BLOOMFIELD Family

[Yi Win]

This is a copy of the post I put on the Blomfield's Stonham thread for Kriywan. It may help you......

Hi Kriywan,

IGI have her as Esther Bathe.

It is quite possible that neither were born in Benhall - you would probably need to try and get in touch with the Suffolk Records Office for a look at the parish records or see if anyone on the Suffolk Lookups here has the Benhall records - thier marriage record may have the birth location of each of them listed so that you can continue.

Unfortunately for you I do not have any Blomfield families listed in Benhall on my tree either as a birth or marriage location.

You could try and contact St Mary's church direct?

Thier children are also recorded on IGI as (not in DOB order)
William, Esther, Esther, John, Charles, Sarah, Mary, Hannah

all with surname varients of Bloomfield, Blumfield and mainly Blomfield.

I have however found this for you on another site....

link:-
http://www.family-forest.co.uk/familytree/groups/grpf00502.shtml

info...

John Bloomfield & Esther Batho

John Bloomfield
Born: 1768 in Benhall, Suffolk
Died: 1828 in Benhall, Suffolk
Wife: Esther Batho
Born: 12 AUG 1776 in Benhall, Suffolk
Died: 1857 in Benhall, Suffolk
Father: John Batho
Mother: Rachel Broom

Children
(M): John Bloomfield
Born: about 1796 in Benhall, Suffolk Spouses: Elizabeth Markham

(M): William Bloomfield
Born: about 1799 in Benhall, Suffolk Spouses: Susannah Wade

(F): Ester Bloomfield
(F): Hannah Bloomfield
(F): Sarah Bloomfield
(M): James Bloomfield Born: about 1822 in Halesworth, Suffolk, England
Spouses: Lousia ?
(F): Maria Bloomfield Born: 1815 in Benhall, Suffolk Died: 1839
(M): Charles Bloomfield
(M): William Bloomfield

If this is NOT your personal site then the Batho family is listed quite a way back.

There is a Stephen Blomfield in the area in 1668 mentioned in The National Archives...

Stephen Blomfield, Esq. of Gray's Inn   16 Oct 1668

If John indeed was born in Benhall then the Parish records should have his parents listed!

Clear as mud and probably doesnt really help you but may give you some ideas as to where to look and at this stage, sadly, you may have to part with a few quid to get yoru answers!

Suffolk Records Office does allow you to purchase sections in years so you dont have to buy the whole thing!

have fun
Yi
   

[Dave Francis]

Hi again Maggie

Pleased to see you have made contact with fellow researchers into the Bloomfield family.

Your original query was about James Bloomfield who was born about 1821 and who was born, according to two census records, in Halesworth.

His marriage certificate states that his father was called James. I also found a baptism record which strongly suggests that your James was the illegitimate son of Rachel Bloomfield. Findem has correctly pointed out that his father may actually have been called James Leder.

In the circumstances, I don't understand why you are linking him to John Bloomfield and Esther (Batho). What evidence is there to show that this couple were even related to him?

Dave

[Yi Win]

Hi Dave,

maybe Maggie saw the same link I did above

(M): James Bloomfield Born: about 1822 in Halesworth, Suffolk, England Spouses: Lousia ?

although the records I found on IGI (family search) did NOT indicate a son James.

This can be misleading as others often 'guess' or just 'add' thinking other peoples stuff is correct - not that I am saying this link isnt of course.

Maggie,

as for birth locations on census records - take them with a pinch of salt - they vary from census to census to the place the individual was born, to the place they grew up or the place they have lived in the longest - you have to remember people didnt think like we do now with proper locations and proper names - often a census would record a nickname of common use abreviation for the person and again names varied from census to census too.

It probably all sound very confusing at hte moment but you will ge there in the end and it will all have been worth it.

Yi

[Yi Win]

Hi,

having looked into Bloomfield records I would agree with Dave here and say that James Leder is the son of Rachel Bloomfield rather than John and Esther.

It is possible they lived in Benhall at some point hence the varients on the census records.

It is a known fact that when couples of illigitamte births got married a 'fake' fathers name was inserted along with deceased to brush over awkwardness - even my grandfather did this he used his first name and his mothers maiden name (his surname) and put father deceased on his marriage and this was in 1914!! I expect it's been going on a lot longer than last centurary!

Maybe she had the birth registered in Halesworth for ease, was sent there to have the child 'away' from home etc etc.

Maybe Rachel did hale from Benhall ormaybe she moved there after the birth.

Possibly the original parish records may say where the mother was from?

Hope that helps
Yi

[Yi Win]

only me again,

just another hint.

If you look up the mother Rachel she is listed as

'of' Halesworth - this usually denotes that she wasnt born there!
her birth is given as c1799

Hope that helps - again the original parish records may state a location for her under notes.

Yi

[Yi Win]

ah ha,

here we go looks like possibly the Esther link comes from the 1851 census which reads.....

James Bloomfield  Aged 29 born abt 1822 is the head of the household with wife    Louisa he was born in Halesworth and lived in 1851 in Benhall (hence later census stating Benhall perhaps as birth location)

His wife is Louisa Bloomfield aged   26 and the children are
Emma Bloomfield aged 4 and John Bloomfield aged 2

Esther Bloomfield here aged 75 is James' grandmother!!!

Robert Bloomfield aged 15 is also down as a grandson of Esther

Apart from James they were all born in Benhall and his wife in Knoddishall - he was a garden labourer.
   

HOWEVER

there's no daughter listed as Rachel for Esther and John! (so far!)

so we still have a bit of a mystery on our hands here!

Just for info Esther Batho's mother was called Rachel!

maybe the mothers name was a lie to cover up the illigitimate birth? used a middle name to register it? who knows!

Dont you just love a good mystery?

Yi

[Yi Win]

here are Esther & John's listed children:-

JOHN BLOMFIELD 8 SEP 1796 Benhall
ESTER BLOMFIELD  27 MAY 1798 Benhall (died)
WILLIAM BLOMFIELD  31 DEC 1799 Benhall
MARY BLUMFIELD 09 MAY 1802 Benhall
ESTHER BLOOMFIELD  06 NOV 1805 Benhall
HANNAH BLOOMFIELD 08 DEC 1807 Benhall
SARAH BLOMFIELD 21 JUL 1811 Benhall
CHARLES BLOMFIELD 10 MAY 1818 Benhall

maybe the actual parish records will hold a few extras that got missed from IGI (family serach)

like this one

MARIA BLOMFIELD born      Benhall 13 AUG 1815  Suffolk, England
she just comes up under world misc Benhall

for info there was a James Leader recorded as living in Benhall in 1824 of marriageable age because he married a Charlotte Wyard on 13 JUL 1824

This could be the father of Rachel's child James Leder Bloomfield - it was common for the illigitamate child to take the fathers surname as middle name.

They had a child (Sarah) born in October 1824 - do the maths - he was a little naughty!!! Perhaps not for the 1st time?

Still a mystery who Rachel was though - sorry!

Yi

[Yi Win]

Hi,

Yes you can see I am not at work today!

1861 census states birth location as "Hale Boorth" with the family still living in Benhall - a few more kids have arrived and if you read the hand written doc it's Halesworth.

Emma's middle name was Maria she and her parents were all labourers

in addition to son John you have sarah, william, charles and frederick

I have found the existance of a Rachel in Benhall for you - it doesnt state who's child she is but she seems to have had two illigitimate child both baptised in Benhall in 1822

The record reads
Mary Ann: Baptism:    31 Mar 1822 - Benhall
James: Baptism:    31 Mar 1822 - Benhall
Mother:    Rachel Blomfield

sort of ties it all up really to Benhall but - still leaves us with the mystery of James later being down as Esthers grandson!

So Rachel goes to Halesworth to have her child (or twins?) birth registered or to have the children born there - NOT uncommon for her to have gone to a relatives to have this happen in a different location

AND ......
looking into the records of Halesworth one Mary Blomfield married a Samuel Chilver in Halesworth in 1821!

could this Mary have been a sister to Rachel and be Esthers daughter Mary born Benhall 1802 or if not then a relation of Rachel's?

Logic says Rachel could have gone to her to have the kid(s) and then come back and had them baptised locally a little later on.

the records say Mary was not born in Halesworth - could the child Mary of Rachel's been called after this Mary?

There is also a Rachel in Benhall who got married in 1825 to a Joseph Godfrey on 18th March.

They had William 1825, Louisa 1828 and Charles 1839

The 1851 census has Rachel as born Benhall 1798 and living in Benhall with Joseph Godfrey 48 Louisa Godfrey    23 Charles Godfrey    13

Son James at this point is living with Grandma esther = perhaps she is a relative but not an actual 'grandma' but is called such.

It has been known in cenus's for and elderly relation living with them to be known as such purely because the family 'call' her grandma so it is put as such but the actual relationship is more distant.

Some cenus's do not distinguish between children and step children naming them all as the head of household's kids with his name and others call 'aunts' mum in cenus's -

I know this from my Blomfield family in the 1841/51/61 cenus's - it took 3 months of getting birth certificates to sort out which member was related to who by birth as the cenus records were all mixed up - grandsons were down as sons because they lived with the grandfather, aunts as mothers because the kids lived with the aunt  and the 3 illigitimate kids were fostered around between them all and down in every census with different parents.

It can get very confusing.

So it is most likely Esther is a relation of grandparents age but possibly not a direct grandparent or it is possible that Rachel is a 'missed' daughter.

However it is NOT uncommon when a lady marries that her previous kids are not wanted by the new husband and live elsewhere with other relatives.

PLEASE - remember these are my thoughts only!!!!! NOT FACT!

currently I cant trace any of them in the 1841 census!

Oh for info Joseph was born in Fornham, Devon(!!!) but I think it's picked up the previous 'ditto' on the handwritten doc and it's actually meant to be Fornham possibly near Bury St Edmunds - I think this because it also has Peasenhall as Devonshire and thats definitely near Benhall!!!

ok FINALLY - here they are - atrocious spelling but hey the scribes werent very literate at the time....

1841...

Joseph Gadfell  38, Rachel Gadfell    44, William Gadfell    15, Luezar Gadfell 13
Charles Gadfell 2

all snuggled up in Benhall!

bad transcribing the actually written word is GODFREE which is mis-typed to GADFELL

Also in 1841 there is a James down as son of Esther he is 15 and also there is a Robert aged 6 - this would tie in with the later census having both Robert and James as grandsons - as this is an early census I'd take the ages with a pinch of salt here!

On the typed census they are classed as sons but the handwritten one hasnt got them as a listed relation to Esther, who is a widow at this time.

James was already working as an ag lab which ties in with the later census's.

I would presume even if James may have originally stayed with his mum and her new husband that maybe it was preferable to live with a widowed elderly relative  than his mum and her new family at his age.

Anyway I think that 'sabout as much as I can come up with.

Rachel still bugs me ! Who is her mum and dad???

ah well cant win them all - PLEASE post if you find out who this lady is?

have fun - Yi

[pindy]

Just joined the roots chat site and amazed to find research of Benhall Bloomfields. My Grandmother's birth was registered Plomesgate in 1883 and born in Benhall. Ethel Maud, daughter of James and Harriet Bloomfield of Benhall.
Any help in finding the right parents for James or Harriet would be very helpful.

Pindy