Lelant Marriages
Note that John Pearce was, at the time of marriage, 'of St Agnes' so I would suggest you have the right event.
IGI records have the bride's name as 'Jenifred' so all is looking good.
From the Lelant OPC Baptisms
THOMAS Jennifer d/o William and Jane 12 January 1806
I agree with this one also and here are further children from the OPC Transcript.
THOMAS Elizabeth d/o William and Jennifer 29 May 1808
THOMAS William s/o William and Jennifer 21 October 1810
THOMAS Henry s/oWilliam and Jenefer 24 October 1813 Labourer Uny Lelant
THOMAS Priscilla d/o Willliam and Jenipher 23 June 1816 Labourer Uny Lelant
THOMAS John s/o William and Jenefer 12 May 1822 Labourer Uny Lelant
I would expect one and possibly two further children before Jennifer so a look at IGI produces:-
Peter THOMAS s/o William & Jane bp. 01 May 1803
Unless there were others baptised elsewhere then I should think this completes the family.
With Peter being the first child it might suggest the name of William's father.
Through to 1833 there are no further children at Lelant for this couple.
From Phillimore & Taylor
William Thomas, lab. & Jane Uren married 20th January 1803
Following from the list of children I have done a search to try and identify William before I look at John Pearce.
IGI shows no William baptised at Lelant with a father named Peter so we may have to look elsewhere.
Now for John Pearce.
At the baptism of son John in 1832 John's occupation was shown as 'butcher' which should make things a little easier.
I have also located the family in the 1851 Census and he is indeed a butcher.
There seem to be only two possibilities for a baptism for John at Lelant around the right time.
John Stevens PEARCE bp. 25 Jan 1803 s/o James and Agnes
or
John PEARCE bp. 02 Aug 1807 s/o Henry and Alice
John Stevens PEARCE married Mary Ann POTTER at Lelant 3rd October 1829 so he can be eliminated.
That leaves us with the son of Henry and Alice and I already had this family in my database.
There are a couple of interesting points to make here.
Firstly, if John does belong to this family then he had at least two brothers and a father who were also butchers.
(I would not take this as any sort of proof however as there were a number of Pearce men from other families who were also butchers.)
But if John was from this family then his brother William married Ann TREWHELLA who was a sister to my 3xgt-grandfather.
The second thing to note is that neither Henry nor Alice were names used in John's family - apart, of course, from William Henry.
I tend to think that this is not the family and that, if born in Lelant, then he was baptised elsewhere. (Unless the IGI has missed the record.)
In 1861 the family is still at St Agnes only this time John states his birthplace as St Ives.
(This gives me a better idea of who he was but I will check 1871 first.)
BTW - His age is given as 56 and so is consistent with a birth of about 1804/5 which is another reason I do not think he was the son of Henry and Alice.
Another thing consistent with this family is that right through to 1871 his wife is recorded as 'Jenifer'.
But 1871 does produce some further food for thought.
John now has his birth place recorded as St Agnes and his age is now 64 where consistency would have made him 66.
The next plan of attack is to check IGI for any John Pearce born in Cornwall between about 1804 and 1808 and see what we find.
There is none at St Agnes so I think that entry was a case of the enumerator just placing "ditto" beside each name as he went down the Census Form.
There nearest possibility here was baptised in 1804 at Ludgvan s/o John and Christian. (bp. 17 Jun 1804)
1803 and 1807 are as far as I would be prepared to go:-
03 Jul 1803 St Ives - John s/o William and Ann
1807 only gives us the son of Henry and Alice as mentioned above.
Finally, out of desperation, I checked 1808 but the nearest
Have just been looking at the Census Records again and all is very consistent through 1851 and 1861.
I have been trying to re-check 1871 but have lost connection yet again.
However, I think it was also consistent, apart from John's age, with the ages of all in the household.
Now we come to 1881 which I can view from CD and things get more interesting/confusing.
John is still at St Agnes but is now aged 77 and is a widower with his birthplace again given as St Agnes.
Now he has only two children left residing with him.
Elizabeth, age 37 and William Hy, age 35.
The other notable difference is that John is no longer a butcher but is now, at age 77, a general labourer.
Need to do some more thinking on this one before we can truly identify John.
Best can do for now.
Ian
(This gives me a better idea of who he was but I will check 1871 first.)
