Hi Alli,
Thanks for this.
Yes I had seen it before. It was really the earlier period I was looking for. In fact, since posting the request I have made a lot of progress and found a number of leads in the Bristol area. I am going to have to get the BA-FHS Cd's on Bristol parish records.
What caught me by suprise is that Rachel Porter married John Brinton in 1819, and Rachel Porter married Robert Brinton in 1847.
Taking all the info I have together it looks as though William Porter married a Rachel (born 1783 in Gloucestershire) and they had at least two children; Mary Ann (b.1808) and Rachel (b. 1817), both born in Bath. He subsequently dies and his widow marries John Brinton in 1819 at Christ Church, Newgate, MDX. He lived in Bedminster, SOM at the turn of the 19th century (sons Thomas & Robert born there) and may have been the inn keeper at Waggon & Horses in 1798-9) .
In 1819, John Brinton was a widower himself and Robert Brinton, his son, was aged 16. Hence Rachel, the daughter of William Porter becomes Robert's step sister.
Robert Brinton marries a Ruth Fudge in 1822 (in Bedminster, SOM), and has two sons born in Bedminster, and two further sons born in St Luke, MDX. All identified in 1841 census, but Ruth is missing, assumed dead.
Rachel Porter is apparently adopted by John Brinton(?): Rachel "Brenton" marries Thomas Lewis on 18 Dec 1834 in St. George, Bristol. They have a daughter Phoebe, b. 1836 in Bath, but by 1841 Thomas Lewis appears to be dead, because we find Rachel Brinton (widow of Wm. Porter), Rachel Lewis (nee Porter) and her daughter Phoebe Lewis living at the same address in Holborn, MDX. (HO 107 Pc-686 Fo-29 Pg-18)
In 1847 Robert Brinton marries the widowed Rachel Lewis (nee Porter), i.e. his step sister.
Later the same year a son Robert Henry Brinton is born, and three years later (1850) a daughter Martha is born. In the 1851 census Robert, Rachel and Martha are found at 7 Breams Buildings, Holborn, MDX (HO 107 Pc-1512 Fo-146 Pg-38)whilst Robert's step mother, his son Robert and his wife's daughter Phoebe are found not far away at Norwich Court, Holborn, MDX (HO 107 Pc-1527 Fo-83 Pg-44) Different parish but less than a mile away.
Mary Ann Porter marries William Cheese in 1835 at St Giles, Cripplegate, MDX, and in the 1851 census they are found living at the same address as the twice widowed Rachel senior and her grandchildren Phoebe and Robert and also Mary Ann's son William (look at rest of household in HO 107 Pc-1527 Fo-83 Pg-44).
In 1855 Robert and Rachel had a son George, and by this time were living in Southwark.
By 1861 both Robert Brinton and his step mother Rachel are dead. Robert's widow, (i.e. Rachel's daughter), Rachel and her children were living at the same address as her sister Mary Ann and her family (William Cheese and son William) - see RG09 Pc-330 Fo-124 Pg-41 & 42 (Ancestry.co.uk give same reference but the Cheese family, Rachel and Phoebe are on the previous page to Robert and George)
By 1871 the sisters had gone their own ways, but Robert's widow remarries and we find a Rachel Dixey (born in Bath) married to George Dixey, a Phoebe Dixey (born in Bath) married to George's son Alfred, and Robert Brinton's son George Brinton all living at the same address in St Mary, Newington (RG10 Pc-618 Fo-107 Pg-10).
So it looks as though Rachel, the widow of William Porter, marries John Brinton, and her daughter Rachel marries his son Robert. Then in the next generation, Rachel, the widowed daughter of William Porter marries George Dixey, and her daughter Phoebe marries his son (or may be the other way round - haven't yet traced the marriage date)
Call me naive, but I did not expect that outcome! Hence my desire to trace the earlier history of William and Rachel Porter in Bath, particularly when William died and where they lived. Did his wife know John Brinton before she was widowed. I find it strange that daughter Rachel was born in Bath in 1817, but then widow Rachel was remarried in 1819 in London. Am I just merging two separate people with the same name into one? 2+2 = 5?
Regards,
Vic
