Help deciphering date of birth please.

[erica236]

Can anyone help with this date of birth please.
It is for Sarah Ann Cran who was baptised on 22nd October 1815.
Her parents James Cran and Mary Scruton (my 3 x grandparents) applied for a Marriage bond in October 1814 and I wondered if this might have been because Mary was pregnant at the time and they were in a hurry. If I could read the date of birth it would answer the question.
I am struggling to find a family for Mary Scruton so any help would be gratefully received.
Thank you for looking.

[ShaunJ]

looks like Sepr 1st

[erica236]

Thank you. It does - and no year so I guess 1815 which does not help with my dilema! Back to the drawing board!!

[Milliepede]

There's a Mary Scruton baptised 9 Mar 1795 Goldsborough York with father Saml Scruton.

No maybe not, there's a burial 16 Jun 1796 same place for a Mary with father Saml.

[erica236]

I saw that one! The trouble is, according to what I found out about marriage bonds, Mary only had to have lived in York for 4 weeks before the marriage so she could actually be from anywhere!
I'm wondering if someone objected to the marriage as James, aged 19, married a woman aged 45 who died a few years later, so perhaps he was a bit of a gold digger?

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
Just looked at the index for the marriage licence and it says James is aged 30 a hairdresser from Leeds.Mary is given as 21 which or course could have been  21 and over.

The marriage gives witnesses Sarah Scruton and SV? Dalton.

James and Mary's youngest child seems to be Isabella baptised 23.3.1828 .So if Mary was 45 when she married she would have been 59 by the time Isabella arrived.

Sarah 22.10.1815 back of the Shambles
William 20.7.1817  back of the Shambles
Jane 13.12.1819
Edwin 13.5.1822 of Shambles hair dresser
Mary 4.10.1824  of Greens crt -16.3.1825
Mary 24.7.1826 of Buggate
Isabella 23.3.1828

A lot of children for a 45 year old.
1851 census Greens Crt
James Crann widower 66 hair dresser Master Leeds
Jane 31 daughter
Isabella 23 cap maker

1841 no sign of Mary and extra child Edwin 20

I'll see what else I can find

ps found her burial
Mary Crann wife of James Briggate age 35 23.3.1828

So born 1793.

Ciderdrinker

[erica236]

Hi,
The confusion in age is because James married a different Mary (Fletcher) when he was 19. She was 45 at the time! His second wife, Mary Scruton, born 1793 was the mother of his children.
Interesting that you found a Sarah Scruton as witness. Their oldest child was Sarah Ann so possibly named after her grandmother. Worth looking into.
As I am directly descended from James and Mary I really want to find out who she was! I have lots of information on James and the Cran family but the females are much harder to track down!
Thank you for looking and if you do discover anything else about Mary Scruton I would love to know.

[ciderdrinker]

Hi Erica
I had some ideas about Mary overnight and I have found her ,-fingers crossed .
I'm a bit miffed that it wasn't the first couple who I thought were her parents John Scruton bricklayer and his wife Sarah Horseman married at St Micahel le Belfry in 1776 .
I had their children Sarah and Ann 1778 ,Elizabeth 1780 ,Thomas 1786  and their parents Thomas and Grace Scruton, and John Horseman of Tadcaster and his wife Isabel Wright of Bilbrough.
It all seemd to fit but no daughter Mary.
A real pain. Damn!

But if we go back to James Cran and Mary Scruton's -children  there is a clue.
Sarah Ann  their first child is named after her grandmothers Ann (Nanny)  and Sarah

Second child after James's father William.

So if Sarah Scruton witness to the 1814 marriage is Mary's mother?

Checking out children born about 1793 in York mother Sarah there are 3 couples -James and Sarah Copper ,John and Sarah Horseman and William and Sarah Dawson.
It's not the first because Sarah Cooper signs with a cross and by 1814 she can write. I tried the second but couldn't find an image of the marriage and no daughter Mary which leaves the last couple William and Sarah Dawson.

William is a joiner of Lock House  and Sarah Dawson is the d of Christopher Dawson baker of Staindrop Durham and Mary Hodgson his wife according to the childrens baptisms.

Fredercik baptised 29 June 1794  St Cuthbert born 19th
William bapt 28.8.1796   born 4th St Cuthbert  William joiner and Sarah d of late Christopher Dawson  of Staindrop
Sarah bapt St Lawrence 4th child of John Scruton of Lock House carpenter s of John siler makerof St Saviour  and his wife Jane  and Sarah Dawson d of Christopher and Mary Dawson of Sraindrop Durham baker 21 feb 1799 born 8th
Thomas 3.12.1804 bapt 3.3.1805 Brotherton

Their marriage is outside of York at Little Ouseburn 14.6.1791 .He was of that parish and she was from Pontefract.Critically Sarah signs her name. Witnesses John Mason and Frank Mountain tell us little.

Looking around Pontefract for their eldest child and assuming that Sarah went back home to her mother to have the first child -I found her

----- Scruton d of William and Sarah Scruton of Carleton bapt 16.7.1792 in unreadable on FindMyPast but clearly Mary on Ancestry

So just to tie up a few loose ends
Sarah Dawson d of Christopher bapt at Staindrop 16.10.1763
William Scruton s of John bricklayer St Saviour born 3.7.1764 bapt 20.7.1764
burial at St John  Ouse bridge York 25.2.1805 age 40.
Various deeds up to that point for William and Sarah buying and  selling property in York up to 1804.The first 1799 in Fossgate.

No idea what happened to Sarah but there is a Will for William Scruton

Chrisopher Dawson married Mary Hodgson 19.9.1757 at Staindrop
He was buried 5.8.1792. of Staindrop.

Pledge at the pawnbrokers for a Jane Scruton of St Saviors gate 20.9.1777 National Archives for Pawnbroker Lady Pecketts Yard.

Chidren for John and Jane Scruton in York I can see.
Michael 29.9.1761 St Maurice John and Jane
Jane 11.6.1763  ditto d of John and Jane
William 1764 St Saviour s of John  bricklayer
Mary 24.9.1768 St Savior d of John
John 20.3.1771 born and Bapt St Saviour

Awkward but got there in the end.
Good luck with the earlier generations.There seems to be a lot online for York not just bmd.

All the best

Ciderdrinker

[erica236]

Wow! Thank you for all this. It does seem likely.
I have put the names onto my tree on Ancestry and am taking it from there.

Where did you find the image of James and Sarah's marriage which gave the names of the witnesses - and is this where you found Mary had signed her name rather than used an X ?

It is still a mystery why they had to apply for a marriage bond. If William Scruton was dead at the time perhaps this had something to do with it - or perhaps James was not considered suitable marriage material!

Thank you again for searching - it has helped a great deal.

Best Wishes,
Heather.  (nee Crann)