Long standing mystery... Sarah SUMMERS 1810 Calne, Wiltshire

[jomcd967]

Hi Ayashi,

Dathan Somers, s/o John & Jane, bap 17 June 1838, Calne
https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3ADathan%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1800-1845~%20%2Brecord_country%3AEngland
Also on Find My Past, but there is no available image on either site.

Jo 

[Ayashi]

Thanks. I found it eventually. It turns out it helps if you look for a christening in the christening records rather than the burials 

I've been stalking the family all day. I think I've got marriages and families for most of the siblings of Sarras (the exception being Jasper, who falls off the face of the planet). Thankfully most of the marriages are viewable, except John SUMMERS to Jane RIVERS.

A lot of the siblings seem to confirm each other (such as one sibling marrying from the same address as a different sibling in Bath, Somerset, and two people who later married each other as witnesses on someone else's marriage...) but other than the Mary as witness on the Sarah marriage I can't yet find anything concrete. The names are good as circumstantial evidence. John's family is possibly the most confusing, with the mmn TANNER and Dathan disappearing between his birth and 1881 while the other children don't seem to have been registered that I can see (and Dathan is the only christening I can see)...

I did find a tree with someone whose profile says she took an Anc DNA test. She's not a match to my mother, although potentially that could be because the DNA is too weak to recognise. I'm hoping she might be the tree home person's wife (so not biologically related) rather than daughter or whatever- I've asked.

Whatever the case, at the moment there is a stronger argument for this than for the black hole my cousin has left me with.

Thanks again
Ayashi

[jomcd967]

Hi Ayashi,

i just had a quick look for Jasper and noted some newspaper articles for a Jasper Summers, otherwise Jesse...not your man, but got me thinking....

Found him!
He married Sarah Lloyd in 1858 at Methyr Tydfil, father George Summers.
1851 Aberdare Glam Wales, lodging with James Brown and family...
Jesse Summers, lodger, married, 26, Sawyer, b. Calne Wiltshire
Sarah Summers, wife, 25, b Pembroke
John Summers, son, 3, b. Aberdare
Henry Summers, son, 0, b. Aberdare

Easily found there through to his death in 1914.

Cheers, Jo 

[Ayashi]

Jasper turned into Jesse... I wouldn't have got that one, although I suppose I can see at a stretch how "Jasper/Jesper" could have taken Jesse as a pet form. I looked up trees for Jesse to see if anyone had the marriage witnesses. There are loads of trees, not a single one has the marriage date or his father as George  Oh well.

Apparently Jesse was a preacher!

-Edit: My mother is a DNA match with two people who are descendants of Jesse! Here's a line to pursue!

[hanes teulu]

Have you checked Welsh newspapers on line for Jesse?

[Ayashi]

Haven't got that far yet, only just woken up

I just edited my previous reply without seeing yours- got two DNA matches to contact Neither has the marriage though so I don't know that they will a) be helpful or b) be happy I'm about to question their trees a little bit.

[jomcd967]

John’s wife Jane is bit more tricky....

Jane Wilkins married Benjamin Rivers, 1818 Calne, witnessed by John Savory & Thos Pawney
They had:
William 1819
Mary Ann 1821 (buried 1822)
Mary Ann 1822 - with Jane in 1841
Alfred 1825 - with Jane 1841

John Rivers 1830 is presumed to be another son of Jane & Benjamin but no record found yet.

No sign of what happened to Benjamin or when?

John Summers (son of George & Ann) married Maria Cleverley, 1832 Calne, witnessed by Wm Carpenter & E Savory.
They had:
Henry 1835 - with John in 1841
Elizabeth 1837 - with John in 1841

Maria was buried at Calne 12 Jun 1837, age 25

John Summers married Jane Rivers 1837 Calne (not a long mourning period).
They had Dathan bap 17 Jun 1838, a note on Dathan’s baptism says “privately admitted 25 Dec 1842”

I think Dathan is known as Daniel as per the 1841 census with John & Jane. And I have no explanation as to why Dathan is registered with MMN Tanner? What do you think?

Cheers, Jo 

[Ayashi]

I did wonder if Dathan was Daniel. In a way this is becoming slightly typical if Sarras is Sarah and Jesse is Jasper lol

I suppose it is possible that Jane was illegitimate or had a stepfather or something and used a different surname for the birth / he got her name wrong. I have one family where the father used his (illegitimate) wife's mother's surname for the three girls but her father's surname for the boy. That wife's own illegitimate daughter married as her biological father's surname, recorded her mother's maiden surname as the mother's stepfather's surname and her own maiden name as Jones, the original father (her stepfather's) surname or Walker-Jones, a double barrel of both. Just to be REALLY confusing...

I couldn't kill off Benjamin either...

This has certainly turned out to be a time consuming puzzle 

Thanks again for your help

[jomcd967]

It would be great to see Dathans birth certificate....his birth is registered Apr-Jun 1838, John and Jane’s marriage is registered Sep - Dec 1837, Maria died June 1837....

What if (a big if!) Dathan is the son of John And Maria, but baptised as the son of John & Jane....and what is (another big if), Maria Cleverley is Maria Tanner (no status shown on marriage)....? Nothing to back that up at all  , no marriage for a Maria Tanner to ? Tanner found....but a nice theory non the less