Ann Vowles, b.c.1781 Yatton, Somerset

[baytree1970]

Can anyone help with my brick wall?

Ann Vowles, b.c.1781 Yatton, Somerset ... married on 29 Feb 1812 in Weston Super Mare to William Gould b.1793

1851 census gives her age as 70, born Yatton. 1841 census gives age as 60.
Marriage banns doesn't give any useful info.

Son Edwin bapt. 22 Sept 1816 in Weston. Father described as a 'fisherman'. Other children George 1812 and Elizabeth 1819 (who appears on the 1851 census with Ann as well as Ann's grandson, Alfred)

Ann is my mother's ancestor, and she has lots of DNA matches with Vowles descendants who mostly share the same ancestors - John Vowles 1557-1614 and Cecilia Tincknell 1562-1619 from Wedmore.

I've looked long and hard at this but I'm stuck. It seems clear to me that either my ancestor, Ann Vowles, also descends from Vowles / Tincknell, or there is a more distant common ancestor, probably in Wedmore. I've been through the parish registers for Yatton and neighbouring parishes and have yet to find Ann, only tentative possible matches.

If anyone can offer a new perspective on how to break through this brick wall I'd be grateful.

Thanks!

[QueenoftheWest]

A possibility:

Ann Fowles baptised on 31 August 1783 in Yatton, Somerset to James & Mary Fowles.

However, there are 2 burials for an Ann Fowles/Vowles in Yatton: 1 in 1791 and 1 in 1814.

Queenie 

[baytree1970]

Thanks Queenie

In fact I've already been looking at this as a possibility... the problem is making a connection back to Vowles / Tincknell to make sense of all the DNA connections (or at least back to Wedmore). I've tried to track James and Mary back, but it's inconclusive. The Vowles in and around Yatton seem much more obscure than other branches of the family.

[QueenoftheWest]

I have to say, a living person sharing DNA with an ancestor who was born in 1557 seems rather unlikely to me, although I am not an expert.

I wonder if your mother actually shares DNA with these people from a different, more recent ancestor, and this is just a coincidence. I've come across similar DNA red herrings in my tree.

Does she match any Vowles/Fowles from Yatton?

Queenie 

[trish1120]

The 1814 burial has Ann as 77 abode Cleve so born c 1737.

Trish

[trish1120]

William/Ann or Anne Gould bapt Weston;
GEORGE 09 Aug 1812
JAMES 22 Jan 1815
EDWIN 06 Oct 1816
ELIZABETH 07 Feb 1819
ANNE 03 Jun 1821
ELLEN 15 Feb 1824
On most bapts William is a Fisherman
(Source FreeREG)

Its important to find all children to help establish a possible naming pattern for potential parents of William/Ann.

Ann GOULD'S burial has her a 78 (1777)

[trish1120]

I am a bit confused here or am I missing something?

Quote;
 Elizabeth 1819 (who appears on the 1851 census with Ann as well as Ann's grandson, Alfred)

1851 Census
James Cox   27
Elizabeth Cox 28
Robert Cox 2
Ann Gould   70 Lodger
Alfred Gould 12 Lodger

From what I can see James Cox married Elizabeth Sperring 1845? Not Elizabeth Gould?

Alfred Gould bapt 12 Apr 1846 Mother Elizabeth a singlewoman.

[baytree1970]

Thanks Trish, really helpful to have fresh eyes on this...

My reading of the censuses is now this:

1851
Ann (70) and grandson Alfred (12) are lodging with the Cox family in Weston super Mare. It seems Elizabeth Cox is not Ann's daughter, the name is coincidental.

1841
Ann (60) and Elizabeth (20), Alfred (2) and Hellen (3) living as a household in Weston super Mare. I heard it said that in 1841 ages were rounded, which could account for Elizabeth's age being slightly out.

I can't find baptisms for Alfred or Hellen in the Weston super Mare parish register. A FreeReg search fails to find it either - could you share a link for it?


As for Ann's burial, I think you're looking at an earlier Ann. Other trees have a burial in 1855 in Allington, Dorset, but it makes no sense to me she would have moved from Weston to Dorset as an old woman.

[teragram31510]

hello baytree1970,

<Ann Vowles, b.c.1781 Yatton, Somerset> and <1851 census gives her age as 70, born Yatton. >

Information given on censuses is only what the informant 'thinks' or that he or she has been told. It is not, in my opinion, inconceivable that Ann was born and baptised in Chew Magna in 1781, the child of Thomas and Sarah Vowles (FreeReg) who soon after moved about 12 miles west to Yatton where they spent the rest of their lives! Since Ann had always lived in Yatton she might easily have thought she'd been born there.

Or perhaps she's the daughter of (Mr) John and Anne, bapt. 1784 Chew Magna? Unlikely, as she married a 19 year-old fisherman later, a social inferior, at the time.

As regards the DNA question (a topic I know very little about) I agree with Queenie entirely. Personally I'd forget it, and trace your mother's Vowles ancestry back generation by generation and see where it leads you. Just because there were a lot of Vowles in Wedmore in the 1500s there is no reason to jump the stages of research or exclude all the other Vowles in more northerly/westerly parts of Somerset - unless you have some proof of a connection somewhere, a will, a written record of some kind, and if I read correctly, you don't.

I would also ignore other people's trees, I'm afraid. Your own research is far more profitable and rewarding - and far more likely to produce a correct result to judge from what I read on this forum.

Good luck.