On 16 September 1827 my great-great-grandfather William Moore, Bachelor of Motcombe, Dorset, England, married Hester Dowland, Spinster, in her parish church of Holy Trinity Shaftesbury. Banns had been published in both of their churches on three Sundays in August. For the wedding day itself, the parish marriage register show signatures for the groom, bride and two witnesses, Mary Moore and John Bennett.
Having married in her parish, the couple then lived in his parish, as was typical. Two-and-a-half years later on 18 April 1830 William and Hester had their son William baptised in Motcombe, with the father's occupation recorded as blacksmith. This seems to be the only time that the couple appear in that Church of England baptism register. A researcher starting from here could easily assume that William Moore had only one child.
They could have died. They could have moved. With such a common name, the hope of finding what happened to them next seemed small. However, in 1834 there is a record showing that Charles Dowland Moore son of William Moore and his wife Ester, daughter of John and Ester Dowland, was baptised in St Edmund's Church Street Methodist Chapel, Salisbury, Wiltshire. The couple had chosen this Wesleyan church for the baptism, and helpfully this church recorded the mother's parents' names too.
Was a relocation more than 20 miles to Salisbury plausible? To my amazement I read online recently, "In 1827 Salisbury was regularly visited by preachers from the Primitive Methodists in Motcombe" (Salisbury Methodist Church History). If the names on the baptism record were not enough, this link between the locations was further evidence that I was looking at the right family.
In fact, it was double celebration in the church that day. Charles Dowland Moore and Ester Nott Dowland Moore were both baptised on 26 March 1834. Charles was the younger child and his birth is recorded on the baptism record as 25 January 1834. Ester's entry gives her date of birth as 27 October 1832, showing that they were siblings rather than twins.
The baptism records for Charles and Ester (elsewhere called Hester) both include Dowland for a middle name, which was their mother's maiden name. In addition, the record for Ester also includes the name Nott. Elsewhere I have seen their maternal grandmother's maiden name as Knott so I could say, "not Nott but Knott".
Showing posts with label Dowland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dowland. Show all posts
Sunday, 31 March 2019
Saturday, 23 March 2019
21 siblings - part 4
Although William Moore died in 1890, his widow Elizabeth formerly Hoskins, appeared in another three census reports, surviving to 1914 when she died age 92.
The 1911 census aimed to gather new information from each married woman: how many years they had been married, how many children had been born alive, the number still living and a count of the number who had already died. The intention was that this data was only collected for the woman's current marriage, without reference to any previous marriage, without counting step-children, and without any data required from widows or husbands
However, Elizabeth Moore, Widow, filled in these columns on her census form. She wrote that her marriage had produced 13 children, of which 4 were still living and 9 had died. This called for a review to see if I could ascribe 13 children to Elizabeth and work out which 4 were still alive in 1911, with confirmation about the deaths of the other 9 of her children before 1911, if possible.
To date, I have only been able to identify 11 birth registrations for William Moore and Elizabeth. They married in 1842, a unnamed baby girl was born and died a year later. After that births were registered every two to two-and-a-half years until 1864, when Elizabeth was in her mid 40s. There is no apparent gap in the sequence to suggest there is a child missing on the timeline. However, I am still open to that possibility.
Then there was the little matter of confirming who were the parents of all the others in the set of 21 children that included my great-grandmother Moore. Phoebe Moore who is age 9 on the 1851 census seems likely to be the Phoebe Hoskins whose birth was registered in 1841 with no father named.
William's oldest children were born before civil registration began, following his marriage to Hester Dowland. The next blog post will be all about them. Meanwhile, the middle of William's three wives, Amelia Lear, died only one-and-a-half years after their marriage. She did feature on the 1841 census as part of the family but apparently did not contribute any children to the flock. As with the rest of the details about this large family, I await correction or new information from descendants or other enthusiasts.
The 1911 census aimed to gather new information from each married woman: how many years they had been married, how many children had been born alive, the number still living and a count of the number who had already died. The intention was that this data was only collected for the woman's current marriage, without reference to any previous marriage, without counting step-children, and without any data required from widows or husbands
However, Elizabeth Moore, Widow, filled in these columns on her census form. She wrote that her marriage had produced 13 children, of which 4 were still living and 9 had died. This called for a review to see if I could ascribe 13 children to Elizabeth and work out which 4 were still alive in 1911, with confirmation about the deaths of the other 9 of her children before 1911, if possible.
To date, I have only been able to identify 11 birth registrations for William Moore and Elizabeth. They married in 1842, a unnamed baby girl was born and died a year later. After that births were registered every two to two-and-a-half years until 1864, when Elizabeth was in her mid 40s. There is no apparent gap in the sequence to suggest there is a child missing on the timeline. However, I am still open to that possibility.
Then there was the little matter of confirming who were the parents of all the others in the set of 21 children that included my great-grandmother Moore. Phoebe Moore who is age 9 on the 1851 census seems likely to be the Phoebe Hoskins whose birth was registered in 1841 with no father named.
William's oldest children were born before civil registration began, following his marriage to Hester Dowland. The next blog post will be all about them. Meanwhile, the middle of William's three wives, Amelia Lear, died only one-and-a-half years after their marriage. She did feature on the 1841 census as part of the family but apparently did not contribute any children to the flock. As with the rest of the details about this large family, I await correction or new information from descendants or other enthusiasts.