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Is a parish/church a good guide in selecting ancestor?

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master brummie
Its appreciated the further back one goes its perhaps more of a best guess on selecting an ancestor. For me from a social history interest perspective there might not be much of a difference in lifestyles. However is a parish/church a good guide in selecting an ancestor? One branch 1800's and thus far late 1700's is mainly St Phillips with some St Martins. So given the choice between those or Aston Juxta would the B'ham churches be a better choice.

Ray
 
It's tempting when you have no other information but risky. Riskier for cities, common names and when people were moving in from the countryside.

Somewhere along the line (in the absence of other info) you just have to accept you can go no further.

Who is the problem?
 
My 3xGt. Grandmother was married at St Bartholomew's the first time but went to St. Peter & St. Paul for her bigamous marriage!!
I think choosing by Parish is not very accurate, some of my relatives used several parishes for baptisms for instance.
rosie.
 
rosie i had the same with my gt gt grandfather....first marriage in ladywood birmingham.. 2nd bigamous marriage in yorkshire o_O
 
Thanks all.

Henry Lloyd 1803 Jane Lloyd abt 1817. Left Henry for awhile as no trace after 1851 - most likely died. So concentrated on Jane.

Jane Lloyd nee Jane Davis remarried to Thomas Dutton 28/12/1858.

Jane Davis b 2/1/1818 St Phillip
Parents William Davis Elizabeth Ann

Wiliam Elizabeth mar 29/6/1790 St Martin. On reflection that's too early for Jane?

However I carried on just for a test
So first guess age of William, 1750 - 1772 (40 - 18)

Just a sample on William parents at St Phillip's alone

Aug 1763 Edward Sarah - Nov 1763 John Mary, Sep 1757 William Sarah - Jun 1757 Moses Mary.

So first stop is later William Elizabeth marr. but I assume B'ham but? Even then William"s father?

And yes with common names only a few years apart the same person?

Yes it looks like there might be a point when it becomes too vague.

Ray
 
Have you considered William Davis and Elizabeth Ann Smith, 13 Oct 1818 St Mary's Handsworth.

Jane's baptism 22 Feb 1819 is a year later than dob.

Could be that William & Elizabeth were living together as husband & wife, had a child and then got married somewhere this wasn't known.

Or Jane was Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter and when marrying William did so in Handsworth for the same reason.

Or William & Elizabeth were living in Handsworth when they married and then moved to Bham.
 
Thanks. No I hadn't considered that, the perils of setting boundaries (St Phillips etc) in your head. Its certainly a possibility. Also found on 1851C was William 1785 and Eliza abt 1801 from Pedmarth Essex. There is an Elizabeth Richards 1802 Colchester, a Pedmarsh is close by. Whilst I'm not saying that is correct it highlights wider boundaries can increase possibilities. Which if not helpful, but you never know, in selecting the correct ancestor it highlights an aspect of life back then.
 
Ideally you need an extended family member living with your relative or vice versa to give you a clue.

William Henry Davis married Elizabeth Richards in Shifnal 1826 so you can probably rule them out but again shows that people did travel around a bit even then.
 
One of the other things you have to bear in mind is that on occasions the the two main Birmingham churches had over 200 marriages taking place in one day. Since the clergyman conducting the marriage could not possibly have time to put all those details into the register, it was left to the parish clerk to take notes and complete the register later. So ages, "of this parish", even occupation, and certainly some addresses need to be viewed with suspicion.

Mary from Little-Bogwit-in-the-Marsh wants to marry John, but she's under age and she knows that her father would never give permission. Get married in a big city where no one will scrutinise the marriage too much and father won't find out at least until it is too late. She probably never had any intention of staying in her little village anyway. So a few lies, white or otherwise, will result in the marriage that John & Mary so desire. This did happen quite a lot.

So you need to find a link somewhere - collaborative evidence. For instance, when my LONGMOREs moved to Birmingham from Darlaston, how could I be sure that I had the right family? There were several families with that surname in both areas. In my case, for generations, back to the 1600s, a member of my LONGMOREs was christened Lambert, Lambeth, or Lamberth in almost every generation. When it started appearing from 1811 in my Birmingham LONGMOREs, I knew I had the right family because it is such a rare forename.

So if you suspect that a family with the same name in, say, Essex, might be linked to your Brummies, you need to do a detailed check on that parish, and possibly surrounding parishes, going back several generations if you are able, to see if any sort of pattern arises.

Maurice :cool:
 
It seems not just distance in miles but age. 1851C Heny Lloyd 48 has a brother 20. At some point just for interest I'll endeavour to see how many children his parents had.
 
It seems not just distance in miles but age. 1851C Heny Lloyd 48 has a brother 20. At some point just for interest I'll endeavour to see how many children his parents had.

I think the 1851 age is a little suspect. 1841 gives his age as 25 - 29 and there's a possible baptism 24 Oct 1814 St Phillips. Which is a couple of years after the marriage of a John Lloyd to a Mary Matthews.
 
Thanks both.

On Thomas, I learn if it doesn't look right check, check and check again.

On Jane b1818, years back I gave family history to help someone. From that person: Handsworth, parents Samuel and Jane. It seems there is a joint baptism, could someone with a bigger screen than mobile decipher please.

Edit: search found a Sarah b 1814 but Bap same date as Jane. It seems quite common to do that - cost- marraige - ?
 

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If you're talking about Jane Davies b1818 then her father wasn't Samuel. According to her marriage to Thomas Dutton it was William. You've said that yourself in post #5.
 
Oh damm check check check I had a fair bet marriage on 1804 lanymynech, shropshire, england - back to the drawing board then. So either wrong Jane birth or wrong Jane Davis on mar or wrong father stated - or who knows ;)
 
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Think I got there at last.

After a few hours checking for other close by marriage possibilities chose for starters the given marriage in Handsworth. Found Jane Davis, parents William & Elizaberh Ann Davis, St Phillips, B'ham birth 02/01/1818 and baptism 22,/02/1819.

Elizabeth Ann only occurs in Birmingham CE Baptisms rather than just Elizabeth in Engand Select Christenings - why? Kenion St only occurs in one Select etc - again why just one? All three are the same dates, location and parents (except for Ann) so I assume the same person. Edit: then I check again and Ann appears on Select but no birth on Birmingham CE - what?

I note William was a Coachman. A route from Handsworth to (?) might give a clue from where he at least came from. Was Elizabeth a girl on his normal route. Guess one will never know but intriguing.
There again Wiliam (mother Jane) and Elizabeth Ann Smith circa same age (1795) St Phillips

Perhaps a small matter but in another family line possibly as birth is close to New Year the family bible is a year earlier than registration and census years - hence the abt 1817 for Jane in census years?

Ray
 

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