Tips for searching parish records

[Kerrywood]

There seems to be 3 Nightingale Lane's in London.

Nightingale Lane, Haringey, North West London.
Nightingale Lane, Redbridge, North East London.
Nightingale Lane, near Clapham Common.

If those 3 places were there in the 1700s then the one near Clapham Common seems the most likely but it is a fair distance from the Thames.

I think the Nightingale Lane in question ran south off Upper East Smithfield, down towards the river. You can see it clearly on John Rocque's map of 1746, about the right period.

motco.com/map/81002/ (put www. in front)

From the menu on the left, select Map and Page Grid
Click on the Tower of London, easily found.
From the links in the left margin, click East to move one square across.

I think the equivalent present-day location would be Thomas More Street (London E1)

[RobinC]

Thomas More Street certainly looks like the likely candidate for the Nightingale Lane that the Crouch's lived in.

I've just looked for a marriage for Edward Crouch & Alice / Else on the IGI and only 4 results are shown with the spouse being called Martha, Mary or Rebecca.

[Kerrywood]

I've just looked for a marriage for Edward Crouch & Alice / Else on the IGI and only 4 results are shown with the spouse being called Martha, Mary or Rebecca.

Just a couple of other ideas ...

Are there any other CROUCH wills that might relate to the people under discussion? Try ...

Documents Online
London Probate Index on Findmypast (included in Parish Burials 1538-2005 & wills -- surnames A-F are now available)
Surrey Plus Wills Index (rootsweb.ancestry.com/~engsurry -- put www. in front)

You might also want to try looking for marriages for some of Edward/Else/Alice's children, just in case a location, or the name of a witness, connects with your CROUCH family?

Other online resources to search might be ...

A2A
The Old Bailey site
London Gazette (gazettes-online.co.uk/AdvancedSearch.aspx?geotype=London ... put www. in front)
Newspaper resources (British Library's Burney Collection, and 19th Century Newspapers - either may be available free through your county libraries service)

. . . and don't forget Googling, especially Google Books.

I think you just need to keep nibbling round the edges like this, in the hope of finding something you can bite on.

[RobinC]

Having returned to this thread, I have found a burial record for an Edward Crouch, aged 33, on 15th February 1754 at St Botolph Bishopsgate, this could be a contender for my Edward as he would have been 18 when Thomas was born in 1739 and 27 when Thomas was born in 1748.

[RobinC]

I've looked at the births for children born to Thomas & Mary Crouch between 1784 & 1798 in or around London that Ancestry have indexed and have been able to split them into different families:

Robert Crouch 03 June 1787 St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey Thomas & Mary Shipwright Salisbury Street

Mary Crouch 04 July 1784 St Paul, Deptford Thomas & Mary Victualler near Deptford Bridge

Susanna Crouch 17 January 1781 St George in the East Thomas & Mary Carpenter Ch... Lane

Joseph George Crouch 04 April 1790 St Paul, Deptford Thomas & Mary Shipwright Giffin Street
Henry Crouch 23 September 1792 St Paul, Deptford Thomas & Mary Shipwright Church Street
George Crouch 29 July 1798 St Paul, Deptford Thomas & Mary Shipwright Church Street

John Crouch 21 December 1785 St Mary, Lewisham Thomas & Mary

Elizabeth Crouch 18 June 1783 St Botolph Aldgate Thomas & Mary Farthing Alley
Margaret Crouch 31 May 1786 St Botolph Aldgate Thomas & Mary Farthing Alley
Sarah Martha Crouch 31 May 1786 St Botolph Aldgate Thomas & Mary Farthing Alley
Ann Crouch 01 July 1789 St Botolph Aldgate Thomas & Mary Farthing Alley

Therefore, I think Robert was an only child due to the above results.

[RobinC]

That could also mean that there are 6 families with the parents named Thomas & Mary.

Has anyone got any ideas how I can narrow them down to find the right baptism records for my Thomas & Mary?

[Sara Dee]

Hello Robert. As Robert was an uncommon name amongst all the potential fathers you found I would say that a first step would be to attempt to find the names of the fathers of all your 'Thomas's and their respective wives to see if any were named Robert. As children , paricularly first sons were often named after their grandfather's it might provide a clue to narrow down the search. good luck Sara Dee

[RobinC]

Hello Robert. As Robert was an uncommon name amongst all the potential fathers you found I would say that a first step would be to attempt to find the names of the fathers of all your 'Thomas's and their respective wives to see if any were named Robert. As children , paricularly first sons were often named after their grandfather's it might provide a clue to narrow down the search. good luck Sara Dee

Thank you for your tip, Sara Dee.

I just had a look and two possible baptisms stand out:

Name: Thomas Crouch
Baptism Date: 14 May 1758
Parish: St Leonard, Heston
County: Middlesex
Borough: Hounslow
Parent(s): Robert Crouch,
Ursula Crouch
Record Type: Christening

Name: Thomas Crouch
Baptism Date: 1 Feb 1756
Parish: All Hallows The Great
County: London
Borough: City of London
Parent(s): Robert Crouch,
Annabella Crouch
Record Type: Baptism

The only problem is there is no occupation for Robert (the father) and I don't recognise the names Ursula or Annabella.

Other children born to the same parents are:

John Crouch Christening 20 Sep 1752 St Leonard, Heston, Middlesex Robert Crouch, Ursula Crouch

Samuel Crouch Baptism 9 Feb 1751 All Hallows The Great, London Robert Crouch, Annabella Crouch

Jane Crouch Baptism 26 Jun 1754 All Hallows The Great, London Robert Crouch, Annabella Crouch

[Sara Dee]

Hi Robin
The best way is to note the date of the first born child, bap and start about 10 years earlier in case of any previous children who may have died and continue for a further few years after the known bap in case they married later.

Regarding the occupation of the possible ROBERT ancestor a search of the marriages for the both Robers might give a clue. good hunting Sara Dee

[RobinC]

I think finding the marriage for Edward Crouch to Alice and / or Else is the way to go but seeing as the children were baptised at different churches, it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack as they could have been married at any church in the City of London.