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Hi - Here is my Major Boswell puzzle....

I share DNA with Cinemente Boswell, who has a birth entry stating that her father was Major Boswell and mother Lucy Boswell (West Markham, Nottinghamshire, in 1811). She later states on her marriage certificate that her father is John Vernon, but Lucy has remarried a John Vernon by then, so I think she just enters his name.

My direct line (Eliza) was born in 1812, a year after Cinemente.  I also share DNA with an Elijah Boswell, whose birth record is in 1798 - the same year that Major Boswell marries Lucy, which I don't think is a co-incidence.  His birth entry merely states he was a gypsy and does not mention any parental names.

Many people are calling Elijah 'Lazareth', as there is a birth entry for a Lazareth (Elijah is not noted as his name, but their are later entries on other documents for an Elijah Lazareth) to a Lucy Boswell and Viney Boswell. However, I believe that that is a different Lazareth, or Elijah Lazareth. There may be several Lucy's.

I am totally confused. The issue I have is this.....as several people have stated in this thread, and it seems to be generally stated, the story is that the Major Boswell who married Lucy Boswell, later married Mary Linyan/Linion. However, the births of the children do not match up. Major and Mary have children at the same time that Major and Lucy are having children, making it look like he kept swapping between wives. 

If anyone can shed anymore light on this puzzle, or have DNA information for any of these individuals, I would be very grateful if you could post on this thread. Thank you. 

Hi, I have just PM'd you with this message regarding:

Pickerings in Wrockwardine.

I have also been researching the Pickerings of Telford. It's my husband's line. However, my tree does not lead to the parents that you have identified as being Allen's (b.1803). I discounted Sarah Rigby as Allen's mother and placed him with another family. Allen moved to Kingswinford with his sister Priscilla and brother Thomas (who states he was born on 'Pains Lane', although christened Wombridge, which is the original name of what is now St Georges; and was the main road that now runs through it). I grew up about 3 miles from there. Allen calls his own daughter Priscilla, after his sister, and she appears on a census in Thomas' house. Allen's son, Thomas is also brought up by his (childless) brother Thomas.

I have his parents as Christopher (christened Wombridge, 1763, resident Wrockwardine) also called Kester and Hester on records) and Anne. Their children were:

John (died 1790)
Thomas (Christened 1798), who later moves with him to Kingswinford
Elizabeth (Christened 1801)
Allen (christened 1803)
Priscilla (christened 1806), who later moved with him to Kingswinford
Ann (christened 1809)

Lillishall is sometimes mentioned as being the area they lived or the parish they were christened in, but that was the name of the main parish, covering many of the churches in the West Telford area.
I discounted Sarah Rigby as Allen's mother, because her Allen was christened in 1809, and the other family seemed more likely as the sibling names matched.

Christopher (b.1763) parents were Christopher (Chrisstifild) and Jane.

It seems that the family originated from Wrockwardine village, which is quite far from the Pains Lane/Wrockwardine Wood area where Allen was later born. Allen's father was married at Wrockwardine village church. If you visit the church, you can see that is was a small rural village and many people used it as their family church, despite living in the 'working' districts on the other side of what's now known as Telford. Loads of the graves say ' ...of Wrockwardine Wood', or '...of Oakengates'.   

The trouble with the Pickerings in that there were loads of them. I've mapped out every single Pickering family I can find in Telford, as far as I can go, and it's a confusing web. I'm really struggling to match cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc once they grow up and produce their own families. Lots of Pickering families lived on the same streets (Pains Lane is mentioned a lot), even thought they do not seem to be connected. They are probably cousins. 

It's interesting that you share a DNA match with the Rigby family. Perhaps I am wrong, or perhaps there is another link? I'd be interested to hear of your research.
Thank you

Thank you for your website information, I look forward to taking a look. Now I have more information I will do some hunting and reply here at a later date. So far this is what I know:

Stephen's parents, Edward and Mary had the following children:
Stephen (1799), William (01.02.1802), Rhoda (02.04.1804) Thomas (27.07.1806), Mary (05.03.1809).
There are a couple of possible death dates for Edward. One was buried 17.12.1808 at Wombourne and the vicar notes he "burned to death with his clothes catching fire". If this is our Edward, his last child Mary was born a few months later. At the bottom of the page which contains Mary's christening entry it states "This page has been copied and sent to the courts". Maybe it needed to be seen as part of the inquest into Edward's death?
Alternatively, an Edward Underhill was buried in 1832 at Wolverhampton as well.

There is a rich Underhill family line who reside in Wolverhampton during this time (Tettenhall and some at Penn, maybe other locations). In census' they have servants. They are not connected with the canal families (maybe were at some stage, not sure).

Stephen and Sarah only had two children - Mary and Edward, so the rest he had with Hannah Northwood.
Mary married William Rushbury on 20th Nov 1843 at Tipton. They had five children: William, Sarah Ann, Mary, Mark, John. They were residing on Canal Street when Sarah Ann was born, but seems they lived in houses, moving from the Bradley/Bilston Area to the Bilston side of Wolverhampton. John is my GG Grandad and we have family memories. I think they were quite poor - a large family in small workers' terraced houses.

As I mentioned previously, Edward Underhill continued to live on the canals. He married a Mary who has more than 20 years younger than him and does not appear to have had children, but could have as he moved around so difficult to find all of the Census'.

I have just quickly looked to see if I can find anything out about Sarah (Stephen and Hannah's eldest). In 1841 Hannah (Widow) is living at Bratch, Wombourne with all of her own children except Louisa. There are two records for Banns being read for a Sarah Underhill and Benjamin New - at Trysull and Wolverhampton. Both are in September and either 1849 or 1850. They are resident "Canal Str". In the 1861 Census Sarah is a "Boatman's Wife", living at Bratch, Wombourne with their children Ann, David and Julia.

That's all so far! 

Hi Spellweaver, yes when Sarah died her two children were only 5 years and 1 year old.
I did not know that Stephen remarried. Thank you for that information. I descend from Stephen Underhill (GGGG Grandad) and Sarah, then his daughter Mary Ann (GGG Grandmother).

Did Stephen have children with Hannah do you know?

Hi Irish,

I am researching Ann Pickering's line (parents Allen and Susannah). Allen is from the Wrockwardine area in Shropshire. I have traced them back to the mid 1700s. If you would like to see what I've compiled, please inbox me.