Brick wall: Cannot locate ame of 2nd great grandmother!

Question

Looking for my 2nd great grandmother, born in England, probably died in Jan 1869 in Illinois.  Husband was Henry Burchell, born in England ??, died in Westmoreland County PA around 1885.  Their son, William Henry Burchell b 14 May 1858 in England: D 27 Jan  1891 in the Mammoth mine explosion.  Their daughter Emma Margaret (Burchell) Tobin b 16 Jan 1869 in Illinois d 8 Mar 1947 in West Virginia.

Comments

The most likely candidate for your William Henry, b May 1858, would be the one whose birth was registered in the 4th Quarter at Worcester, Worcestershire, Mother's Maiden Surname Jenkins.  You can purchase the certificate, or a digital image, from the GRO to get the precise date of birth.

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The other possible registrations for William Henry are 1859, and 1860, but they would be rather late for a birth in May 1858.

BURCHELL, WILLIAM  HENRY	JENKINS
GRO Reference: 1858  D Quarter in WORCESTER  Volume 06C  Page 263

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The marriage of a Henry Burchell and a Mary Riddiford Jenkins was registered in the 2nd Quarter of 1853 at Thornbury, in the county of Gloucestershire.

The above are not definites, just possibilities you would need to do more research on to determine if they are the people you want.

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Melanie, thank you for your research and your assistance it is truly appreciated. I have been working on this brickwall for years.  I have purchased 3 birth certificates from GRO and two of them pertain to Kesiah Jenkins and Mary Riddeford Jenkins. The date-of-birth and the father's name on the Kesiah Jenkins certificates are incorrect.

When William Henry (WH) married Margaret Ann Markle his dob was 14 May 1858. The certificate pertaining to Mary Riddeford Jenkins shows May 31, 1859.  She and she husband, Henry had 3 children prior to thre birth of (WH).  According to the US Census WH was the only child until his sister Emma was born, 10 years later.

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Have you tried William Henry Russell BEARSLEY registered Q2 1858 in Foeshill District?  His mothers maiden name is a dash, probably indicating she was unmarried.

He was baptised at Foleshill, Warwickshire (without the Russell) in October 1858, mothers name Anne Maria if that helps. Per original parish register on findmypast

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Have looked at original birth registration and his date of birth is 30th March, registered 4th May 1858.

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Sara, I do really appreciate your help.  Please do not give up. Seriously, I have been working on this brickwall for years. I sure wished those dares were consistant with what I have.  When William applied for their marriage licence on 6 Jan 1887 it was written that on 17 May 1887 he would be 29.  That is where I get his date of birth as 17 May 1858.  

Jo

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Thank you Sara Baird!

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Thank you for assisting me. I took the name and ran with it.  This is what I found. 

Mary Riddiford Jenkins

Female1829-1872 

Birth about 1829  

Marriage 1853 
Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom 

Death 1872 
London, England, United Kingdom 

 Henry Burchell

Male1830–1861

Children:

Ellen Burchell

Female1855–1856
John BurchellMale 1857

William Henry Burchell

Male 1860

Henry BurchellMale 1861

Answer 1

This is recent enough that you might get some useful hints if you do your DNA and see who your 5th / 6th cousins among your shared matches are.

Comments

Shirlea, Thank you for the suggestion.  I did my DNA with both Ancestry and 23andme, then I transferred it to myheritage.  I will check out my 5th and 6th cousins.

Answer 2

also, bear in mind that although a person is present at their own birth, they usually are not actually able to bear witness to the exact day and place.  If you are ruling out candidates on the basis of their DoB not being an exact match in every regard to the DoB stated almost 30 years later by someone who didn't have useful first hand knowledge (that is to say, the baby himself, now the bridegroom), maybe take a second look.

There are lots of records where people have their correct birthdays, but the year is one or two years off, for a variety of reasons, not all of them meant to deceive.

There are also some records where people mis-remembered their actual birthday, but got the month right according to the registration docs

There are also registration docs where the family might have mis-stated the birthday as something later in order to avoid a fine for not doing the registration within the allotted time frame...

I find that I have to look at the whole picture of the family, and not be limited to whether the date of birth quoted a few decades later is exactly the same as a registration.

Cheers

Shirlea

Answer 3

Jo, you have written that "According to the US Census WH was the only child until his sister Emma was born, 10 years later."

The Census doesn't usually try to account for all children born to a couple.  The Census usually just records who slept there on census night.  Older children may have already left the family home, especially in a part of the world that did Homesteading, since young men as young as 16 could be entitled to their own homestead and families would encourage that as a way of getting the young ones well-situated and increasing the family's holdings.