Ananias BENNETT c.1690 Merton

[Yvonne Ellis]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to find a baptism record for Ananias/Annanias  Bennet/Bennett abt 1690 Merton Devon. There are numerous family trees on Ancestry with this individual but no one seems to have the source of the year he was born but all quote 1690 Merton.  He supposedly married (again no source) Rachell Page abt.1720 in All Saints Church Merton.  I've searched Devon Parish Records via Findmypast and Familysearch.org and can't find a trace of either record.

I have found baptism records for the following children of Ananias & Rachel Bennett in Merton

William 1725
Phillipa 1726
Alice 1728
Ananias 1730


Rachel Bennett died bef. 1738 as Ananias Bennett married Alice Seldon on 22nd July 1738 in Merton, they also had 4 children, all baptisms were in Merton

John 1739
Rachel 1743
Samuel 1746
Mary 1749

All baptism records were found in Familysearch.org and some were also found in Devon Baptisms via FindMyPast.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Yvonne

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
Struggling like you.
The generation before at Merton seems to consist of John Bennett died 1715 PCC Will mentions wife Mary ,children John,daughters Elizabeth Warrington,Dorothy,Phillip and Mary .
Children get £50 from estate at Little Porridge Merton.

John married a Phillips Langsford 12.10.1680 at Exeter St Kerrian.He was from Martyn
Children Phillipe 19.5.1693 and Mary baptised 18.5.1690 ,John 20.5.1687 ,Elizabeth 24.6.1683  at Merton

Phillips Bennet the first wife was buried 11.1.1702
It looks like John remmaried at Gt Torrington
John Bennett fellmonger and Mary Cotton 27.6.1706.
John burried 10.7.1714.at Merton.
It looks like there was a Admin for Mary 1744 of Merton.

Looking at the parish records on FindMyPast ,the baptisms before 1687 are a mess and some seem to have only one entry a year ,it really is weird ,so Ananias could have been John and Phillippe son.But it does seem odd he is not mentioned in the Will .Could he be a step son?Nether of the marriage give a marital status for the bride.

I did find a burial for Rachel
Rachel Bennett wife of Ananias buried 9 Jan 1737 indexed as Benns on FindMyPast but it is Bennett on the original.

And there is a possible son John at Merton
John Page a base child of Rachel Page . Ananias Bennett being the reputed father buried April 23rd 1715.
The child was baptised 17 April 1715 Easter Day.
This does suggest the couple were together for a long time before a marriage.
Rachel may have been baptised at Black Torrington 15.4.1690 d of Edmond.
So they could have married there.

Ciderdrinker

[Yvonne Ellis]

Quite a few family trees on Ancestry have John and Phillipa Langsford as the parents of Ananias Bennett.  I do tend to be a bit cautious when there is no source added to the information that's why I asked here for some help.

I have searched through Devon Marriages and Baptisms and Ananais Bennet abt.1690 does seem to be a bit of a mystery, I suppose I have to decide if I want to follow everyone else and assume he is the son of John Bennett & Phillippa Langsford. It's just that I have this niggle about not finding a baptism for him and the fact that he's not mentioned in the will. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my query I appreciate it very much.

Yvonne

[Yvonne Ellis]

Just a quick update.  I found the Will in Ancestry and when I looked on the second-page John's son  Ananias Bennett is mentioned

[DRH123]

The earliest surviving register from Merton starts in 1687. There are BTs covering some earlier years but nothing for 1680,81,84,85,86. So the lack of a baptism record for Ananias doesn't mean it didn't happen. ... and now I see you've found mention of him in John's will, so you can be sure of his parents, just not of his birth date.

david

[Yvonne Ellis]

Thank you David for the information about the earliest surviving register for Merton, although I've been researching my family tree for quite some time I am still not very confident when it comes to early Parish records.

The mention of Ananias in the Will certainly helped and I am now trying to find some of the other people mentioned in the Will, I feel the challenge continues

I'm going to leave this thread open for a little while longer in case anyone else wants to add anything.

Yvonne

[DRH123]

Familysearch has a very useful map of parishes: https://www.familysearch.org/mapp/

It shows when the records began for each parish, and of course which other parishes are nearby.

For more detail look up the place in their catalogue. They usually list the years that have BTs available. In some counties, Devon in particular, they give a link to images of the BTs.

David

[Yvonne Ellis]

Thank you so much for the link you posted, I have popped in and out of Familysearch for a good long while and I have never used that map.  So very useful