William GADD and Elizabeth - marriage/birth record help

[britanyj]

I am trying to figure out which record is true concerning the wife of an ancestor. Below is what I have found.

William GADD b. abt 1759 in Brede/Birdham, Sussex, England
Wife: Elizabeth (GIBBS or RUSSELL) b. 1759 or 1761 or 1766 in Brede, Sussex, England or Southwick, Hampshire, England or Sydney, Australia
Marriage: 18 JUN 1783 in Birdham/Brede, Sussex, England or Southwick, Hampshire, England or Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

On different family trees I have searched, they have varying combinations of Elizabeth listed above, all showing marriage to William GADD and having some if not all their children as well (firstborn was 1785/1786). The only indexed record I can find is an Elizabeth RUSSELL m. 18 JUN 1783 Birdham, Sussex, England to William GADD. Currently, my tree shows an Elizabeth GIBBS b. 1761 in Sussex, m. 1783 in Sussex/Hampshire to William GADD, but there is no attached record to prove it and the same Elizabeth is linked to another marriage (1788 to William Simmonds) that does not make sense.

I was hoping for help in verifying any marriage of William GADD and/or births of Elizabeth GIBBS/RUSSELL in Hampshire. Thank you!

[osprey]

well, you can rule out the birth & marriage in Australia as both were before the arrival of the First Fleet

http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/ott1788/index.html

 

[KGarrad]

Are you sure that's not Southwick, Sussex?

It's on the coast, between Hove and Worthing

[britanyj]

Thank you, osprey! I did not even think to check that.

KGarrad, I am not sure. I am not too familiar with England. One tree lists "Southwick, Hants" as her birthplace. Some of their children were born in Southwick, Hampshire, so I assumed it was the same place. But I would not rule out Southwick, Sussex. A lot of my ancestors are from different areas of Sussex, so it could have been inputted wrong or something. If there's a way to check both places, that would be a huge help!

[ggrocott]

When you talk about trees, whose trees are you talking about?  Ones you have done yourself or ones you have found on websites?

If they are ones you have found on certain websites I would take them with a very large pinch of salt.  I have lost count of the number of false entries I have found on other people's trees which conflict with the original records I have in my possession.  Of course we also all make mistakes, wrong assumptions and press the wrong keys sometimes.

There are lots of conversations on here concerning public trees on Ancestry.

[Annette7]

It looks to me that William Gadd and Elizabeth Russell married 18/6/1783 Birdham, Sussex - they swiftly moved to Southwick, Hampshire where first child born was a Henry bp.20/4/1784 followed by Elizabeth 13/1/1786, Sarah 5/9/1787, Sopia 21/4/1788, Kettey 14/1/1791, Marey 30/3/1794, George 29/6/1796.   There appear to be no children born to a William and Elizabeth at Birdham until a John 28/2/1802 so looks like between 1796 and 1802 the family returned to, I believe, William's birthplace of Birdham.   A William Gadd was bp.29/4/1798 Widley, Hampshire (just south of Southwick) to a William and Elizabeth so was this their child too?

There are no burials for William and Elizabeth in Hampshire so returning to Birdham would make sense.   A William Gadd bur.26/3/1803 Birdham (no ages given at that time) and Elizabeth Gadd 67 i.e. bc.1762, bur.23/4/1829 Birdham.

There is a baptism of a William Gadd 8/3/1757 Birdham, Sussex son of Henry and Mary (his first child was a Henry) but from her burial we only know Elizabeth Russell was bc.1762, no idea where.

The baptisms at Southwick are all at Southwick, Hampshire!

Echoing ggrocott, never use others trees as your guide.   Check all facts for yourself.

Annette 

[jonwarrn]

Duplicate post on Sussex board
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=789234.msg6448749#msg6448749

[britanyj]

Thank you, ggrocott and Annette7! On my tree on familysearch Elizabeth GIBBS was inputted (it's a public tree, so anyone can contribute). As I was going through, I noticed she was a little "suspicious", so I tried researching to find solid evidence of their marriage and such. I only found two indexed records, one in Australia which has been confirmed as false, and one in Birdham, Sussex, which jonw65 has found the images to support! The only other "sources" of information were other family trees on familysearch, ancestry, and myheritage. But none of these really had any sources to prove their information and there were so many variations. So I tried digging and digging as best I could to find actual documents. I kept coming up empty-handed, so that's when I posted here. Thanks to jonw65, I now have the solid evidence I need to support me detaching Elizabeth GIBBS from my tree on familysearch and replacing her with Elizabeth RUSSELL. Thank you again, jonw65!!

Thank you, Annette7 for all those names and dates! I will be checking what's on my familysearch tree with what you have provided!

It has been pointed out that I have two other posts about this topic. I just wanted to apologize for that. Since there were three places I was unsure of, I thought I should post to the three different boards. I realize now that I shouldn't have and it's unnecessary. I will not do that again in the future.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to help me with this! I can't say thank you enough!!

[majm]

    

I apologise to osprey for the duplication of info.  I was not aware at the time of the other threads. 

For future reference

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=789236.0

JM       

well, you can rule out the birth & marriage in Australia as both were before the arrival of the First Fleet

http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/ott1788/index.html