Benjamin FRENCH

[Tambo2202]

I'm looking for the birth of Benjamin French. He was born around 1832ish and according to his marriage certificate in Australia, he was born in Buckinghamshire and his parents were William French and Fanny Reeve.

I haven't had any luck in finding a record of his birth and was wondering if someone might be kind enough to see if they can find something.

Thankyou,

Tammie

[Geoffers]

Any idea when they emigrated? Have you tried any census returns to at least narrow down the parish?

If they emigrated prior to the 1841/51 census, you kight still search those returns and plot the spread of the surname FRENCH in Bucks - plot on a map any clusters of the name and then go to the parish registers to see if you can find anyone called Benjamin French being baptised.

With a parish from which someone came, you might then try to get a search of the records held by The National Archives in document class MH12 (I appreciate the difficulty of doing this from Australia) - these relate applications for assisted passage and loans taken out by parishes to pay for the transport.

Geoffers

[Tambo2202]

All I know is that Benjamin married in Australia in 1866 and I have not been able to find him on any passenger lists so far. His death certificate did not mention how long he had been in Australia.

I have tried to find him on census returns but have only found Benjamin French's that have different parents to mine, and I haven't been able to find them either listed on any Census's or even on the IGI. So I am stuck!

Something else that is confusing is that Benjamin's wedding certificate says he was born in Bucks, then on a son's birth certificate he was born in Hertfordshire, and on another Tring, Hertfordshire. Funnily enough, with all of these possible birth places, I still haven't found him anywhere!

Tammie

[Geoffers]

If you've only searched indexed census returns, you may have to browse individual enumerator books to try and locate him (indexed census returns are only as good as the indexer). Also have you tried searching for him in institutions (.e.g. prison, workhosue, asylum) where he may only be recorded under his initials.

With conflicting records as to birth in Bucks or Tring, this hints to me at him being born around the borders of the two shires. Tring is close to the Bucks border. Perhaps he was born in one and grew up in t'other.

You may have to resort to searching the parish registers for the area, one by one. But as previously mentioned plot the locations of any FRENCH entries from the 1841/1851 census on a map and see if any obviously clusters occur. I've just had a browse at the 1861 census for Tring and there are quite a few of that name, no Benjamin, but a couple of Williams on the same page who are both old enough to be his dad - see RG9/843 f120 p12

Geoffers

[busyglen]

I looked at the 1851 Census for Bucks. and found a Benjamin born about 1835, but unfortunately his parents were Thomas & Susannah. There was also a brother of Benjamin called William, so I did wonder if this family could be related? If you are interested in these details, I will put them on here for you.

Glenys

[Tambo2202]

A few weeks ago I got very excited and thought I had found my Benjamin when I found the one whose parents were Thomas and Susannah in Bucks. Then I later found that they weren't my Benjamin's parents and thought back to the start.

Thanks for your help Geoffers. I'm not sure how to search the parish registers one by one, can I do that from Australia?

Tammie

[Geoffers]

Thanks for your help Geoffers. I'm not sure how to search the parish registers one by one, can I do that from Australia?
If you can get access to one of the mormon church (LDS) record centres, you may find that you can hire a film copy of the original register. other than that, try the local FHS, who may be able to sell transcripts of registers, or the County Record Office who may be able to sell fiches/film copies, or photocopies of registers.

Geoffers