BUTCHER family of Sandy, 18th-19thC. John BUTCHER/Mary HEEP/KEEP marriage 1823?

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
I'm struggling to piece together details of the BUTCHER family who inhabited the Sandy area from at least 1841 through to 1871.  I have not yet come across a marriage (no date, but  suggested on Ancestry Public Trees) for a John BUTCHER, b.c 1794 and a Mary/Marie/Maria HEEP.  They apparently began having children in 1824, but the only possible looking marriage that might fit is one at St Mary's Aldersgate, London on 11th Feb 1823 - which seems rather far from home -  between a John BUTCHER  and a Mary KEEP (sic).
I believe John's wife Mary dies in 1851, and in that Census in Sandy John is noted down as a widower with Emma, Joseph and Samuel as his children, and in the 1861 with just Joseph and Samuel at home still with him.
If anyone can discover a more realistic marriage, I'd be very happy to hear about it!
Many thanks,
Keith

[QueenoftheWest]

Samuel's birth registration:

BUTCHER, SAM       HEEP 
GRO Reference: 1839  D Quarter in BIGGLESWADE  Volume 06  Page 62

Unfortunately, I can't find one for Joseph, which could be useful for comparison of the surname.

Queenie 

[QueenoftheWest]

Mary's death:     

BUTCHER, MARY       43 
GRO Reference: 1842  J Quarter in BIGGLESWADE  Volume 06  Page 45

She was buried in Sandy on 16th June 1842. On her burial record, she is listed as 44.

Queenie 

[QueenoftheWest]

I think I've just found something very interesting!

I was looking for Keeps in Sandy (I couldn't find any Heeps) and I found this record:

Joseph Keep, buried 5th February 1832, aged 60 (born c.1772), in Sandy, Bedfordshire.

John & Mary had a son called Joseph, so I wondered whether it could be a relative.

Then I found his entry in the death duty registers:

Testator: Joseph Keep, Executor: John Butcher!

Is this her father?

Queenie 

[QueenoftheWest]

I can only find 1 Mary born to a Joseph Keep in the right time period:

Mary, daughter of Joseph & Mary Keep, baptised 7 Oct 1798 in Westminster, London.

Queenie 

[Keith Sherwood]

Queenie,
Thanks so much for that.  I imagine that Joseph's birth was perhaps before general registration started in September quarter 1837.  But I was completely wrong about his mother Mary's date of death.  Hence no further children born after 1839, then...and HEEP seems to be the correct spelling of her surname, too.
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Ah, posts crossed there, Queenie,
I wonder whether there is still the possibility that the 1823 marriage is in fact theirs, and something has been lost in a transcription somewhere.  I cannot find the couple and their family in the Sandy area in the 1841 Census, which might say whether Mary was born out of County, ie. not in Bedfordshire...
Keith
...and I've only just seen your previous message, too, the even more fascinating details that might point towards KEEP being more accurate than HEEP as a surname for John BUTCHER's wife.
Lots to ponder and chew over here!

[ColC]

Jn BUTCHER   Baptism   10 Dec 1794   Bedfordshire   Sandy : St Swithin : Other Transcript

Parents Sam & Lucy (Freereg)

Colin

[QueenoftheWest]

Happy to help 

Interestingly, there is a Joseph Keep baptised in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire in 1773 to William & Mary Keep. Also, a marriage between a Joseph Keep and Mary Armitage in Bedford in 1797 (the year before Mary was born). Did the Keep family move to London and then move back to Bedfordshire at a later stage? Is that why John and Mary married in London?

In 1841, Mary is listed as born in Bedfordshire, but it looks like her family was from there, even though she herself may not have been born there.

Do you have Ancestry? https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8978/images/BDFHO107_1_2-0536?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.189765035.1854342728.1634229201-496577236.1634229201&pId=14143

All theory at this stage, but I am certain Mary was a Keep, as she was listed on the 1823 marriage record. I think Sam's birth certificate is a mistranscription.

Queenie