Comments

Hello Pat,

This goes back to my Coombs question of a couple of weeks ago. You pointed me in the direction of the Portbury registers and there is a Lawrence Combs born 1782 to William & Mary, but there is also a Lawrence Cooms born 1780 to Thomas & Sarah in Weston (St John's registers). My ancestor in 1841 Census is Christopher Coombs, parents Lawrence and Ann, siblingsHenry & William. Lawrence's age in the census does not tie up (but I know the 1841 can be incorrect). the spelling of the surname changes, but again as they probably couldn't read or write it was down to interpretation.

I can only find one burial in 1844 in St John's Weston of Lawrence Coombs age 62. Lawrence seems an unusual name, so to have 2 born less than 2 years apart (possibly to brothers) is giving me problems. As someone used to searching for Mary Jones or Mary Davies in South Wales I thought Lawrence would be a doddle!!

If I could find another death or as I was hoping confirm the parents of Lawrence in the 1841 ...... If you can help in any way or give me some pointers I would be very grateful.

Chris Dye

William FLETCHER born abt 1732 from Kingston Seymour was my 5x greatgrandfather. You show James FLETCHER born 1759 as being his son. According to the Banwell baptism records James Fletcher was the base son of Joan FLETCHER baptised 11 March 1759. So far I have not been able to make a connection between Joan Fletcher and my 5x great grandfather.

Regards Graham

If you look at our transcriptions of the baptisms at South Brent you will find a baptism of an Eliza WEBB giving a mother's name.  Similarly there is baptism of a William FLATCHER in Banwell which gives parents' names. It is wise to consider variants of names as transcriptions are always problematic where the original writing is difficult to decipher.  A name spoken with a Somerset accent may have been misinterpreted when written down and so the original document may contain an error.

Marriage registers in England and Wales between 1754 and 1837 do not give parents although sometimes they may witness the marriage but their relationship will not be identified.   Original Somerset records are held by the Somerset Heritage Centre and copies of them on fiche can also be seen in some libraries - Here in Weston-super-Mare Library are copies (images) of the North Somerset Parishes on fiche.  Similarly Bristol Record Office has the registers of churches in the diocese of Bristol.

Do you have a specific marriage which you are researching?

Hi,

I believe you will find that Ann Urch was baptised in Yatton on the 25 January 1780 to parents William & Sarah Urch nee Surbet. A lot of researchers have taken the Ann Urch from Wedmore daughter of Samuel & Joanna Urch nee Tilley who they believe married James Fletcher. This Ann Urch married a John Bailey in Wedmore on the 25 March 1806.

Alun Urch