View Full Version : Help deciphering witness's name please
kiterunner
12-08-18, 22:59
On the marriage record of Isaac Spurrier and Catherine Bristow:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1623/47007_550690-00397?pid=14684313&treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=dNx1968&_phstart=successSource
The first two witnesses are James McKean (whoever he was) and Priscilla Wright (Isaac Spurrier's adopted daughter), and the third one is Catharine... what, please?!
Wild guess, maybe way too tortured, but there does appear to exist a surname Misselhorn. Spelled (or misspelled) here with a 'c' in place of 'ss', thus Micelhorn?
I didn't read Janet's answer until after I'd looked at the entry.
I think Catharine's surname is Wheethouse (that being the most usual spelling when I search Wheeth*), but her spelling seems to be Wheethors, or, less likely, Wheethous.
I didn't even consider the first letter might be an M :o
kiterunner
13-08-18, 10:17
Do you think it could be Wheelhouse, without the final e?
I'd go with Wheethors. It looks as if there is vestigial cross line to that vertical.
kiterunner
13-08-18, 12:43
Thanks, all. My best guess was Wheethors too, but I wasn't sure whether that was a name. I'll see if I can trace her under any of those guesses.
Do you think it could be Wheelhouse, without the final e?
Yes. Would you like it to be that? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
There's a PCC will for a Catharine Wheelhouse, widow in 1807.
kiterunner
13-08-18, 13:32
Yes. Would you like it to be that? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
I haven't come across the name Wheelhouse in connection with my family, but it just seemed more like a real name than Wheethors etc. I will have a look at that will that you found, thanks.
kiterunner
13-08-18, 13:34
The first person mentioned in Catharine Wheelhouse's will is a McKean, so it must be right! (One of the other witnesses on the marriage record was a McKean.)
Oooh, there's a LMA marriage of Catharine Selmes (transcribed Elmes) to John Wheelhouse in 1767.
You wrote this regarding the will of Robert Bristow b 1733:
Executors son James Bristow and friend John Selmes, butcher, of Bletchingley.
:D:D:D
I was going to delete this post, but GF thinks I don't know my password!
This was the entry I meant to post, but copied the wrong one the first time.
Catherine Selmes
7 Feb 1739
Bletchingley, Surrey, England
John,
Cath
kiterunner
13-08-18, 14:54
Yes, I've been getting excited about the Selmes connection too, Merry!
Can't remember whether I posted about Isaac Spurrier and Catharine Bristow on here before, but Catharine is somehow connected to my Bristows and I don't know exactly how. Their marriage record wasn't on ancestry the last time I looked into this, and now it has appeared, we have more clues. The Selmes name is looking hopeful.
kiterunner
13-08-18, 15:22
Hmm, Catherine Selmes had a sister Elizabeth born 28 Dec 1740, baptised 14 Jan 1741 at Bletchingley. Just the right age to be the Elizabeth who was Robert Bristow's wife (I have never found his marriage). If only I can find something to prove it!
kiterunner
13-08-18, 15:24
Oooh, FamilySearch says Elizabeth Selmes married Robert PRESTOWE 21 May 1764 Saint Christopher le Stocks, London!!!
I see Robert was a widower.
kiterunner
13-08-18, 15:33
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1623/31281_a101462-00005?backurl=https%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk% 2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d1623%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=31281_a101462-00009
Robert Prestowe of this parish widower and Elizabeth Selmes of this parish spinster married by banns; he made his mark. Witnesses Catharine Selmes and John Aberman.
Though if this Elizabeth is the sister of the Catherine who married Joseph Tolhurst, the witness must be a different Catharine as her name would be Tolhurst by 1764.
Surely this must be the marriage I've been looking for all these years, though, don't you think? It would be too much of a coincidence the name Robert Prestowe being so close to Robert Bristow, wouldn't it?
kiterunner
13-08-18, 15:34
I see Robert was a widower.
My Robert Bristow was about 7 years older than his wife Elizabeth if their ages at death are correct, so that would fit nicely.
Post #14, the mother of Catharine and Elizabeth was also Catherine, so she might be the witness.
kiterunner
13-08-18, 15:42
Post #14, the mother of Catharine and Elizabeth was also Catherine, so she might be the witness.
Yes, good point.
kiterunner
15-08-18, 22:00
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1623/31281_a101462-00005?backurl=https%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk% 2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d1623%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=31281_a101462-00009
Robert Prestowe of this parish widower and Elizabeth Selmes of this parish spinster married by banns; he made his mark. Witnesses Catharine Selmes and John Aberman.
Though if this Elizabeth is the sister of the Catherine who married Joseph Tolhurst, the witness must be a different Catharine as her name would be Tolhurst by 1764.
I seem to have got in a muddle here - it's Catharine, the mother of Elizabeth and Catherine, who married Joseph Tolhurst, and then the younger Catherine married John Wheelhouse in 1767, so she was still a Selmes to be a witness in 1764. :o
I just took your word for it over the maths! Yes, either Catherine (mother or daughter) could have been the witness in 1764 (assuming the mother was still living).
I don't have any problem with Bristow(e) and Prestow(e) becoming confused!
If you do a general search on Ancestry for the name Prestow* there are few entries, and a reasonable percentage of the few have corrections to Preston!
vBulletin® v3.8.7 PL3, Copyright ©2000-2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.