missing Black Country burial in 1852: Methodist? CofE?

[DaleB]

I am trying to find the burial record for Hannah Braden (surname also spelled Breathen) who died 11 Jan 1852 in Tipton.  She was a widow on parish relief according to the 1851 census.  The census says she resided on Hall St, but didn't indicate which parish this was.  In any case, I found no burial record for her in the register of St Martin, or in All Saints, Sedgley, or St James in Lower Gornal, or St Thomas Dudley (where her husband was buried) or Christ Church, Coseley. 

As far as I know there were no public cemeteries operating in the Black Country at this time.  Is this true? 

She might have been Methodist, but most of the Methodist registers at this time don't contain any burials as far as I know.  Did Methodists at this time bury their dead in their own burial grounds but not bother recording such events, or did they not in fact bury their dead at all but leave it to the Anglican churches to deal with?  I know that Methodists eventually got their own burial grounds, but maybe in 1852 none of the ones in the Black Country had them.

If Hannah was in fact Anglican, but wasn't buried in neighboring parishes of Tipton, how far away could she have been shipped for burial, given that she didn't have any money?  I did search FreeREG, but at the moment it doesn't have any burial info for her anywhere in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, or Worcestershire, in Anglican or non-conformist churches.

I suppose she could have been buried at St Martins but the burial just wasn't registered.  Is that the most likely scenario?  Can anybody suggest a more likely alternative?

best wishes to all,
Dale

[weste]

The west brom Methodist church on the high street has burials and  some are from further afield. These are on freereg though. Been you have the date,have  you got the death cert saying where she died? Sounds like you are going to  have to go through the surrounding areas as well. Could she have remarried? Could she have been buried with parents?
I need to go through tipton records to sort my sister in laws lot out but  I've got those parishes amongst others to consider! I'll keep my eye open.
Another thing to consider is if she died in an infirmary /workhouse because they would probably have arrangements with certain burial places.

[weste]

 
I don't know whether any church records haven been lost over the years .Just seen the cert info on freereg. Not sure where upper green is. One thought is St. Peter's greets green ,goes as West Bromwich. Not sure when the registers go from. I will look up a grave reference for a rel of mine at some point and can look yours up at the same time if it's got records from that far back.

[dawnsh]

The top of the census page for 1851 shows she was in the parish of Tipton.

If she was receiving parish relief a the time of her death then I would expect the parish to have taken responsibilty for her burial.

You should try and get to see the actual parish registers for January 1852, not rely on transcriptions where an error or omission may have occured.

The registers have been deposited at Staffordshire Records Office.

http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/contact/sro/home.aspx

According to your profile, you may not be able to make a day trip.

It might be worth asking them if they can do one look-up for you as you have her date and place of death.

[DaleB]

Thank you for your swift replies.

Hannah died less than a year after the 1851 census, at the age of about 89, so she probably didn't remarry or move into a workhouse, though the latter is a possibility since she was poor.  Although the census doesn't indicate which parish church Hall St residents would have attended, I can guess that it was St Martin.  St Paul didn't have burial ground, St Mark was further away in Ocker Hill (I checked their records, too), and St Johns didn't start keeping burial registers until 1855 or so.  I did check the original register images of the churches I mentioned, so no worries about transcriber errors or omissions.

I did some checking and found that Oldbury Cemetery and the Heath Lane West Bromwich cemeteries didn't open until 1858, and Tipton Cemetery on Alexandra Rd didn't open until 1873.  I checked the holdings of the Staffordshire Record Office and learned that the majority of the Methodist chapels didn't have burial grounds.  The registers for those that did have burial grounds usually stop at 1837.  Only a few continued beyond 1837 and Hannah isn't in them anyway.

I had overlooked the implication that Hannah was Anglican if she was on parish relief.  That is helpful to know, and perhaps I can rule out her being in a Methodist burial ground.  But she isn't in any Tipton burial ground or neighboring parish, so perhaps she is further away somewhere whose registers have not been transcribed yet.  I guess I should check Bilston, Wednesbury, and Darlaston at least.

[weste]

St. Peter's church west brom burial registers start from 1858 so too early. There's a couple of other churches, I'll see when their burial registers start and let you know. West brom is so close to tipton it's a strong possibility. Not Christ church as they start from 1830 but looks like freereg has done them. There's no graves there now , bodies dug up and houses put on.
Tipton did come under Dudley poor law union though.