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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cornwall => Topic started by: Artognou on Friday 29 May 15 14:16 BST (UK)
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Hi everyone,
My 3rd great grandmother was Mary Ann Symons, I know that her birth range was roughly about 1811 - 1817, I have had a lot of problems pinning her down since the start of my research.
In 1835, she married my 3rd great grandfather, John Richard Foot, in Mylor.
Between 1836 and 1842, they had four children, Richard Marshall Foot, John Henry Foot, and Mary and Elizabeth. There was a tradition in the family to name (usually) the firstborn after both grandfathers, paternal, then maternal in that order, in this case, Richard was the oldest, but named after an uncle of John R Foot and John Henry Foot took the grandfather's names, should my suspicions here be correct.
Sometime between 1842 and 1849, John sr has disappeared, possibly a sea death, but I've never found anything at all in regards to his disappearance/death.
Mary Ann then married (presumably) William Brooks and had two further sons, the youngest of whom, was born in Essex.
The problems I have had with Mary Ann is on the census records, the information given is as follows;
1841, living in Mylor, Cornwall, b.of this county, aged 25.
1851, now living in Brightlingsea, Essex, b.Falmouth, aged 38.
1861, Brightlingsea, b.Flushing, aged 49.
1871, Brightlingsea, b.Flushing, aged 56.
1881, Brightlingsea, b.Crediton, Devon!!, aged 65.
She died in Brightlingsea in 1890, the age given on the parish record I have from the Seax website is 77.
As you can see, there are quite a few inconsistencies here and has made any searches very problematic indeed.
If anyone can help me solving this, I would be ever so grateful,
Many thanks in advance,
Alex.
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Not sure what it is you are looking for do you want to go back in time ? or forward ?
the following may be of interest a baptism in St.Gluvias of a Mary Ann Symons parent
Joseph and Joanna the father a labourer of Penryn. Both St. Gluvias and Penryn are near
Mylor where a marriage took place 12.3.1836 of John Richard Foot and Mary Ann Symons
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Hi Jane,
Many thanks for your reply,
I do apologise, I probably got carried away with the details and forgot to mention the proper meaning of the post!
I am looking at going back, rather than forward, it's trying to work out who her parents might be that's been the proverbial thorn in my side for a while now.
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no Symons witnesses to the marriage to help with family.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fdm/
Map of parishes so you can see how close Falmouth, Flushing & Mylor are
http://www.cornwall-opc.org/MAPS/parish_map.pdf
Ages for those over 15 on the 1841 census were meant to be rounded down to the nearest 5, so showing as 25 in 1841, 38 in 1851, 49 in 1861 & age at death in 1890 of 77 are pretty close. It's just 1871 & 1881 that don't quite match. Also, people are quite likely to give the nearest large place as their place of birth if they are living at some distance, as the smaller place might not be recognised by people.
The first child of William & Mary Ann was baptised in Mylor 28 March 1850 abode noted as Flushing.
His birth was registered so
William Brooks march qtr 1850 Falmouth vol 9 pg 87
It may be interesting to know how Mary Ann styles herself. Should be formerly Symons, late Foot.
;)
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Hi Osprey, many thanks, that is a great help - not just for this, but for a few other of my Cornish lines too that seem to have been causing me some difficulties :)
I shall order those certificates as soon as I can, hopefully that might give some insight into all this.
It's a shame there doesn't appear to be a marriage for her and William Brooks, that would solve the mystery for sure!
I shall take into account the aforementioned Joseph and Joanna as well, that seems, location-wise, to be one of the few probable candidates!
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possible baptism in Falmouth to parents Joseph & Martha
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NB7X-NM4
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Thanks for this Osprey, I had a look into that this morning (apologies for the very late reply - computer gremlins!), if that's her, then I'm wondering if her parents were from elsewhere, there doesn't seem to be a marriage for them in Cornwall, or she's illegitimate - I know that the Falmouth records/transcripts are fairly non-descript on familysearch.
Would it be an issue about the spelling of the name?
I know Symons might be pronounced differently from Semmens.
Or am I looking too much into things? (which has hindered me before!)
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Did you notice a JOHN Symons Marriage the same year on that link.
Possible Brother?
Marriage of John SYMONS/Jane CORYLON, 25 Feb 1836, St Melorus, Mylor
(FreeREG)
Burial;
JANE Symons, 23 March 1836 same Church age 24, abode Mylor Bridge
JOHN/ELIZABETH Symons Baptise same Church;
MARY CARLYON Symons and WILLIAM Symons, 5 Oct 1845
JOHN CARLYON Symons, 19 Sept 1847
JOSEPH MANNELL Symons, 23 Dec 1849
WILLIAM FRANCIS Symons, 28 Dec 1851
Fathers Occp Butcher
1851 Census John Symons is born c 1811 Mylor
I cant pin down 2nd Marriage to see if I can find his Fathers name/occp
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Ok, maybe not her Brother.
Marriage is on CornwallOPC;
John SIMMONS, Widower, Butcher, Father JOHN Simmons, Gamekeeper
Looks like he may have married his Sister in Law, Elizabeth Carylon!
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Not sure if you have this Child?
Baptisms
St Melorus, Mylor
BROOKS, Parents WILLIAM/MARY ANN
SARAH ANN Brooks, 17 July 1848, Father a Waterman, abode Flushing, buried 3 Sept 1848 age 8wks
WILLIAM Brooks, 28 March 1850, Father a Mariner, abode Flushing
(FreeREG)
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I have never come across Sarah before, thankyou so much Trish, this gives me a good narrowing down as to when John died, or indeed, what actually happened to him and the general period of when Mary Ann and William Brooks married/got together!
I think this will be a very slow process, this little mystery, but a challenge is always good :)
Thankyou once again.
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Good morning,
I have been meaning to resurrect this post for a while, I've made several interesting developments this year in regards to John Richard Foot and Mary Ann's parents.
I ordered the marriage record of their second born son, John Henry Foot in 1862 and John Sr is listed as deceased, so that gives me a definite and separate M.O.
I contacted the Cornish record office and I ordered the birth/baptism record for Mary Ann Symons/Semmens from 1813, Falmouth, parents Joseph and Martha.
There is something unusual with their specific entry, every other couple and their respective child have their abode listed, whereas the only one not listed happen to be the people I'm looking for, Joseph is recorded as a soldier.
Would this possibly mean that they weren't of the area?
Any help and suggestions are always very much welcome,
Many thanks in advance,
Alex.