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How do I find the names of children for a soldier in the British Royal Artillery during the 18th century? 19th Century Records show the names of the children but not 18th century.
So how do I find these children? They could be born anywhere marked red on 18th century maps!

Father was JOHN BOGGS born 1757 Magherafelt, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Sent to Quebec, Canada with Royal Artillery where he married in Quebec City in 1788 Deborah Duff King. They were supposed to have had eleven children but I can only find the names of seven of them! Deborah was only 16 when she married but I can't find names for any of their children before 1800. Surely some would be born in Canada? I contacted an Anglican newspaper in Quebec City who gave me the name of someone who held the church records but he couldn't find any birth records for Boggs. Or John could have been posted somewhere else?

Hired a researcher from the National Archives who told me where John Boggs was born and found that he had served in Minorca as well as Canada. Two boys born there 1800 and 1802 but I would have thought there would be earlier children but where?
Does anyone have any ideas?
Best wishes
France

You would need to find out where he served before 1800, via Muster Rolls, to find out when/where other children were born, and with the Royal Artillery, it's not easy as there were so many units.

Ancestry has the Drouin collection of Quebec church records 1621-1967

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1091

I don't pay for access so I can't help much but there are a dozen or so Boggs evebts showing, no idea of dates

just use that link to search for free to see the basic results

someone who has Ancestry worldwide may be able to get more details for you

You may have forgotten that you have another thread about this family, started in March 2013
(no one will grumble about duplicate threads, as you did state that you were unwell in 2013)

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1320529

Going by the number of posts you have made on other sites and the efforts of professional researchers, things have moved on from there.

Following up on Joonie's Ancestry Previews, there is nothing in the Drouin collection in the correct time frame.

It could be that John was posted away from his wife which precluded conception, or that she had a series of neo-natal deaths in the missing years.


Your Ancestry tree lists


William Bogg
1800 Sheerness –

George Godfrey Boggs
1802 Minorca –

Edmund Bogg
1806 Sheerness – 1879

Thomas Boggs
1809 Sheerness –


Mary Anne Boggs
1811 Warley, Essex – 1872

Caroline Boggs
1814 Sheerness – 1832


(edited as incorrectly copied over) - Since it was fairly normal for the first born son to be named for the father, one would suspect that there should be a John around somewhere. The same could apply to the first born daughter ie a Deborah

You did say that an elderly relative believed that there were 11 children all told, and that your direct ancestor Edmund was number 8

I have access to the Drouin Collection and there are no Boggs records in the 18th. century.

Thank you kind people for your imput!
Yes I have tried lots of different ways to find them over the years with no luck! I have U.K. Ancestry which doesn't help.

I'm perfectly willing to pay for worldwide Ancestry for a year if I thought there were any Boggs on there but the only two don't look very hopeful!

So what on earth haven't I looked at?
The family eventually settled in Plumstead, Kent after John Boggs death in 1826 at Dover Castle. St. Mary's Church at Dover Castle has no other Bogg/Boggs records. It seems they might have settled there to be near Edmund Bogg/Boggs. He and Mary Ann are the only ones on the censuses! Deborah and Caroline Boggs died in 1832 from cholera. Deborah was 60 and Caroline just 18! It is the only way I know of Caroline's existance! I don't actually know if she was born at Sheerness. I don't know how that bit got in!

Does anyone have any burial records for Plumstead or church records Plumstead that Ancestry wouldn't have?

Would be grateful for any more ideas!
Best wishes
France

You could look for burials on https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch although the cemeteries listed may have opened after your time frame.

Parish records for St Nicholas Plumstead are being transcribed on http://www.freereg.org.uk/ The same records are likely to also be on https://familysearch.org/ but with fewer details.

Free reg notes that there are 2 other Plumstead parishes - St Marks and St Pauls which no one is transcribing.

http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/ hold non-conformist registers - free to search but subscription or pay-to-view full details of the results

Looking on a disc of Sheppey transcribed PR, there are no Boggs/Bogg/Bagg/Baggs or variations listed as baptisms or burials in Minster Abbey or Queenbourgh being the nearest churches to the Dockyard.

http://www.woolwichfhs.org.uk/parish-records/ gives contact details for Greenwich Heritage Centre - they may be able to suggest other sources.

You haven't acknowedged my mention of a Muster Roll search - seems to me that you have to know where he was, in order to find any births

Thank you everyone!
Yes Annie thank you! I do know about the muster rolls. My researcher did do extensive searches but he told me information wasn't filed under names a lot of the time but under the service number which we didn't have. Also it seems that John Boggs moved battalions for some reason so we have him in the first battalion in one instance and the second on another one.

He said he had found it very difficult to find John! It was pure luck that he found he was in Minorca. Then I found a site for children in the care of the Royal Artillery whilst their parents were abroad. This listed William Boggs born 1800 Minorca and his brother George Boggs born 1802 Minorca with parents John Boggs and Deborah Boggs. They entered care when William was nine and George just six and didn't see their parents again for five years! We don't know where the parents went though! George was returned to his parents care but William was apprenticed to a baker in Sloan Square. End of information! Also found the christening of George Godfrey Boggs in 1802 Magdalen Church, Woolwich but William must have been christened in Minorca. I did have one reply from a man who said he was a military historian that he had bought a letter from the Royal Artillery. It was from John Boggs to the artillery telling them that both his sons were born in Minorca. He wouldn't let me have a copy of the letter because he said it was very fragile! This ties up but no idea what happened to these boys! No sign on any other sites. Did they die? Also if there were originally eleven children why is it that only Edmund (my 2 x great grandfather) and Mary Ann seem to be on the censuses. Did all of the other nine die? Or did they go abroad somewhere? But where?

Free Reg and Deceased online don't have any Boggs at all though Family search did have the marriage of John Boggs parents John Boggs and Sarah Morgan in St. Columb Cathedral, Londonderry in 1842. Had a search done there. No other Boggs records there!. I also had a search done of Magherafelt protestant church where I found names of John's brother and two sisters which was great but it hasn't helped find his children!

It could just be a case of records from the time have not survived, ie war, fire, flood! :-\

I've done a lot of searching of Royal Artillery Musters and would agree that they are very difficult to search, and, as you say, men kept transferring into other units and the Musters don't always say which one they were transferring to, and in this case you have to look at all of them (and there are a lot!)

Not sure why your researcher says they were filed under service number??

As well as the Musters, did the Researcher search RA Baptisms (TNA Reference WO69)?

Could the name possibly have been transcribed as Buggs? I have come upon many with that name in the Medway area. Just a thought.

Are you sure George was born in Minorca?



London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812


Name:George Godfrey Boggs

Baptism Date:18 Apr 1802

Parish:St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich

County:Kent

Borough:Greenwich

Parent(s):
John Boggs,
Deborah Boggs

Record Type:Baptism

Register Type:Parish Register


I guess it's possible and he was baptised in the UK?