Hi there,
A lass named Jane Winfield, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Winfield was baptised at Ruddington, Nottingham, on 16 April 1811. This information should be reliable as it is based on extracted parish records, transcribed by volunteers, diligently transcribing all the parish records from that parish
A lad named Henry Kempson, son of Thomas and Charlotte Kempson was baptised at East Leake, Nottingham, on 29 March 1816. This information should also be reliable, as it too is the work of volunteer transcribers.
In late 1838 or early 1839, a birth for Thomas Winfield KEMPSON at Ruddington, Nottingham ought to have been registered with the civil authorities. A copy of thatbirth certificate ought to show that his parents were Henry and Jane Kempson I say apparently because I do not have a copy of the civil registration for that birth, but I encourage the descendants to contact each other to see who has a copy, or to search for the reference number and follow it up with a purchase of that certificate. I had found the index of the baptism for Thomas Winfield Kempson, with parents as Henry and Jane Kempson, baptised 03 Dec 1838 at Ruddington, Nottingham. Again I note that the baptismal records should be reliable as they are the work of volunteer transcribers. I put that baptismal information on one of Martin’s threads earlier this year.
On census day 1841, Jane Kempson aged 26, and Thos W Kempson aged 2 and John Winfield aged 6 are at the same address as each other, but there is no Henry Kempson at that address. I transcribed that census information for Martin on the thread:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,529148.0.html at reply # 8, with the sightings on the census for 1851, 1861, 1871, etc and I followed up with further information about Thomas Winfield Kempson who if I recall correctly followed his maternal grandfather’s work as the registrar of births, deaths, marriages .
1 Is it likely that the marriage of Henry Kempson and Jane Winfield occurred around the time that civil registrations were being introduced in England?
2. Is it likely that the father of Thomas Winfield Kempson left Jane before the 1841 census and came to Australia.
3. Is it likely that this same Henry Kempson then married in South Australia to Elizabeth Parker .... a copy of the marriage certificate may help resolved that apparent dilemma.
4. Is it likely that this same Henry Kempson then moved from South Australia to Victoria and married the widow, Ellen Yuille, a copy of that marriage certificate should help resolve that apparent dilemma
5. Is it likely that this same Henry Kempson went to NZ without Ellen?
6. Is it likely that this same Henry Kempson married in NZ to Eliza Winter Harvey ... a copy of either the ITM or the printout of the marriage certificate should help resolve that apparent dilemma also ...
7.Is it likely that the this same Henry Kempson is the chap who (OOPS, MISTOOKEN alert see Replies # 46 & 47 on this thread !)......edit to adjust to INSERT "whose son , Thomas Winfield KEMPSON" was baptised at Ruddington in 1838 .... if so he would have been approaching 90 (not 70 as originally typed, but 90) years of age when he died in NZ... I have not found that death on the NZ BDM online index, but I note that sevendays has it as 24th July 1907 at Timaru... A copy of his death certificate should help in that instance too.
My one main theme in my own family history researching is always that for any information to be relied on, the information should be checked against official records. It is not sensible to rely on any submitted record unless it has been checked against information that can be shown to have been independently collected by persons not associated with the family. So for instance information available online from the UK census images is more reliable than information based on reading a book written by someone who has relied on a family member’s recollections. Information about a persons date of birth as found on a birth certificate would be more reliable than information on a school record, or as remembered by a family member even of the same generation, and later generations are only relying on their own memory perhaps of conversations overheard in their childhood.
I apologise again for this long post. BUT finally, who is Henry snr that Martin mentions ....
Cheers, JM