Bedminster Somerset records can anyone help?

[Joan of Archives]

I am looking for the marriage of William Jones to Susanna Wills in Bedminster Somerset in 1816. Does anyone go to the Records office there on a regular basis or can access the details for me please?

Thanks :rolleyes:

[kiterunner]

It's on my CD, Joan - 3 Jun 1816 Bedminster St John, William Jones bachelor OTP and Susanna Wills spinster OTP, by banns, but it doesn't give the witnesses' names on there.

[Joan of Archives]

It's on my CD, Joan - 3 Jun 1816 Bedminster St John, William Jones bachelor OTP and Susanna Wills spinster OTP, by banns, but it doesn't give the witnesses' names on there.

Oh dear :( I was hoping it would throw some light on where William came from, apart from the obvious :rolleyes: I'm fairly certain they are mine, but I doubt whether he was originally from there & she was born in Devon!

Can you tell if her surname is WILLS not WILLE like it shows on that awful Familysearch site? Is it a transcription or copies of the actual register?

I don't suppose you have access to Hambrook baptisms do you Kite?

Thanks!

[kiterunner]

It's just a transcription, Joan, sorry.

I don't think Hambrook was a parish, was it? Googling seems to suggest it was in the parish of Winterbourne and I do have some disks with Winterbourne on. What are you looking for?

[Joan of Archives]

It's just a transcription, Joan, sorry.

I don't think Hambrook was a parish, was it? Googling seems to suggest it was in the parish of Winterbourne and I do have some disks with Winterbourne on. What are you looking for?

Well their first two children were baptised there, Henry William JONES 15/8/1819 & Emma JONES on 3/8/1817. It could be a co-incidence but I do think it must be them. William was a coachman & the family eventually ended up in Yoxford Suffolk where he died in 1839 leaving Susanna a widow with about 7 children to bring up on her own :(

[Merry]

As far as I know Hambrook is part of the parish of Winterbourne. Those two baps don't show up here though:

Frenchay Museum Archives (http://www.frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk/arch_parish_records.htm)

The IGI suggests the bap for Emma was at St James' Bristol. The one for William Henry just says Bristol.

[Joan of Archives]

As far as I know Hambrook is part of the parish of Winterbourne. Those two baps don't show up here though:

Frenchay Museum Archives (http://www.frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk/arch_parish_records.htm)

The IGI suggests the bap for Emma was at St James' Bristol. The one for William Henry just says Bristol.

The Familysearch site gives them both as Bedminster St John wherever that is?

https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3AJones~%20%2Bbirth_place%3Abrist ol~%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1817-1819~%20%2Bfather_givenname%3Awilliam~%20%2Bmother _givenname%3Asusanna~

Not sure that link will work though :rolleyes:

[kiterunner]

My disk has those baptisms listed as Bristol St James - Emma 3 Aug 1817, daughter of William and Susanna Jones, abode St James, occupation sawyer, and Henry William 15 Aug 1819, son of William and Susanna Jones, abode Winterbourne, occupation servant.

[Rick]

If you repeat that search on Familysearch and replace "Bristol" with "England", you get four sets of results for each child.

There must be some sort of catalogue error on the Bedminster results as that's in Somerset, south of the city proper. The other three results agree on Bristol, Gloucestershire, so St James seems most likely and that's in the City centre by the Haymarket.

Hambrook is a small Gloucestershire village northeast of the city, where the M32 joins the M4.

[Joan of Archives]

My disk has those baptisms listed as Bristol St James - Emma 3 Aug 1817, daughter of William and Susanna Jones, abode St James, occupation sawyer, and Henry William 15 Aug 1819, son of William and Susanna Jones, abode Winterbourne, occupation servant.

Thank you Kite. My William was a coachman who ended up driving the coach from Yoxford in Suffolk to London by 1830 :rolleyes: I guess that probably wasn't unusual given his occupations you have listed, both being pretty low income ones; although a sawyer is very different job to a coachman really!

What do you think? Would you count them as yours if you were me?

[Joan of Archives]

If you repeat that search on Familysearch and replace "Bristol" with "England", you get four sets of results for each child.

There must be some sort of catalogue error on the Bedminster results as that's in Somerset, south of the city proper. The other three results agree on Bristol, Gloucestershire, so St James seems most likely and that's in the City centre by the Haymarket.

Hambrook is a small Gloucestershire village northeast of the city, where the M32 joins the M4.

Thanks for that information Rick, it's very interesting to know the geography of the area.

I just looked at those records & there are 4 different film numbers for them !! What on earth does that mean?

Maybe the coaches went from the Haymarket & that was how William got his job as coachman?

[Rick]

Thanks for that information Rick, it's very interesting to know the geography of the area.

I just looked at those records & there are 4 different film numbers for them !! What on earth does that mean?

Maybe the coaches went from the Haymarket & that was how William got his job as coachman?

Looks like two of the records are the same (C for christening) batch number, one is the mysterious I for Index and the rogue one for Bedminster doesn't have a batch number at all. Sorry but I don't pretend to understand that !

As for the coaches, the Haymarket and St James Barton would have been a thriving area, just after the floating harbour was built there. There's a really good website devoted to the floating harbour here......

http://www.bristolfloatingharbour.org.uk/

Rick.
p.s. Jan says Hi !!

[Joan of Archives]

Looks like two of the records are the same (C for christening) batch number, one is the mysterious I for Index and the rogue one for Bedminster doesn't have a batch number at all. Sorry but I don't pretend to understand that !

As for the coaches, the Haymarket and St James Barton would have been a thriving area, just after the floating harbour was built there. There's a really good website devoted to the floating harbour here......

http://www.bristolfloatingharbour.org.uk/

Rick.
p.s. Jan says Hi !!

Ooo thanks :rolleyes: You are THE Rick, not just any old Rick then lol :d

Is it worth me getting any of the films? I don't know which one I would get & also would it give much more info do you think? Kite has the marriage on her CD but it's a transcript, would the film more likely to show any witnesses etc?

Give my regards to Scatty hope she's behaving lol!

[kiterunner]

Thank you Kite. My William was a coachman who ended up driving the coach from Yoxford in Suffolk to London by 1830 :rolleyes: I guess that probably wasn't unusual given his occupations you have listed, both being pretty low income ones; although a sawyer is very different job to a coachman really!

What do you think? Would you count them as yours if you were me?

Sorry, Joan, not sure what you mean - count who as yours?

[Joan of Archives]

Sorry, Joan, not sure what you mean - count who as yours?

William & Susanna Jones & these two baptisms for Emma & Henry William. I've struggled to find a possible marriage for them for a long time. Unfortunately William died in 1839 so he doesn't appear on the census at all. I have found Susanna Jones in 1841 onwards & it gives her place of birth as Dawlish Devon. Henry William has been very elusive but I found a possible one later & Emma Jones married a Flintoff & I am fairly certain it's the same family. The OTP bit throws me a lot though because my Susanna most certainly wasn't from Bristol originally :rolleyes:

Jones is very much like Smith, you can never be certain you have the right one really!

[kiterunner]

Is there a Susanna Wills baptised at Dawlish?

[Joan of Archives]

I think I found 2 there baptised around 1797 but one died & I think mine was the 2nd Susanna from the same parents, father Henry. Unfortunately I find the new Familysearch site really hard to use ;(

[kiterunner]

Having read back through some of your old threads, you have Susanna's maiden name as Wills from the birth certificate of their youngest child, and Emma got married in Yoxford and has some of her siblings with her on the 1851 census, so they are definitely all the same family, and so that Emma baptism in 1817 must be the right one.

So, it does look very likely that the Bedminster marriage is the right one for your William and Susanna.

The FamilySearch batch number for the marriage is I01816-6. FamilySearch is playing up something rotten this morning. But anyway, I'm guessing that because it is an I number, it is not taken from the actual parish register and so the microfilm number 1849427 might not have the names of the witnesses on it.

But if you can find someone to look the marriage up in the parish register at the record office, they would be able to get the witnesses' names.

[anne fraser]

If you can contact Bristol and Avon family history society they are based at Bristol record office and will look up the marriage for a small charge (I think I paid £2.00 for a look-up. ).

[Rick]

Ooo thanks :rolleyes: You are THE Rick, not just any old Rick then lol :d

Is it worth me getting any of the films? I don't know which one I would get & also would it give much more info do you think? Kite has the marriage on her CD but it's a transcript, would the film more likely to show any witnesses etc?

Give my regards to Scatty hope she's behaving lol!

The one & only lol. I don't think Jan has ever behaved though :d

I'd definitely agree with Anne that approaching BAFHS to do a lookup in the original registers deposited at the Bristol Records Office is the way to go.

Rick.