Comments

How great to have a query about someone who actually appears on my family tree! Reginald PUDDY was related to me (by marriage) twice.  A brother married my aunt and a daughter married my husband's cousin. In 1961 we celebrated our engagement at the Thatched Cottage which at that time was run by my husband's cousin.

Emily MOORE was not buried in Weston Cemetery but Reginald PUDDY & his wife were buried at Bleadon so it might be worth looking there. However in 1962 another member of the family who died in Weston was cremated at Arnos Vale Crematorium in Bristol.

It is possible that there might be an announcement in the local papers which are in Weston Library - as you have the actual date of death it should be a fairly quick search and the next time we are in the Library (weather permitting!) perhaps one of the volunteers will take a look for you.

I will contact you directly so that we can share family information but I'm sure that we have members with photographs of the Thatched Cottage who will also be able to help.

Good Luck with your research

Have replied direct.  Stephanie

I have spent many years researching this, my mother's maiden name, & believe I have an almost complete tree including several lines in Australia as well as back to Worle in the very early 1700s.

I would be most interested to learn of your connection

Stephen Emlyn-Jones

I also have Sparey of Congresbury as one of my interests. 

I would agree with you that Hester's maiden name was PURNELL and looking for the PURNELL family shows the need to also look in nearby parishes for information.

You already know that Isaac EDWARDS married Hester PURNELL 2nd Aug 1830 at St Mary's Church, Hutton.  Although on the 1851 census her place of birth is given as Hutton it looks as if she was christened 5th Jan 1809 in Bleadon Parish Church d/o Samuel & Jane PURNELL. 

In the christenings for Bleadon you can also find a child in 1823 for James & Hannah PURNELL who may have witnessed the marriage.  But a James PURNELL married a Hannah PORTER in Bleadon the following year in 1824!   Thomas EDWARDS, Isaac & Hester's eldest son was also christened at Bleadon 12th Dec 1830.  It was not unusual for mothers to go home to their parents for their first confinement.  These christenings are included in the transcriptions on this site.  I hope this gives you a little more to work on.

I think that Samuel PURNELL probably married Jane KIMMINS in Uphill in 1800.  The early Uphill baptsms have not been transcribed yet but they might hold a few more clues to the relationship between Hester and James (the witness to her marriage).

Having joined the Society I have been able to add heaps to the Edwards family tree.  Sorry that you misunderstood what I was trying to say with regards to the Bisdee family and George's arrival in Van Diemens Land.  I know that Alfred Henry Bisdee sponsored quite a few people from the Hutton, Somerset area (including Mary Ann Johnson, born in Newborough, whom my great grandfather married in 1860 here in Tasmania) and I thought that George may have been one of those, but as I said I cannot find any information as to how he arrived or when he arrived.  You mentioned that Hester's first child (Thomas, born in 1831 or thereabouts) was christened in her own parish, of which I do not know.  I also have conflicting information from Census information and marriage detail, etc that suggests that Hester's surname may have been Purnell, not Parnell.  Her witnesses when she married Isaac Edwards in 1830 were Hannah and James Purnell, who obviously were relatives of hers, but I cannot find them either.  Further help would be appreciated.  Thanks.