasn't altered that much today except the name seems to have spread  further south quite a bit (into England's south west)
Jenkins is a pretty common name in most of the counties in Wales.(  I have a few Jenkins in my tree. My own lot were originally from Carmarthenshire  then moved into Glamorganshire in the mid 1800's)
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0nn/

Regarding the IGI, most of both mine and my hubby's Carmarthenshire families are not on it , except for a couple of our Llanelly lines - so perhaps parts of Carmarthenshire is one county which maybe a bit sketchy on there.
 I consider myself  extremely lucky when I do find any of my own lost  lot on there.

Hope that is of some help

[MarieC]

Thanks, Colleen and Cell, for replying!

Colleen, I have her on 1841 (she was living with her son Thomas Martin and his wife near Regents Park) and I have her death certificate (she died in 1848).  Alas, none of that gives any clue as to her origins! 

Cell, thanks for that reference to that surname map.  Most interesting!  Obviously the surname Jenkins was quite widespread in Wales, which means that I am not going to be able to narrow down my search to a county or two.

I am probably trying to do the impossible!   

MarieC

[adicol]

Hi,

I recommend you contact the Catholic Family History Society.
When the Catholic church were rerquired to submit there records after the 1837 registration process, most refused and the records are held within the parish still.
Due to the Hardwicke's Marriage Act between 1754 and 1837, many were witheld for the fact they were illegal.
However, any marriages during this act, even those according to Catholic Rites had to be in the Church of England, so some clues may well be there too.
Children can appear in the Baptism Registers, but are not specified as Catholic.

You can contact the Catholic Family History Society at:

catholicfhs@ntlworld.com

Regards,

Colleen

[MarieC]

Hi Colleen,

Been down that track!!  I contacted the Catholic FHS quite a while ago, but they didn't respond in any way!    However, maybe I could give them another go re this enquiry, and hope that they respond this time!

Yes, I knew that about Catholic marriages.  Agnes Jenkins married Thomas Martin in the parish church of St Marylebone in 1802, doubtless for the reasons you describe.  Through great good luck, a Rootschatter and the kindness of RC people in London, I found the RC church where the couple worshipped, and the birth and baptism records of most of their children, also the marriage of one of them.  Also found that Thomas Martin's first marriage (his first wife obviously died young) was in this RC church, followed the next day by a marriage in St Martin in the Fields, obviously for the same reasons. 

But where I am stuck is going back any further!  I would love to find out whether Agnes Jenkins was Welsh, as the family stories say, but it seems a pretty hopeless cause.  I posted on this board in the wild and vain hope that some clue would emerge - but I do acknowledge that it was a wild hope!!!

Thanks anyway, Colleen,

MarieC