Jennifer Hampton

[kathwc]

Dear everyone,
I have a problem. Researching my cornish forefathers I have a conudrum.

According to the IGI Solomon Richards b 1777 married a Jennifer Hampton b 1783 on 30 June 1800 in Gwinear. However, I cannot verify this at all.

There are entries for in Phillmore's for
Solomon Richards =Jennifer Oats 20 Nov 1797 Gwinear

Solomon RICHARDS Widow = Jane DAWES 30 Jun 1800 Gwinear

with following entry.
2 July 1800 Gwinear Thomas WEBSTER of Camborne = Jenifer HAMPTON

then Baptisms to Solomon RICHARDS = Jennifer - Gwinear

Jennifer 6 Mar 1803

Now I have been advised to go to my LDS library which I am going to do to find out if it is the IGI that is wrong. Lots of people on the net have put Jennifer Hampton as the wife and like me have researched this family, and we may have all gone completely down the wrong track.

Can anyone help.
Thanks

[Cornish Terrier]

First of all - I have a self-imposed rule - do not take anything you find in IGI as 'gospel' as the information therein is often incorrect.

Anything found in IGI absolutely requires confirmation from Parish Registers or other primary source material.

I, too, have gone down this path in days gone by and have learnt by my mistakes so I encourage all to take heed and use IGI as a 'guide' only.

I see the relevant marriage entries that you refer to in Phillimore and can see how a mistake may have been made by the person submitting information to IGI.

It is unfortunate that, at that time, there were less strict controls on the supply of information and all was, as I understand it, taken in good faith.

Errors have been perpetuated and it will take a long, long time for them to be corrected.

However - on the information available (largely from what you have provided) I would suggest the likelihood that the 1797 marriage of Solomon Richards to Jennifer Oats is right in our playing field.

I do not have Gwinear records available (apart from Phillimore) so can only do so much here.

My thinking is that Jennifer (nee Oats) died and that Solomon Richards then married Jane Dawes in 1800.

We must remember that Jane and Jennifer were often interchangeable as Christian names in those days so any reference to children of 'Solomon and Jane' or 'Solomon and Jennifer' are extremely likely to refer to the same family.

If you are visiting your LDS centre please try to view a film of the original Gwinear PR which shows these entries and this should help you prove the situation one way or the other.

It is my belief that the person who submitted the information to IGI has made the error when they were transcribing the information.

The unfortunate part of this is the legacy that has been left by that error.

Please let me know how you get on and I will help as best I can.

I have other possible resources available but one of our members might be able to lend a hand given time and availability.

CORNISHMAID - can you help please.

[myghaelangof]

Definitely a case for looking at the originals where poss.

Thought: because the 1800 marriage describes Solomon Richards as widow, we assume (rightly or wrongly) that it was the same man who married in 1797. Supposing this was another Solomon, ie father or uncle of the one who married Jennifer, and that Jennifer Oats was still alive and kicking. Then the 1803 baptism to Solomon and Jennifer would make sense.

[Deleted]

Just a thought

The baptism of Jennifer in 1803 doesn't mean that her natural mother was still alive. All the children after Jennifer have Jane as their mother, but maybe Jennifer was a child from the first marriage??

Allen

[Zenobia]

Hi Kath,

If you check the IGI entries for Solomon Richards and various Jennifers in Gwinear, you will see that the batch numbers for these are all digits. That means they are privately submitted entries, as opposed to a parish register extract, and should be taken with a grain of salt (about an entire salt-flats worth!)

When searching the IGI, careful distinction should be made between the officially sanctioned parish register extracts, and privately submitted entries. The former will all have batch numbers beginning with letters - either P, C, or M; the latter will be numbers only.

The parish register extracts are usually correct, but the original register should always be checked whenever possible for additional information.

Errors in the extracts are few and far between, and usually take the form of the year being off by one (in the case of Jan-Mar. dates before the calender change) and in missed entries.

Errors in the privately submitted entries are, however, (IMHO) about 70%.... if not worse.

[Deleted]

Yes I agree with Zenobia. The 5 children that are listed for Solomon and Jane/Jennifer come under C025711 and C025712. However the marriages are unreliable as Kathie pointed out. I think that this is evident when you compare Jennifer Hampton with her actual entry in Phillimore.

One thing that I have noted is that sometimes where the year is uncertain (before the calendar change), the entry appears twice, once for each year.

[Cornish Terrier]

Lots of good discussion happening here.

To try and keep this note short:-

We need to find how many Solomon Richards were about (and in that same area).

Just a thought

The baptism of Jennifer in 1803 doesn't mean that her natural mother was still alive. All the children after Jennifer have Jane as their mother, but maybe Jennifer was a child from the first marriage??

Allen

Good thinking mate - and possibly correct given that we (or at least I) know that baptisms often occurred years after the birth.
And this is another area where people researching via IGI fall into problems.

Multiple baptisms shown in IGI are taken by many people to be the baptisms of twins or triplets (usually two or three are recorded together)

What is not understood is that there may be several years difference in the age of those being baptised and, if required, I can provide proof.

This is what leads to much confusion and ongoing errors in many genealogies.

The worst part of this scenario is that if you try to help some of these people correct the error the response is extremely cold.

Many people find the information they 'want to find' and that is "end of story" and they will not take any deviation from that path.. (If they found the information in IGI or it was supplied to them by a relative - then it 'must' be correct!)

I have digressed.

There are certainly some problems to be sorted here but we need to probably track down the Solomon Richards who might have been involved in each event.

I have much more to do now and will have to return to this thread.

The unfortunate thing is that I am not sure just when that will be.

I now have little more than a week to finalise my moving and have to ensure that I transfer my Internet Satellite Antenna properly to ensure connection.

Will be doing my best for you all.

Ian

[kathwc]

Dear All,
Well I have checked and rechecked and I have deleted the Hampton Tree from my line for the time being.

Solomon Richards did not a Jennifer Hampton.

Anyway a bit sorry really as the Hamptons seem an interesting family, and now I have to let people know that my tree was incorrect .

Now if anyone knows anything about Jennifer Oats and Jane Dawes I would be very grateful.

Regards
Kath

[Cornish Terrier]

Kath - do not be too dismayed.

We will help as much as possible although I, myself, may not be available for a time.

If the OATS family is involved I would think that 'white' might pick up on it and offer some suggestions - so long as that Oats family is in his area of research.

Will help as best I can and when I can.

Ian

[white]

Hi Kath, Happy to help with the Oats line. However all of mine, and there are a lot, are of the immediate area around West Penwith. Anyway do ask any questions, you never know someone may have the answer, Roy

[Cornish Terrier]

To all trying to help Kath with her problem - I thank you.

I am on limited time at the moment but will do my best to help further once my situation is stablised.

Well done TEAM and please keep up the good work.

Ian