Puzzled. Opinions please.

[Richard]

My 4 x great grandfather James Edmunds was baptised 14 August 1769 at Bungay St Mary, Suffolk. He also had a sister Mary baptised 1771 but died soon after. Their parents were a George and Elizabeth Edmunds.

Problem is this, though the baptisms go back to 1558, that's the first time the Edmunds appear, neither are there any marriages until 1820's for the family.

However I do have reason to think they were in the parish before this date as there are several burials:

1740 SARAH EDMUNDS Buried Bungay St Mary, Dec.14th.

1742 JOHN son of JOHN EDMUNDS Buried Bungay St Mary, June 26th

1747 Widow EDMUNDS buried Bungay St Mary, Aug.9th.

1749 MARTHA the wife of JOHN EDMUNDS buried Bungay St Mary Nov.23rd

1762 JOHN EDMUNDS buried Bungay St Mary June 7th.


I recently bought a disc with Hearth Tax for 1670's, Poll taxes for 1710's and 1790's, but the family doesn't appear anywhere in them.

I'm a bit puzzled really. Does the fact there are burials, but no baptisms or marriages for the family at earlier dates, suggest they were non C of E? I'm unaware of Bungay has any independent chapels. Also is their abscence on any of the land taxes and surveys significant? Or does this mean they could have been there, but not owned any land?

Opinions on how to try and move foward please.

Thanks

[KiteRunner]

There is a John Edmunds birth in Suffolk 1716 listed in RG4 on the BMD Registers website - covers non-conformist BMD's.

BMD Registers: The Official Non-Parochial BMDs Service

Of course, the trouble is that it may well be nothing to do with your Edmunds family and you have to pay to look at the entries on there.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

No particular help, but I thought I would offer my commiserations - they sound just like my Maynards, except they were not buried either :( - they just wrote the occasional will to prove their existance!

Even if there were no baptisms, there should still be marriage records (unless they were Quakers or Jewish), but they could have married any distance away :o

[Phoenix]

If hearth taxes cover the exemptions, then people may appear, but day labourers and the such like won't be there if it isn't complete. You have to be fairly well off to appear in poll books too.

Suffolk isn't my patch, but it's worth looking for any poor law material, particularly settlement examinations. And anyone, rich or poor, could leave a will or have administration granted on their estate.

It's also worth looking at all the smaller parishes around Bungay.

[Richard]

Merry, no cannot find any marriages before 1812, not for George and Elizabeth Edmunds, or James Edmunds himself, I know he married a Mary Bullen aroun 1790 but this is only from the baptisms. First marriage is James daughter Mary , before then not so much as one marriage in Bungay for the family! I've not had any luck either finding them in the immediate surrounding parishes either sadly.

Pheonix thanks for that advice, I'm a bit unfamiliar with Suffolk too, I've been spoilt so far with Hampshire and the excellent CALM database, Suffolk Record Office appears to be a bit behind that point, cannot really navigate their website.

Thanks for the link Kiterunner, I'm currently umming and arring over whether to take the plunge and have a look at it!

[Little Nell]

The burials may have been for Edmunds who moved into the area after they'd been baptised and married.

Or for whatever reason, they may have chosen to get married/baptised elsewhere.

[Richard]

But where Nell..I've checked all the parishes in a 20 mile radius. It seems strange the family would live in Bungay from at least 1740, but not a single member marry there or anywhere even remotely near there in next 80 years. There's so many marriages, baptisms, and even burials (no burial in Bungay for either George, James or James's wife Mary) missing that it can only be explained in my opinion, by them using another church, and seeing how it isn't any local ones I'm baffled. The more I think about it the more I think they must be using some sort of non C of E establishment...but again which?