Need some English help with William and John Amory

Question

John and Sarah Amory emigrated from Lincolnshire, England to Georgia with sons William and John in 1737, arriving in January, 1738.  I'm trying to document the marriage of John and Sarah (some think she was a second wife), the births of William and John, and the existence of another son named Robert.  I found two birth records on FamilySearch (no images) from two different parishes and only one year apart which makes them somewhat suspect to me.  I also didn't find Robert  or a marriage for John and Sarah.  I'm hoping someone who is more familiar with this time and place can help  me out. Thanks in advance!

Here are the FamilySearch records:

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NGJ8-LL2 : 11 February 2018, John Amory, 30 Oct 1727); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 504,232.

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J339-KM2 : 11 February 2018, Willm. Amory, 20 Oct 1728); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 421,886.

Comments

Kathie, I recommend adding england to the tags on this question to get faster attention from project members whose help you're seeking.

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This says that John married Sarah Wilson on 13 February 1726 at Silk Willoughby, Lincolnshire, - https://www.ancestry.com.au/boards/surnames.hembree/501/mb.ashx

Answer 1

Kathie, I live in Nottinghamshire, the next county westwards from Lincolnshire. Unfortunately Lincoln is a very big county and mainly agricultural. I've plotted Alford and Great Hale (the two baptism parishes) on Google maps, and there's nearly 40 miles between them in the rural south-east of the county. So if these are indeed the brothers you were looking for, it suggests the parents may have been following the agricultural work, and were not afraid to travel. They may not have been originally from Lincolnshire; Norfolk and Nottinghamshire may be other nearby agricultural counties to consider.

Unfortunately the images aren't on line on FamilySearch unless you can get to a LDS Family History Centre. Both the Great Hale and Alford register images are viewable there. They may have more information than the FamilySearch indexes.

Lincs To the Past is the Lincolnshire Archives website, and may give you more ideas.

Comments

Also, and this is another take on the "emigrated from Lincolnshire" idea - they may literally have caught the boat from a Lincolnshire seaport such as Grimsby in the north of the county, but may have come from further afield, even Yorkshire which is just the other side of the Humber estuary.

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I’ve found an 1737 record here in the US (his land grant from Georgia prior to his arrival) listing John as a yeoman of Boston.  That looks to be about 13 miles from Great and Little Hale so does it seem likely it could be the same family? Are there records I should be looking at in Boston  (he may have owned property there)?

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Boston is the biggest town for miles around. Perhaps he said Boston, knowing that no-one outside his corner of Lincs, let alone in another country would have known where Great Hale was.

Answer 2

There is also a William christened in Great and Little Hale in 1731 - "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J331-984 : 11 February 2018, Wm Amory, 15 Sep 1731); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 504,232.

Answer 3

Have a look on Freereg https://www.freereg.org.uk/

John son of John , Sarah bap 30 Oct 1727 Great Hale

William son of M* and Sarah Alford bur 23 Nov 1728

Sarah d of John and Sarah bap 8 Sept  1730 G Hale

William  s of John and Sarah bap 15 Sept 1731 GH

James s John and Sarah bap 19 sept 1732  GH

James s John and Sarah bur  27 May 1737 GH.

(I didn't search their coverage, I'll check after saving )

Images of the original register should be on a site called lincstothepast (they are images of the registers, not indexed) 

Comments

Great sleuthing Helen!

The "Lincs to the Past"  link for Great Hale parish registers is here:

https://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplaySearchResults.aspx?oid=558613&mode=c

Answer 4

Thank you all for the information and the great leads!  I may have to go farther down this rabbit hole now.....