Please help! Family tree brick wall

[missctaylor91]

Hello!
 Can anyone help me? I have come across a brick wall tracing my ancestors and I cannot seem to get past it. I am looking for information on a man names JAMES TAYLOR, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Born abt. 1752 - d.1813. The only information I can find on him is:
Mother - Ann Taylor
Spouse - Margaret Gould

I cannot figure out who his dad is or who his mum's parents are? There doesn't seem to be much information about them. James is my direct 6x great grandfather.

If anyone can help get any information I would really appreciate it. I can't find birth certificates, census records - nothing! Only thing I found it a baptism record which states James and his mum Ann.

Thank you

[Dundee]

JAMES TAYLOR, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Born abt. 1752 - d.1813

I can't find birth certificates, census records - nothing!

Perhaps you don't know that civil registration of births started in 1837 and the first useful census is 1841.

A church baptism record is all you will find.

Debra 

[Dundee]

Is this the baptism you are referring to?  If so then James appears to be illegitimate so he probably didn't know who his father was either.

James TAYLOR
Baptism Date:    1 Feb 1752
Baptism Place:    Saint James, Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk,England
Mother:    Ann TAYLOR

There is also another indexed baptism on the same day with mother named as Mary TAYLOR.  You would need to see the original register to know if there were two separate children or if it is an indexing error.

How have you determined that this is your James?  It is a very common name.

Debra 

[gobbitt]

In the Revd Harvey's 1915 transcript (Suffolk Green Books vol. XVII part I) you can also see that Ann Taylor had two younger "base" children baptized at the church of St James in Bury St Edmunds: Elizabeth (29 March 1756) and Mary (28 Sept.1766). These and earlier baptisms could be checked in new transcripts published on CD by the Suffolk Family History Society (Thingoe Deanery, 1650-1753 and 1754-1812).

The Society's burial index reveals their early deaths, along with an older "bb" (base-born) child, whose baptism is not apparent at Bury St Edmunds St James, where all three were buried: Walter (22 June 1749), Elizabeth (4 June 1757) and Mary (22 Nov. 1766).

The version of James Taylor's baptism in 1752 naming his mother Mary is doubly suspect. It gives the location as Sudbury without specifying a parish (All Saints, St Gregory or St Peter) so it's probably a poor copy of the annual register bill or bishop's transcript from St James, Bury St Edmunds, filed with the records of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury.

David

[missctaylor91]

Hi David thanks for replying

This is the info I found on James you see:
James TAYLOR
Baptism Date:    1 Feb 1752
Baptism Place:    Saint James, Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk,England
Mother:    Ann TAYLOR

James married Margaret Gould- there are marriage records for them and they had children too and I am their descendant. I cannot find anything on a woman named Mary. I really don’t know who James’ ancestors are

[josey]

James married Martha Abbott

Did you not say in the original post that his spouse was Margaret Gould? Perhaps he married twice....

There are far fewer records still in existence for before the 1750s, even if they were kept.

[missctaylor91]

Yes sorry just changed it

[gobbitt]

I cannot find anything on a woman named Mary. I really don’t know who James’ ancestors are

There is at least one Mary at Bury St Edmunds who may be of interest. On page 287 of the 1915 St James transcript (here) is the baptism of Anne, a "base child" of a widow named Mary Taylor, on 23 Nov. 1720.

Their family would need to be researched thoroughly to establish whether you are related, but the date is plausible for Ann(e) to be having children of her own between 1749 and 1766.

David

[missctaylor91]

Hi David

That is an interesting idea actually, definitely something else to look into. I would love to go to the records office but I don’t live anywhere near bury st Edmunds. And everyone in the family I have spoken to have no clue either. It’s rather frustrating to me because I just want to know where I come from- only thing I know is that my ancestors lived in bury st Edmunds, Suffolk for about 400 years on record and I can’t find anything if they come from somewhere else before