Desperately seeking Jane FAIRWEATHER

[suelaw1954]

Thanks to all who replied. I think I may be on the track of my Jane Fairweather.

FamilySearch have added some transcriptions from the Sudbury Archdeacon's transcripts and a Jane Fairweather, ch 1 Mar 1776, d/o Thomas & Sarah has been indexed. No parish unfortunately (and there's a lot of Parishes in Sudbury 8-0 ). From here I was a able to find a marriage for Thomas Fairweather and Sarah Downer, 30 Jul 1775, Hadleigh. This may seem a long way from home, but Sarah Fairweather nee Downer, wife of Thomas, age 48, was buried in Debenham on 28 Mar 1801. So it looks as if Jane may have been the daughter of Thomas Fairweather ch 25 Nov 1749 in Debenham, son of William Fairweather and Jane Wythe.

Now to track down the location of that baptism!

Sue

[GaryBmth]

Hi Sue, first post on here so hope I'm not barking up the wrong tree but I have an idea as to why you can't find your  Jane Fairweather - I'll leave it up to you to prove or disprove either way but this what I'm wondering...

The witnesses at the wedding were, I believe, my gggg grandfather, John Fairweather, 1754 to 1813, and his sister, Elizabeth Fairweather, born in 1751, she would have been 47 at the time of the wedding.  The reason for them being there was that their father's father, John Fairweather, 1686 to 1763, married to Elizabeth at St Magdalene, had a son William, 1721 to 1763, who in turn had a daughter Elizabeth Fairweather in 1753. She married Thomas Beecroft in Aug 1773 and they had a daughter Jane. Not surprising that they called her Jane as Elizabeth had two siblings born after her, both called Jane that both died the same year they were born.  Anyway, Jane's mother died in 1795 and her father, now a widower, married Anne Pilborough  in 1799. I wonder if Jane used her mother's maiden name when she married instead of Beecroft, perhaps because of how she felt about her mother dying  and her father re-marrying. Jane was born around 1778 I believe but I don't know what became of her after her mother, Elizabeth  Fairweather died and her father re-married. I can't help thinking she could be your Jane that got married in 1798, 3 years after her mother's death.  John and Elizabeth would have been witnesses at their cousin's daughter's wedding. 

Just an idea, let me know what you think and how you get on.

Kind regards

Gary (my grandmother on my father's side was Lilian Francis Fairweather 1894 to 1972)

[suelaw1954]

Hi Gary,
I haven't updated my Fairweather file for a while, but some of what you have there is correct and some of what I originally wrote is disproven. I purchased the Debenham PR fiche from Suffolk Record Office and I've been indexing them for FreeREG (www.freereg.org.uk, 1700-1840 is complete) so you can check all the Fairweather entries there.
William Fairweather married Jane Wythe in 1741 and they had 7 children including John (1743), Thomas (1749), Elizabeth (1753) and the two Janes who died young. Elizabeth married Thomas Beecroft in 1773, had a number of children (including Elizabeth (1776) and Jane (1778) named after her grandmother Jane nee Wythe). She was buried in 1795 (Elizabeth B, wife of Thomas, age 41). (BTW it is the age at burial which determines which Elizabeth F married Thomas B.) So the marriage witness can't be the wife of Thomas B but is probably his daughter, Elizabeth (1776).

Thomas (1749) seems to disappear from the Debenham records until a Sarah F, late Downing, wife of Thomas, age 48, was buried in 1801 and this links to a marriage in Hadleigh in 1775 (Thomas F & Sarah D). The only Thomas this could be is Thomas (1749). The Jane d/o Thomas & Sarah baptized in 1776 is probably their daughter. The burial indicates that the family were resident in Debenham c1800. If this is the Jane who married Henry Keene (and the age is an exact match for the age on her burial), this would make the witnesses her uncle John and cousin, Elizabeth B. I've found a burial for a Thomas of the right age in Eye in 1825, so it looks as if Thomas was a bit peripatetic and he may have left his wife and child(ren?) with his more sedentary relatives in Debenham.

The Fairweathers were very unimaginative when it came to naming their children and I'm still collecting data and trying to sort them out. I've mapped out all the burials in the 1st Edition Suffolk Burial Index and they are strongly centred on Debenham, with outposts in the neighbouring parishes (particularly Wetheringsett). I'm collecting indexes of these parishes, but collating the data and sorting it out takes time which I don't have at the moment.

Whichever way, it looks as if we are distant cousins. 8-)
Sue