I've just been looking up some ancestors thanks to some new records and have come across a conundrum. A 6 x great-grandfather, Richard Keeton, married a widow, Mary Spooner, née Codling, on 4th February 1735. My 5 x great-grandfather, Charles, was baptised on 30th November 1735. I can count (using my fingers), and it is perfectly within the realms of possibility that Richard fathered Charles. BUT ... how do I know if Charles was baptised fairly quickly? I have other ancestors who were baptised months and even years after their birth. And the big problem is that I don't know when Edward Spooner died, as the relevant pages of the PRs seem to be missing! They jump from 1726 to 1753. (It's hardly surprising that I'm a glass-half-empty kind of person; I always manage to pick the short straw ) But they, or the BTs must be somewhere, as findmypast has the Spooner/Codling marriage on 4th May 1729, and familysearch has a female child being baptised to them on 27th February 1731. So where are 1731 to 1735? I want to know who my ancestor really is!
Sorry, in Lincolnshire. Mary was baptised in 1704 in Dorrington, and both her marriages took place there. Richard Keeton was baptised in Helpringham; Charles was baptised in Dorrington. There is a baptism for an Edward Spooner in 1702 in New Sleaford which would be about right.
Ok, going to reveal enormous ignorance here now. If the marriage was in Feb 1735 wasn't there something funny going on with the calendar at that time? I am hopeless at that as has been proved before, (someone went to great lengths to explain it but it was a bit like time travel to me). I know that some dates are transcribed as 1735/6 or whatever - could that be the case here? As a Mod I probably should know the answer but I don't. Someone will now leap in hopefully. [shuffles off feeling really really thick].
Have you contacted the Lincolnshire Archives at all to see if they have any BTs or other such copies of the PRs? (Just moved the thread over to Lincolnshire. ) The switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar happened in 1752. Take a peek here.
March 25th was the first day of the new year in the Julian calendar. March 24th was the last day of the previous year. March was the first month of the year, April, the second, and so on, with February as the twelfth and last month of the year. So the answer to your question is still as clear as mud as it depends which style of calendar was being used by whoever recorded the baptism and marriage
Thanks Jan. Which parish has the missing pages? Lincs to the Past has 1731 to 1735 burials for Sleaford. I had a quick look but don't think he is there.
Mr Spooner was baptised in Old Sleaford, not New I've also found another marriage for (a) Richard Keeton, in Dorrington, in 1755, which has the note "with consent of friends". What on earth could that mean - that they really thought he was too old/ugly/poor for her?
There was a requirement for consent to be given - usually by the father. However, if the father was deceased, then friends could give the father's consent by proxy.
I'd forgotten about Lincs to the Past and shall immediately find and bookmark it. Thanks for reminding me
Like many record offices they have a list on their website of parish register holdings (and BTs): http://www. lincolnshire.gov.uk/residents/archives/collections/archive-collections/ecclesiastical/parish-registers-and-bishops-transcripts-deposited-at-lincolnshire-archives/ Dorrington is included but unfortunately the list only gives start and end dates, and doesn't show what gaps there are in the coverage. I would have thought the registers would be listed on Lincs to the Past too, even if they hadn't been digitised. There is a suspicious gap in the coverage there. The staff at Lincolnshire Archives should be able to tell you if the register for the 1720s is in too poor a state to be digitised, or if it has been lost altogether. To see what's been filmed by the LDS, pop 'Dorrington' into the FamilySearch catalogue here: https:// familysearch.org/catalog-search choose the Lincolnshire Dorrington and go to the Church Records section. From this it appears that the LDS have filmed both the parish registers and BTs for Dorrington. Again they only give the overall covering dates and don't show where the gaps are. You should be able to order these films through an LDS Family History Centre.
Interesting I only hope that they had her best interests at heart. Or his - it doesn't say which spouse "needed protection" from the other
An explanation from hunimex.net/warwick/bmd/Parish_Registers.html 1812 Rose's Act which, from 1813, introduced set-pattern printed registers for baptisms and for burials. Baptisms had to record the date, given name, parents' forenames and surname, abode, father's occupation, and the clergyman's signature - there was no requirement for the date of birth. The burial register gave the name of the deceased, abode, date of burial, age, and signature of the clergyman but no date of death. Only minor changes have since been made to this pattern. It is interesting to note that, from 1813, many clergy felt a need to write something in each allotted space of the new marriage registers - you will find entries "with consent of friends" or "with consent of parents". The latter thought to indicate one or both of the marriage partners had not attained 21 years of age. Don't believe it - check. Ann
You explain things so clearly, Hunca. I've not been to the local LDS Family History Centre yet. I found out where it is, but have forgotten, but now is definitely not the time to be going into town as there's a huge fair on and just getting around is nigh on impossible
I'd hoped you might find Edward's burial in the NBI, but for Dorrington it only covers 1813-1900 http://www. ffhs.org.uk/projects/nbi/lin3.php