Samuel Weston Beal- supposedly born Oundle

[davidbishop]

Hi All
This is my first post to this website
I have been trying for some time to link my 3xgreat grandfather Samuel Weston BEAL to his siblings and parents.
I have a marriage for Samuel in London in 1819 and have also found him there in 1841 and 1851. He states that he was born in Oundle, Northamptonshire c1800.
I have found Samuel’s most likely grandparents, Thomas Beal and Elizabeth Weston, who were married in Morborne Hunts in 1756. They had 3 sons, Henry, John and Thomas. I think one of these three are my Samuel’s parents, but to date I have not been able to find any birth or baptism for him in Oundle which would link him to one of these fathers.
Samuel Weston Beal was a carpenter, and out of the 3 possible fathers, only Henry Beal was also a carpenter. I have found Henry Beal as a master carpenter in Oundle both in 1801 and 1804. I also have a possible marriage for him that I found on freeReg. The marriage is to a Sarah Oldham and the place is Barnack, Northamptonshire. Sarah’s parish on the marriage is stated as Barnack and Henry’s as Oundle. I also found Henry and Sarah’s children’s baptisms in Oundle on freeReg. Their children were Mary (1797), Sarah (1801) and Henry (1804), but no Samuel!
What I can’t find is any other info re both Henry Beal and Sarah Oldham. It may help my search if at least I knew more about Sarah Oldham- where she was born, who her parents were( her father may have been Samuel, for instance) etc?
If anyone has access to Northamptonshire BDM’s and could possibly help me, it would be appreciated. I live in Australia so I can only search on the internet.

Thank you in advance

David

[Lesley Robertson]

Have you checked the surrounding parishes? Sometimes, people were out of their usual parish for a year or so (maybe for work) and one child in the sequence had a different birthplace but, because the siblings were all bought in the "base parish" the parents just said that all their kids were born in the same place.They didn't worry so much about accuracy as we do.
Also, children sometimes acquired their middle names after baptism - I assume that you've been looking at candidates with only one forename?

[janbooth]

Hi David,

There is also another child baptised at Oundle to Henry & Sarah BEAL (source Northamptonshire Baptismal Index 1751-1812):

Born 17 December 1806 & baptised 9 January 1807 Thomas son of Henry & Sarah BEAL

I can find the marriage of Henry & Sarah OLDHAM at Barnack, as you have stated on the Northamptonshire Marriage Index, 1700-1837. It was by licence so it could perhaps be worth an email to Northamptonshire Record Office to see if they hold a record of the marriage licence as it may hold some clues, especially as I cannot find a likely baptism on the Northamptonshire Baptismal Index for a Sarah OLDHAM. There are no baptisms to Sarah as a spinster before her marriage to Henry, so Samuel was obviously not baptised as an OLDHAM. The earliest BEAL(E) baptism in Oundle is that of Mary in 1797 and there are 5 baptisms to a John & Harriet BEAL the earliest being that of a daughter Harriet in 1802 - is this Henry's brother John? Let me know if you would like details. John's marriage is on the Northamptonshire Marriage Index and took place at Oundle:

8 November 1801 John BEAL, bachelor, of the parish & Harriet UNDERWOOD of Chelsea St Luke, Middlesex, spinster

There are a couple of other BEAL marriages at Oundle around the same time which may prove to be connected to your Samuel:

21 August 1802 Thomas BEAL of Upwell, Hunts, bachelor & Ann Braddock PURCELL, of the parish
6 September 1818 Joseph BEAL of the parish, bachelor & Rhoda EARL of the parish, spinster

The earliest BEAL marriage at Oundle on the Marriage Index is that of a Euseby BEALE & Mary PARISH on 25 July 1731 by licence. I don't know if he is connected at all to your line, but the record may come in useful.

Samuel's marriage record to Eliza ROBINS doesn't help much either, in that both witnesses were members of the ROBINS family. Have you considered the fact that Samuel may have been illegitimate?

Not too sure that any of this helps very much, but I will keep looking for anything on Samuel.

Janet

[janbooth]

The London Will of Samuel Weston BEAL of 9 Reeves Place, Hoxton, Cabinet Maker is available to see on Ancestry. Unfortunately, that does not help at all in your quest to find his parents, as it only names his wife Eliza as his Executrix. No helpful relations named at all!! Am having no luck finding an appropriate baptism for Samuel at all so far, but will keep looking.

Janet

[davidbishop]

Thank you both for your replies

I have been gradually acquiring the parish records for several villages in Huntingdonshire because I'm almost 99.9% sure that Samuels ancestors came from there.

It would appear that Samuels cousins and/or brothers moved about quite a bit. Apart from finding them in London, I've found them in other parts of Northamptonshire and Crowland in Lincolnshire.

Janet, I did know about the baptism for Thomas in 1806 but forgot to add it- apologies. You have given me a few things to go on though. More than I've had for quite some time. My biggest recent breakthrough was the marriage of Thomas Beal to Elizabeth Weston in Folksworth Hunts( not Morborne as I stated previously). You have asked an obvious question- was Samuel illegitimate ? Maybe, but if he was illegitimate to either Henry or wife Sarah Beal, he would have been the 2nd born to them and usually it's the first child who is illegitimate. Anything's possible though.
I do know about John and Harriet Beal, but I didn't have their marriage record-thank you. John was the clockmaker in Oundle and they had quite a few kids. The other brother Thomas is also hard to trace. He was a baker I know(from his second marriage record in London) but I haven't found apprenticeship records for him or a first marriage record. I also know about Joseph and Rhoda Beal in Oundle, but I haven't found evidence to date to link them to my tree. The Euseby Beal marriage is interesting and could be one of mine- thank you.

I will try contacting the Northamptonshire records office re the marriage for Henry Beal.

Janet, one thing that has puzzled me for a while is where the name Samuel came from. There are no Samuels anywhere to be seen from his ancestors in Hunts. That's why I'm wondering? hoping that Sarah Oldham's father's name may be Samuel, but I can't been to trace where she came from yet- Barnack doesn't appear to be her birth place.

Thanks again for all your help to date. This has been a long endeavour for me. Another reason I need to know is that I have the same trade as John Beal the clockmaker, and I'd love to unquestionably be able to put him in my tree.

I'll try to insert this diagram which shows what I know up til now.

David

[janbooth]

David,

I will have a look over the weekend at your Tree and see if I can find anything further on my CDs etc which might shed any light on your family. It's interesting though that Jesse's 2nd name is Eusebius (not a particularly common name) in that the first mention of BEAL in Oundle is the marriage of a Euseby BEAL in 1731. From memory of looking at the Northamptonshire Baptismal Index 1751-1812, there is a Eusebius BEAL having children in Warmington, Northants, so he could be worth further investigation!

Will get back to you after the weekend.

Janet