Place of birth help, please!

[Rosemary Cole]

I am having difficulty tracing the birth of my ancestor John Morris. He appears on censuses from 1861 onwards living with his wife in Leicestershire.

His place of birth is stated as Betton, Shropshire; Bettone, Shropshire or Elgbank, Shropshire, depending on which census I look at.

Does anyone know Shropshire well enough to tell me where to look for his birth, as a general search for John Morris born c1830 Shropshire is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

[Paul Marshall]

There are 2 Bettons in Shropshire I think, although I don't have local knowledge of the area.

From the National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) ...

"BETTON and AIKMERE, a township in the parish of Shrewsbury St. Chad, in the county of Salop, 3 miles to the S. of Shrewsbury, its post town. The principal residences are Betton Strange and Betton Hall."

Also, to the NE of Shrewsbury ...

"MARKET DRAYTON, (or Drayton in Hales) a parish and market town, partly in the Drayton division of the hundred of North Bradford, in the county of Salop, and partly in the N. division of the hundred of Pirehill, in the county of Stafford, 19 miles N.E. of Shrewsbury, and 153 N.W. by N. from London. The parish is divided into four quarters, and contains the townships of Drayton Magna, Drayton Parva, Almington, Blore-in-Tyrley, and Hales, and the hamlets of Hook Gate, Sandy Lane, Betton, and Longslow; besides the market town of Drayton-in-Hales."

I couldn't find Elgbank.

The Genuki Parish Locator is a useful tool

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/churchdb/search.html



On the IGI there is this possibility

JOHN MORRIS
Birth: 30 MAR 1830
Christening: 31 MAY 1830 Saint Chad, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
Father: EDWARD RANDLE MORRIS
Mother: ELIZABETH

(Batch C015754)

https://www.familysearch.org

Paul

[busyglen]

Had a look on Genie for Salop, and the only ones that seem to come close are: Bedstone, or Bratton. Not sure if it's any help?

Glenys

[s.g.d.]

hello

just to add to the cofusion:

there is a Betton near Worthen,Shropshire and about 3miles from there is a Belan Bank.

This is almost in Wales so the spellings may be Welsh.

sorry if this is of no use,

s.g.d.

[Rosemary Cole]

Paul, Glenys and sgd, thank you for replying! I think I'm more confused than before!

Paul - that isn't the birth I'm looking for, as I have John's marriage cert, which gives his father's name as John Morris, ag lab.

I've spent ages going through IGI and censuses, but it doesn't help that I don't really know where I'm looking for. At least that's a couple more avenues to try, anyway. Thanks again for your time.