Family Gardner of Haselbury Plucknet (or that Area in Sumerset)

[Don H]

I am looking for the baptism of John Gardner circa 1780. I also believe he was also married there sometime before 1814 the year when he was married for a second time after going to Newfoundland, Canada. His second marriage record lists him as a widower.

He had two brothers back in England (Theophilus and Horatious). I believe Theophilus was married to Joan (maiden name unknown ) and had three children  1. Charlotte - 25 Jan 1787, 2. Theodesia - June 1795 and, 3. John - 27 June 1802. The first child appears to have been baptized at North Perrott and the other two children at Haselbury Plucknett. I can find no record of Horatious or of their parents.

I understand that a lady by the name of Margaret Silva might have access to some of these parish records.

Any birth, marriage, or death information would be very helpful.

Thank you,

Don

[shirl100]

Have you tried www.freereg.org, there might be some baptisms within a few miles of the area you are looking at (tick the soundex box for spelling variations) I did find a marriage there for Theophilus GARDENER in North Perrot St Martin 7 Oct 1776 to Joan Cleall.

Genuki can show parishes withing 5 miles or more of Haselbury Plucknet to help identify if any of the parishes might be possibles
http://www.genuki.org.uk/cgi-bin/places?SOM,ST470100,5,Haslebury%20Plucknett

Shirl

[Don H]

Thank you so much, Shirl. It is very kind of you to help.

I will definitely look up that web site.  I think the marriage you found is one of the right ones from my family - so that is great!

I will also have to vary the spelling of GARDNER in my searches, because it appears to have been spelled several different ways in some records.

Thanks again, Cheers from Canada

Don

[shirl100]

You are welcome. I was just having a browse at www.familysearch.org and it seems that Theophilus and Joan had another son Hugh. baptised 6 Nov 1788 Haselbury Plucknet, it is a parish record extract

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J311-SM7

Shirl

[Don H]

Thank you for your help.  I will record that birth. 

I am pretty sure Theophilus is the brother of my great, great, great, grandfather, John. Theophilus did not emigrate to Canada. Theophilus also had a child, Theodesia.  Both of these names were used again for children born in Newfoundland which helps support my conclusion.

Now that I can now trace Theophilus' family a bit, it confirms what I thought - that my GGG grandfather John came from that area of Somerset.  I also have a Newfoundland marriage record (John's second marriage I believe) that states that he came from the Parish of Haselbury, near Crewkerne (and I have been told also that he had brothers named Theophilus and Horatious).

It is interesting that I cannot find a direct reference to John, Horatious or their parents in that area of Somerset. Although there were lots of Johns born in Somerset, I cannot link a John and a Theophilus born of that era to the same parents.  But I will keep looking. I guess records from that era are spotty. It is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle.

There may also be a census record for Theophilus and family to show exactly where they lived. I believe censuses started early in the 1800s.

Thank you again, Shirl, for your assistance and Happy New Year!

Don

[AngelaR]

Hi Don

I've started looking at the North Perrott and Haselbury Plucknett registers. I haven't found John so far but I have found Theophilus Gardner born Dec 16 1781 baptised Mar 3 1782 at North Perrott - son of Theophilus and Joan Gardner. Will keep looking

Regards

Angela

[AngelaR]

Just to add to the above -

Theophilus Gardner married Joan Cleal in North Perrott on 7th Oct 1776
They appear to have had a son, Francis born 23 May 1777, baptised 5 Oct 1777
He must have died because they baptised another son Francis on 21 Mar 1779.

Then there's their son Theophilus (obviously a family name) in 1781. No sign of John. However, Draper and Ann Gardner were baptising children at the same time as Theophilus and Joan. It looks like Draper may have been Theophilus (senior)'s brother.

Shall I keep looking?

Regards

Angela

[Don H]

Thank you for your help Angela. 

It would be helpful if you can continue looking for John.  Family legend here indicates that the brothers were Horatious and Theophilus.  There is no mention of another brother - but that does not mean that the family legend is correct!

I feel we are in the right area because the family manes match up. I guess the key would be to find a record for John.  The area near Crewkerne has also been mentioned in other records.  I wonder if there were nearby parishes where John could be recorded?

Anyhow, any help you can provide is very much appreciated.

Don

[AngelaR]

Hi Don

OK - I shall carry on looking! I have microfiche copies of 3 parishes in that area so am looking at all of them. Haselbury Plucknett in particular is quite badly damaged so difficult to read. What does seem obvious so far is that there's a few Gardner families in these villages but they appear to be closely related as they insist on calling their male children by the same names 

Theophilus and Joan seem to have children over quite a period. Their first child seems to have been Francis in 1777 then Francis again in 1779 and Theophilus in 1781. I wouldn't mind betting there were children every couple of years, one of whom may have been John if we can find him. I can confirm Shirl's record of Hugh in 1788, although the date looks more like Nov 5th than the 6th to me.

I'm wading my way through the records and will get back to you when I find anything more.

Angela