Perplexed by Phoebe...

[angelfish58]

Hi Michael, sorry, the NBI is the National Burial Index, very useful so far as it goes but there isn't full coverage either of dates or places, a new version is just out however.

I've been looking at the One World Tree (granted not that reliable) and the couple of entries that include Edward Henry Bowman have his wife as Phoebe Hovells, FreeBMD however has an entry DecQ1854 Newcastle Upon Tyne which includes Edward Henry Bowman and Phoebe Burns, could she be a Phoebe Hovells Burns*, i.e. possibly Phoebe's niece or did your Phoebe knock 15 years off her age?

* She's Phoebe Hovells Burns bap 26 Dec 1836, All Saints, Newcastle daughter of John Burns & Ann

[Quinlyn]

Hi,

The Phoebe I am looking for was baptised (according to the Family Search website) on 8 April 1821, at Belton, Suffolk to parents Henry Hovels and Phoebe (nee Powell).  Her parents were married in Newcastle (in 1812), so they could have been visiting relatives when young Phoebe decided to make her entrance into the world...  Phoebe Hovells Burns must be some relative; perhaps one of Phoebe's brothers or sisters had a child called Phoebe (she had a number of brothers and sisters).  Phoebe had her daughter in 1841, so this couldn't have been her - although I am intrigued at the connection...especially as she was baptised at Newcastle upon Tyne.  It would seem that the family were quite fascinated by the name 'Phoebe', they seem to have them in every generation on my family chart.  It hasn't made the search any easier really, especially when some of the census information is not that accurate.

Thanks for all of your efforts Angelfish58...you are very kind.

Kind regards,
MQN

[JayG]

The other Pheobe's may not be related.  I've got several Phoebe's in my tree born 1820 - 1830's & have seen several other namesakes, none of which are related to my tree.

Jay

[JayG]

Forgot to say the Phoebe's death my not have been registered.  I've got 2 early death of direct rellies that weren't, i've only managed to kill them off by finding their burials.

Jay

[Quinlyn]

Hi JayG,

Thanks for your message.

If her death has not been registered: would the best thing to do would be to do as you have done and visit the nearest graveyards to where the family were living?  I could look at the census and see where the nearest placed graveyard or churchyard was and go from there.

There is no one on that side of the family that I can ask, unfortunately, so my options are becoming very limited.

Thanks,
Michael

[angelfish58]

Hi Michael, I think burial records rather than churchyards, if your family are anything like mine then headstones are very thin on the ground. There are bishops transcripts online at

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.htm

click on browse record collection, then Europe, then Durham Bishops Transcripts. They're not indexed so you have to trawl through. (Some Newcastle records are under Durham and some under Northumberland)

Phoebe is certainly proving tricky to find after 1841, I'm running out of ideas of where to look, not giving up yet though as she has to be somewhere 

Barbara

[Quinlyn]

Hi Barbara,

That is a very good point - never thought of that.  Seeing as Phoebe's last place (on the census, that is), is South Moor, I have contacted someone who may have some burial records that might be helpful.  That was a very good idea of yours.  The other relatives I have looked for in cemeteries and graveyards have never been found (many of my relatives would probably not have been able to afford the gravestones - sadly).  I will let you know if I manage to get any information about the burial.  Jennifer and myself have been reading through all the messages again during my lunch hour - we are very grateful for all of the help we have received.

We have had a good look at that link you sent - it's fascinating to see the actual originals.  We looked under Lanchester and found records for South Moor, but there seems to be a great big chunk missing after 1841...which then goes to 1855.  Thwarted again...but having said that we have found a lot of other records - so thanks for that...a real find.

You are right about Ms Hovells being difficult to find; I have a good many relatives who are telephoning me and asking me if I have found 'Our Phoebe' yet.  It would be nice to think there was a happy ending to her story - that we might just stumble across...

Thanks again; I will let you know if I find anything (fingers crossed).

Michael

[angelfish58]

I can't believe I forgot www.durhamrecordsonline.com  Burial records for Holy Trinity, Southwick from 1844 are on there so Phoebe Snr shows up but there is that gap between the 1841 census and 1844.
If you do a search with no forename and just Hov% in the surname for all records all districts you get quite a lot of Hovell records. If you haven't used it before it's pay per view but you can cheat by using it to at least find the year you want and then go back to the Bishops Transcripts.

Barbara

[Quinlyn]

Good morning Barbara,

Thanks for that link; I did what you mentioned and saw the list of Hovells' coming up, including Phoebe.  Do you think that if I paid for the information that they may have any information about her death?  I noticed that you can e-mail the site and I wondered if that was an option - to find out if they have the information first.  I went back to the Durham transcripts for Lanchester but after 1841 there seems to be a gap until 1855.  Jennifer mentioned that she might go to see the records and see if there was anything there that she could find out.

You have been an enormous help.

Kind regards,
Michael