COMPLETED - with thanks HODGSON/BRIDGES

[J.J.]

This is the only death on BMD that is even near the date...but not in the area mentioned... J.J.
Deaths June Q. 1839
Phillis Bridges   Basford
vol. 15   p. 300

Phillis is spelled the way it was spelled for the marriage to Thomas ( IGI extracted file, May 13 1794 )

[J.J.]

There was also an IGI marriage for a
CAROLINA HODGSON to  ABR DRAPER   ( Abraham )
Dec 31 1793   Houghton Conquest 

So perhaps this might be a sister...? J.J.

[bedfordshire boy]

Good lateral thinking JJ. There's no baptism for Carolina either in Beds.

A Caroline Draper aged 82 was buried at Kempston on 2 April 1824 and an Abraham Draper aged 61 was buried at Houghton Conquest on 19 Jun 1808. This marriage looks as though it could have been a second marriage for them (possibly even a third for Abraham) - could Caroline have been Phillis' mother, rather than her sister? (I can't find a marriage in Beds of a Hodgson to a Caroline though). The PR needs to be checked for this marriage to see if either/both were widow/widower

David

[cathymcc]

Jan

Ray [Raymond] HODGSON [a Kempston boy] was Mayor of a small town near Brisbane, Australia.  I have asked my Mum which town and she cant remember although she, and Dad, visited him last time they were over there!  The point is that he was from the Kempston HODGSONs and I think Phillis is too [a long time earlier] and Ray is dead now.  He would be 85 if still alive as he was a school chum of my mother.

The only thing I can do is look for a marriage prior to 1777 - get a maternal surname and see if there are any Wills that mention a Phillis!  A bit of a long-shot but nothing ventured... Kempston or Houghton Conquest?

I put some North Beds DRAPERs online for an elderly Australian gent some years ago [who I think has since died] then last year persuaded someone else to take the tree on!  Go to tribalpages.com [id: ''Jane Peet''].  There are no HODGSONs listed there 

Well, I will see what there may be.  I can't think where else to look at the moment?

cathy

[J.J.]

Good one David!!!!
If married before, there is this one although not in Beds...
PHYLLIS HODGSON  JAN 1st 1777   Staindrop, Durham, England
parents PETER HODGSON & CAROLINE     
 

[J.J.]

PETER HODGSON  & CAROLINE KAY
IGI extractd Marriage
 Apr. 17,1775 Staindrop, Durham
 

[bedfordshire boy]

Even better one JJ!!  I would usually be a bit doubtful about a family moving from one end of the country to the other, but everything looks right about it. You have a relatively unusual surname, and Phillis was born spot on the estimated date. IF the Caroline who married in HC was her mother then that's right as well.

AND

 - there's only the one child baptised to Peter and Caroline in Co. Durham despite the IGI extraction continuing until 1812 in that batch
- there's no burial in Co Durham of either a Peter or Caroline on the NBI, and Staindrop is fully covered
- it would be nice to say there's a burial of Peter in HC in 1792, but there's no trace of a burial for him in Beds
- there's a baptism of Caroline Key on 4 Mar 1742 at Barnard Castle, co Durham, which is 5 miles from Staindrop. Age is spot on again if she is Caroline Draper buried 1824 age 82 (although burial ages are always very iffy, particularly the older the person is)

Staindrop was absolutely full of Hodgsons, but why would they have moved so far south? Could the Kempston Hodgsons have originated in the north east too? The first Hodgson entries in the parish register were in the 1730s, and included such esoteric baptisms as Ambrose and Joel.

The only burials of Ambroses on the NBI are in Kempston, and Darlington, Co Durham, which is only 10 miles from Staindrop. I don't believe in coincidences!

Cathy - do you, or your Oz contacts, know anything about the background of the Kempston Hodgsons?

All highly speculative given that HC and Staindrop are 200 miles apart, but definitely worthy of further research

David

[J.J.]

So glad that you have all that information David... & lucky for bridgy that you share it!
Re: big moves...
I tend to giggle when moving across country (U.K.) seems a stretch...
Some of our Provinces are double plus size of the whole British Isles...
and yet we can find someone four or five Provinces away from census to census...Some people move around a LOT! and some never leave the district...It's like that everywhere I think...
Either it's in their blood or an occupational thing...I imagine say, a glass-blower whose place of employ folded had a choice to either change occupation or move elsewhere...or if father has trained all of his sons to do
his trade, there mightn't be a need for a glut of blacksmiths or tinners... well, you know what I mean....The grass is greener and all that...

Or a sister may have written to say "oh, do come & join me here!...there are so Many job opportunities...yeah...right..." Oh, wait...that's MY story!

J.J.
 

[bridgy]

A very heartfelt 'thank you' to you all for your hard work in trying to find Phillis.
Have printed out all your posts and will read them carefully.  As I said in my first post my reason for finding Phillis is that she gave Thomas BRIDGES a lot of children who were responsible for so many descendents and all we know about her is the fact that she married Thomas.  Trouble is the only information I have on her - collected from IGI, and 2 contacts who are direct descendents of her children - is b. 1770, d before 1844, married 13/5/1794 in Houghton Conquest.  All children born in Houghton Conquest.
Have no evidence of her being married before she married Thomas.  He was - married Sarah Peak in 1792 but neither of my contacts have mentioned that Phillis was married before.
BTW pretty sure that the spelling of her name is correct.
There's a new booklet from Wilstead due out soon - a follow up of "Wilshamstead Homestead of Friends" that may mention this lady but if she was not born in the area, maybe not.
We are planning a trip to England in 2009 and intend to 'walk in the footsteps of ancestors' and intend to 'dig up' (not literally!!) any elusive ancestor then.
Thank you all so much once again and a big 'g'day' from Oz.
Jan