Hello - I wanted to post this little mystery I have, just to share it and see if communal brainpower or greater genealogy knowledge could shed any light ...
Having recently had my mitochondrial DNA results I decided to have another look at my maternal-maternal-maternal-etc. brick wall, which is a woman by the name of Susanna, surname unknown, who had children in Gnosall between 1799 and 1815 with Jospeh Harrison (sometimes Harris). These are my 4xg-grandparents.
The children are: Benjamin Harrison (1799), Joseph Harrison (1801), Gregory Harrison (1803), Samuel Harris (1809), Mary Harris (1813), Thomas Harrison (1815) - all bapt. Gnosall, the last two showing the family's residence as being Radmore Lane.
I think I have Joseph and Susanna's burials - Joseph Harris in Forton in 1832, age 64 [b.1768], and Susanna Harris in Forton in 1833, age 51 [1782] - both resident of Sutton (Forton), Staffs.
I have not been able to find a marriage for the couple, which is what I want in order to reveal Susanna's maiden name and family.
But on my recent more detailed look I came across a 1798 marriage in Forton for a Joseph Addison and Susannah Rhodes. I looked at the original image in case Addison was a poor transcription of Harrison - but it's definitely Addison. However, one of the witnesses was a Benjamin Harrison.
Other intriguing scraps include the fact that Susanna Rhodes was born in 1782 (ties in with the 1833 burial, if that's the correct Susanna) and her father's name was Samuel - the name of Joseph and Susanna's fourth son (1809); and their first child, Benjamin (1799), shares the marriage witness's name. (Susanna Rhodes' mother was Mary Bellingham - same surname as the other witness, Ann.)
The witness, Benjamin Harrison, I suspect is the Benjamin who married Frances Rhodes (Susanna's sister) in Norbury in 1797. Also from the Rhodes family: Susanna and Frances's younger brother, Edward, named a son Joseph (Rhodes) in Dec 1832, a few months after Joseph Harris(on) died (Mar) - Edward was resident in Radmore Lane.
I have researched as much as I can of the families of the Harrison children to see if the name Addison cropped up anywhere, perhaps as a middle name - but nothing. Until I was re-reading the Calendar of Wills entry (1890) for my ggg-grandmother, Mary Harrison (b.1813), and saw the Will was proved by her youngest son, Henry Ecclestone, and one Samuel Thomas Addison - a farmer who seems to have been a neighbour for a number of years.
Is that Addison name a coincidence, or a cousin of some sort? His parents appear to be George Addison (1823, Gnosall) and Eliza Cliff/Hadderton (1826), and George's parents seem to be Samuel Addison and Sarah Harding (marr 1819, Gnosall).
I can't see an obvious baptism for a Joseph Addison c.1768 anywhere. There is a possible Joseph Harrison - a 1767 baptism in Church Eaton (about 10 miles from Forton), which only stands out amongst others because the father is Gregory Harrison (another family name). I think the mother is Sarah Wenlock (marr 1753).
I also can't see any children for a Joseph and Susanna Addison (well, except in Norfolk in the 1840/50s).
The 1798 marriage of Joseph Addison and Susanna Rhodes is very tantalising - could this be the marriage I'm looking for? Any theories on the Addison name rather than Harrison? Any ideas what else I might be able to look at to help unravel this?
I'm so tempted by this marriage but I don't want to rush in due to a raft of possible coincidences.
Thanks for reading!
- Garen
