Missing census records for this couple?

[Merry]

I am struggling with this couple and wondered if fresh eyes might help?

Charles Easton/Eason/Eaton was baptised in Chew Magna Somerset in 1826, parents James and Ann. The baptism entry states he was privately baptised in 1805, though there is no entry for that anywhere locally that I can see.

So, I started looking for Charles b 1805-ish and turned up these three entries:

1861 census Charles is aged 61 so a bit older than expected, married to Mary from Bath aged 50, Somerset living at Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Charles is an excavator.

Charles and Mary 1861 (https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8767/SOMRG9_1661_1666-0019/18022160?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return)

That is the only census I can find him/them on.

I would think this is his death reg:

Charles Easton
b abt 1803
Jan-Feb-Mar 1873
Wells
Somerset 5c 428

and his burial:

Charles Easton
abt 1803
4 Feb 1873
Horrington (East)

Everyone buried here seems to have come from an Asylum. I found his admission/discharge record for this yesterday, but Ancestry isn't letting me find it today. I do remember he had only been in the asylum a short time (months, maximum) when he died. There was no other helpful information on the admission/discharge record.

So, where is he in 1841, 1851 and 1871?

Some ancestry trees say this couple had a son, Mark Easton in about 1836, but they are wrong about that. This Mark was a different couple's son.

[Merry]

Here's the asylum record I couldn't find before:

Charles Easton - asylum admission and discharge record (https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/9051/42477_625537_11589-00250/819730?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return)

[Phoenix]

Sounds like you've got a challenge and a half!

If he was an excavator, then he could have travelled all round the county, as a navvy on the railways. The chances are he could well be one of twenty labourers in a tent, names unkown at census nights.

[Merry]

I agree, but possibly less likely in 1871?

There is a Mary (b 1814 Bath) in Plymouth in 1851 who says she is married, but no husband or children in tow. Could be her.

[Phoenix]

That Mary is the only person I've found so far. She is living next door to a lot of Irish labourers, so it did seem likely.

I've worked in Chew: a lovely place, but the back of beyond. Would you say you were born Bristol? Somerset? if you were outside the county?

[Merry]

Maybe.

Do you think it's odd/unusual that the vicar said (in 1826) there had been a private baptism on a specific date in 1805? I would have thought the specific date meant he had checked, but there's nothing in the register. I think I have five siblings so far but only one baptised as a child (not including this Charles)

[Phoenix]

I would think it more likely that the parents said he was baptised at birth, and the specific date reflects his birthday. It might also be the cleric's insurance policy: you cannot be baptised twice, so he's covering himself if he suspected the parents of lying.

[Merry]

Yes, something like that, I expect.

The parents were both dec'd when this entry was recorded in 1826. I just wondered why it had become an issue so long after his birth?

[kiterunner]

Yes, something like that, I expect.

The parents were both dec'd when this entry was recorded in 1826. I just wondered why it had become an issue so long after his birth?

Was it just before he got married?

[Merry]

That's what I'd hoped, but I can't find a marriage to fit. Obviously the marriage wouldn't have to be to Mary from Bath.

[anne fraser]

Chew Magna is definitely Somerset not Bristol. My husband used to work near there. I think Wells was also the local workhouse.