Foreman Shillbottle-Felton-Brainshough

[WolfieSmith]

A couple of baptisms at the Pottergate Dissenters Chapel Alnwick.

August 29 1769. John, son to William Foreman, Weaver in Shilbottle.
March 14 1773. William, son to William Foreman. Weaver in Shilbottle.

No sign of a Jane.

The number of baptisms in the register drops in the later 1770's so maybe the congregation moved elsewhere. 13 in 1771. 8 in 1772. 9 in 1773. 12 in 1774. 7 in 1775. 5 in 1776. 8 in 1777. 4 each in 1778, 1779 and 1780. 5 each in 1781 and 1782. They also jump around and have big gaps, so maybe some were just missed. 1779's 4 entries go January, December, July, June.

Alan.

[Elenor]

Bon voyage, Craclyn!

I visited the Melrose (Roxburghshire) and Alnwick areas back in the mid-eighties, and I loved them. They felt familiar to me, sort of like Mendocino County in California with the ocean, trees and general stunning beauty. Well, I suppose that Roxburghshire is a bit more like Sonoma County with its rolling hills; anyway, I could happily live there.

As to Foremans, alas they abound, but it's hard to pin mine down. Don't bother much with them, though I am curious about the possible Johnson connection, ephemeral as it is. (There were Johnson's at or near "Walk Mill" on the Coquet, and Jane Foreman was called the "bonny lass of Coquet-side," so ... she must have lived near that stream, at any rate, and in or near Brainshaugh ....)

Report back!

Patricia

[Elenor]

Hi Alan,

This is where a time machine would come in handy. I could zoom back there and invite all the local Foremans to tea and sort them out. Pin them down. Grill them.

I saw those listings some years ago (though I'm grateful that you've brought them back to my attention, because I have better ways of sifting through them now). Foreman was a somewhat common name in the area, and so was William, but ... that doesn't mean that the William(s) you've listed are irrelevant.

How to know?

For one thing, given that Shilbottle is closer (I think) to Felton and Warkworth, why would the baptisms have been held in Alnwick? Family connections, I assume. Or, perhaps 1769 preceded the presence of a Dissenters' church in Shilbottle? That might be true; again, I don't know.

My Foremans were definitely weavers, or at any rate William Foreman/Forman (Jane's likely father) was listed here and there as a "stocking weaver" or "hosier."

But if he re-married in Perth, had he travelled from Perth to Shilbottle to marry Jane? Or had he brought Jane to Shilbottle?? Or were all of those weavers travelers???

A time machine, or a good family Bible, or a sheaf of old correspondence is needed here.

Patricia

[Craclyn]

I donīt think Shilbottle and Felton had non-conformist churches. I believe the Presbyterian church in Warkworth opened in the early 1800s.

[DEMil]

Hi. 

If you're still there, thank you for sharing the information re Jane Foreman. I read this with interest while trying to fill some gaps and reconcile some confounding information. A photo presumably of Jane Foreman Bell is posted in ancestry.com, and I was curious to find that is her or most likely her.
Elenor's post with the transcribed inscription seems to make sense, so thank you. 

I am a Bell, descended from Robert Bell and Jane Foreman Bell. Their son Joseph Bell was my gg-grandfather.  Most of my Bell relatives first cousins and their families are in western Washington state, where my grandparents settled early last century.  I have a cabinet he made, handed down through the family and a cousin has a desk and chair also made by him.  My g-grandfather Dr. Robert Bell, from Alnwick, brought it to America with him when he immigrated to Boston, MA in 1851, as presented on my grandfather's 1916 U.S. passport application. I did not know my family's Alnwick connection until after I returned from a backpacking trip through the UK years ago, and my grandfather asked after I returned if I had gone to Alnwick, and then he proceeded to tell me that some of my gg-grandfather's cabinetry and wood work is in one of the church's there. I don't know which one.

Except for William Foreman, Jane's father, it seems there is little verifiable information for Jane Foreman's family, but I see that the last discussion ended sometime in 2014.  Any luck in finding more information since?

Anyhow, thank you for the information. --Denise
   

[Elenor]

This is a pretty spotty thread, Denise! Back and forth, once every four years or so, ha ha.

But I know I've corresponded with you somehow, somewhere, in the past. My account on Ancestry is OldBorders; maybe there?

I'm 90% certain of the Forman connection in Glasgow, though I wish someone else would pick it apart with a critical eye. Hard to find anyone interested enough to do so. If the Dr. Forman was indeed Jane Foreman's (younger, half-) brother, he was, according to an article about him or perhaps an obituary for him, "raised as a Wesleyan." So, nonconformist from tip to toe. And probably why we can find no records for Jane. That family probably attended prayer meetings in a private home.

Anyway, it's been interesting to visit here this evening for the first time in seven years! I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this site and its people.

P.