Genealogy Chat

A large portion of my ancestors originated from Langport in somerset and my mother used to always tell me that there was originally Romany blood in the family. I have not been able to find this until now. My grt grt granfather was Francis Burton, he died in 1857 when he was in his thirties and so have not been able to find him on any census entries. He married someone called Hannah. The marriage I can not find. I have found one Francis burton that married in somerset in 1844, which is about right i would say but on the page there is only him, no mention of the spouse! Does anybody know why this is and is there a chance of having the name of the spouse if I order the cert? The thing is Last night I found loads of Burtons in langport with funny first names such as nehemiah and i looked at them on the census forms and they are all down as peddlers and hawkers...this must be the gypsy connection and I just know that they were related to francis but I need a marriage cert to get his fathers name so i can try and get a definate connection. If i cant find a marriage entry to confirm his father where ca I go from here? Any ideas gratefully received Thanx ann

Hi, if you were using freebmd or ancestry it just means they havent got round to transcribing all the entry. If you order the certificate, it will have the name of the wife and the fathers names for both of them plus occupations. You could take the chance on spending £7 if you think this is a good bet. Is this the one you mean? Marriages Sep 1844 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURTON Francis Tiverton 10 407 You could ask if some kind soul could look up the bride for the same date and reference which would confirm it is the right marriage for you. You would need 1837 online for that. Oh, just noticed you dont have Hannah's surname, so that wont help. What you can do is find a birth cert for one of their kids which would give you her surname.

Out of interest, I entered a search for this marriage on the familysearch site and it came up with a website for the 'ancestry of the Hollis family' which a contributor from the states has put on there. I havent looked through it for your guy, but may be worth you having a trawl?

This looks as if it could be them in 1851, from the details you have given! LANGPORT 1851 CENSUS, Somerset. H.O. 107/1926 CENSUS No. 1 Part of the Parish of Langport Page 17 Bow Street Schedule 67 BURTON Francis 31 Cordwainer Old Cleeve Hannah 25 Langport, Som. George 4 Scholar Langport, Som. Sarah 2 Langport, Som. Francis 8m Langport, Som. GARLAND Alfred Lodger 24 Ag. Lab. Swell A cordwainer is a shoemaker - not particularly a Romany/Gypsie occupation?? I don't have the original page for the above, but if I'm sure others do, so you could try asking with the ref details given above. Happy Hunting Merry

Thats a brilliant help for you from Merry and it also seems that the 1844 marriage may or may not be yours, going by the age of the children, although they may have lost one . And you could now get a birth cert for one of the kids, if you didnt know their names before. If they didnt have a previous 'Francis' as a son, its likely one of their fathers is a George? The only 1844 marriage for a Francis Burton on familysearch is in Exton, Somerset to a Mary Wood.

Hi Merry That is him. Thanks that is fantastic! The thing is that from your entry i noticed the lodger Alfred Garland, the Burtons that i found last night all seem to be living in the same place with other families some of which were called GARLAND. So there is a def connection there . I was a bit confused last night cos some BUrtons were down as Peddlers and Hawkers some were down as carters for farm and some Labourers, maybe francis decided to break away? I dont know but it is interesting trying to find out! Thanks once again Ann

And is this the sons birth reference? Name: Burton, George Record Type: Births Quarter: December Year: 1846 District: Langport County: Somerset Volume: 10 Page: 430

Looks like your Hannah moved in with a Mr Calder? Wonder if he is a relative? 1861 Charles Burton abt 1856 Langport, Somerset, England Son Of Hannah Burton Langport Somerset George Burton abt 1847 Langport, Somerset, England Son Of Hannah Burton Langport Somerset Hannah Burton abt 1823 Langport, Somerset, England Lodger Langport Somerset Sarah Burton abt 1849 Langport, Somerset, England Dau Of Hannah Burton Langport Somerset Tom Burton abt 1854 Langport, Somerset, England Son Of Hannah Burton Langport Somerset George Calder abt 1815 Taunton, Somerset, England Head Langport Somerset

Hi Heather Thanx for all your help, the census that Merry found is def the right francis, so yes it does look as if the marriage entry that i found may not be the right one. I will look at family search though for the Hollis family thing though because you never know and that does look interesting. If I cant find a marriage I will do what you say and order one of the childrens certificates to get hannahs maiden name, I feel that there is a definate connection there to the Burtons that i found last night. I am glad that the missing spouse is just because they have not finished transcribing yet, it is so frustrating when you think you may have found the marriage and the other person is missing! :) Thanx for your great help Ann

Hi Heather THanks for Georges Birth ref, my grt grandfather so I will order that cert and then i can progress a bit. Ohhh you found the calder connection, there is a family skeleton there i am afraid. after Francis died, Hannah had another son and I thought huh?... how is that possible!!??? I then found the census entry for her being a 'lodger' with george calder. The new son was named Edward CALDER Burton! lol

Yes, I did notice another kiddie had appeared on the 1871! Didnt want to confuse you with that one.

Looks like Sarah's birth, out of interest: Births Sep 1848 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Burton Sarah Langport 10 424