Knee family search help needed

[Margaret March]

I have hit a brick wall on my search. Looking for Philip Knee baptized in 1745 in Somerset, England. He emigrated to Newfoundland, Canada in 1781. Married and had a family there. A number of my relatives have all been searching for his father but none have been able to find him. Can anyone offer some help please? Thanks so much.
Margaret March

[Pam Downes]

Hello Margaret,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

When you say "baptized in 1745 in Somerset" do you mean that you've found an entry in a parish register, or do you mean that based on other records (such as an age at burial) you think he was born about 1745 in Somerset?

Mu gut feeling says it's the latter, because otherwise you would surely have said 'baptised in (name of town in) Somerset.
So we don't waste our time duplicating searches already made which records have you already searched? If you can name specific datasets on subscrition sites such as Ancestry and Findmypast it would be helpful.
A quick glance at FamilySearch shows some Philip Knees in Wiltshire, a county adjacent to Somerset. It's a small map, but in the bottom left-hand corner the yellow SOM is Somerst, and the green WIL to its right is Wiltshire. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/

f you scroll down an inch or so and click on the box labelled Somerset, you'll find a link to the towns and parishes in Somerset. Unfortunately there's quite a lot of them, but it could be that your only option is to gradually work through all the parish registers available for those places circa 1745. Though Somerset and Dorset Family History Society might be able to help out with some parishes. Research help is £10 per hour. (Very cheap.) https://sdfhs.org/

Pam

[Margaret March]

I took over the family tree research from a family member so I don’t know all the databases he searched. However, I confirmed the arrival of Philip Knee to Newfoundland and the family from there. It has been noted that he was the first Knee to arrive here by another researcher and he posted an article on the kneesofwiltshire.wordpress.com. He also couldn’t find this Philip in England in the mid 18th century. I have searched the Wiltshire baptism records from 1600-1749 with no luck. There were a lot of other Knee’s in them and Bromham is considered to be the cradle of the Knees. I will check on the Somerset parish records and hopefully find him. Thank you so much for your reply! Any other information you may have please lemme know!
Margaret

Hello Margaret,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

When you say "baptized in 1745 in Somerset" do you mean that you've found an entry in a parish register, or do you mean that based on other records (such as an age at burial) you think he was born about 1745 in Somerset?

Mu gut feeling says it's the latter, because otherwise you would surely have said 'baptised in (name of town in) Somerset.
So we don't waste our time duplicating searches already made which records have you already searched? If you can name specific datasets on subscrition sites such as Ancestry and Findmypast it would be helpful.
A quick glance at FamilySearch shows some Philip Knees in Wiltshire, a county adjacent to Somerset. It's a small map, but in the bottom left-hand corner the yellow SOM is Somerst, and the green WIL to its right is Wiltshire. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/

f you scroll down an inch or so and click on the box labelled Somerset, you'll find a link to the towns and parishes in Somerset. Unfortunately there's quite a lot of them, but it could be that your only option is to gradually work through all the parish registers available for those places circa 1745. Though Somerset and Dorset Family History Society might be able to help out with some parishes. Research help is £10 per hour. (Very cheap.) https://sdfhs.org/

Pam

[warncoort]

Might be worth checking here.
https://wsom-opc.org.uk/
https://www.freereg.org.uk/

[pwholt]

May I remind researchers of this area that they need to go further than parish registers. West Wiltshire and over the border into Somerset was a hotbed of non-conformity, particularly Baptists and Congregationalists. There was a Mr Knee who was very knowledgeable about the KNEE family but he died some years ago and I don't know what happened to his research.At the moment, his first name is not coming to mind, but Wiltshire FHS might be able to tell you, and also might know what happened to his research.It may be that the book referred to was his work, anyway.pwholt