marquette
07-01-13, 01:54
There are many people researching the SHEATHER family of East Sussex. They lived around Salehurst, Etchingham, Udimore and Brede.
For as long as I have been sent information, most seem to have accepted the fact that Frances SELLINGS, who married John Sheather in 1725 in Etchingham Sussex, was born/baptised in 1698 in Flitwick Bedfordshire.
It seemed odd to me, but few of the East Sussex records were available in the IGI, so I shelved it until I could access better resources.
So, now I have joined the Sussex Family History Group which gives me access to their archives, and I have able to confirm that many of the "birth" dates contained in the many trees are in fact baptism dates.
I decided to tackle the problem of Frances - Flitwick Beds seems to be only chosen for her birthplace because that is the only entry which shows up in the IGI. Even now in familysearch.org it shows up. But the Sussex baptism transcriptions show that John and Frances last child James Sheather was baptised in 1752, three years after his brother Samuel.
I am doubtful about a woman in the mid-1700s have a child at the age of 53 ! So I surmise that her birth date was more likely abt 1705-1707.
Given the unilikeliness of 1698 being right, I looked closer to Etchingham for her birth - if anyone had written a town name down, maybe FLIMWELL in Ticehurst, Sussex was a good candidate. Its in the next parish from Etchingham.
But no Fanny or Frances Sellings/Sellen appear in the baptisms. If Flitwick was just a guess based on an IGI record, then perhaps she was born over the border of Sussex in Hawkhurst Kent ?
There are plenty of SELLEN/SELLING/SELDEN all over the East Sussex/Kent parishes, but so far no Fanny/Frances.
I guess I really asking for opinions of the likeliness of Frances travelling from a small hamlet in Bedfordshire to a small hamlet in East Sussex in the early 1700s and that she had her last child at the age of 53 and lived another 20 years ! (Burial found in 1772).
Hopefully, one day another researcher might question the original entry, but this is my husbands family and I am reluctant to "butt in". If I could definitely pinpoint a baptism closer to Etchingham, I could easily say "Look what I found" but without that, I am a bit hesitant.
Di
For as long as I have been sent information, most seem to have accepted the fact that Frances SELLINGS, who married John Sheather in 1725 in Etchingham Sussex, was born/baptised in 1698 in Flitwick Bedfordshire.
It seemed odd to me, but few of the East Sussex records were available in the IGI, so I shelved it until I could access better resources.
So, now I have joined the Sussex Family History Group which gives me access to their archives, and I have able to confirm that many of the "birth" dates contained in the many trees are in fact baptism dates.
I decided to tackle the problem of Frances - Flitwick Beds seems to be only chosen for her birthplace because that is the only entry which shows up in the IGI. Even now in familysearch.org it shows up. But the Sussex baptism transcriptions show that John and Frances last child James Sheather was baptised in 1752, three years after his brother Samuel.
I am doubtful about a woman in the mid-1700s have a child at the age of 53 ! So I surmise that her birth date was more likely abt 1705-1707.
Given the unilikeliness of 1698 being right, I looked closer to Etchingham for her birth - if anyone had written a town name down, maybe FLIMWELL in Ticehurst, Sussex was a good candidate. Its in the next parish from Etchingham.
But no Fanny or Frances Sellings/Sellen appear in the baptisms. If Flitwick was just a guess based on an IGI record, then perhaps she was born over the border of Sussex in Hawkhurst Kent ?
There are plenty of SELLEN/SELLING/SELDEN all over the East Sussex/Kent parishes, but so far no Fanny/Frances.
I guess I really asking for opinions of the likeliness of Frances travelling from a small hamlet in Bedfordshire to a small hamlet in East Sussex in the early 1700s and that she had her last child at the age of 53 and lived another 20 years ! (Burial found in 1772).
Hopefully, one day another researcher might question the original entry, but this is my husbands family and I am reluctant to "butt in". If I could definitely pinpoint a baptism closer to Etchingham, I could easily say "Look what I found" but without that, I am a bit hesitant.
Di