Mary Hill b abt 1813-1816 Penzance area

[AusFamily]

Looking for birth details for a Mary Ford (née Hill)

place of birth on the 1851 census: "Penzance", she gives her age as 38, birth year 1813.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/28205571?h=535f9d

1841 census: Born outside of Devon, age 25, birth year 1816.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/28205556?h=408e05

Her marriage: 29 Nov 1840, St Andrew, Plymouth to Robert Ford, gives her age as "of full age"; her father is given as Nicholas Hill, occupation: farmer.
this image is on FindMyPast and not on ancestry, therefore not sure how to share a link
Robert Ford was baptised 26 Sep 1819, residence: Hooe, Plymstock, Devon (Plymouth, St Andrew)

I also found this birth entry from 1804 on familysearch, with father Nicholas, but seems a bit early
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLK-T2KC

FindMyPast also has an entry for a Mary Hill, b 1820, Marazion, Cornwall, but with no father's name. In fact there are only five **added  women in Cornwall named Mary Hill born 1815 +/- 10 years on FindMyPast, four out of five of them well outside the Penzance area

She passed away in 1859, Stoke Damerel, Devon. Robert Ford remarried in 1865.

The following info is from an ancestry tree: Burial date 27 Nov 1859 Plymouth, Ford Park Cemetery Grave type Common Memorial reference Section B, No.025, Row 028 Document reference 1015/1 Plymouth & West Devon Record Office

Have searched ancestry & findmypast with no definite answers. How well were records kept back around that period in Penzance district?

[jaywit]

Hi You do  realize that in 1841 all adult ages should have been rounded down to the next 5 years, so showing her as 25 years old means she could have been any age between 25 and 29.

OK her husband's age is shown as 21 but if you look at the majority of adults on those pages their ages end in 0 or 5.

Also if her husband's age is correct at 21 she would have been older than him and there was nothing to stop her massaging her age to appear closer to his age.

[AusFamily]

Hi You do  realize that in 1841 all adult ages should have been rounded down to the next 5 years, so showing her as 25 years old means she could have been any age between 25 and 29.

OK her husband's age is shown as 21 but if you look at the majority of adults on those pages their ages end in 0 or 5.

Also if her husband's age is correct at 21 she would have been older than him and there was nothing to stop her massaging her age to appear closer to his age.

Thankyou

Yes, she was definitely older than him according to the census data in both 1841 and 1851. That would appear to give one only 2 choices then, the Mary Hill bap in 1804, St. Just in Penwith, Cornwall (with father Nicholas) or in bap 1820,  Marazion, Cornwall (with no father's name). Unless there is another source of data that I am unaware of.

[PaulineJ]

Anything from the witnesses
(Richard Donovan & Jane Bartelet?)

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FPLY%2F004634333%2F00118&parentid=GBPRS%2FM%2F35111068%2F1

[osprey]

The Nicholas married to Alice died in 1810 and left a will

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-65MS-S4F?i=2898&cat=329778

He mentions wife Alice, 7 children including sons Nicholas, Thomas and Ralph, brother Ralph, brother in law Thomas Brombley and Thomas Nekervis. He appears to have been a farmer as crops & livestock are mentioned.

I've been checking the Mary Hills who married in St Just in Penwith to see if one could be the daughter of Nicholas.
1. marriage 21 Dec 1828 to Christopher Roberts witnessed by William Hill - census shows this Mary to have been c. 1798

2. marriage 13 Nov 1836 to James Thomas, one witness being Thomas Hill. 1841 census has James & Mary Thomas in same house as Thomas & Jane Hill so baptism to Thomas & Jane Hill 28 June 1816.

3. marriage 11 June 1840, this Mary aged 20 and daughter of Ralph.

No likely parish burial for Mary baptised 1804 either.

The opc database has many transcribed records
https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/person-search/

[jaywit]

So Nicholas had 4 daughters probably still children when he died.

Can we find their baptisms

[jaywit]

From FreeReg.

Alice 5/1/1800

Elizabeth 1/11/1802

Mary 1311/1804

Lucy 24/8/1806

All St Just

[AusFamily]

Anything from the witnesses
(Richard Donovan & Jane Bartelet?)

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FPLY%2F004634333%2F00118&parentid=GBPRS%2FM%2F35111068%2F1

Not sure who they are Pauline. Plymouth was a long way from Penzance back in 1850

FindMyPast has: 2 Richard Donovans b 100 miles radius from Cornwall +/-40 yrs of 1820 - b Exeter 1845 & b Ermington (Devon) 1846. None born in Cornwall. Lots born in Gloucestershire

There is a 1871 census entry for a Jane Bartellett b 1831 Cornwall (place name too difficult to read on original), living in St Martin, Liskeard, Cornwall
1841 census entry for Jane Bartlett b 1837 Devon, living in St Sidwell, Exeter, Devon
1861 census entry for Jane Barttelet b 1824 Bridport Dorset, living in Tiverton, Devon

[AusFamily]

The opc database has many transcribed records
https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/person-search/

Thanks for your searches and the above link. I checked the link and could not find any Mary Hill in the whole of Cornwall between 1800-1820 with father Nicholas apart from the 1804 birth mentioned.

1) Is it likely that in 1840 a 21 year old man would marry a 36 year old woman?
2) Are records from Cornwall missing and incomplete for the period 1813-1816, in which Mary is supposed to have been born (from census data)? I have found this to be the case for this period for the Isle of Skye in Scotland, where I was doing other family research.
3) Her age at death is given as 46: GRO Reference: 1859 D Quarter in STOKE DAMEREL Volume 05B Page 239 - which would place her birth as 1813, if correct
4) the only other candidates are two 1816 births with no father's name given: b Advent &  b Falmouth and a 1808 birth Mary Ann Rogers Hill in Illogan - but I see these are a long way from Penzance. There is a 1820 birth no father's name given in Marazion, which is near Penzance.