WAKEFIELD brothers Leighton Buzzard *COMPLETED*

[SandraAust]

I am trying to prove the parentage of 2 men I believe to be brothers.

James WAKEFIELD born c1824 Leighton Buzzard (bap not found)
Alfred WAKEFIELD born c1828 Clayton (?) baptised 25 Jan 1829 Leighton Buzzard (All Saints)

Both men married in different parts of the UK before travelling with their wives to Victoria, Australia and settling in Geelong. I believe their parents to be John WAKEFIELD, a brick maker, and Elizabeth UNKNOWN. So if the actual records can be checked (ie not just what is on family search) and it shows the same parents with father as a brickmaker then that's about as close as I can get.

I believe that there were 3 older daughters for John and Elizabeth but as they were born in Buckinghamshire I will search for them separately.

[bedfordshire boy]

Have you got their marriage certs which will give the fathers' names?

[SandraAust]

I don't have the actual certificates but was given the dates by other distant family members.

James' death reg in Geelong in 1896 quotes father as George but no mother. But on FreeREG I found his marriage to Mary PRATT in Grantham in 1851 and it states father as John, a brickmaker.
I couldn't find the death reg for his wife (1898) but she is buried in the same grave at Geelong. The marriage at Grantham quotes HER father as George so maybe the informant was confused at the time of James' death?

Alfred's death reg (1894) doesn't name either parent.

James and Alfred are only 1 grave apart so it seems highly likely that they were indeed related having come from the same town, travelled to Australia within a couple of years of each other, then settled in the same area.

[bedfordshire boy]

In 1851 Alfred Wakefield 22 b Chalfont, Bucks was living with his brother William 40, a brick & tile maker, b Newport Monmouthshire in Co. Durham. Chalfont is 25+ miles from Leighton Buzzard, and 135 miles from Newport

In 1851 James Wakefield 27, a brickmaker, b Leighton Beds was living with his brother in law Edward Coltman and wife Sarah Coltman 40 b Fenny Stratford, Bucks. A Sarah Wakefield daughter of John & Elizabeth was baptised at Fenny Stratford on 3 Oct 1813

In 1841 there's an Alfred Wakefield 10 born in Bucks, living in Linslade Bucks in the same house as John & Ann Faulkner both 25 both b Bucks. Later  I see from your thread at http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,585987.msg4372276.html#msg4372276 that she was another assumed daughter of John and Elizabeth born Fenny Stratford, and ties her in with Alfred from Leighton Buzzard. But this still doesn't firmly link the Co. Durham family with Alfred in Linslade.  There are burials in Linslade of John Wakefield on 17 Aug 1833 and Elizabeth Wakefield 45 on 20 Aug 1833. These are the only Wakefield burials in Linslade 1813-45. Linslade and Leighton Buzzard are next door to each other.

I'm not sure what your original request was asking for. You know from the IGI that the Alfred baptised in 1829 in Leighton Buzzard had parents John and Elizabeth. What you don't know is if this Alfred is the same Alfred who was living in Co. Durham in 1851 with a birthplace of Chalfont Bucks, with a brother William born in Newport Monmouthshire. As Leighton Buzzard baptisms have been extracted onto the IGI and there's no entry for James c1824, a search of the original register is not going to show anything - but you know from his marriage that his father was John, a brickmaker.

As I see it there are three family groups - Linslade; Lincs; and Durham. Linslade and Lincs have a common denominator via the two girls baptised in Fenny Stratford, but there's nothing that connects Durham with the other two, other than the name "Alfred" baptised at the right time, but in a parish that's 25 miles from where he says he was born.

You need Alfred's marriage cert to see if his father is named as John, a brickmaker. If it was then it looks very probable that Alfred and James were siblings.

David

[SandraAust]

Hello David,

Thank you for your very detailed reply. I agree that Chalfont & Leighton Buzzard seem a very unlikely match for being the same Alfred BUT our Alfred did actually marry in Sunderland Co. Durham in 1856 so it appears that you have actually found another brother I was previously unaware of. Bravo!

I'll now continue with my search but now including William and his children.

Thank you so much for your help.

Sandra

[bedfordshire boy]

If you can find William's baptism in Newport and if his parents are John and Elizabeth, then I think that will provide as much proof as you're likely to find that William, James, Ann, Sarah and Alfred were siblings

David