My great, great, great grandfather was John Mitchell. He shows up on the 1841 census in Kilmersdon, Somerset, with his wife Ann and some of their children namely William b1818, Joseph b1827 (my great, great grandfather), Maryann b1832 and Thomas b1839. There were three other children that I know about Sarah b1816, Jane b1820 and Eliza 1823. Sadly both John and Ann died before the 1841 census.
I am desperately wanting to find out about John before this time as Mitchell was my maiden name. I have not been able to track down a marriage for John and Ann. I think that that Sarah was baptised in Doulting, Shepton Mallet (although this is from the igi website so not to be relied upon). I did wonder if they may have married around this area but Vivienne Kindly searched through the parish records to no avail.
I really want to progress branch of my tree. All ideas welcome.
So, just so we have all the info from the 1841 to hand, although I realise you already have it:
Batch(?), Kilmersdon, Somerset
John Mitchell 40 Carpenter Y
Ann Mitchell 40 Y
William Mitchell 20 Do Y
Joseph Mitchell 14 Y
Maryann Mitchell 9 Y
Thomas Mitchell 3 Y
A couple of questions:
- You say John and Ann both died before the next census - do you have their death certificates?
- Do you have a birth certificate for Thomas, as it seems that he may have been born after the start of civil registration? (Sorry, just realised just possibly born before civil reg.) It should give you Ann's maiden name.
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
So looking at the 1851 census there are some Mitchell children living as "lodgers" with Richard Toogood 32 and his wife Eliza age 29, Eliza being born in Midsomer Norton. Joseph Mitchell age 23 and Maryann 18 are also born Midsomer Norton and then there is Thomas 12 and William 8 , both born Kilmersdon. Is Eliza the Mitchell children's sister? You mentioned there was an Eliza in the family. And did the first William die and then John and Ann had another William? This one would definitely be born after the start of civil registration so maybe we can find a birth registration for him to give you Ann's maiden name.
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
Oh bother, I found a baptism for William 1842 saying his mother was Sarah. And also one for Thomas baptised 22 Oct 1837 saying his mother was also Sarah. Did you have anything to say he was John and Ann's son? The IGI entry is a "submitted" one but I would think likely to be correct unless you know for sure he was John and Ann's?
You are correct I should have written 1851 rather than 1841 re the census they had died before.
Eliza Toogood was a sister of the other children.
Thomas, as you have already discovered was not registered, so I can not order his birth certificate, otherwise I would have done so immediately.
William was, I think, the son of Sarah born 1816 (therefore the grandson of Thomas and Ann). This information came from someone else who was researching the family, and although I am not certain, she seemed fairly sure of her facts.
I have not as yet ordered John and Ann's death certificates. Other than the name of the informant which is likely to be one of the children, how would this help track down information on where John and Ann were born/married?
Sorry I need to go to work now - will be around later.
Sandra, it looks as if Thomas was also Sarah's son and therefore John and Ann's grandson. You could check the parish register baptism to confirm the IGI entry for his baptism.
I was thinking that John and Ann's death certs will give their ages at death which will be much more accurate than the ages on the 1841 census.
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
I take your point about the death cerificate possibly giving a more accurate age than the 1841 census and if it was one of the children that was the informant then the infomation should be fairly reliable, and I suppose there ia an outside chance that the informant could be a child that I am unaware of particularly if he was born c1792. I must confess I do not tend to order Death cerificates as they do not help as much as Birth and Marriage cerificates!!
Hi Ann
I have used the website and there is a lot of useful infomation. However, there are also a lot of errors. There was one particular branch which had information which was totally wrong and took alot of sorting out to work out who the person actually was.
I have looked at the entry for John Mitchell. His birth is listed as 1782 and because I was aware there were errors on this site I wasn't sure how reliable the date was. Having said that I am now wondering if this date may be accurate. The problem is that I do not know where he or his wife Ann were born and this site does not offer any ideas either.
If you look at the Kilmerston burials you will find John was buried on 22 03 1846 and Ann 30 11 1848. I think it also gave age at death so that is probably as accurate as you will get.
Ann was 55 and John was 54 so they were both born about 1792.
Oh, that's great, isn't it? So it says Ann was 55 when she died at the end of 1848 and John was 54 when he died early in 1846. So their years of birth would be Ann around 1793 and John around 1791-2.
I was stuck with one of my Somerset ancestors for ages until I happened across someone of the same name born at around the same date mine was - built up a tree for that person until I found a couple of people who had left wills and when I got the wills, luckily for me, one of them gave enough information for me to be sure that my ancestor was the person mentioned in the will.
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
Thankyou for that information. This is probably where the information on the Somerset coalfield connetions website came from, so it is probably accurate.
I contacted the owner of the Somerset coalfied connection site about some of the mistakes in my tree and he was very helpful. I am sure he would look to see if he can find any more information.
I managed to sort out the mistakes thanks to some help from some Genes Reunited members who helped me get back on track. I am not sure that conatcting the owner of the website will help with my quest as I presume that if he had any more information then it would be on the website.
There is a possible marriage on the IGI - John Mitchell married Ann Phillips 1814 Carhampton, Somerset. But it is a "submitted" record and doesn't give an exact date so would need to be checked.
*off to look at map to see if Carhampton is anywhere near where any of the children were born*
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
Carhampton marriages - 27 Mar 1814 after banns, John Mitchel of Carhampton married Ann Phillips of Carhampton, witnesses James Phillips and John Savery.
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
I think that that Sarah was baptised in Doulting, Shepton Mallet (although this is from the igi website so not to be relied upon).
It is also on FreeREG so it should be correct (surname is spelt Michell). John's occupation is given as carpenter so it certainly looks like the right family. But unfortunately, nowhere near Carhampton! So the marriage I found doesn't look likely.
KiteRunner
Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh" (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")
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