George Gardner born 1808 in Hampshire

[billyg54]

Hello,

George is my great great great grandfather. He appears to have been illegitimate and presumably adopted by somebody, or maybe brought up out of wedlock. He married Harriett Norris on 27 November 1830 in Selborne, Hampshire and they had 7 children (Mary, Eliza, Harriett, George, William, James and Andrew). All of these children were born in Hampshire. They emigrated to Australia in 1849 and George senior died on the ship. The boys in the family subsequently moved to New Zealand in the 1850's/60's.

I am interested in tracing George's ancestry, parents, siblings etc.

If anyone can suggest how I might trace George's birth records. parents etc I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Bill Gardner
Paraparaumu
New Zealand

[christanel]

Hi Bill and welcome to British-Genealogy

Why do you say William appears tobe illegitimate? What brought you to this conclusion?

There is a baptism for a George Gardner on family seach.org baptized 24 March 1806 at Portsea parents James and Mary. Now I know you give a birth dated of 1808 but if you are taking that from the 1841 census all ages were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5 for those 15 years and over.This enumerator appears to have followed instructions looking at all the ages on the 2 pages. If the 1841census is the only place you have his age then he could have been anything up to 4 years older.
George, Harriet and family are in Headley, Farnham registration district in the 1841 census which is about 30 miles from Headley so not too far away to be a possibility.
Christina

[christanel]

Is this baptism why you say George is illegitimate?

George Gardner
baptized Headley Hampshire
17 August 1808
Mother Ann Gardner.

It does look a good match for your man. He didn't name any of his children Ann?

Christina

[billyg54]

Hi Christanel,

Thanks for your two prompt posts to my thread. You seem to be on to it:)

I have found somewhere (can't remember exactly where) but I have pasted the reference here that he was illegitimate so have assumed it was correct.

User ID: AE6F16A6-75B4-4ED7-8F05-7FF050641004
Record ID Number: MH:IF142
Date: 1808
Place: Hampshire, England, Illegitimate

The baptism you have found does seem a good match, is there anyway of following this up to prove it is him?

Cheers
Bill Gardner

[christanel]

Hi Bill
looking for an Ann Gardner on family search.org is one way.
familysearch.org now offer a free photo duplication service of the original parish registers. You will need the film numbers etc of the baptisma lrecord to order it but it is a lot quicker than asking your closest LDS centre to order it in.
On this page (https://familysearch.org/ask/researchAssistance)scroll down to the search box and type in Photoduplication. It will take you to the order page you need.
The original page may have more information but also may not but is worth a try.
That user ID means nothing to me but may to someone else. Always make a complete record of your sources so you can verify them.

Christina

[janbooth]

Have you seen the actual parish register entry of his marriage to Harriet? If so, were there any helpful witness names on it. Often witnesses could be siblings, cousins or such like which might give you a clue as to his parentage.

Looking at the 1841 census record for your George & Harriet, they are living in Headley with children Mary, Harriet, George & William (HO107/382/8, folio 9, page 12), so it would seem most likely that he is the illegitimate son of Ann GARDENER baptised in Headley on 7 August 1808.

There appear to be 2 other GARDENER (or variant) families having children in Headley at around the same time - a James & Lydia and a William & Priscilla, so again it would appear likely that Ann is related to them. The earliest GARDENER baptism at Headley is a child of James & Lydia in 1794 (their marriage is recorded there in 1792), so the GARDENER's do not seem to be native to Headley

Ann GARDENER does not appear to have died at Headley (Findmypast have a lot of Hampshire transcriptions on their website including those of Headley) nor can I find her there in the 1841 census so perhaps she married after the birth of George - there are no baptisms at Headley for any other children to her.

Janet

[janbooth]

Looking for likely marriages of an Ann GARDENER post George's baptism, there is one at Preston Condover in November 1808 of an Ann GARDNER to a James MEACHEM - coincidentally, there is a baptism of a James GARDENER at Preston Condover in 1774 - and this Ann can be followed through the census records up to 1861. According to her 1851 census record she was born c1788 at Preston Condover. Whether this is your Ann is open to speculation and as Christina suggests you do need to see George's original baptismal record to see if there are any helpful clues. For instance, occasionally the original parish register entry will state "reputed son of.....".

Janet

[burt]

If you Google Headley Baptisms, you will come up with John Owen Smith's website for Headley which contains all the details
pertinent there.
I will have a look at Hants GS Baptisms and Marriages to follow up James and Lydia and see whether this yields anything.

[burt]

The original Registers are held at the Surrey History Centre and have by them been put on Ancestry.

[christanel]

The baptismal record for George Gardner, mother Ann, on ancestry, is only a transcript from familysearch.org not the original image so it looks as if you will have to order the original from familysearch.org or the Surrey History centre as suggested by burt

Christina

[burt]

Ancestry - Surrey, England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials - George GARDENER 1808 Headley click image.

[billyg54]

Hi Burt,

Thanks but not sure what this post shows? Is there an image or doc with it?

Cheers
Bill

[janbooth]

Bill,

If you look at the Ancestry record of the baptism for George GARDENER under Surrey, England Baptisms, there is a link below the heading which says "View Image". Click on that and it brings up the original parish register entry, which unfortunately tells us no more than we already know!

Janet