When & where was John Pearson born?

[pottoka]

In my usual disorganised way, I have prepared the notes for this thread ... and lost them (either that or someone has tidied them away, but I will refrain from mentioning my husband's name).

So, John Pearson was a frame-work knitter aged 50 (according to the Census) in Stanton by Dale in 1841. He was a widower, living with his three daughters, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth/Betty.

Inconsiderately, he died before the 1851 Census, in 1843, but there were Pearsons in Stanton back to at least 1710. Favourite names were Richard, John, Sarah and Elizabeth. However, John is not on the PRs as having been baptised there, nor, indeed, is he anywhere else (fs pilot or IGI).

His death certificate says that he was 54 in January 1843, so I'm looking for a birth/baptism around 1788-89. That is just when the PRs for Stanton suddenly peter out in the middle of a page, then start again in 1790 with pre-printed forms.

A Richard Pearson married a Mary Camm in Stanton in 1780. They had the following children:
Mary, baptised 1784 (marked d/o Mary & Ann Pearson!)
Thomas, baptised 1786, buried 1786
Sarah, baptised 1792, died June 1810
Michael, baptised 1795.

Mary died in January 1796, and Richard does not seem to have married again.

There is a gap between Thomas and Sarah which corresponds just to the time when John would have been born and when the powers-that-be introduced the new system. The IGI, which usually has extracted records from Stanton by Dale, is totally silent on Richard and Sarah’s children.

I feel in my bones that John got lost in the paperwork but I know that I must prove who his parents are. Would the BTs tell me any different from the PRs?

Please help me to find John!

[Neil Wilson]

Hi Pottoka

First increase your time-frame for your search.

Second increase the PR search area, dont just reply on Stanton's, try Basford and Belper.

BT's are transcripts of the PR's, depends when they were done, you might have the missing period included.

Hope this helps

[pottoka]

Thanks for the advice, Neil. I have already found a John born to Matthew in Chellaston in 1795, but he's not on the 1841 Census as far as I can see. I will have to investigate him further.

I know, by the way, that John's daughter, Sarah, was born, baptised, married and buried in Stanton by Dale and lived there all her life. That's mainly why I was looking for him in the Stanton Pearsons.

I've looked over the county border in Nottinghamshire without success, too.

But, if I did stumble across a John born at the right time, how would I know he was mine?

[Neil Wilson]

But, if I did stumble across a John born at the right time, how would I know he was mine?

What does his death certificate say as his place of birth (if any)?

[AnjaliUK]

What does his death certificate say as his place of birth (if any)?

Unfortunately, I don't think the certificate would give the place of birth, I have one for 1850 and the categories are when/where died, name, age, sex, occupation, cause of death, signature/description/residence of informant, when registered, registrar signature.

Pottoka, have you tried looking for wills? If you can find his father's will it will hopefully name his children. If not the father, then maybe a grandparent.

Also, there are plenty of differences between BT and parish records, mostly spelling variations, but sometimes a different name is recorded and sometimes one has an entry that is missing from the other. So it would be worth a look.

If you can't prove it, I would put it in your tree with a question mark over it as all your clues are pointing in the same direction.

[AnjaliUK]

Also, do you have John's marriage from the parish register? A lot of 1800s PRs name the parents in the marriage record.