Baptism help needed Sturton Le Steeple / Walkeringham

[jason 20]

Good evening, I am hoping someone may be able to cast an eye over my problem.

My family, the Fenton's come from a small village Sturton Le Steeple where they were a prominent family in the area. So far without dispute I have traced my line back to William Fenton

Charles Fenton born c1836 Walkeringham son of Benjamin Fenton c1799 walkeringham but baptised in Sturton Le Steeple to William & Ann

I have found the marriage record for William & Ann on 01.02.1790 in Sturton Le Steeple

my issue is with the parentage of William. There is a potential death for William in Walkeringham for 1805 giving his birth year of 1755, however when i search the records i find


William born to William & Mary in 1758

William born to Jonathan and Eliz 1760


given the date i thought it more plausible 1758, however every other researcher seems to put him as the child of Richard Fenton and Ann Spittlehouse who married on 26.12.1753

my problem is i can find no such baptism for William to this couple, and also i think there may be some guessing going on as it would be impossible unless the other 2 deceased as children to identify the correct parentage and trace back further ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Mamy thanks

jason

[philipsearching]

every other researcher seems to put him as the child of Richard Fenton and Ann Spittlehouse who married on 26.12.1753

I think that would depend on the 'researcher'.
If, for example, you have found this information only on online trees, it is quite possible that one tree owner made an error or assumption and everyone else copied it without checking for accuracy.

The potential death - does that say "age 50"?  If so, it may well have been rounded off or guessed by the informant.

As parents did not always have children baptised shortly after birth, a birth year of c1755 is consistent with a baptism in 1758-60.

This might just be one of those times you come to a dead-end.  If so, all you can do is make a note along the lines of "XYZ says William's parents were Richard & Ann, but gives no evidence.  The baptism register has William bap 1758 son of William & Mary, also William bap 1760 son of Jonathan & Eliz."

If there is no death record for William, son of (whoever) to eliminate possibles, there are only two ways forward that I know of:
1) If your William gave his children rare names that can be linked to one particular line OR
2) that William left a will naming relatives who can be matched to one line (siblings, cousins etc).

Sorry I can't offer a nice solution - but it's always better to be sure than to guess.  I'll do some digging, just in case.

Philip

[sunflower]

There is this baptism on the  Notts FHS baptism disc

William Fenton 11.10.1754 to Richd & Mary Fenton at Walkeringham

Carol

[sunflower]

There is another child baptised to Richard at Walkerington around that time, but mothers name is Ann. 

22.1.1756  Jane to Richard & Ann Fenton

Carol

[philipsearching]

There is this baptism on the  Notts FHS baptism disc

William Fenton 11.10.1754 to Richd & Mary Fenton at Walkeringham

Carol

That is a great find.  It does indicate that there was a William, son of Richard.  The mother named as Mary, not Ann is troubling (but without seeing register images we can't tell if that was a transcription error).

It does raise another question: were there two Richard FENTONs i Walkeringham - one married to Mary, the other to Ann?

And there is still the challenge of ruling out the two Williams baptised in 1758 and 1760 noted by jason 20.

Philip

[nottsgirl1]

There is this baptism on the  Notts FHS baptism disc

William Fenton 11.10.1754 to Richd & Mary Fenton at Walkeringham

Carol

Its most likely Mary is Ann it's either been transcribe wrong or put on Church records wrong by vicar or clerk ( I have come across this  a number of time when wrong name recorded) I can check for you when I'm next in Nottingham archives.

NG1

[nottsgirl1]

Hi again,

There is a Will for William Fenton who died in 1805 in Nottingham Archives I'll look that up too.

NG1