Mary Jane Nicholas

[craig]

Mary Jane Nicholas marries William Chinn at Wesleyan Chapel, Copperhouse (now part of Hayle) on 7th March 1858.

Prior to being married they have a base born son, William Chinn Nicholas, who is buried aged 5 months at Phillack on 24th December 1857.

Mary Jane dies and is buried at Phillack on 4th January 1860, presumably as a result of childbirth or as a consequence thereof as a son, William John Chinn, is baptised at Phillack on 30th December 1859. (Not the happiest of stories this one!)

My query relates to tracing Mary Jane's parents and ancestors. I know from the marriage certificate that her father is William Nicholas and his occupation is recorded as cordwainer (shoe/boot maker I believe).

Reviewing census data and by process of elimination, I believe her parents to be William and Mary, who I have found in 1841 to 1871 census living at Gas Court or Lane Penzance.

I think William and Mary (nee Taylor) married at Madron on 3rd May 1823 - but this is a non proven assumption.

My questions:

1. Any confirmation of my assumption regarding Mary Jane's parents would be appreciated.

2. I'd welcome any information regarding parents (and other ancestors) of William and Mary - I have no information in this respect!

Thanks, Craig

[newlyn]

I've just had a quick dig around and I've found a William Nicholas born at Madron married a Mary who was born 1811 at Uny Lelant.
Their child Mary Ann was born 1840 in Ludgvan.

There was also a William born 1799 in Madron. Parents are John Nicholas b.1768 Gulval and Grace Baynard b.1766 Madron. They were married in Madron 25.9.1795. I can give you further details of this family and ancestors if you think these may be the ones.

The above two Williams may be the same one but i don't know.

I have also found a Walter Chin married Mary Ann Taylor in Phillack 2.3.1822.

[Cornish Terrier]

Craig - no luck so far I am afraid.

I cannot find Mary Jane in the 1841 or 1851 Census and I have tried a few options - but there can be no guarantee on how her surname may have been transcribed.

And I cannot seem to locate William either but it is possible he had died.

And I have checked St Erth, Phillack, St Ives, Lelant, Ludgvan and Madron.

The nearest I can find is the following baptism at Madron:-

10th January 1825 Mary Ann d/o William & Mary NICHOLAS of Penzance, shoemaker, private baptism

This 'could' be the right family but, if so, then Mary Ann died young (quite possible as it was a private baptism) and was later 'replaced' by Mary Jane.

Unfortunately this seems to be the only baptism for the family recorded at Madron.

If they remained in the area then any other children were probably baptised at Penzance for which I do not have the required records.

I also do not have Marriages for the right time at Madron to see if there is any further information for you.

You 'may' have the right marriage but ....

The one thing I did find at Phillack was the following marriage:-

13th November 1819 William NICHOLAS m. Mary RODDA

Again, no description and there appear to be no children baptised for this couple at Phillack or the other Parishes I have searched. (see above)

Probably need to get hold of Madron marriages to cover the 1823 event and see what further information there might be and also Penzance Baptisms to see if further children, including Mary Jane, may have been baptised there.

I am at a loss for the moment.

[craig]

Thank you both - I think we may need to go back to known facts here as I am having doubts about the Penzance/Madron family. (CT - family is in census data, although I'm finding the new ancestry search mechanism a nightmare! search Harriet bn circa 1838 nd you'll find the family).

Anyway, back to the known facts. I know:

1. Mary Jane is 28 at the time of marriage on 7th March 1858.
2. Her Father was called William and was a cordwainer. He was alive at the time of Mary Jane's marriage, as otherwise he would have been marked as "deceased" - as was William's Father.
3. Mary Jane's residence is recorded as Copperhouse at the time of marriage. William's residence is Church Farm, Phillack. I think it reasonable to assume Mary's is living with her family which is a major challenge to my previous assumption about the family being in Penzance at the time of the 1851 and 1861 census!).

I'm off to check the 1861 census for William Nicholas - hopefully in Copperhouse!

Any further thoughts welcome...

Craig

[Cornish Terrier]

Craig - I will look back in on this tomorrow. It is now 0530 hrs and I had forgotten we were due to go to Daylight Saving Time so lost an hour.

RE: new Ancestry search - you can change back to the old search screen if you wish.
I have closed out of Ancestry for now but there is something there that will allow you to change back.

Let me know if you can't find it and I will tell you how tomorrow once I have looked at it again.

[Cornish Terrier]

Craig - you should see a beige coloured menu bar at the top of your Ancestry screen.

To the right there should be a long button entitled "Switch back to old search experience".

Should be able to just click on that and you should be okay.

It took me a couple of times to do it to convince the darned system I only wanted the old search experience - but it seemed to understand in the end. ;D

[Cornish Terrier]

BTW - if you are not quite back where you want to be then just click on the HOME button at the top left side of the Ancestry screen and you should get back to the old familiar Home Page.

[craig]

Thank you CT - it seems to be working how I like it now!