I have a Mary Simcox who married John Peach on 27 Feb 1814 in the Church of St John the Baptist, Shenstone, Staffordshire, England. John's origins are OK but Mary's are very unclear. Mary is in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 English Censuses before she died in Aug 1870 and was buried in Derbyshire. The 1841 Census says she was born in Walsall Foreign, Staffordshire while the other two say Cauldwell, Derbyshire. I know from previous dealings with the Simcox family that many moved around a lot, split their families up among relatives and weren't overly bright, making the origin of someone with such a common name as Mary very difficult to pinpoint. Various sources suggest she was born from 1795 to 1797, including several possible Baptism records in FreeReg: 1. West Bromwich, All Saints, 7 Sep 1795; Transcribed File line 2797 Person Mary SIMCOX Father John SIMCOX Mother Sarah 2. West Bromwich, All Saints, 16 May 1796; Transcribed File line 2924 Person Mary SIMCOX Father George SIMCOX Mother Mary 3. Lancashire, Liverpool, Our Lady and St Nicholas; Reg entry 423 Birth 13 Feb 1794 Baptism 30 Apr 1794 Person Mary SIMCOCK Father Henry SIMCOCK Mother Ann OWEN NB Seniority: 1. Parents married: St. Oswald's in Chester. Family Search has a few more within dates in Shropshire and Cheshire but I haven't found any clues that give continuity between birth and marriage. Is there something I've missed, is there a tree with reliable data or can a clever logical person spot the culprit immendiately?? No record so far (for my beady little eye) with Mary's father on a marriage record, RATS!!
Having seen a few trees that stated John Peach actually married Mary Tagg, not Simcox, I discovered it was a DIFFERENT John Peach who was a Bachelor when marrying Miss Tagg in 1824 at All Saints, South Derbyshire (FreeReg).
Mary was married in 1814. If she wasn’t telling porkies then she states she was full age. That would make her born < c1793 not as late as 1797. There are a few Mary Simcox on Freereg around that time at Wednesbury but none showing up in Derbyshire.
On the 1841 Mary states she was born in Walsall. Also on that census is an eight year old son Benjamin. On Freereg a Mary Simcox is baptised on 18/2/1792 to Benjamin Simcox and Hannah at St Bartholomew Wednesbury. What do you think? My lack of English geography finds Walsall on the internet about 4 miles from Wednesbury
John and Mary Peach baptised a son Benjamin Peach at St Matthew Walsall 6 May 1832. John was a miner.
All other children seem to be baptised at Walsall except Joseph who was baptised in 1815 at Shenstone. John was a labourer on all others but Benjamin.
1851 census of Walsall, Staffordshire (HG107/2023, folio 137, page 48) states that John PEECH, aged 79, a Labourer, was born in Warwickshire, his wife Mary, aged 60, was also born in Warwickshire, and son Benjamin, aged 19, a Bricklayer, was born in Staffordshire - very helpful with the places of birth!! The 1841 census record of Walsall states that John PEACH was not born in Staffordshire but that Mary was, so could the 1851 census actually be correct for the county of John's birth. Janet
Looking further for a baptism for Mary SIMCOX, the daughter of Benjamin & Hannah that Sue found for you in post 5 was unfortunately buried at Wednesbury on 6 July 1792. However, there is a baptism at Wednesbury on 10 March 1793 for a Mary daughter of Joseph & Catherine SIMCOX, aged 2 years old, which would fit in pretty well with Mary PEACH's age on the 1851 census record, if not her county of birth! Son Benjamin's parish register marriage record at Bloxwich in 1852 shows that he was living at Birchills, which is part of Walsall, and doesn't state that his father was deceased, not that it means he wasn't dead of course. There is also a Mary PEACH, widow, in the 1861 census of Walsall, born Wednesbury, boarding in the household of Samuel BROWN & his wife Catherine, although her age is shown as 80. Janet
Joseph 1815 William 1817 Kitty 1820.....Catherine? Eliza 1824 Thomas 1827 Not sure if that’s all of them but it seems that Joseph and Kitty could be named after the parents of Mary.
OK, kids I have are: Joseph 1814, William 1817, Kitty 1820, Eliza 1824, Thomas 1827, Hannah 1828, Benjamin 1833, Zillah 1836, Emma 1839 and Edna 1841. As you saw, baptisms were in various places and the family is known to be erratic. Joseph and Catherine(...Kitty) seem about right to me. Thank you for all of your insights! I will try to head backwards again for my Simcox and Peach links- both also in various parts of my closer family tree in England and New Zealand.
