Genealogy Chat

I have been looking for years for an ancestor of mine born around 1763, died in 1829 aged 66 from burial record. He married and died in Sedbergh and I have searched many places through record offices around the yorkshire area but cannot find a baptism.

He married a Mary Atkinson in 1801, (second marriage) and had three children I found, John, Elizabeth and Grace. One possible baptism of Abraham Nowell I found on IGI was one born in Colne with parents John and Grace. There is one baptised Heptonstall and one Dewsbury, but I think I discounted these two as marrying where they were baptised.

Abrahams daughter Elizabeth married a slightly older man called Thomas Harrison who was in fact born in Colne.

I was in brief contact with someone on Genes who sent back this in part of his message, which makes me unsure.

"There are 2 marriages for Abraham Nowell in the Colne area. One is to Ellen Oddy in 1789 in Padiham and the other is in 1812 to Martha Mitchell in Colne. At the moment I am inclined to link these marriages to Abraham b. 1760. There are Abraham Nowells in the Todmorden area as well, but John and Grace who were the parents of Abraham were from the Marsden area."

With two of the children being called after John and Grace and Elizabeth marrying someone from Colne (a friend of her fathers maybe??) what are the chances of this being the correct one and has anyone any ideas how I can be sure.

Any help would be REALLY appreciated as I am at a complete brick wall with this elusive ancestor

Thank you, I am having to go to work at 4.15 so will check back tomorrow if I am lucky to get any replies.

There are these 2 marriages on BVRI but within 2 years making it look as if there were 2 Abrahams:

NOWELL, Abraham Marriage
Wife: Martha MITCHELL
Marriage Date: 16 Jan 1812 Recorded in: Colne, Lancashire, England
Collection: St Bartholomew
Source: FHL Film 1471065 Dates: 1805 - 1862

NOWELL, Abraham Marriage
Wife: Mary HORRACKS
Marriage Date: 29 Nov 1813 Recorded in: Colne, Lancashire, England
Collection: St Bartholomew
Source: FHL Film 1471065 Dates: 1805 - 1862

Thanks Margaret, there is another Abraham Nowell born Colne though around 1788, ( a submitted record like the one (mine??) born 1760) but couldnt this be the one married 1812 and 1813, married twice for some reason. Maybe I am clutching at straws

There are these children of Abraham & Mary in Colne on BVRI:

NOWELL, Peter Christening
Gender: Male
Christening Date: 8 Jan 1815 Recorded in: Colne, Lancashire, England
Collection: St Bartholomew
Father: Abraham NOWELL
Mother: Mary
Source: FHL Film 1471023 Dates: 1813 - 1825

NOWELL, John Christening
Gender: Male
Christening Date: 8 Jul 1821 Recorded in: Colne, Lancashire, England
Collection: St Bartholomew
Father: Abraham NOWELL
Mother: Mary
Source: FHL Film 1471024 Dates: 1813 - 1825

NOWELL, Ann Christening
Gender: Female
Christening Date: 28 Mar 1824 Recorded in: Colne, Lancashire, England
Collection: St Bartholomew
Father: Abraham NOWELL
Mother: Mary
Source: FHL Film 1471024 Dates: 1813 - 1825

Abrahams first marriage was in Sedbergh in 1794 to a Mary Preston,while he was a recruiting sergeant based at Settle, his second marriage was to a Mary Atkinson in 1801, again Sedbergh, I have records to trace Abraham and Mary in Sedbergh until his death. Thanks again for your help.

Do you have this record?

Name: Abraham Nowell
Residence: Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England
Christening date: 03 Dec 1780
Christening place: , DEWSBURY, YORK, ENGLAND
Birth date:
Birthplace:
Father's name: Benjamin Nowell
Father's name note:
Mother's name:
Mother's name note:
Gender: Male
Death date:
Name note:
Batch number: C00905-5
Date range: 1778 - 1797
Record group: England-VR
Film number: 307747
Collection: England Baptisms 1700-1900

http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Colne/stbartholomew/index.html

Marriage: 16 Jan 1812 St Bartholomew, Colne, Lancashire, England
Abraham Nowell - of Burnley
Martha Mitchell - of Colne
Witness: Joseph Thornton; William Smith
Married by Licence of Mr Abbott Surrogate by: Philip Abbott Ass. Curate
Register: Marriages 1805 - 1812, Page 235, Entry 6
Source: LDS Film 1471065

Marriage: 29 Nov 1813 St Bartholomew, Colne, Lancashire, England
Abraham Nowill - Weaver of Colne
Mary Horrocks - (X), Spinster of Colne
Witness: Robert Judson; Richard Rushton, (X)
Married by Banns by: Wm. Dunderdale off minister
Register: Marriages 1813 - 1819, Page 29, Entry 86
Source: LDS Film 1471065

None of the 4 witnesses appear in any other marriage that month.

Well, Malcolm, how the heck do you know that none of the witnesses appear in any marriages that month? This is another bit of knowledge that you have that could be so helpful. How do you know?

Margaret

Meg - If you'd bothered to use the URL I gave, you'ld see for yourself.

I did bother to look, Mgnv, and found nothing that informed me, which is why I asked your advice.

What I sometimes do with the Lancs OPC site, Meg, is to go into Edit on my Firefox headings and scroll down to the "Find" option, then type in part or all of a name in the search box and click "find". As soon as the whole page is loaded, all you have to do is click "Next" on the search box and every time that name comes up, it will find it. (Pretty much like the Find tool in Word, really)

Particularly with the Lancs OPC site, it can be a lot quicker than going backward and forwards between index pages and the pages containing the whole list of baptisms, marriages or deaths for each chunk of time. (Since that site likes to put the records on in batches covering a few years each.)

Thanks, Kate.

Just to say mgnv has sorted me out in a pm.

Marilyn isn't looking for a marriage for Abraham - she has both of those in Sedbergh - but for his baptism. She's picked on Colne cos it's the only other Abraham of the right age that the IGI throws up, and one of Abraham's daughters marries a man from Colne.

I'd be very careful, Marilyn, (a) about placing any reliance on submitted records and (b) about assuming that cos a particular baptism might fit, that it is the right one. It's a nice assumption, but that is all it is.

Once we get back to the 1700s most of us find that we can go no further, and at best if we add a set of parents, we have to add "maybe" to the notes.

Thank you to everyone who has tried to help me, as Meg said I have the marriages of my Abraham Nowell, just very puzzled as to the baptism. Just thought that maybe with the couple of coincidences, daughters marriage and childrens names, it could warrant closer investigation,and wondered what everyone thought.

I know the 1760 baptism in Colne is a submitted but sometime this year I will be visiting Preston, (I think its Preston) R.O. and searching out the baptism myself in the church records, hopefully it will shed some more light or give me some more options. We usually try to visit one or two record office through the year and search for various branches to verify them. As you said it gets harder and harder pre 1837 but well worth the effort if we find something that proves right.

Thanks again everyone and good luck with all your own research.

Marilyn