One Isaac or Two?

[dtcoulson]

Hi again.

I'm now having some problems with a Charles Woodham born in or near Great Bedwin in 1811.

Until today I thought he was a brother of William Woodham (b 1806) whose parents were Isaac and Mary. However, it turns out that Charles's parents were Isaac and Hannah.

Great Bedwin, despite its name, was a very small farming community so it would be remarkable if there were two men named Isaac Woodham in such a place.

* The first question therefore is whether there is one Isaac with two wives or two Isaacs with separate families.




The mystery goes a little deeper, though.

To cut a very long story short, William claims on one document in the 1840s that he had a brother in the royal navy. A year ago I found a record in FindMyPast of a Charles Woodham in the royal navy during this period but could not inspect it to see where he was born or how old he was.

Searching through the census data today, I found several records of a Charles Woodham from Great Bedwin, who married and had children, but he was a farmer in each consecutive census and there is no hint that he had ever been in the navy.

* So the second question is whether there are two Charles Woodhams from Great Bedwin (or nearby), emerging from two separate families headed by Isaac Woodham, one with wife Mary, the other with wife Hannah.



Third point:
Isaac and Mary Woodham had daughters Sarah and Ann in 1803 and 1814 respectively.
Isaac and Hannah had Charles in 1811.
You see from this that it does not seem to be the case that Isaac remarried after the loss of his first wife.

Any clarification would be appreciated.


BTW, the story of William Woodham is very complicated and has been examined in great detail in previous pages on Rootschat. Hopefully it won't be necessary to dig back into those notes but I want to make sure you all know that these pages exist before chasing after him.


-David C

[avm228]

Is there any other evidence of Isaac and Hannah as a couple?

One of my families (late 18th century) with a rare surname had 8 or so children baptised with parents noted as George and Mary, but one or two in the middle of the pack to George and Sarah.  Fortunately the clergyman noted the mother's maiden name, which was consistent across all the baptisms (subject to spelling variations), so it was definitely the right family, but presumably errors were sometimes made in the writing up of the register.

[Girl Guide]

So presumably this is Isaac's marriage to Mary Godwin on 8 November 1802 at either Buttermere or Shalbourne. 

Just for the sake of it there is a marriage for an Isaac Woodman to an Elizabeth Ford in 1809 at Sherston Magna.

Cannot seem to find a marriage of an Isaac to a Hannah.

[Girl Guide]

Do I take it that for some reason Charles was baptised twice in 1811?  Once in Great Bedwin and again in Trowbridge.  Parents given as Isaac and Hannah.

[dtcoulson]

Yes, I have Mary Godwin down as Isaac's wife, not because I have certain proof but because the marriage is at the right time and place.

Trowbridge and Great Bedwin seem to be almost adjacent communities. Is it possible that there are duplicate references to the same christening rather than two independent christenings?

Data from this place and time is quite spotty. There seem to be more Woodhams in the area than BMD records to match them.

Oh yes, and if you are looking further, be aware of the spelling variations on Woodham.
I have seen Waddem, Wadham, Wodham, and even Woodman.

-DC

[dtcoulson]

Just a thought:
If the search for Isaac is proving tough, can we concentrate on finding William's brother in the navy? If this does turn out to be a man named Charles from Great Bedwin / Trowbridge / etc, then it would show that there are indeed two Woodham families in the same region.

-DC

[arthurk]

Trowbridge and Great Bedwin seem to be almost adjacent communities. Is it possible that there are duplicate references to the same christening rather than two independent christenings?

They aren't anything like adjacent - there's about 25-30 miles between them.