Looking for Dorcas BELL from Foulsham

[Creighton]

I am searching for a birth certificate or baptism record for Dorcas Elizabeth BELL but without success. Examining various census records show that she was born at Foulsham, Norfolk, and was a daughter of William BELL and Elizabeth GRAVER. This couple had quite a few children but a birth record for this Dorcas proves elusive. I had assumed that they would have all been baptised at the Foulsham Parish Church but after some extensive searching I found that most of them had been baptised at Briston, the Primitive Methodist Church (of which i know little). All the other children have birth records (traced on BMD). Dorcas would have been born about 1867 based on the census returns and ages given for her. I find it hard to accept that the parents would have 'missed out' on both a baptism and a legal requirement to register the birth. I have tried reversing the names and searching that way, and also a search outside the county.
Can anyone offer any suggestions where else I may try as I am running out of ideas now? If they were a Methodist family, perhaps she was baptised at a different Methodist church at the time. Does anyone know of other methodist churches near to the area (Foulsham / Briston), that perhaps have not yet been indexed by FreeREG? Any assistance would be welcomed. Thank you.

[Thomasin]

Can I suggest that the name Dorcas was given to her later, within the family? There are two Elizabeth Bells in FreeBMD registered in the Erpingham area, which encompasses Briston. One was b. December quarter 1867 and the other a year later.

Thomasin

[Creighton]

Thank you Thomasin. I shall investigate this further, as it is quite possible that what you say is true. I wish there was an easier way to verify what the certificates contain. The number of times I have had to pay out for a wrong certificate, it is frustrating. Perhaps one day they will put all the scanned entried onto a website that one may browse and be sure to buy/download the correct certificate without keep wasting money on 'guesses'!

Then one day we may live in a perfect world....................

[Findem]

I understand that the parent names (where known) can be added to the request you send for a copy of the certificate, apparently this ensures you do not end up with the cert for a child of the same name but different family. Apparently the Registry office will give a refund if the particular birth cert you send for doesn't have as parent's, those you state on the paperwork.

I saw a post somewhere on some board about the subject, but I can't for the life of me recall where, I've trawled my "haunts" without success.

Regards.

[salcat]

From the FAQs on the GRO site

Quote

Q15. How will I know if I have found the entry I want?

If you have done your own searching in the GRO indexes and have found more than one reference to the name you are researching, or are unsure which is the entry you require, we offer reference checking online. The charge is £7 for action on the first entry, which includes the cost of the certificate, and £3 for checking each subsequent reference against the information you have provided. To enable us to do this, you must give us one piece of information that you are sure will appear on the certificate, e.g. the exact date of the event.

A certificate will only be issued if the entry we check matches the checking point you give us.

So if you have several you want to check, they charge £3 for each one they check before they get to the right one, and then £7 for the right certificate. So always put the references in order of likelihood! eg you give them 3 possibles, and the 2nd one is right, they charge you £3 + £7 = £10.

If you only have one reference and it doesn't match, then you only pay for the check, and you get £4 back.

(You have to pay for all the checks up front, but they will refund any overcharge to your card once they have issued the certificate)

Hope this helps

Sally

[Creighton]

After an absence of a few years, I thought I would try my original inquiry again as I am still eluded by the birth and baptism of my great grandmother Dorcas. I have tried various avenues but turned up nowt. Perhaps after the passage of time, someone new may have another idea that may assist my quest. I throw the original question over to our current members in the hope that someone may be able to assist me.

[Ken_R]

Have you considered that she may have become 'informally adopted' by the family following her mother being deceased or destitute?

The most obvious might be Dorcas E Goose born Norfolk 1866 but there is a Death for a Dorcas Elizabeth Goose, in Pancras 1867.

Have you found a possible Marriage for her, possibly as Elizabeth Bell with father as William, or even 'Unknown'?

Just some other thoughts to pursue.

[Creighton]

Thank you Ken, I did spot the 'Goose' a long while back and mused over the possibility, until I received the death certificate for Dorcas Elizabeth Calder née Bell. She married Alexander Calder in 1893 aged 26, and I have the marriage certificate.
I can accept that perhaps she was not baptised, or maybe later and elsewhere. I cannot accept that there was no birth registration as the family were historically adept at registering all their children's births, and wonder if the indexing was wrong for whatever reason at GRO. I know that there have been some anomalies.
I had also considered informal adoption, which is a possibility of course, but I would not know how to go about proving this (if it were even true), and my gut feeling is that this was not the case.
It is always nice to have a mystery in ones tree but this one is getting damn annoying now.

[christanel]

This is the latest advice on the GRO certificate ordering site.

"If you do not have the GRO index reference you may still apply online for any event which took place on or after 1st July 1837 to 6 months from the current date (for marriages this period is extended to 18 months) provided you have sufficient information to identify the entry. A 3 year search for the index reference will be carried out. You should supply the exact date of event if you have it. If you don't have the exact date, enter 01/01/YYYY and we will search the specified year and one year either side. If you do not provide an index reference number, your application will take up to 15 working days to process. There is a separate policy for events which have taken place in the last 50 years and full identifying information must be provided (see Q7 under “Important information on delivery times and policies.”

Giving the parent's names and Dorcas and or Elizabeth as the reference points should help the GRO locate, or not, the birth reg for a daughter in this period.

Christina

[christanel]

Hi
Another daughter for William and Elizabeth? on familysearch.org there is an Ada Eliza Bell baptised the same day as Alice Elizabeth at Aylsham to Parents William and Elizabeth. There is a birth reg for her on FreeBMD
Jun3 1/4 1869 Aylsham 4b/70 and a death reg the same year.

Still nothing on Dorcas Elizabeth Bell though.

Christina