James Churchman

[sharpray]

Is there some kind person with access to the registers willing to do a lookup for me please?

I am in Australia and have found a baptism on one of the small free online index sites.  I have been unable to locate on any of the usual Family search sites.

I found a baptism for James Churchman 12 November 1786 - at Blatherwycke, Northamptonshire.
Father Thomas Churchman and mother Mary Sharp.

I have been unable to find any further trace of James or marriage of Thomas and Mary.

I would like to confirm the birth and if the record gives any information on where the parents came from etc.

I came by this in trying to trace a James Sharp thought to have been born in Lincolnshire around this time.

I may be clutching at straws but many months of searching has been fruitless.

Hoping somebody can help without a lot of inconvenience.

Ray Sharp

[seahall]

Hi sharpray.

Nothing to help this side of the border. 

Sandy

[Pennie]

Hi Ray ...

Unfortunately, no sign of Thomas and Mary's marriage on the Northamptonshire Marriage Index (1700-1837).  In fact, there was only one CHURCHMAN marriage on the index where the groom ("of Rowell") married in Northampton in 1732.

James's 1786 baptism record at Blatherwyke (found on the Free REG website) states - under the parents' names - "abode - Wing RUT" (i.e. county of Rutland).  Rutland is very poorly represented on the FreeREG website, so it's not surprising that I couldn't find any record of his parents' marriage.

However, the IGI has quite a few baptism entries for Mary SHARPs in Rutland around the right time, and these may give you further leads to follow.

Pennie

[sharpray]

Thank you Pennie

That gives me a lead of somewhere to look that I would not have had without your help.

Cheers

Ray

[seahall]

Hi again Ray.

There is no marriage in Rutlandshire for Thomas and Mary.

As the baptism in Blatherwycke you already mentioned in your
1st post says Thomas Churchman and Mary Sharp it seems as though
James was illegitimate.

Sandy

[seahall]

The Northants Baptisms indexes have it listed as below.
Blatherwycke C of E
12 Nov 1786
James CHURCHMAN / SHARP s of Thomas Churchman &  Mary Sharp

And under the other spelling it notes the entry as below.

Blatherwycke C of E
12 Nov 1786
James SHARP /CHURCHMAN s of Thomas Churchman & Mary Sharp of
the parish of Wing, Rutland

Therefore it is Mary who is from Wing so this may be a possible baptism
of Thomas on the same indexes but need purely to keep in mind until
it can be proven. Kettering is not far up the road to Blatherwycke.

Kettering C of E
25 Dec 1769
Thomas CHURCHMAN s of Thomas & Mary

Sandy

[sharpray]

Hello Sandy

Thank you very much for those posts.

You appear to be confirming my suspicions.

I appealed here as I have been unable to trace the birth and parents of a GGGGGrandfather James Sharp.
He appears to have spent most of his 80 odd years in Butterwick and Freiston in Lincolnshire.
Census information is that he was born in Butterwick around 1788.

Despite extensive searching I have unable to find him.  I have tried all James Sharp/Sharpe I can find all over England between 1786 and 1789 then cross checked to deaths, marriages and census etc without success.

I am left thinking maybe he wasn't baptised, maybe some records were lost, perhaps his parents were non conformists that I have been unable to find, or possibly he was born with another name and it was changed by him, adopted or illegitimate using mothers name.

It was searching under the last option that I came by the James Churchman baptisms - it is the only one with a Sharp mother in the time zone that I could find.  Also it isn't too far from Lincolnshire and to me Blatherwycke could have been confused by a child with Butterwick at an early age if he was living in Butterwick or nearby.

I know this is all very wild but being in Australia I do not have great access to records and getting copies is expensive.  To follow this up will probably involve getting copies of things like bastardry papers, settlement certificates etc. Possibly allto find out I was on the wrong bus.

Still I persist and that is why I posed my question here.

I am very grateful for the help I am receiving and even if this is another fruitless search I appreciate everyone's efforts.

Cheers

Ray

[seahall]

Hi Ray.

We are always willing to help with Northants ancestors like so many on their
own boards, with their Counties. 

I did look at the original register today and it states.

1786 James the Natural Son of Thomas Churchman and Mary Sharp
of the Parish of Wing in the County of Rutland was baptised Novr 12th 1786.

The sad thing is that Baltherwycke and Bulwick are missing from the 1841 Census
so we can not trace except through Parish Records families.

Sandy

[sharpray]

Thanks Sandy

I will continue to troll.

Ray