Lucy Hodges / Lucey Hodges baptisms, Charlton Adam, Somerset 1823

[phil57]

I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to post a cropped image of the relevant entry on here?

There are a few user trees on Ancestry that contain James & Mary Parsons and their children, but all have Christianna Parsons as the name of the daughter born in 1799, none with any sources or other supporting evidence.

That's certainly not the name written in the register, and I can't find any Christianna Parsons baptised anywhere in the UK between 1795 - 1805, let alone in East Ham or Somerset as a whole, which probably points to another case of multiple copies from a public tree with no verification.

Dinah's place of birth being recorded as High Ham in every census that records that option, links to other Parsons names that fit with James & Mary, and the link to Samuel Hurd as executor of her will, whilst not explicitly describing their relationship (although if my assumption is correct means that he would have been her great nephew, and at any rate she obviously knew him and shared her maiden name with his mother) seem pretty good evidence to me. Claudiana/Cloadinna Parsons seems to have disappeared completely following her baptism also, unless she was Dinah.

I'm waiting on the result of an Ancestry DNA test at present (submitted in the hope that it might help break a brick wall related to my grandfather who was an orphan, but that's another story) so I might get some additional pointers as to whether I'm on the right track in due course.

Thank again for your help Trish. I'd totally missed the "Claudina" record, even though I'd been through the register several times. I think sometimes the more you look, the less you see!

[trish1120]

I am glad I could help.

I also noticed a Tree with Christianna married to someone else and down on Census as Ann/Anna.

I cant remeber the married name now though.

Anyhow I checked a childs b/r and her maiden name was not Parsons.


As you say Trees just sometimes guess or just copy one another with no supporting facts.

[trish1120]

Found it 1841 Census;
Thomas Parsons   48
Ann Parsons   50
Elizabeth Parsons 15
George Parsons   15
James Parsons   9
Charity Parsons   6
Frank Parsons   3

Frank has mmn as Raymond.

Tree has Ann as Christianna Parsons, Parents James/Mary although Census has her born c 1792 Queen Camel!

[trish1120]

I think a cropped image is allowed.

[phil57]

Hi Trish, I've found that census. I don't believe that Thomas is directly related to James & Mary Parsons in High Ham, certainly not as one of their children.

I believe I now have all their children from the parish register. Following their marriage in Jan 1783, I've got:

William - Sep 1783 bapt.
James - Apr 1786
Anna - Mar 1788
George - Dec 1789
Anne - Oct 1791
Sarah - Mar 1793
Maria - Jan 1795
Betty - Jan 1797
Harriet - Mar 1798
Claudina/Cloadinna? - Dec 1799

FreeREG seems to agree with this list.

There appear to have been three Parsons families baptising children in High Ham during that period;  James & Mary as above, William & Mary, and George & Joanna/Johanna.

So although the father's name isn't particularly legible in the entry for Claudina/Cloadinna, I'm happy it's a J for James, not George or William. I'm pretty sure that no-one could interpret their daughter's name as Christianna. Although you can't see from the cropped image below, most if not all entries on that page are in the same handwriting, and if the "d" in the middle of her name was being interpreted as a "t" - well there's not a single "t" anywhere else on the page that hasn't been crossed like the one in Beth, the entry immediately below, so I find that very doubtful.

I looked at another tree on Ancestry last night, which James & Mary appeared in. There were more than 18,000 individuals in the whole tree. I checked three children attributed as offspring of James & Mary's daughter Susan. All three had different parents, none named appropriately, and each was from a different part of the UK

[trish1120]

You are very thorough in your research and I admire you for that.
The same cant be said for others who have Trees on Anc!

I think you can be pretty sure that is your Dinahs Bapt and her Parents as James/Mary.

Trish

[phil57]

I think you can be pretty sure that is your Dinahs Bapt and her Parents as James/Mary.

Thanks Trish. I'm inclined to agree.

Without your help though, I'd probably still be searching

[trish1120]

I'm very happy I could help.

Without this amazing site it would not have happened that we connected.

It brought together 2 people from different sides of the World