Births of John Slomans in Somerset/Devon

[tenterfieldjulie]

I'm hoping someone can help me find my 2x great and 3x great grandfather's births.
The first John Sloman died in 1864 at Halse. He was married at Milverton to Amy Pring in 1816. Amy 1793-1833 Milverton.
On the censuses John said he was born in Tiverton but we can only find his sister Mary and brother James baptism. John should have been born somewhere between 1789 and 1792.
Then we go to his parents - John married Deborah Webber in 1786 at Bampton. John was buried at Milverton in 1824 aged 59 years. Deborah buried Milverton 1831 69 years. Her age agrees with her baptismal date. John should have been born C1764.
Until the family came to Australia the families and their wives families lived in a fairly close area ranging from Nether Stowey, Enmore, Broomfield, Halse, Milverton, Taunton, Hillfarrance in Somerset and then Dulverton, Bampton and Tiverton in Devon.
I'm a novice on English research so any suggestions will be most appreciated -don't worry we drive on the same side of the road!! tenterfieldjulie

[Merry]

Do you have some other source for establishing his parents? There's a John Sloman baptised at Halberton in 1787 which is only about three miles from Tiverton (and about one tenth the size!), but the parents are James and Mary. That's just the first place I looked, so I guess there will be others.

[anne fraser]

There are quite a few Sloman parish records on free reg.

[kiterunner]

Could you give us some details of the 1841, 1851 and 1861 census entries you have found, please, Julie? I can't see him!

[Merry]

After a bit of faffing about I found him in 1861:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8767&iid=SOMRG9_1617_1622-0775&fn=John&ln=Stoeman&st=r&ssrc=&pid=17969616

(indexed as Stoeman)

Off to Brownies now!

[Uncle John]

Off to Brownies now!

Aren't you a bit old for Brownies?

[Merry]

Aren't you a bit old for Brownies?

:mad::rolleyes:

[tenterfieldjulie]

Thanks everyone for your interest. Up until recently my research for 20 yrs has been in Australia. The English information has been accumulated from others. In the 1980s a cousin went to Somerset and looked through parish registers, bought some certs and viewed censuses. Only recently I have been looking at indexes online by Roy Parkhouse, David Cheek and Martin Southwood. The cousin who said John No. 2 parents were John No. 1 and Deborah Webber, deduced this from the fact that John No. 2 married Amy Pring in Milverton 1816, their 6 children were baptised there and Amy died there in 1833. When John No. 1 died at Milverton in 1824 aged 59 and Deborah died Milverton 1831 aged 69 years he thought the ages of John and Deborah fitted being John No. 2's parents. On the censuses Noel found John living with his daughter Mary who married in Halse - John Taylor 1845 , Thomas Walk in 1848 and Thomas Bailey. She died in 1889 at Halse. John was named as a lodger! but his birthplace as Tiverton which Noel felt tied them together because of the baptism of John and Deborah's two other children there. Hope this makes sense. If I purchased the cert of John and Amy Pring's marriage at Milverton in 1816 would it include name of parents? Julie

[HarrysMum]

The cert will only give the fathers' names and occupations (which may help) but if the father is dead will often just give 'deceased'.

UK certs are not a patch on ours.

[kiterunner]

No, a marriage cert from 1816 doesn't give father's name. You would get the names of the witnesses, which may or may not help. As it's before civil registration, you would need to get a copy from the parish registers via the Somerset record office, but it just so happens that the marriage record has been transcribed by FreeREG and they have included the witnesses' names, so it's probably not really worth getting a copy of the actual parish register entry.

John Sloman married Amey Pring 25 Nov 1816 St Michael's Church, Milverton, Somerest. Witnesses Elizabeth Stacey and John Sealy.

By the way, in-laws quite often appear as lodgers on the census; I would agree that Mary must be John's daughter.

[kiterunner]

Right, so this is the family in 1851; most likely John's surname was copied out wrong by the enumerator:

Halse, Somerset
Thomas Walk Head Mar 32 Farm Labourer Halse
Mary Walk Wife Mar 32 Milverton
John Thomas Lodger Wid 58 Do Do Tiverton Devon
Samuel Sloman Brother Law U 23 Do Do Milverton Somerset
Giles Burdge Lodger U 32 Do Do Wiveliscombe Do
James Watts Lodger U 38 Do Do Halse

[kiterunner]

And in 1841, at Preston Bowyer, Milverton, Somerset:
John Sloman 45 Ag Lab N
James Do 20 Ag Lab N
Mary Do 20 Y
Elizabeth Do 20 Y
Wm 11 Y

The household next door:
James Sloman 50 Ag Lab N
Samuel Do 40 N
Ann Do 11 Y

[tenterfieldjulie]

Somerset Record Office at Taunton is currently closed because they are relocating.
In Australia sometimes there is more information in the parish registers than on the actual certs. eg parents names etc. Does that happen in UK? Thanks for advice about what's on the cert. Kite Runner. Julie

[kiterunner]

In Australia sometimes there is more information in the parish registers than on the actual certs. eg parents names etc. Does that happen in UK?

Sometimes there is extra information in the older parish register entries, but they would have been using a standard form by 1816 so there won't be on that one.

[tenterfieldjulie]

That info from 1841 Census is fantastic. It tells us where they lived - yippee.
The other two boys John and Samuel could have been away working,although James was the oldest. It also gives next door James and Samuel who could be John seniors older and younger brothers?
My grandfather was Samuel Henry Oliver Sloman.
James was the name of the child baptised at Tiverton - now to find John and Samuel!!
Do the N and Y after the names in the 1841 Census mean they could or could not write? Cheers Julie:):)

[Merry]

Do the N and Y after the names in the 1841 Census mean they could or could not write?

Yes means they were born in the county of residence (ie in this case, Somerset) and No means they were not. It would seem the replies given were very often unreliable, as I have dozens of people who said Yes when they should have said No, but were quite correct about their place of birth in 1851 when exact details were required!!

[tenterfieldjulie]

Hello from Waterlogged Downunder. This weekend we are having a family of the Slomans hence the mad panic to tie up loose ends. We might need water wings as the whole area is so boggy. No doubt there will a be stories about it in years to come. This afternoon I went to contribute a few things and found they had the original bible!! It included my greatgrandfather Charles birth on 8th August 1847, so I won't have to decide which Charles Sloman's birth cert to buy. What really intrigued me was the heading in beautiful copperplate writing, the name Slowman. Do you think this could be a factor why we can't find John's birth in the 1790s in Devon? Julie

[Merry]

Not if your refering to transcribed records on sites with some sort of Soundex or where you can type Slo* etc. Might be worth trying Howman etc though as SL or ST can quite often get turned into an H when transcribed if the writing is difficult!

Before the mid Victorian period the majority of people did not use a consistent spelling for their name - it would be written however they felt like on the day!

We are waterlogged here too!

[tenterfieldjulie]

Just thought I would add what has been found in less than 2 months - John Sloman baptsed 16/11/1764 Bampton (I found Russ Davies researching Webbers and he has the Bampton records.) John's father James baptised 20/12/1728 Tiverton (Hugh Wallis site) died 13/3/1803 Bampton married 16/4/1754 Elizabeth Thomas at Bampton died 3/8/1794 Bampton (all Russ Davies). James parents Samuel Sloman Bapt 15/10/1697 Tiverton (IGI) married Frances Heard 25/7/1723 Tiverton (Ancestry). Samuel's father Henry Sloman born 1660 Cove Chapel Tiverton (IGI Member). Yesterday on FTF a wonderful lady notified me that she searched the Tiverton Cove records and found the elusive baptism of John Sloman son of John and Deborah on the1/12/1792. She said that there are large gaps due to undecipherable writing or the faintness of the writing. My cousin and I are thrilled to find him after 25years. It began in no small part when GF found the brothers living next door on the census - so many thanks to all. :D:D:D