Belper Parish Registers - BELL

[sbell95]

Hi all,

I am a long-time lurker but new member of Rootschat, hoping to get some information on my ancestors who lived in Belper.

I am specifically looking for the baptism of my ancestor Arthur Jephson Bell (born 1863), son of Anthony and Caroline Mary, and his siblings - William Anthony 1848, William John 1849, Caroline Mary 1850, Lucy Frances 1851, Adeline 1853 and Ellen 1855.

I am unsure which church they would have been baptised in, but perhaps St Peter's? Anthony owned a grocery store in Market Place and all of the children were born there (I have 6/7 birth certificates).

If possible, I am also looking for the parish register burials of William Anthony 1849, Lucy Frances 1865 and Anthony 1878.

Thanks in advance!

Sarah

[Neale1961]

Here is the family cemetery plot in Belper.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190503108/anthony-bell
I can't see any burial register online, but contacting the cemetery directly might progress your search.

[goldie61]

I see you have done a lot of research on the family.
There are trees on Wikitree which I think must be yours, and you have put the graves on findagrave.
I see a lot of them settled in South Africa.

Familysearch, findmypast and Freereg claim to have Belper registers, but these Bell family members do not seem to appear in them.
The films on familysearch are still just on film, but they are searchable by name - in my experience you cannot take it for granted that the transcriptions are correct.  Goodness knows when they will be digitised. All films were supposed to be digitised by 2020...................... you can no longer send to Salt Lake City for them to view them at an LDS library.

There is a copy of the marriage licence for Anthony Bell and Caroline Mary Jephson on findmypast, which I suspect you have seen. Anthony is of Duffield.
Anthony's father is given as William, a glazier. They were married at Spondon.
Caroline Jephson's father is given as John on another record on findmypast (transcriptions only).
I checked Duffield and Spondon registers for any Bell family baptisms, but again drew a blank.

I wonder if they were non-conformists. Is there anything in your research about him to suggest this?
He seems to be a pillar of the society - I can't imagine they didn't have their children baptised somewhere!
There are several films of non-conformist churches on the familysearch catalogue for the Belper/Duffield area. It might be worth having a look at some of these.

[Little Nell]

Lucy Bell was buried 24 March 1865 in Belper Cemetery as Neale has already found.

Anthony Bell buried 29 July 1878 Belper Cemetery.

No sign of William Anthony.

Nell

[sbell95]

I see you have done a lot of research on the family.
There are trees on Wikitree which I think must be yours, and you have put the graves on findagrave.
I see a lot of them settled in South Africa.

Familysearch, findmypast and Freereg claim to have Belper registers, but these Bell family members do not seem to appear in them.
The films on familysearch are still just on film, but they are searchable by name - in my experience you cannot take it for granted that the transcriptions are correct.  Goodness knows when they will be digitised. All films were supposed to be digitised by 2020...................... you can no longer send to Salt Lake City for them to view them at an LDS library.

There is a copy of the marriage licence for Anthony Bell and Caroline Mary Jephson on findmypast, which I suspect you have seen. Anthony is of Duffield.
Anthony's father is given as William, a glazier. They were married at Spondon.
Caroline Jephson's father is given as John on another record on findmypast (transcriptions only).
I checked Duffield and Spondon registers for any Bell family baptisms, but again drew a blank.

I wonder if they were non-conformists. Is there anything in your research about him to suggest this?
He seems to be a pillar of the society - I can't imagine they didn't have their children baptised somewhere!
There are several films of non-conformist churches on the familysearch catalogue for the Belper/Duffield area. It might be worth having a look at some of these.

Yes, I have done a lot of research on this family -- just missing their baptisms!

I am now thinking that maybe they were non-conformists (Methodist), as Caroline and some of her children were eventually buried in the Methodist section of a South African graveyard.

None of the non-conformist records for Belper appear to be online at FamilySearch. I wonder if the Derbyshire Record Office would be able to assist in a search...

[goldie61]

There are some non-conformist registers on the familysearch catalog, as mentioned in my first reply.
Have you checked these out?

[sbell95]

There are some non-conformist registers on the familysearch catalog, as mentioned in my first reply.
Have you checked these out?

Yes, I see some of them there. But none of them are viewable online is what I mean. I don't have a FHC anywhere nearby