Henry Gasson of Charlwood birth lookup please

[banana54]

Hi, I'm wondering if anybody can help me in tracing the birth/baptism of my 4x great grandfather, Henry Gasson, born in Charlwood c 1785.
I did find a record in the IGI indexes, but it was submitted by a member - & I've learned to my cost not to trust those unless it has accompanying source information, which of course this one didn't.  'If' that record is correct, then Henry's parents were John Gasson & Anne Mitchell, & I'm hoping some kind person can confirm or amend those details for me.

Many thanx in advance

[Valda]

There is a Prerogative Court of Canterbury will for a John Gasson of Charlwood.

Will of John Gasson, Farmer of Charlwood, Surrey 04 February 1801 PROB 11/1353

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/power-search.asp?searchType=powersearch


Regards

Valda

[banana54]

Many thanx for that Valda.
I've gone cross-eyed transcribing that will (ah well, there was nothing on telly tonight anyway  ); this would indeed seem to be the John Gasson who was married to Ann - probably Ann Mitchell, as one of the executors was an Edmond Mitchell. 
Unfortunately it doesn't give me definitive proof that these are the parents of Henry, as only the children of John's first wife, Elizabeth, are named individually. As far as his children with Ann go, it just says 'all children I have and shall have by Ann my now wife'; but, the will was written in 1786, by which time at least the first two (and possibly Henry too) had already been born, so I'd have thought he'd have mentioned them by name too .....

[Valda]

Very young children don't tend to get named in wills as infant mortality was high and children might die and successors might bear the same name or slightly different names.

Death Duty Registers held at The National Archives (the online index doesn't cover PCC wills) might give you further information.

TNA research guide 'Death Duty Registers from 1796'

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=107

'From 1796 legacy, succession and estate duty ('death duties') were payable on many estates in England and Wales over a certain value. This value changed over time. As the scope of estate duty was extended throughout the nineteenth century, so more people were included. Before 1805, the registers cover about a quarter of all estates:....The registers in IR 26 between 1796 and 1903 include information not found elsewhere. They show what happened to someone's personal estate (not freehold) after death; and what it was actually worth, excluding debts and expenses. They can give the name of the deceased, with address and last occupation, the date of the will, the place and date of probate, the names, addresses and occupations of the executors, and details of estates, legacies, trustees, legatees, annuities and the duty paid. They can also give the date of death, and information about the people who received bequests (beneficiaries), or who were the next-of-kin, such as exact relationship to the deceased. Tax was not payable on bequests to people within a closely defined family circle, and as a result the family relationship was often noted in the registers. In 1796, tax was not payable on bequests to offspring, spouse, parents and grandparents. In 1805, the exemption was restricted to spouse and parents. From 1815, only bequests to the spouse were exempt from paying tax. Because the registers could be annotated for many years after the first entry, they can include information such as dates of death of spouse; dates of death or marriage of beneficiaries; births of posthumous children and grandchildren; change of address; references to law suits, cross references to other entries, etc.'


Regards

Valda

[banana54]

Death Duty Registers held at The National Archives (the online index doesn't cover PCC wills) might give you further information.

So of course it was a Canterbury one; but thanx anyway Valda, you've given me some valuable info which I may be able to use in future searches - not that I'm expecting many of my rellies to have written wills, as in a couple of generations the family apparently descended from a farmer with in excess of £500 to bequest, to plain old ag labs   

[davidtreb]

I have recently come across your enquiry.  Although this was a few months ago, I see that you do not appear to have received any firm answer.
Since my local library (at Horley) has a transcript of the Charlwood register, I have been in there and had a look for you.  This appears to confirm what you have provisionally assumed -

11.2.1786 = Henry Gasson baptised (parents Jn and Ann).
Siblings I found are Edw. (Gaston) 1782, Jas. 1784, Tho. 1788 and Sam. 1790, all to parents Jn and Ann.

Also at Charlwood -
13.7.1782 = Jn Gaston, widower, married Ann Mitchell.

I was not able to find christenings or burials at Charlwood for John or Ann, or John's first marriage - though I do notice that the IGI has a christening of an Ann Mitchell in 1759 at Worth, which although in Sussex, does just about touch Charlwood.  (I am speaking of the ancient parishes, of course - nowadays you have Crawley and Gatwick in between!).

Hope this is of some interest.
David.

[banana54]

Hi David, I have actually made some progress since I posted my original message.  Ann Mitchell was John Gasson's third wife: he married Elizabeth Todman in 1744, & Elizabeth Head in 1769 - at first I thought that I had simply misunderstood the meaning of his will, but eventually pieced together the fact that he was referring to two different Elizabeths (the first of which he apparently did not like, as he left the children of that marriage only one shilling each, whereas those he had with Elizabeth Head got several pounds each!).

I suppose that the Ann Mitchell you found 'could' be the correct one: since she had her last child in 1791 (I found another one, Jinty, also baptized at Charlwood, on the Surrey baptism CD) she certainly couldn't have been born any earlier than around 1740/45, but 1759 would fit better with the age at which a woman might first get married; however, this would mean a massive age difference between she & her husband - at least 30 years bearing in mind that John first married in 1744, & perhaps an even greater difference if the one possiblity I've found for him is correct (John Garston, b. 1715 Charlwood). 
I would feel a lot happier about 'your' Ann Mitchell being the correct one if only her father's name had been Edmond, but bearing in mind John's probable age, perhaps this Edmond was Ann's grandfather rather than her father?  I've just been looking at the Worth baptisms on the Sussex fam history grp data archive, where I found Ann Mitchell (baseborn) to mother Ann Mitchell in 1780; so perhaps our Ann was a bit wayward, & her grandfather persuaded his old friend John Gasson to marry her before she brought any more shame on the family?!!
 
Incidentally, you may be interested to know that I had a fair bit of luck in tracing the fortunes of some others of John & Ann's children: Samuel farmed 119 acres at Lyons Farm, Isflield, & Edward 200 acres at Rowley Farm, Charlwood - the farmhouse is still there, & seems to be sandwiched between an industrial estate & one of the runways at Gatwick Airport!

Anyway, many thanx for going to the trouble of looking that up for me; if you get any further inspiration I'd be glad to hear of it.