SEARLE FAMILY

[dmerry]

I am researching the Searle family Hampshire/Sussex and can not locate them between 1750-1790 has anyone happened to come across them or know where they came or went back to.

Many thanks

Debbie

[dmerry]

I decided my message was a big vague so here are a few more details.

We have done extensive research of Hampshire and Sussex but can't find the family during the period of 1750-1790.  My link is to a George Searle who married a Sarah Ewell in 1797 in North Mundham.  The family baptised their children in various places

Mary 1798 - North Mundham
William 1800 - Sidlesham
Sarah 1802 - Sidlesham
Edmund - 1804 died 29 August 1806 Sidlesham
George 1806 - Earnley
Lucy 1809 - Earnley
James 1812 - Earnley
Letitia 1815 - Birdham
Charles 1817 - Hambledon (Hampshire

before moving across the  border in to Hampshire firstly to Hambledon and then to nearby Soberton Hampshire.

George Searle died in Soberton 1830 aged 61.

We are trying to locate where the next generation back came from.

Thanks

Debbie

[Tim Purkis]

Hi Debbie
bit of a long shot looking at the date on this post but did you ever find the info you were looking for?
Lucy Searle was (I believe) my G G Grandmother.
Any info you would be willing to share would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Tim Purkis

[Buffnut453]

Hi Debbie
bit of a long shot looking at the date on this post but did you ever find the info you were looking for?
Lucy Searle was (I believe) my G G Grandmother.
Any info you would be willing to share would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Tim Purkis

Hi Tim,

Your resurrection of this thread is very timely.  i discovered only last week that one of my Great-Great-Great Grandmothers was an Eliza Jane Searle (b 1809), daughter of Henry and Polly Searle.  It seems they lived in the Portsmouth/Portsea area.  I've managed to piece together marriage information and an initial list of Eliza's siblings but I'm struggling to locate the parents of Henry and his wife. 

I thought I'd reach out in case there's any crossover with your family research.

Kind regards,
Mark Haselden

[Buffnut453]

Just to add some more details, the Searle family in my family tree comprise:

Henry Searle (birth/death dates unknown)
Married Mary Cooper (widow - birth/death dates unknown) at St.Thomas' Church, Portsmouth, 11 Dec 1797

Children:
Mary Anne Searle (Christened 30 Nov 1798, St.Thomas' Church, Portsmouth)
Fanny Searle (Christened 22 Oct 1800, St.Thomas' Church, Portsmouth)
Henry Searle (Christened 20 Feb 1803, St.Thomas' Church, Portsmouth)
Nicholas John Searle (Christened 14 Jul 1805, Buried 14 Jun 1807, St.Mary's Church, Portsea)
Eliza Jane Searle (Christened 1809, St.Mary's Church, Portsea)

All the Christening records refer to Henry's wife as Polly.  Efforts to identify her maiden name have thus far been unsuccessful.  There are 4 marriages of a husband surname Cooper to a wife with first name Mary in the period 1777-1797 in the Portsea/Portsmouth area of Hampshire.  The event years and names are listed below:

1780 – David Cooper and Mary Osmond
1788 – Henry Cooper and Mary Sadler
1788 – Joseph Cooper and Mary Armstrong
1792 – James Cooper and Mary Thompson

Of these 4, only one name appears in burial records at a time that might align with the wedding of Henry Searle and Mary Cooper.  That single death is Joseph Cooper in 1791.  Details of the 1788 Joseph Cooper marriage are below:

Joseph Cooper m Mary Armstrong 28 Mar 1788 Portsea

If Mary Armstrong is the same Mary Cooper who married Henry Searle, she would probably have been 19 or 20 at the absolute maximum when she married Joseph Cooper.  That age would explain her ability to have a daughter, Eliza Jane Searle, in 1809 and also likely explains why she had no further children. 

Unfortunately, all other efforts to find more specific details about Henry Searle and Mary Cooper have failed dismally.  Can anyone out there in RootsChat land help?

[Little Nell]

Mary Armstrong was a widow when she married Joseph Cooper in 1788.  Both Joseph & Mary made their mark in the register.  Mary Cooper signed the register in 1797.  The witnesses on that occasion were the next couple to marry.

Nell

[Buffnut453]

Mary Armstrong was a widow when she married Joseph Cooper in 1788.  Both Joseph & Mary made their mark in the register.  Mary Cooper signed the register in 1797.  The witnesses on that occasion were the next couple to marry.

Nell

Many thanks Nell.  I guess it's back to the drawing board.  Most of my ancestors come from Lancashire and so I've been "spoiled" by records there that provide useful additional information like the father's name and the child's age on a burial record (which also makes it easier to differentiate deaths of people with the same names).  This is my first foray into Hampshire records and, generally speaking, there seems to be far less data available than I've seen elsewhere...or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Kind regards,
Mark 

[Little Nell]

You are very lucky to find routinely the age of any person on a burial pre-1812.  Father's names were not included on marriage records before 1837 unless it was for a minor and he gave consent.  There are exceptions (Dade registers for example).  I have a bunch of people in Lancashire - on the Yorkshire border - family name Lees, they lived in Lees or close by and they often married people called Lees, then calling their children by similar names - James, Sarah, John, Betty, Mary and often born within weeks of one another.  Unfortunately not enough clues from the PRs to distinguish one from t'other!

I haven't found a likely marriage of an Armstrong to a Mary prior to 1788.

I've looked at baptisms for Henry but none make sense at the moment.  I've also tried looking for any baptisms for Armstrong where the mother is Mary in case there are clues there.  None in the right area or time-frame.

Where do the Searle family end up?

Nell

[Buffnut453]

You are very lucky to find routinely the age of any person on a burial pre-1812.  Father's names were not included on marriage records before 1837 unless it was for a minor and he gave consent.  There are exceptions (Dade registers for example).  I have a bunch of people in Lancashire - on the Yorkshire border - family name Lees, they lived in Lees or close by and they often married people called Lees, then calling their children by similar names - James, Sarah, John, Betty, Mary and often born within weeks of one another.  Unfortunately not enough clues from the PRs to distinguish one from t'other!

I haven't found a likely marriage of an Armstrong to a Mary prior to 1788.

I've looked at baptisms for Henry but none make sense at the moment.  I've also tried looking for any baptisms for Armstrong where the mother is Mary in case there are clues there.  None in the right area or time-frame.

Where do the Searle family end up?

Nell

Hi Nell,

Yes, I'm struggling to find any specific mention of Henry Searle or Mary Cooper prior to their marriage in 1797.  The only known detail was that Mary was a widow when she married Henry...which, of course, makes it harder to positively identify her.

I've also tried looking for burial records but, again, nothing jumps out as being an obvious match. 

Their daughter, Eliza Jane Searle, married Samuel Hayes, a Sergeant in the 47th Regiment of Foot, in 1831.  Apparently, she went with him to Ireland shortly thereafter and their first child, Elizabeth (my Great-Great-Grandmother), was born in Belfast in late 1832.  Samuel was discharged from the Army for medical reasons on 12 Dec 1832 and the family moved back to Samuel's hometown of Warrington, Lancashire.

I'm trying to piece together details about Eliza Jane Searle's parents and siblings but, again, with little success.  Her next oldest brother, Nicholas John Searle, appears to have died in 1807.  It's also possible that the next eldest brother, Henry, died in 1803.  There's a burial record for a Henry Searle being buried in St.Mary's Church, Portsea, on 18 July 1803. 

There's a 4-year gap in Christenings between Nicholas John Searle and Eliza Jane Searle, perhaps indicating a missing child in the family.  There's a "Thomas Shirley" with parents Henry and Mary who was Christened at St.Mary's, Portsea, on 3 May 1807. 

In addition to the above, there's a Josiah Searle who died in 1815 aged 4 years old.  Josiah could, possibly be a younger brother to Eliza Jane but, alas, there's no record of a Christening for a Josiah Searle in 1811 in the Portsea/Portsmouth area, nor does his burial record identify either parent's names. 

'Tis frustrating!

Kind regards,
Mark