Roy - I think part of this problem can be easily solved
but you need to clear your head of any thoughts that suggest 'of Gulval' means 'born Gulval'.
I have just checked both marriages and then add the children (from the PRs) for the families of Richard/Mary and Richard/Christiana.
From there I have checked burials and added those details which, combined with the Census, has given me enough data to work on in order to arrive at my conclusions.
Both Richards were 'of Gulval' at the time of marriage and Richard the blacksmith (husband of Mary) is recorded in the 1851 Census as having been born at Gulval.
But it would not surprise me if, had he lived long enough, that may have been something different (St Just maybe?) in 1861.
Richard White of Gulval Cross age 87 was buried at Gulval 23rd September 1857
If accurate (?) this means he was born probably in 1770.
1851 shows he was born at Gulval but ..................
Richard White of Jamaica Place age 71 was buried at Madron 4th October 1844
So his birth would be 1773 and he was 'of Gulval' in 1798.
Now - both of these families had a son named Nicholas which is reasonably significant.
Richard and Mary named their first son (and first child) Nicholas which is a fair hint that this may have been the name of Richard's father.
Richard and Christiana named their first son Richard and gave the name Nicholas to their second son.
And now we need to work out just where each of these two Richards might have belonged.
It is reasonable to suppose that each was the son of a Nicholas White and I think we have enough of those about to accomodate that thinking.
Let's start with Richard White and Mary Edwads given that they were both still alive at the time of the 1851 Census which means we have a little more information to work with.
In 1851 Richard was age 80 and Mary age 82 and both are recorded as having been born at Gulval.
So we are looking for births about 1770/1 and 1768/9 respectively.
Most interesting - there is NO Richard White baptised at Gulval anywhere near 1770/1.
Even more interesting - there is NO Mary Edwards baptised at Gulval anywhere near 1768/9.
That immediately puts doubt on the birthplace as recorded in the 1851 Census!
The marriage record states that Richard was 'of Gulval' in 1799 yet that marriage occurred at ST JUST! And that suggest to me that it is more likely the abode (and very likely the birthplace) of Mary Edwards.
IGI shows only two baptisms for Mary Edwards at the right time anywhere West of the Hayle River:-
25th June 1769 St Just d/o Richard and Joan (buried 20th August 1769 according to IGI)
4th November 1770 St Just d/o Richard and JoanThe children of Richard and Mary were - Nicholas, Richard, Richard, William, Richard, Mary and Elizabeth Edwards.
Having surmised that Nicholas was the name of Richard's father we see the beginnings of a fairly regular naming pattern so we need to look at the daughters for clues to Richard's mother.
The younger daughter would seem to be named for a sister to Mary and there was an Elizabeth Edwards baptised at St Just in 1775 to Richard Edwards.
I also no knowledge of a Nicholas White with a wife named Elizabeth in the relevant time-frame.
There was a Nicholas White at Gulval baptising children in the 1760s through to 1771 but his wife was Jane Stevens so even though Richard is recorded as being born at Gulval I have my doubts.
Three items to consider in identifying this Richard:-
1 - his father was probably Nicholas
2 - the names of his daughters suggest his mother may have been Mary or, possibly, Elizabeth
3 - the 1851 Census and his age when buried in 1857 place his birth at 1770
Based on that I would therefore conclude that this Richard is:-
Richard son of Nicholas and MARY White baptised 5th November 1770 at St JustThat would make him one of the younger children of Nicholas White and Mary Hitchens who married at St Just 27th October 1744.
With one child after Richard (William bp. 1773) I would think that Mary Hitchens would have been age 19 at most when she married.
And that now leads us to Richard White and Christiana Nankervis.
Again, Richard was 'of Gulval' and what information we have from the 1841 Census and his burial record in 1844 we know that he was probably born about 1773 - yet there is also no baptism at Gulval for a Richard White around 1773. In fact the closest we can get (from IGI) is 1775 at Withiel!
But he was 'of Gulval' and we do have a White family active at Gulval in the 1760s and into the 1770s.
Nicholas White of St Just married Jane Stevens at Gulval 15th June 1760
As posted previously the children of Richard and Christiana were:-
Jane (1799)
Richard (1800)
Christiana (1802)
Elizabeth (1804)
Anne (1806)
Nicholas (1809)
John (1811)
Henry (1814)
(I only found Anne and Henry tonight!)
I will look at Christiana first as she was still alive in 1851.
Christiana Nankervis was born at Madron about 1771 according to the 1851 Census and was buried at Madron 29th May 1853 age 82.
Once again we have a problem - I can find no Christian(a) Nankervis (var.) born at Madron!
The big question(s) - was she Christiana or Catherine
and was she Nankervis, Nekervis, Ankerwis or on of a multitude of other variations of the name?
Best I forget her for now!
In fact I can probably keep this last little piece of the puzzle short as I outlined my thoughts in a previous post.
Naming first daughter Jane suggests to me that this was the name of the mother of either Richard or Christiana - more likely Richard.
The next two children were Richard and then Christiana who were obviously named for the parents and the next son being Nicholas suggests a grandfather.
That 'sort of' confirms that Jane would be, in my opinion, more likely to be Richard's mother.
And that indicates the probability that Richard was a child of Nicholas White and Jane Stevens.
In the absence of a baptism to ultimately prove this last I humpbly rest my case.
CT
