Research Forum

I've been going back over some of my research and now I need help!  Mike's great grandmother was a Mary Ann NICHOLLS or NICHOLS when she married widower, Henry HASE (entered as HAST) on the 22nd Oct 1857 at St John the Baptist, Bedminster she said she was a spinster of 26 (birth date approx 1831) with father's name of John NICHOLS

On the 1861 census of Alma Street, Weston-super-Mare, Henry and Mary Ann are living with two of his children from his first marriage and two from their own. Mary Ann's age is given as 29, suggesting a birth date of approx 1832 and born in Wedmore.

In the Parish Baptisms for St Mary's Wedmore there is a christening of a Mary Ann NICHOLLS on the 4th Sept 1831 the d/o John & Hannah NICHOLLS which looks a possibility.

BUT although on the 1841 census of Wedmore a Mary NICHOLLS, aged 10 can be found with an apparent mother, Hannah NICHOLLS - in the same family is an other girl - M. A. NICHOLLS, aged 5.  I know that relationships are missing from this census but going back to the Baptismal Register for Wedmore I find that a Mary NICHOLLS was christened on the 6th March 1836, d/o John & Hannah NICHOLLS.

So, do we have a Mary and a Mary Ann in the same family who seem to exchange names?

In 1851, Mary NICHOLLS (born 1836) is with her mother and siblings while a Mary Ann NICHOLLS (born approx 1832) is a servant with Edmund MILLARD and family in Stoughton, Wedmore.

On the 31st March 1856 a William WEAR (full age) married a Mary NICHOLLS (under age) father John NICHOLLS in the Parish Church in Axbridge but I can't find them on the 1861 census.  What happened to them?

The youngest of John & Hannah NICHOLLS' children was born in 1839 so I was able to find her morther's maiden name by using the GRO Index and it was ROGERS.  I was able to find a marriage of a John NICHOLLS and a Hannah ROGERS on the 27th July 1825 in Wedmore Parish Church so it does look as if she could have been the mother of all of John's children.  

In writing this down I think I've convinced myself that there were two children with very similar names in this family and that I have sorted them out but do you have any other ideas?  Thank you.

Comments ..