James Delarew / De-la-rue / Delarue / Delarne

[michelle43]

I have traced my family tree to James Delarue (also spelled Delarew, De-la-rue, Delarne, De la rew, etc.), who lived in Loughborough, Leicestershire in the 1780s. He married Jane Dexter sometime before 1782, but I have been unable to locate a birth record, marriage record, or death record for him. He had 6 children whose births were all registered in the Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970:

• Jane b. 1782
• James b. 1783
• William b. 1776
• Martha b. 1788
• Thomas b. 1790
• John b. 1792

I have checked all related trees for him in Ancestry, but no one seems to have located any records for him other than the birth records of his children.

Has anyone run across any variation of this surname in Leicestershire, specifically in Loughborough?

[emeltom]

Nothing coming up for James. The children's baptisms state that Jane was the daughter of William and Jane Dexter of Loughborough. She was baptised Loughborough All Saints 26 April 1760.

[amondg]

There is James Delarue who died March 1782 who could be his father, there must be a will somewhere.

Cambridge Chronicle 23 March 1782
Last week in the 78th year of his life James Delarue Esq. many years a considerable merchant of Peterborough.

Derby Mercury 17 November 1769
James Delarue of Peterborough nominated to be Sheriff of Northamptonshire.

Cambridge Chronicle 27 April 1782
Sprignal Brown of Standground Huntingdonshire (paraphrasing) takes the opportunity to inform his friends....... business of Brick, Lime and Cinders stock of the late James Delarue of Peterborough...
good conveyance by water to Peterborough.

[amondg]

Found the will it looks like the wrong family.

James senior died 1782 had a son James, however son James dies before his father in 1780.

Your James left a will written 19 December 1802, he was a framework knitter and left everything to wife Jane.

[DCB]

The only very slight possibility is of a Jane Dexter who married a James Drew in Westminster on 14th June 1782.

James made a mark, so a possible misunderstanding of his name, although Jane signed.

David

[michelle43]

Yes, the James Delarue I'm looking for was married to Jane Dexter (b. 1735), daughter of William and Jane Dexter of Loughborough.

James senior would have been born sometime before 1760, probably in Loughborough.

His son, James junior, was born in Loughborough in 1783 and died in 1853 in South Ockendon, Essex. He married Mary Narracott in 1821 in Nymet Tracey, Devon at the age of 38, so he may have had another wife before this. His surname was spelled De La Rue in the birth register, Delerew in the marriage register, Dilrue in the 1841 England Census, Delaine in the 1851 England Census, and Drew in the burial register.

[michelle43]

Thank you, amondg.

It's so helpful to know James' year of death and of the existence of the will.

[Jomot]

The children's births were recorded in the registers of the Baptist church, which may explain the lack of records for James himself (since Baptists do not baptise their children).

[michelle43]

Yes, the fact that he was non-conformist makes it difficult to find records of his birth or marriage. Also, the variations in the spelling of his surname don't help. I've reached a dead end.