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Thanks very much for your efforts. I've been a little lost without it.

Barbara I could kiss you! After all this time and effort this feels like winning the pools. Thank you so much for coming through for me. My friend and his mum will be thrilled when I tell them that we have unlocked this family mystery.

They told me that their family once was Broad-Read and that there had been a schism leaving Broads and Reads separately. With the info we now have, I think it is safe to hazard the guess that the split came when John Broad-Read remarried, leaving behind the children from his first marriage, at least one of whom wound up in the workhouse if memory serves.

Guess I have some work to do now, pulling it all together for them, then taking a proper look at his parents.

Thanks again, you are an absolute star 

I now have the two potential marriage certs in front of me.

The 1854 marriage to elizabeth chapman, has John Broad, a quarryman, son of William Broad, quarryman

The 1863 marriage to Mary Jane Thomas has John Broad Read (widower), labourer, son of William Read, labourer.

So I don't think that provides any help in linking them together.

However whilst the 1841 census has a few possible hits to choose from, running a search of ancestry with the terms John Broad Read born 1827-31 came up with just one good hit for 1851 and 1861, the family you had already identified. I have located them in 1841 and their son John is not at home, so could be any of the other 1841 hits.

I am becoming convinced that we are on the right track, but how do we explain the father's name on the certs being different? It would be very helpful to locate the marriage of William Broad (or Read!), born approx 1806 and Mary, born approx 1811, but so far I have had no luck.

I had thought that perhaps John was born before the marriage of his parents.  Not sure whether that fits in this case.

I can't see a marriage of a William Broad to a Mary Read on Cornwall opc or on the IGI. However the 1851 census indicates that Mary was born in Devon so maybe the marriage took place in her parish?

Barbara

The place of birth is given as North Petherwin, which is covered by the Cornwall OPC, but which doesn't seem to have doumented marriages prior to 1837. So I think that is a dead end for now.

Hello Roadshow

Like you, I can't find a John Read that fits the bill before 1871.

I do wonder whether we should be looking for a John Broad instead.

I note that he consistently gives his birthplace as Week St Mary and that on a couple of the censuses he is noted as a Stone Labourer or similar.

Looking at the 1851 census there is a family in St Teath with a suitably aged John Broad born in Week St Mary - parents William and Mary.  William and John are both shown as Stone Sawyers. The ref is HO107 1898 f 276 (NB check the index for Bread rather than Broad!).

No idea at the moment why he should have added Read onto his name but I think it would be worth checking him out in the other censuses. 


Barbara

Ah, how clever to think John B Read might be transcribed as John Bread!

Now this is interesting, because the family you have identified is the family who had the child John Broad I described in my original post. They also had a child Melony/Mellony and I had done searches using her name too, in the hope of spotting if this was the right chap, but of course she was also wrongly transcribed.

It strikes me that if you were John Broad and somebody seeing it written had believed you were John Bread, it might not be beyond the realms of possibility that they might think you were John B Read? And asking what the B stood for, Broad, you'd become John Broad Read. I know it's stupid, but it has a certain appeal.

The marriage is appealing too, but how to be sure it's our bloke? I've found it (or at least the banns) on the Online Parish Clerk site, which gives date 12 Feb and their residence as St Teath, but no names of parents or witnesses.

Many thanks for the assistance thus far.