Rossiters of Meare,Wedmore,Somerset

[junie43]

Many thanks for that i agree that my William and Anne Rossiter are from Wiltshire and Hampshire, as their son Charles married Louisa White In Hartney(Hartley) Whitney, Hampshire in 1846, note that charles name was spelt as Rociter then. William and Anne,s children were christened at Deverill Kingston and Deverill Monckton, Wiltshire, Charles and Louisa,s children were born Cookham Hants, Heath Common Crondall, reg district, Hartley Whitney. Can anyone tell me how i can see these records on line, census records and what website to look at. It looks like the name has been spelt as Rociter, Rositer and Rossiter.  I have Anne Wickham Christened Dec 1788, Mere, Wiltshire her sister Elizabeth Christened May 1786 Mere, Wiltshire and her parents as William Wickham and Elizabeth. So i think William was probably from around the same area as i don,t think families travelled very far back in the 1700's would be grateful for any help.
Cheers June

[Jo Harding]

Hello June,

For a start, it might be worthwhile to put a post on the Wiltshire Board on Roots Chat. You will need to decide what information you are seeking now and ask for help with this.

I am not sure about coverage for Wiltshire on Freereg. I don't think it is as good as for Somerset.

There may be information on sites such as Find my Past and for census returns, Ancestry but these are subscription only unless you can access them in libraries, archives etc.

The reason for the different spellings is that back in those times, few people could read, or write and all words were taken on a phonetic basis. That is how they sounded to whoever wrote it down. There were variations as different people had their own ideas and may have had hearing problems as well.

There was much more movement of people than you would imagine. This was both within the UK and overseas. Don't forget that they made it to Australia and many went to other countries in great numbers.

Good luck!

Jo.

[junie43]

Many thanks for help i have now put a post on Wiltshire site.
Cheers June