Methodists/Non-conformists?

[Rachel A]

I have a family of unusual Christian names: Gideon, Simeon, Oxford, Mercy & Sydenham...

Am I right to suspect that they might be Methodists/Non-conformists??

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?? :d

Many thanks :)

[Michael]

Wasn't it the Puritans who named children after virtues? Faith, Charity, Temperance etc.

[Rachel A]

Haven't found any Faiths, Hopes or Charitys... yet... :d

[Rachel A]

It's interesting because in 1851 the mother was first described as a school mistress and the youngest (6 & 4) were down as scholars at home. In 1861 she was a school mistress, again, and the daughter (my great great grandmother) was a teacher at home.

[Olde Crone]

I think the names sound intellectual (and pretentious, lol) rather than Methodist - the Methodists tended to give their children blunt no-nonsense names.

The family could very well be noncon. Have you found any baptisms?

OC

[Merry]

Am I right to suspect that they might be Methodists/Non-conformists??



I'd say only if no C of E baps appear in their birthplace. I would think anything, denomination-wise, about those names.

[HarrysMum]

My Simeon was C of E but a few years later, his son was a Wesleyan Methodist in Australia. Simeon was in the Navy so maybe had to be C of E.

What's the surname Rachel?

[Mary from Italy]

There was a fashion for Old Testament names, and I have plenty of names like that among the C of E people in my tree. All the Baptists and Methodists I have had fairly ordinary names.

Oxford and Sydenham are a bit more unusual; presumably the family had some kind of association with those places, unless they were family surnames.

[Rachel A]

I haven't looked for baptisms yet as I'm just picking up this branch again after a year or so's break. It just seemed to be very religious names. I have another branch on my mum's side who were Christadelphians and had names like Jansz, Cyrus and Mervyn Byshe Wolfgang... all in rural Sussex, so was thinking on similar lines :d

I'm in such a muddle at the moment, trying to back track on my research, and realised the mother's maiden name was Oxford, so that solves that problem!

I'm interested about the mother being a schoolmistress after having children, as I'm doing the same, studying teaching with the OU. I've found her in censuses in Wilton, nr Sailisbury and then Portsea, although cannot locate the street on a modern map. I'd be interested to know what school she worked in, but I guess I'll have to try the local archive for that.

BTW the surname is Spicer :)

[Rachel A]

Also, the name Gideon reminds me of those little brown new Testiments that they gave us at school... although I've no idea who he was (or where my copy went... :d )

[borobabs]

I still have mine Rachel and the Gideons where International organisation the bibles where the old and new testaments

[Olde Crone]

Most likely she was a teacher at home and ran a private "Dame School". Very few/no women at all would have been permanently employed as school teachers by anyone other thasn themselves. Compulsory Education was yet to come.

OC

[kiterunner]

FamilySearch has a Sydenham Oxford Spicer baptism 6 May 1837 at Holy Trinity - Wesleyan Methodist, Shaftesbury, Dorset, parents John Spicer and Maria Oxford.

[Rachel A]

FamilySearch has a Sydenham Oxford Spicer baptism 6 May 1837 at Holy Trinity - Wesleyan Methodist, Shaftesbury, Dorset, parents John Spicer and Maria Oxford.


Ooooooh, that one of mine, thank you Kate :)

I have a Sydenham born 1828 in Fontmell, Dorset... off to have look at Family Search :)

[Rachel A]

Most likely she was a teacher at home and ran a private "Dame School". Very few/no women at all would have been permanently employed as school teachers by anyone other thasn themselves. Compulsory Education was yet to come.

OC

Thanks OC. I can't find her in 1871 (Maria Spicer c1809 Piddelhinton, Dorset, should be in Portsea) and then she died in Mar qtr 1881 in Portsea. I guess then there's not much chance about finding out about her teaching 'career' :(

[Rachel A]

Funnily enough Sydenham Oxford Spicer was the only one of the children to be baptised at this Wesleylan Chapel :confused:

[Phoenix]

Was he the youngest? The only one left at home? He's baptised just before the start of civil registration - possibly the parents thought they ought to record his birth somewhere. The number of registrations at Dr Williams Library went up steeply just before civil registration.

[brenmac]

i have bible names in my family......nimrod,mercy,sarah,miriam,hester,they were baptist also hugenoughts,if spelling is right lol. from france.brenda xxx

[Rachel A]

No he wasn't the last at home. There was babies before him and after as well. I can't find a record that any others were baptised and only a few appear to be registered.

[Merry]

Is this one (FS pilot)?

Name: Joseph Oxford
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 1829
Baptism/Christening Place: FONTMELL MAGNA, DORSET, ENGLAND
Father's Name: John Spicer
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name: Maria
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C15871-1
System Origin: England-VR
Source Film Number: 1279496
Reference Number: - 2:1KN3HZ8
Collection: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

and this one?

Name: Samuel John
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 1835
Baptism/Christening Place: FONTMELL MAGNA, DORSET, ENGLAND
Father's Name: John Spicer
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name: Maria
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C15871-1
System Origin: England-VR
Source Film Number: 1279496
Reference Number: - 2:1KN3MB1
Collection: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

[Olde Crone]

Rachel

Be aware that Wesleyan circuit records can often be depressingly incomplete! However, many of my noncons didn't bother with baptism of any sort once Civil Registration started.

OC

[Merry]

BMD Registers has:

John Davis Spicer bap Dorset 1823

Sarah Spicer, father John, bap Dorset 1828

Elizabeth Spicer, father John bap Dorset 1831

John Spicer bap Dorset 1835

Sydenham Oxford Spicer, father John, bap Dorset 1837.

[Rachel A]

Wow Merry. I was looking on the IGI and found nothing... thank you so much!! :) :)

I guess then the Wesleylan Chapel was a passing phase... :d

[Olde Crone]

Interesting, Fontmell Magna had THREE Methodist churches. I'm just trying to see if Merry's finds are C of E records.

OC

[Rachel A]

Thanks OC :)

[Olde Crone]

Yes, looks like what Merry found is C of E christening records. Teensy bit worried cos there's another John Spicer getting married in Fontmell Magna in 1823 to Elizabeth White....

OC

[Merry]

OC - Two C of E and five Methodist (most likely)

Sarah Spicer, father John, bap Dorset 1828

There's this burial:

1830; 29; Aug.; Sarah; SPICER; 1

I wondered if this burial was another child of same family (given the unusual first name):

1830; 17; Mar.; Unity; SPICER; infant

and this one:

1833; 24; June.; Joseph Oxford; SPICER; infant ;of Bruton; Somerset

Burials from Dorset OPC Fontmell Magna.

[Merry]

Another burial

1849; 24; Aug.; Joseph Oxford; SPICER; 20

I only picked out the obvious ones, there are loads of Spicer entries....:o

[Olde Crone]

Yes, sorry, didn't mean to confuse - the IGI ones are C of E.

I think there may be two families here.
What does the 1841 say? (Sorry, I don't have Ancestry access).

OC

[Rachel A]

Thanks Merry, you're a miracle worker :)

[Rachel A]

1841 shows them living in Fontmell Magna. Children: Oxford (12), Ann (9), Samuel (6), Simeon (4) & John (1).

[Rachel A]

I did find another Spicer family baptising their children at the Wesleylan Chapel in Shaftesbury on the IGI.

[Olde Crone]

Two Joseph Oxford Spicers from different families by the look of it.

OC

[Olde Crone]

BTW - I wasn't checking Merry's work as such, lol!

I find it quite difficult on the new LDS site to work out what the records actually are and where they have come from - primary source, which church, or whatever. That's what I was checking, not whether Merry had it right or wrong!!!!!

OC

[Mary from Italy]

I find it quite difficult on the new LDS site to work out what the records actually are and where they have come from - primary source, which church, or whatever.

Just enter the Source Film Number in the Library Catalogue section of the old LDS site, under "Film/Fiche search".

That's what I was checking, not whether Merry had it right or wrong!!!!!

The ones Merry listed in post #22 were from BMDRegisters, which mostly contains Non-Con records.

[Merry]

Two Joseph Oxford Spicers from different families by the look of it.

OC

I didn't actually notice I had two because I was watching Frost atthe same time as posting! The one from Somerset who died as a baby must belong to this bap:

Name: Joseph Oxford Spicer
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 09 May 1832
Baptism/Christening Place: Bruton, Somerset, England
Father's Name: Spicer
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name:
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I07867-3
System Origin: England-EASy
Source Film Number: 1526379
Reference Number: 02356
Collection: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

Pity the mum and dad don't have their names recorded!!

[Merry]

There's a couple called Walter and Jemima Spicer who were having non-con baps for their children in Bruton in the 1830s. Maybe they slipped one in at the C of E and the vicar didn't bother recording them properly?

[Merry]

This is funny!! I wondered if Jemima was also an Oxford (give she and Walter had a child with that middle name). In 1851 Jemma is b about 1811 in Piddlehinton Dorset, so I looked at the Dorset OPC records and found:

Jamima child of ******* ******* was baptised May-17 1811 :D

However, I guess this submitted IGI record may well fit:

Jemima Oxford Pedigree
Female


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 17 MAY 1812 Piddlehinton, Dorset, England

Death: 26 DEC 1879

Burial:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents:
Father: Joseph Oxford Family
Mother: Ann Dowding

And at the same time I saw her marriage, though it didn't come up when I actively searched for it:

JEMIMA OXFORD Pedigree
Female Family


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages:
Spouse: WALTER SPICER Family
Marriage: 21 JAN 1828 Fontmell Magna, Dorset, England



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted marriage record for locality listed in the record.


Time for breakfast!

[Rachel A]

Thanks Merry :)

I was looking at these places on a map last night and realised that it was near to where a branch of my cousin's paternal family derived from... and looking at her tree found an Oxford... small world! :)

[Olde Crone]

Mary

Thanks, yes, that's what I did! It's a nuisance to have to flick between the two sites though and it's not an improvement as far as I am concerned.

Merry - the record in post 36 is one of those "I" numbers, which appears to be a transcribed list made by some unknown person at some unknown time for some unknown purpose of their own, so would need checking at source, although I always think a firm date is good.

OC