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GO TO LAST POST FOR NEW UPDATE 28 FEBRUARY :-)

Maria was my great great grandmother. She married my great great grandfather James Marchant on 10 December 1825 (as attested by)

Name: Maria Trolop
Marriage Date: 10 Dec 1825
Parish: Trowbridge
Marital Status: Spinster (Single (Female))
Residence: of This Parish
Spouse: James Marchant
Spouse Marital Status: Bachelor (Single (Male))
Spouse Residence: Trowbridge
Document Type: Banns

and

Name: Maria Trolop
Gender: Female
Spouse's Name: James A. Marchant
Marriage Date: 10 Dec 1825
Marriage Place: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England

Infuriatingly there are no images with either of these.

I know everything there is to know about her after she married James, right up to her death in 1859 in Cardiff.

But other than she was born ca 1806-8 in Trowbridge (from 1841 and 1851 censuses)

Name: Maria Merchant
[Maria Marchant]
Age: 43
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1808
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: James Arnes Merchant
Gender: F (Female)
Where born: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England
Civil Parish: Trowbridge
Ecclesiastical parish: Trinity
County/Island: Wiltshire
Country: England
Street Address:
Registration District: Melksham
Sub-registration District: Melksham
ED, institution, or vessel: 2k
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Schedule Number: 94
Piece: 1840
Folio: 562
Page Number: 29
Household Members:
Name Age
James Arnes Merchant 43
Maria Merchant 43
Sarah Merchant 24
James Merchant 23
Alfred Merchant 13
Maria Merchant 9
Rebecca Merchant 6

- if she WAS the same age as James it is 1806 rather than 1808 (I am going to send for her death certificate to see what that says), I KNOW ABSOLUTELY LITTLE ABOUT HER! I am also going to send for my great grandmother's birth certificate which might help!

Any thoughts or suggestions as always greatly appreciated :-)

the results at familysearch for Maria Trolope and variants are pretty much all in Horningsham which is w/in 10 miles of Trowbridge

there was a Mary 1806 daughter of James and Ann
and a Miriam 1806 daughter of Joseph and Mary

that might be a place to consider

the 1851 census for instance has rather a huge number of Trollop and variants born in Horningsham - close to 170 (out of 1330 total number born there barring mistranscriptions, that is quite a high ratio) ... and none born in Trowbridge


I have to say ... your gr-gr-grandmother was a Trollop and mine was a Hoare :-D

Joonie :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Yes I'd seen that birth in Horningsham and Googled it to see the distance from Trowbridge. And yes it is worth consideration I think.

As an aside one of my other great grandmothers was Frances Jane Cox known as Fanny :-0

I could never understand all the girls called Fanny !! 'Fanny' Hill's name was no accident I think ! (at least we can tell that all the poor men Ancestry has called P.... in the censuses were really Denis :-D )

just wanted to mention that you were too quick for me, I'd added a bit of info to the post above.

Name: James A. Marchant
Spouse's Name: Maria Trolop
Event Date: 1825
Event Place: Saint James, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M15350-4
System Origin: England-VR
GS Film number: 1279433
Reference ID: 2:1LMJ93L

Yes Ann...unfortunately like the two records I posted originally of the marriage there is "no image available" which is just so infuriating :-)

One line of thought I might pursue is whether they named the children after HER side of the family.....the children were named Sarah Alfred James Maria Rebecca Angelina and Dorcas.

James obviously could be after his father and Maria is obviously after her mother. But none of the other children's names feature in the family line.

Jude

Jude, the record Ann has posted gives the film No - you could order the film to view at your LDS Family History Centre but the image would probably not give you much more info, probably just the witnesses names.

Yes we have a LDS FHC in Newport...have been meaning to give them a visit sometime!

Jude

hey Jude ...

http://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/genealogy/index.php/parish-directory

Trowbridge has an OPC

http://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/genealogy/index.php/parish-directory/item/72-trowbridge-information-page

who might be able to help, you never know

Horningsham has as well

http://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/genealogy/index.php/parish-directory/item/215-horningsham

The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre has the orig parish records and I have found them very helpful in the past, will photocopy and mail records for small fee

also there are several Trollop wills in Horningsham here and sometimes married daughters are named in wills

http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritage/wills_search.php

including
William 1828
Cecelia widow 1853
Charles 1857
James 1878 (also as Trollope)
Joseph 1857 (oops, bachelor)

only 2 of the 10 deceased did not reside in Horningsham

Just to update...

Maria (junior) birth certificate confirms mother as formerly Trollope...I think it says Maria but it could equally say Meriam

Maria (senior) death certificate is interesting....died 23 March 1859 - widow of James Ames Marchant (grocer) of Plucca Lane Roath. BUT informant was Ann Burnett of Plucca Lane - who she be I know not :-) - Maria's age is 50 years giving a birth date of 1909 making her 16 when she married - pinch of salt needed!!!!!

Wasn't James still alive in 1861 now married to Selina.
They are together at the grocers shop in Pucca Lane in 1861!!

Maryb.

in 1851 there was an Ann Burnett living in Cardiff St John, married to George, a school principal

She was born in Winsley, not 5 miles from Trowbridge, c1806.

I might suspect her for the job. I wonder whether there was a family connection?

(Better luck to you than me ... in the 1890s, I have someone who signed a death cert as "grandmother" of a child who had two known grandmothers neither of which was she, nor does she appear to be connected with the woman the child's father claimed to be married to in the previous census, and while there was a woman by the name in question living two doors down in the same street in the next census, she was barely old enough to be the child's mother ... which she wasn't, nor was she related in any way ...)

Oh, and don't be thrown off by Ancestry's nonsense ... Ann Burnett's husband, 52-yr-old George, was not actually the son of 21-yr-old Edward Townsend, a *teacher* in the household, not his father ...

Mary...yes JAmes married SElina in quarter 4 1859! Always seemed indecently hasty and perhaps now more so!

Joonie I will look into it!

Jude

Burial
Forenames:MARIA
Surname:MERCHANT
Abode:PLUCCA LANE
Day Month:28MAR
Year:1859
Age:50
Parish:Roath St Margaret
Record source:Glamorgan Burial Index

Chris :)

Burial
Day:7
Month:Apr
Year:1883
Age:75
Forenames:James Ames
Surname:MARCHANT
Place:Trowbridge; cemetery
County:Wiltshire
Country:England
Reference:137943
Notes:husb of Selina
Record source:Wiltshire Memorial Inscription Index


Day:26
Month:Nov
Year:1904
Age:83
Forenames:Selina
Surname:MARCHANT
Place:Trowbridge; cemetery
County:Wiltshire
Country:England
Reference:137943
Notes:b 2 May 1821 wife of James Ames
Record source:Wiltshire Memorial Inscription Index

(can see above, if any use!)

Chris :)

Chris thanks - yes I have the three deaths - I have James' will (and Selina's probate)

Interesting to see Selina's dob though which I didn't have. Am finding it difficult to find her before she married James (as Perkins)

I may send for their marriage certificate (in Bath in Q4 1859) ....she didn't seem to have engendered any ill feeling (for marrying James so quickly after Maria's death) as James and Maria's eldest daughter Sarah named her daughter born Q3 1859 "Selina" which must have been after her as it does not feature in the family names prior to that.


I am struggling with the events...Sarah married in Melksham in Q4 1854 and had her first child in Cardiff in Q4 1855. I don't know what drew her to Cardiff. Her sisters Maria and Rebecca were also in Cardiff by 1861 and, as Maria married later that year, I suspect they were there sooner as well.

I had always assumed James and Maria joined them - possibly because Maria was ill (her death certificate states Rheumation for many years not certified as the cause of death) but for him to marry Selina in Bath so soon after Maria's death I can only assume they knew each other before he moved to Cardiff!

Jude

the info on the death cert ...

'50' is a nice round age, especially if the informant was not a family member and didn't know the exact age, which could have been several years older

'widow' is a common description that women who were estranged from their husbands used e.g. in censuses, for respectability (especially if they had children with them)

The 'Plucca Lane' address for the informant Ann Burnett might have been an assumption by the person who completed the form, or confusion as to what the question was, etc.

I'm seeing a possible long-term estrangement between Maria and James, and cohabitation between Selina and James, with Maria's death leaving him free to remarry in that indecent haste. Did they marry in Bath because they were supposedly already married, to avoid prying eyes?


Who is this with Maria's daughter Sarah in 1861?

Name: Mary Marchant
Age: 9
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1852
Relation: Adopted Girl (Adopted)
Where born: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England

Civil Parish or Township: Roath
County/Island: Glamorgan

William Pratt 30 born Westbury
Sarah Pratt 34
William Pratt 5
Alfred Pratt 3
Selina Pratt 1
> Mary Marchant 9

I don't see a birth to fit.

http://www.deceasedonline.com/

(noticed above has some Marchant, Trowbridge)

Chris :)

Joonie...answering you in order!!

'50' is a nice round age, especially if the informant was not a family member and didn't know the exact age, which could have been several years older

Quite agree and I do think that Maria was the same age as James and therefore born around 1807/8 rather than 1809.

James and Maria lived in Plucca Lane - he was a grocer. There are a family called Burnett in Plucca Lane but they are William and Mary. The Ann Burnett you mention was widowed sometime between 1851 and 1861 and is in Bristol with daughter Julia in 1861.

I'm seeing a possible long-term estrangement between Maria and James, and cohabitation between Selina and James, with Maria's death leaving him free to remarry in that indecent haste. Did they marry in Bath because they were supposedly already married, to avoid prying eyes?

This is my dilemma. I am thinking that they moved to Cardiff to be with their three daughters - although daughter Dorcas was still in Trowbridge. Maria was probably already dying. Given Selina was born in Wiltshire they must have met - and maybe started a relationship before he moved to Cardiff. But I think he made his life in Cardiff for nearly 20 years - he was certainly there in 1876 when he made his will and he left several properties in Cardiff to his family

Who is this with Maria's daughter Sarah in 1861?

She was the daughter of Sarah's brother James whose wife Matilda died in 1859. I have her in 1871 (as Mary Pratt) and then lose her.

I haven't found a birth record but this is her christening

Name: Mary Ann Marchant
Gender: Female
Birth Date: 10 May 1853
Christening Date: 19 Jun 1853
Christening Place: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England
Age at Christening: 0
Father's Name: James Marchant
Mother's Name: Matilda

Chris thanks - will have a look later

Jude

Births Jun 1853 (>99%)
-------------------------------------------------------------
MARCHANT Mary Clara Melksham 5a 110

(don't suppose above, by any chance!)

Chris :)

Unless they changed their minds and christened her Mary Ann instead of Mary Clara!!!!

BUT....there's not a better option! And I can't find Mary Clara in any census

I am determined to crack these Marchants!!!

I can't find Selina in 1891 or 1901 either :-(

I am not convinced Perkins is her birth name....I might have to speculate!!

Jude