JOHN BIGNELL

[Teressa]

My 6 x great grandfather John "Quick" Bignell was born in 1780. He came to Canada with the 49th reg't of foot under the command of Isaac Brock in 1802. He stayed here and married Elizabeth Brown and had 8 children. I have a lot of info of his life in Canada, but I can find nothing of his family in England. I do not know who his parents were, or if he had any siblings. I have heard from a cousin that he was born in Tunbridge, Wells. Another distant relative says he came from Kent. I have searched everywhere I can think of. I am not giving up. I don't know why he is listed in the family as John "Quick" Bignell, I am thinking maybe his mother's maiden name was Quick. If anyone could help me, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks in advanced.

[birdlip]

Hi Teressa,

Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, so both your relatives are right. I'll have a bit of a look around and see if I can find any Bignells there.

regards birdlip

[Geoffers]

Try searching TNA's catalogue (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp), which has army records individually indexed for this period.

In the word or phrase field, enter - John Bignell
Leave the year range blank
In the department or series code, enter - WO

Then search

You should get these results (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?SearchInit=0&txtsearchterm=john+bignell&txtfirstdate=&txtlastdate=&txtrestriction=wo&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=49&image1.y=1).

Of which, number three (WO97/1125/31) looks favourite. You can order a copy of the document online from TNA - they can provide the copy either in the post, or digitally.

[birdlip]

Hi again,

there are a few Bignall/Bignell/Bignoll/Bignul names on Batch Numbers for Tunbridge, but mainly in the 1600's. There is one marriage in the time frame, Jos Bignul m Mary Maryon 11 Oct 1770, and the baptism of another John Bignell 12 Mar 1802, parents John Bignell and Esther. Other than that, I couldn't find anyone who might be linked to your John, sorry. I searched on IGI for John Bignall b 1780 +/- 5 years, thinking he may have been born in a parish adjacent to Tunbridge, but couldn't see anything close.

I did see one Bignall/Quick marriage, in the early 1700's, but it was in Devon, so probably just a coincidence? Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

regards birdlip

[Teressa]

Thank you birdlip & Geoffers,
Geoffers, it does indeed look like that is the correct John Bignell...the info I have from one of the cousins said he was discharged at age 36, so it adds up. I am in the process of waiting for an estimate as to how much it will cost them to send me the info they have.

[Teressa]

Birdlip...the info Geoffers helped me to find, said that John was born in plymouth devonshire, so that must be them....Just found the info you found, and with the date of marriage, it looks like they would be John's grandparents. Thank you so much birdlip. now I have more to search with. again I appreciate what you both have done/found for me.

Teressa

[birdlip]

Aha! Excellent, you're well on the way then. Good luck, let us know how you get on, won't you?

regards birdlip