Is the MY error?

[BearPear]

I haven't visited for a while and have merrily been tripping along building up my tree using on-line and real-life resources. I have an Ancestry subscription and have been re-visiting my older research and checking out new documents which have been uploaded. This has uncovered a problem for me which, while not exactly being a "brick wall" I am at the point of frustration where I feel like banging my head!

I will try to be brief and describe my problem.

From working backwards from my maternal grandfather I "know" that my ancestor is an Edward JOWETT who, according to his marriage certificate, had a father named James JOWETT. James married a lady called Jane STITT (she was born in Belfast and I have their marriage certificate). On the marriage certificate James' father is Samuel. On James' birth certificate he was born in Halifax and his parents are Samuel JOWETT and Caroline nee HELLAWELL.

Samuel and Caroline are on the census from 1861 with their children John, James (above), William and Sarah-Ann, all born in the 1850s.

So, it looks like James is the son of Samuel, who was married to Caroline.

However, I can find no marriage for Samuel and Caroline - BUT (and this is where my headache started) on Ancestry there is a marriage certificate for Samuel JOWETT marrying Sarah TATHAM on 30/01/1861. On that certificate Samuel's father is Robert JOWETT, from parish registers I have previously done lots of work on him, and his marriage and many children - to find that he isn't "my" family would be awful.

The JOWETTs are all from the Cullingworth/Wilsden/Denholme/Halifax area.

Have I linked to the wrong Samuel JOWETT?
Could it possibly be that the Vicar/registrar put the wrong lady's name? (I have certificate errors in my records, but none as blatant as this would be)

The dates don't make sense - if the children born in the 1850s were from Samuel & Caroline (confrimed by birth cert) - how can Samuel marry Sarah in January 1861, but by census date in April he is "back" with Caroline?

I had merrily worked back from Samuel and thought that I had "found" all my Jowetts! - hope that this makes sense - it has taken me a while to come to this point and I am well aware that I am rambling!

If you can untangle my post, I would appreciate any suggestions and I thank you for your patience in advance,

Clare

[Peter Goodey]

Samuel JOWETT and Caroline nee HELLAWELL.

Have you considered this one, which has Samuel Jowett possibly paired with a Helliwell?

Marriages Dec 1850
Greenwood Samuel Halifax 22 233
Hall Henry Halifax 22 233
Helliwell Selina Halifax 22 233
Holmes Edward Henry Halifax 22 233
Jenkinson Sarah Halifax 22 233
Jowett Samuel Halifax 22 233
Morton Emma Halifax 22 233
Rothwell Elizabeth Halifax 22 233

[pennydog]

On the 1851 census HO107-2301-396-2 at Ogden

Samuel Jowett 1830 born Bingley - occ wool comber
Selina Jowett 1830 born Ovenden

On the 1861 census RG9-3337-34-6 at White Show, Thornton

Samuel Jowett 1831 born Bingley occ wool comber
Caroline wife 1831 born Halifax
plus 4 children born Halifax

Google tells me Ovenden is one mile from Halifax

I cannot find a Samuel and Selina.

[pennydog]

Ancestry also has the marriage of Samuel and Selina - 22/12/1850 at St John the Baptist, Halifax

Both are age 21 and there is no father's details given for Samuel
Selina's father is Jonathon and a Jonathon Helliwell witnesses the marriage.

[BearPear]

yes I saw that one - but I thought that to get "Caroline" from "Selina" was a bit of a stretch, however I have see worse transcription errors on census indexes!
I'm trying to locate the "other" Samuel - if I have indeed confused 2 men - one married to Caroline and one married to Sarah, so far can only find Samuel & Caroline. It doesn't help that the Jowett clan is fairly densly represented in my area (I also have the added problem that although I am still local to them, the Local Studies dept of Bradford Central Library is temporarily out of comission and viewing parish records etc is a bit of a pain).

Thanks for your reply!

[BearPear]

Ah, Penny, that looks interesting - Ovenden is very close to me.

Does it sound plausible that Caroline and Selina are the same person? If she married as Selina - how can she be named as Caroline on the birth certificate of one of their children (James?)

On James' birth cert registerred under the Ovenden district, the place of birth is actually Ogden which is even nearer to me, and I have a childhood memory of my grandad Jowett taking me visiting to a farm in the area - I suspect that this may have been a cousin of sorts (I'll have to ring my mum).

This record, if accurate, sadly undoes a big chunk of my tree, a branch which located Jowetts living in my village, buried in chapel, farming near my house and generally being part of my community from 150 years ago. Aw shucks!

[pennydog]

Ah, Penny, that looks interesting - Ovenden is very close to me.

Does it sound plausible that Caroline and Selina are the same person? If she married as Selina - how can she be named as Caroline on the birth certificate of one of their children (James?)

On James' birth cert registerred under the Ovenden district, the place of birth is actually Ogden which is even nearer to me, and I have a childhood memory of my grandad Jowett taking me visiting to a farm in the area - I suspect that this may have been a cousin of sorts (I'll have to ring my mum).

This record, if accurate, sadly undoes a big chunk of my tree, a branch which located Jowetts living in my village, buried in chapel, farming near my house and generally being part of my community from 150 years ago. Aw shucks!

I really feel for you.

I have followed Samuel and 'Caroline' through the census and she is consistant with a birth place of Ovenden and Samuel with Bingley (apart from 1881 when Samuel has Ovenden too). I think a birth for Selina/Caroline father Jonathon must be the next step, there could be a clue there.

[pennydog]

This confuses or clarifies things

Baptism18th Jan 1829 - Parish of Illingsworth

Caroline daughter of Jonathon and Sarah Helliwell - address Ovenden, occ wool comber

Going back to the marriage cert, all parties make their mark SO if the incumbent wrote the wrong name they would not have necessarily noticed it (clutching at straws).

[Megan Roberts]

I assume that the 1861 Census entry you are referring to is:

JOWETT, Samuel Head Married M 30 1831 Wool Comber Bingley
JOWETT, Caroline Wife Married F 30 1831 Halifax
JOWETT, John Son M 9 1852 Worsted Factory Hand Holder Halifax
JOWETT, James Son M 7 1854 Scholar Halifax
JOWETT, William Son M 5 1856 Halifax
JOWETT, Sarah Anne Daughter F 2 1859 Halifax

Piece: 3337 Folio: 34 Page: 6
Registration District: Bradford Civil Parish: Thornton
Address: White Show, Thornton County: Yorkshire (West riding)

If you simply search on the basis of Samuel Jowett living in the West Riding this returns 23 results in the 1861 census, so his name is obviously a very common one.

There are 11 marriages for Samuel Jowett (inc. spelling variations) between 1837-1851 in Yorkshire. Although none of them is to a Caroline Hellawell, this one might be the one that you are looking for:

Name: JOWETT, Samuel
Registration district: Halifax
Year of registration: 1850
Quarter of registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
Volume no: 22
Page no: 233

Because on the same page is a Selina Helliwell.

In the same time period there are 2 marriages for a Caroline Hellawell, but neither of these looks like yours.

It is possible that Samuel and Caroline never married. Long before you could do an electronic search my aunt in vain manually searched all the registers for her gt. grandparents marriage - we now know that they could not have married as the Church's "table of affinities" banned them from doing so.

I think, bearing in mind the children's ages, that it is extremely unlikely that the 1861 marriage is theirs - sorry.