Post by Cornish Terrier on Mar 17, 2012 5:03:02 GMT -5
Here is a family that has been frustrating me for years! 
YES - another one! 
But I think I might be finally getting somewhere!
In particular there are three baptisms recorded in 1797, 1798 and 1802 at Lelant with the parents recorded as William and Elizabeth.
Even with so much more material now available I still find that the nearest possible marriage is at either St Kew in 1783 or Helland in 1794. Neither of these can be the one as there are children to each being baptised around those areas at the same time these children appear at Lelant.
So I began to wonder ....................
could it be possible that all of these children actually belonged to William and JANE Webber who were baptising children at Lelant, Towednack and St Ives from 1792.
One clue was that William and Jane baptised a daughter Julia in 1800 but she then died the following year. And then we find a baptism for Julia daughter of William and Elizabeth in 1802 at Lelant!
Webber is not common at Lelant in the first place but to then have two men named William baptising a daughter Julia within a couple of years??? I don't think so!
I then went through the registers to compile a concise list of children for William and Jane and found two significant gaps. From February 1796 to May 1800 there were no children and then from January 1802 until February 1805.
The three attributed to William and Elizabeth were baptised in August 1797 and December 1798 and then in December 1802.
To gather further evidence that this might be all the same family I then checked for marriages of the children so that I could identify witnesses and compare signiatures.
And I found that in most cases at least one witness was Wm Webber or William Webber and a comparison of the signiatures showed that Wm Webber was the father and William the brother and therefore my suspicion was proved!
But there is one more anomaly.
In 1820 there is a marriage at Lelant for Henry PETERS and Mary WEBBER and one of the witnesses is 'William Webber' whose signiature is, like the others above, a match. And that means that Mary is almost certainly a daughter of William and Jane.
But the problem is that I have found no baptism for a daughter Mary and there is now precious little room to 'squeeze her in'.
Checking the 1851 Census I found Henry and Mary living at St Ives of which place Henry was resident at the time of the marriage. And now comes the fun part!
Mary is recorded in 1851 as age 55 with her birthplace as Lelant. Her birth therefore should be about 1795 or 1796.
Now, there is certainly just room for her between the baptism of Jane in February 1794 and of William in February 1796 yet nowhere can I find any record of such a baptism.
But what I do have is the baptisms of two sons named William but with no burial for the first!
The St Ives Parish Register records that William son of William and Jane Webber from Lelant was baptised at St Ives 1st February 1796 yet as I mentioned there is no burial for him. There is also no marriage to suggest that both Williams survived.
I wonder then whether this baptism was really for daughter Mary?
I guess if you write the name William then it is only natural that you would follow it with the word 'son' when entering a baptismal record. Many times I have seen entries in registers where the name of one of the parents has been entered instead of the actual name of the child and I suspect this may just be another such case.
I will leave young William in my database for now but Mary goes in as well because the signiatures tell me she belongs.
CT
YES - another one! 
But I think I might be finally getting somewhere!
In particular there are three baptisms recorded in 1797, 1798 and 1802 at Lelant with the parents recorded as William and Elizabeth.
Even with so much more material now available I still find that the nearest possible marriage is at either St Kew in 1783 or Helland in 1794. Neither of these can be the one as there are children to each being baptised around those areas at the same time these children appear at Lelant.
So I began to wonder ....................
could it be possible that all of these children actually belonged to William and JANE Webber who were baptising children at Lelant, Towednack and St Ives from 1792.One clue was that William and Jane baptised a daughter Julia in 1800 but she then died the following year. And then we find a baptism for Julia daughter of William and Elizabeth in 1802 at Lelant!
Webber is not common at Lelant in the first place but to then have two men named William baptising a daughter Julia within a couple of years?
?? I don't think so!I then went through the registers to compile a concise list of children for William and Jane and found two significant gaps. From February 1796 to May 1800 there were no children and then from January 1802 until February 1805.
The three attributed to William and Elizabeth were baptised in August 1797 and December 1798 and then in December 1802.
To gather further evidence that this might be all the same family I then checked for marriages of the children so that I could identify witnesses and compare signiatures.
And I found that in most cases at least one witness was Wm Webber or William Webber and a comparison of the signiatures showed that Wm Webber was the father and William the brother and therefore my suspicion was proved!
But there is one more anomaly.
In 1820 there is a marriage at Lelant for Henry PETERS and Mary WEBBER and one of the witnesses is 'William Webber' whose signiature is, like the others above, a match. And that means that Mary is almost certainly a daughter of William and Jane.
But the problem is that I have found no baptism for a daughter Mary and there is now precious little room to 'squeeze her in'.
Checking the 1851 Census I found Henry and Mary living at St Ives of which place Henry was resident at the time of the marriage. And now comes the fun part!
Mary is recorded in 1851 as age 55 with her birthplace as Lelant. Her birth therefore should be about 1795 or 1796.
Now, there is certainly just room for her between the baptism of Jane in February 1794 and of William in February 1796 yet nowhere can I find any record of such a baptism.
But what I do have is the baptisms of two sons named William but with no burial for the first!
The St Ives Parish Register records that William son of William and Jane Webber from Lelant was baptised at St Ives 1st February 1796 yet as I mentioned there is no burial for him. There is also no marriage to suggest that both Williams survived.
I wonder then whether this baptism was really for daughter Mary?
I guess if you write the name William then it is only natural that you would follow it with the word 'son' when entering a baptismal record. Many times I have seen entries in registers where the name of one of the parents has been entered instead of the actual name of the child and I suspect this may just be another such case.
I will leave young William in my database for now but Mary goes in as well because the signiatures tell me she belongs.
CT
