Hi Mary
The Freebmd site is brilliant, but it is word sensitive, which means it only looks for the spelling you enter, which can be a big problem, especially with names that can be spelt several ways.
Also don't over fill the boxes with info, sometimes doing a simple search means highlighting all counties and counties but not choosing any particular listing from them.
Another is to put dates in covering 5-10 years if uncertain of when someone was born, also the registers are in Quarters ie Jan, Feb, Mar is Mar Q - Apr, May, Jun is Jun Q - Jul, Aug, Sep is Sep Q - Oct, Nov, Dec is Dec Q - in UK we have 6 weeks in which to register a birth, so if someone was born towards the end of a quarter then they could be registered in the following quarter.
Any problems just shout for help on here and someone will assist you.
Next, we are all here to help in whatever way we can, so again just ask.
Now back to Betsy Searson and her family, this is what I have found, but I have no idea how James came to be married to her, I cannot find her or her family on census in this area prior to their marriage 1874, they are in Lincolnshire and also it appears she was a Servant, so James didn't marry into money but Betsy did.
If you have Ancestry, there is a Family Tree by
judigould49 who has your Betsy and her family.
Also a link to Genuki, which we use a great deal to:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/LongSutton/Looking at a map for Long Sutton, Lincs, to the south by a few miles is Sutton Bridge where James n Betsy married and to the north by a cockstride is Gedney and further along that road is Holbeach.
Betsy claims to be married 1851, so we are usually looking within 2 years either side, cos folk were very illiterate and had not much idea of when they were born precisely, so back to FreeBMD site to find her birth:
Searson, Betsy, All counties/districts, up comes 3 listings for 1850 Sleaford, Spalding & Holbeach, click on Holbeach and a new window will open, then click on the word
here and another window will open, scroll down and you will find Long Sutton listed as part of the parish of Holbeach that was included for registration purposes, so that is Betsy's birth reg.
This birth ties in nicely with her Baptism (
https://familysearch.org)
Betsy Searson Baptised @ Gedney, Lincoln, England 9 Feb 1851
Parents: John Searson & ElizaIndex No: C02747-9 - System: England-EASy - Film No: 1542146
Parish registers for Gedney, 1558-1923 Church of England. Parish Church of Gedney (Lincolnshire)
Now there is 3 possibles for a marriage of a John Searson to an Eliza:
FreeBMD: Jun Q 1848 John Searson & Eliza Gutherson @ St Martin, Middlesex
FreeBMD: Jun Q 1847 John Searson & Elizabeth Waters @ Grantham, Lincolnshire
FreeBMD: Mar Q 1847 John Searson Elizabeth Green @ Doncaster, Yorkshire
On familysearch:
John Searson married Eliza Gutherson16 May 1848 @ Saint Martin In The Fields,Westminster,London,England
Index No: M00145-5 - System: England-ODM -
Film No's: 561169, 561170, 561171, 561172, 561173, 561174, 561175
Parish registers for St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Westminster, 1550-1926 - Church of England. (Westminster, Middlesex)
On 1861 census for family John Searson & Eliza, they have a son
Levi 6, born 1855 Gedney, Lincs in the parish of Sutton St Nicholas Lutton Bourne, Holbeach, Lincs RG9/2328/26/15
and to confirm Levi's mothers maiden name and marriage, here is his baptism on familysearch
Levi Gutherson Searson Baptised 20 Oct 1861 @ Lutton, St. Nicholas, Lincolnshire
Parents: John Searson & ElizaIndex No: C03194-5 - System: England-VR - Film No: 989797
Parish registers for Lutton-Bourne, 1538-1974 - Church of England. Parish Church of Lutton-Bourne (Lincolnshire)
A word of warning the surname Gutherson may not be spelt this way !!!
On 1861 cen Eliza claims to be 42 yrs born Wainfleet, Lincoln.
Baptism
Eliza Gudderson Baptised 14 Nov 1824 @ Wainfleet-St. Mary, Lincoln, England
Parents: Thomas Gudderson & SarahIndex NO: C02213-7 - System: England-EASy - Film No: 1541980
Parish registers for Wainfleet-St. Mary, 1611-1882 - Church of England. Parish Church of Wainfleet-St. Mary (Lincolnshire)
Over to you now Mary, see what you can find by way of census, births, baptism's etc.. Come back if you get stuck, I think the surname of Eliza Gutherson/Gudderson family will cause you some headaches !!! You will need to search for them on the census's to see if still alive and living in Lincolnshire, in different spellings
bendywendy
