Genealogy Chat

see below

I've traced my family back to a marriage in 1804, there are several possibilties for the birth of Samuel Wilkes, so I thought I would get in touch with the archives service to see if their parents names were on the marriage register. got this reply Thank you for your enquiry regarding Samuel Wilkes, which has been forwarded to us here at Sandwell Community History & Archives Service. You have asked for details of the parents of Samuel Wilkes and Diana Cornes, who were married at All Saints Church West Bromwich on 16th February 1804. We have checked the Marriage Register for that time, and found the entry of their marriage. However there are no details of their parents. The witnesses to the marriage were also witnesses to several other marriages on that page, and are unlikely to be family members. We are sorry that we are unable to be of help to you. Regards So I can't confirm which Samuel Wilkes is min. is there any other way apart from the marriage register that I can find out who the parents were? Thanks Linda

Hi Linda, I too have a Samuel Wilkes but mine came from Shropshire. Have you looked for him in the LDS site? If he is on it and stayed in the same area you may find his christening. Regards Jeanie A.

Hmm there's got to be a way to figure it out it just might not be as simple as you'd hoped. What info do you have around him? Any siblings? Perhaps you can trace parentage through them. Do you have any clues as to when he might have died for a death record? Or a grave stone that might state beloved son of etc I'm not sure what marriage record your people looked at but is there likely to be another? a license, church record etc. 1804 was right at the beginning? (historys a shakey subject for me) of he Napoleonic wars. Could he have served in wellingtons army? Would there be records from that time? Or perhaps his parents witnessed their grandchildrens marriage. These are just ideas I'm too knew at this to give you a definate answer. So i'll leave you with this... Think Laterally, and don't give up! Helen

thanks both, as far as I know it was the parish records they looked at at the archives. the LDS site comes up with SAMUEL WILKES Male -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Event(s): Birth: Christening: SEP 1776 Saint Lawrence, Darlaston Near Wolverhampton, Stafford, England Death: Burial: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parents: Father: WILLM. WILKES Family Mother: SARAH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Messages: Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date. or -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAMUEL WILKES Male -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Event(s): Birth: Christening: 30 AUG 1780 Saint Lawrence, Darlaston Near Wolverhampton, Stafford, England Death: Burial: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parents: Father: JOSEPH WILKES Family Mother: HANNAH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Messages: Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date. both of which would fit my Samuel, thing is there are hundreds of Wilkes in Darlaston I expect we are related some how. but as I don't know which is mine I can't find out who were his siblings to check for their marriages Linda

I'm afraid marriages of that date don't usually give the father's name, the best you can hope for is that the witnesses will be relatives but the parish clerk often witnessed the marriages so you see the same name repeated on the certificates. Are there any unusual names in the family that get passed on to the next generations? Heather

Linda, one thing you could try is to look through the burial register to see if either (or both) of the Samuels whose baptisms you have found died before the date of the marriage. Also, you could try looking to see if either of the possible fathers left a will. Another thing which might help is to look at the names of Samuel's children, especially the oldest boy and the oldest girl, because it was quite common to name them after the father's parents. Kate.

you might be able to eliminate one of those two if you can figure out which Samuel Wilkes married Elizabeth Cotterell at Darlaston in 1809

thanks all. lots of ideas to follow up, I was on such a downer yesterday when I got that email as the Wilkes are my direct line. Linda x