Henry Prescott, did you really marry her?

[Dargie]

Just as I am beginning to understand how to make my way around the British census system, parish registers, record offices and all the GRO, SHS, IGI, etc variations it is time to leave my peaceful Suffolk comfort zone and come home to Australia.
What a mine field.
My late brother did a lot of work in the 1980's prior to internet forums and online archives. He has a lot of information , which I think he paid a lot of money to find out, regarding a 3xgreat grandfather, Henry William Prescott (born 1815, Ringwould, Kent) who came out on the crew of a convict ship. (Yes, unfortunately one of the crew!).
He has careful detailed dates of Henry's marriage,(St Andrews Presbyterian Sydney 1837) to Elizabeth Wood, dates of births of children and subsequent second marriage to Elizabeth Rossiter in 1862
However I cannot find any listing for this first marriage nor any of the births.
Second marriage is listed Ok.
Neither can I find a birth listed for my grandmother. I know her name, parents names and approx date but no luck.
My question is: Where else do I look but in the births, deaths and marriages for NSW? I have reason to believe that all events did take place in NSW due to documentation of his line of work as wharf Manager for the Hunter River Steam Navigation Co.
At the time of his marriage he was a crew member of the first two steam powered vessels to sail in Australian waters.(Sophia Jane and Maitland).
Would greatly appreciate a hint or two on what I need to know regarding Australian resources. I am sure it has all been given before so maybe there is another thread which I should read.
Many thanks .... greatly appreciate all help received in the past.:confused:

[ChristineR]

I do not know where you have been looking :D but the 1837 marriage is there indexed on the NSW BDM web site. I see the baptisms of four children.

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/searchHistoricalRecords.htm

V18373008 74A/1837 PRESCOTT HENRY W WOODS ELIZABETH JB
V1837302 75/1837 PRESCOTT HENRY W WOODS ELIZABETH JB

The early church codes show
JB = Presbyterian Sydney, St Andrew's Scots Church

There are two entries - bit like having parish records and bishops transcripts of the same record in England.

If you have been looking on the IGI, you will find only patron-submitted entries there. It is not a normal resource for use to find Australian records.

ChristineR :)

PS If you filled in both bride and groom search fields and you didn't get a result - it was WOODS, and not WOOD.
For the children, just the mother's forename would be used in the index.

[ChristineR]

Neither can I find a birth listed for my grandmother. I know her name, parents names and approx date but no luck.

If your grandmother was born after 1907 in NSW then she will not be found in the index.

C :)

[Dargie]

|blush||blush|
Well, Christine how embarrassing is that. Guess I should not be starting this at 10pm.
I will go back and check it now and see it in black and white. I thought I tried all spelling variations but thank you!

Now my dad was born in 1910 so I reckon it is pretty safe to say my grandmother was born prior to 1907 BUT I will definately go back and have another look:D One can only take just so much embarrasment in one night!

Actually the information, when it can be found, is quite informative. Just found quite a few family deaths, marriages etc and have now discovered parents names, locations etc well laid out.

Maybe it will be OK leaving the green fields of Suffolk and coming back to the sunburnt country!

Thanks, you are an|angel|

Regards
Marj.

[Dargie]

I am hoping that you can solve this puzzle also, Christine.

I could not find my grandmother's birth at all. Her mother, Elizabeth A Prescott married Andrew Henry Cox and my brother's notes say that my grandmother Edith was a child of that marriage.
Found four children of that marriage 1863 - 1879 but no Edith!
However I did find a birth for Edith M in 1872 born to Andrew H and Edith A!!
Now, I really don't think that my great grandfather would change wives in the middle of the stream then go back to the first wife so am puzzled.
My grandmother was married 1892 so the above birth fits in. The location is right also as a sibling born 1867 was also in Redfern.
Do these clerical errors happen very much? How can I prove it is the correct person if the birth certificate is actually wrong? Do I suppose he had an affair (shhh!) or do I blame the registrar. The middle initial of A is right.
The mother is also named as Edith A on Grandmother Edith's marriage certificate.|help|

[ChristineR]

I thought I tried all spelling variations

I think you might have been giving too much information to the search engine. Nothing to be embarrassed about, sorry if I was a bit cheeky :D

I do not think it has always been so, but now one can use a wildcard in searching the BDM indexes! I am sure I had tried it before and it didn't work but does now.

Does your brother give a date for Edith's birth?

ChristineR

[ChristineR]

Hi again,

I had a look at the index - I think you are safe in that it is either a transcription error or the registrar wrote it down wrong on the birth certificate. Your Andrew is the only Andrew COX having children registered within 100 years - apart from one in 1834.

The registrar could have written it as Elizth, and the indexer has seen it as Edith - since Edith was also in the brain cells from the baby's name.

cheers
ChristineR :)

[Dargie]

Sounds good to me!

That is what I thought but a second opinion is always handy:).

Until my next question, somewhere down the line!

Thanks and Cheers!

Marj.

[bridgy]

Hi Dargie
Re: Elizabeth ROSSITER
I was so excited to read this ladies name in your post. I believe that she was the daughter of Bartholomew ROSSITER, the first of my mothers line in Australia. I have a little information about her from the NSW BDM index - marriage to Henry W Prescott, children Fanny E.R, Kate E.L. & Gertrude M.P. - plus a copy of the ships index of the ship that I believe she and her family sailed on. My brick wall is her father and I would love to learn more about Elizabeth. If you think that we have a match, I would really appreciate a contact.
Regards
Jan

[Dargie]

Well, we definately do have a connection here Jan.|hug|
However I am descended from Elizabeth Anne born 7th August 1838, the daughter of Henry Prescott and Elizabeth Woods, Henry's first wife.

I have records which match yours regarding Elizabeth Rossiter and her children ....Fanny Er (b 1863) Kate EL (b 1865 d 1866 ) Kate El (b 1868) and Gertrude MP.( b 1870 d 1874).

Henry Prescott died in 1894... Paddington.

Do you have the death of Elizabeth in 1919 which gives her father's name as Bartholemew and mother's name as Elizabeth?

I can send you via private message all the info I have about Henry Prescott and his origins in Ringwould, Kent (parents etc) if you would like it.
I am afraid I cannot give you any further information regarding Elizabeth Rossiter or her father if that is the person to which you referred.

If the ship's index gives any original location in England we could maybe go back further. I will try to find something now I have the parents names and idea of a date of immigration.

My niece has a letter written by Henry, whilst crew on the convict ship. He was concerned about the moral welfare of the female convicts on board!

Let me know if you would like Henry info and I will pm it to you.
Cheers

Marj.:)

[bridgy]

Hello to you as well Cuz |biggrin||biggrin|
Am going to PM you with answers to your post because it's so big I might be kicked off here before I have a chance to really get going. :D:D
Am so glad you replied and will speak to you soon.
Jan |hug||hug|

[Jenny70]

Hello to all PRESCOTT families on this thread, I too am part of the family. Dargie and Marj I am descended from William Henry PRESCOTT"S (1815-1894) daughter Elizabeth Ann PRESCOTT (1838-1918) who married Andrew Henry COX (1836-1918) in 1858. Many years ago I was working on this research with a wonderful cousin Malcolm MCCULLOUGH who has now passed. Marj I think he may have been your brother. I would love to get in touch. I can see that the forum that I am writing was active way back in 2007, I hope I am not too late. Jenny♫

[Dargie]

Hello Jenny Lovely to hear from you.
I have been actually absent from Family History for the last couple of years and for some time after 2008 have concentrated on other branches of the family.
I was alerted
Yes I am sure it was actually my brother Philip with whom you corresponded. Malcolm was our father.
Philips wife Elaine told me about you and was hoping we could catch up.
Philips daughter Lyn has a lot of info left by Philip and I have suggested she take over the setting up of the Prescott information.
I will get back to all the papers in the near future and maybe we can then see what we can share.
I saw a WDYTYA programme about the famous Cox who built the first road through the Blue Mountains. I am so keen to delve into our Cox records to see if there is any connection however vague it may be!!
Regards
Marj.

[Jenny70]

Well Hello there Marg, I certainly had you all confused I now understand that you are Philip's sister. Just thinking about Philip brings back so many memories and all that he shared. I remember a note book that he had that had, I think, copies of letters that had been written......so many years ago. I will give you my home email to pass on to Lynn should she want to connect with me. My research stopped when Philip passed. I came to Melbourne to see Phantom of the Opera and had organised to ring and have a catch up; I rang and was told the sad news. I have never liked that musical from that day on.

No, the Cox that built the road over the Blue Mountains is not related. I can help out with "our" Cox family history.

So here is my email address should you want to contact me JennyhistoryAToptusnetDOTcomDOTau

Big Hug
Jenny♫

[Dargie]

HI Jenny
How very interesting!
It is strange how the past sometimes catches us with us when least expected. For some reason the above message has deleted some of my post.
I began to say that I was alerted to your post by another relative Sue Hindmarsh.
By coincidence she and brother Geoff are in Melbourne at present and contacted my niece Lyn of whom you speak.
He is meeting up with Lyn this week I unfortunately cannot make it to Melbourne this week. we live in Gippsland.
However I am in the process now of scanning those Prescott original diary entries that my father had treasured. I have them here but will soon be returning them to Lyn as my Dad passed them onto Philip.

Elaine has talked so much about you and we were wondering how we could reconnect.
I will definitely write to you at your email address asap.

I actually have spent most of my time researching my mothers ancestors in Suffolk and also a very large amount of amazing time in Ireland with my Dad's family however Philip has done a lot of work on the Prescott family and we have information to share. Although maybe you have already received all I know from Philip.
I hope Jan above will see this new development.
very best wishes ....lovely to greet another relative.
Marj.

[Dargie]

Hi Jan

I am not sure of you are still working with the Prescott research as it was way way back in 2008 but as I was going through some old papers belonging to my brother I found some which are relevant to your side of the family ie the second wife of Henry Prescott.
I am afraid that all the info you sent me in 2008 is on an old computer which I need several hours to open however if you are interested to see what I have I will be pleased to forward it onto you. It may not be new to you .
It is basically the Alcock connection and letters received. Paper work on the Queen Victoria building. I believe your ancestor was the architect. Quite a few letters from Malcolm McRae
I hope you have since traced Elizabeth Rossiters parents in England. I have no further info there.
Regards
Marj.