CHINERY Family History

[OldBrummie]

I have the marriage record from St. Martin's Birmingham Parish Records for Thomas Chinery and Mary Wright 11th March 1776.   We know from Thomas' death record that he was born c 1752.   There is, to the best of my knowledge, no record of his birth in or near Birmingham and we believe he migrated from another part of England, possibly Norfolk or Suffolk. Extensive searches have failed to prove who he was or where he came from.
May I ask if it is at all possible to determin from the Parish Records (or any other source) who his parents were and or where he came from.
An answer might just stop the rest of my hair from falling out.
Many thanks.     OldBrummie.

[jim1]

The Parish record states he's "of this Parish" but he would only have to be resident for 3 weeks.There are no family members as witnesses & his 6 children all have pretty common names so there's nothing outstanding to hook onto I'm afraid.

jim

[OldBrummie]

Many thanks Jim. I take it from your reply that there isn't even an address on the record.
Would you know if there might be any other types of records I might follow up.

OldBrummie

[jim1]

Depending on what sort of family they were there may be a will but that would be unlikely to mention any parents or place of birth.
There's nothing on the marriage entry other than "of this Parish".
It appears I missed out 4 children.
It looks like a dead end I'm afraid.

jim

[ciderdrinker]

Don't give up hope.Try other more obscure records.
Birmingham has rate books of the city for this date which would give his location and profession.If on previous years there was another Mr Chinnery at the same address,chances are they are related.Even knowing the proffession could give you access to occupational records that may help.
Poor law records might give you details of his family earlier even if born elswhere and moving to the town.In theory if a man moved from elsewhere he needed a settlement certificate to give to the new parish in case he claimed poor relief.It may have survived,you never know.
If you can trace possible parents then look at their wills,Birmingham will be at Lichfield Record office indexed by year and letter.So look up C for the period and check the possible wills ,they may have left something to son Thomas.
The family could be quaker or non-conformists marrying in the area but not baptising at the anglican church.There is a meeting house on Bull Street which goes back to th 1700's.
Then you have things like apprentice records.There is a national tax  on apprentices at this time,list on line at Ancestry.
Chinnery surname map distribution 1881 says the name came from Suffolk,Norfolk,Essex and London .A few others in Warwickshire,Yorkshire and lancashire are probably from one person moving there.Are there possible baptisms on the IGI that would fit and can you trace a will for those parents?
They may be at the National Archives or even London signatures database rather than locally.It's a big job but can turn up trumps.
I tracked down my John Widlake spitalfields to a family of tailors in Minehead thanks to a will at London signatures of his mom and dad in Minehead.
Keep going
Ciderdrinker

[OldBrummie]

Many thanks Ciderdrinker. There's certainly a lot to considder. We have almost come to the conclusion that Thomas Chinery most probably came from Suffolk. It's proving it that is difficult. I will take on board your advice. I am locked into findmypast at the moment and can't currently access ancestry. Plus, much as I would like to do some "footwork" it's a bit difficult from New South Wales, Australia.
We will battle on though.
Regards,   OldBrummie.

[smudwhisk]

There is a good chance Thomas Chinery came from Suffolk, there are enough there!!  We've three generations of Thomas' in the 1600s, and are still struggling to work out the siblings of that family as there are so many of the same names. 

It's probably worth looking at the pattern of children's names which may not necessarily be connected to the wife's family, and perhaps work from there.  Even if they are common names, some of these do run in families more than others.  We've been lucky with George and Henry running through, just trying to work out who belongs to who has been the issue.

As ciderdrinker has said, you'll probably need to do some creative researching to work this one out.

[OldBrummie]

Hi Smudwhisk.  I know well the problems you describe. Just looking for Thomas Chinerys wife Mary Wrights birth has proved just as difficult. Using Warwickshire (we assume she was born in or near Birmingham) as a base I got in excess of 4600 entries on familysearch.org. I gave up after looking at over 280 of them and selecting some 25 possibles in or close to Birmingham in the period 1745-1755.

You haven't by any chance found a lone Thomas in your searches born c1752 who you have been unable to follow up? Suffolk does seem most likely though we have one prospect in Uttoxeter.

OldBrummie

[smudwhisk]

Hi OldBrummie

Unfortunately we're not that far forward yet!  My last direct Chinery married out of the family in 1699 and it's taken us a while to confirm who her parents were.  Now trying to piece the family together so you never know.  We have a William Ray in Birmingham who migrated from Norwich, however he would appear to have dropped his middle name after marrying and so far have no idea what happened to him from the mid-1840s so I know how you feel!