Genealogy Chat

Does anyone have any tips about how to sort out my following problem? I'm trying to research my 4th great grandfather Jonathan Scarfe (or Scarf or Scaif). I know he married Elizabeth Gill at St. Mary's, Barnsley in 1829. My 3rd great granfather George was baptised in the same church in 1831. In 1836 they christen a child called Jacob and Jonthan's occupation is given as Publican. In 1841 I found them in the Barnsley census as follows HO 107 1325/5 folio 31 Pritchard? Street John Scarfe 35 Collier? Yorkshire Eliza Scarfe 30 Yorks George Scarfe 9 Yorks Jacob Scarfe 9 months Yorks In 1842 they christen another child called Jacob (presumably the first died?) and Jonthan's occupation is Labourer. in 1844 they christen a child called Lucy Ann and Jonthan's occupation is Labourer. In 1846 a 10 day old son Jonathan dies in Barnsley. He is listed as the son of Jonathan Scarfe, Labourer. I have also found his burial at St Mary's Church in Barnsley. On 13th October 1850 I have a burial of a Jonathan Scarfe from Barnsley aged 45 at St. Mary's Church, Barnsley. The only death reg. in that quarter for the right district was a Jonathan Scarf and I ordered the cert. It arrived this morning and read as follows 10th October 1850, Blacker Hill Worsbrough, Jonathan Scarf, aged 37, Carter, accidently killed by a cart as found by jury. The death was registered in Worsbrough. I know that Worsbrough and Barnsley are fairly close (its my maternal grandfather was was the Scarfe while my maternal grandmother's family are from Worsbrough). The age however is wrong so I'm not sure what to do now. I've left a message on the Barnsley Family History Society board asking about how to find newspaper entries for that period so in case an article like that would give me more information about the 37yr old Jonathan Scarf. Anything else I can do?

I know this is not of any help, but I have had death certs with the age way out and Ive yet to get a marriage cert with the correct age on it

Jeanie - Makes me feel a little better :) I'm just worried because as far as I can tell the family weren't in Worsbrough at any point. And it seems a bit of a way to take the body of a labourer from Worsbrough to Barnsley. And I hate the way I carefully set out my original post but it bunches it all up :(

Lyla - Well now I know :) The only other thing I can add to the above is that I have Jonathan's widow and children in the 1851 census (thanks to Sue!) and they were living at Graham Orchard in the St. George's parish of Barnsley.

SARAH Who registered the death,could be one of the sons/daughters and they didn't know the exact age. Sue

Death certificates are registered in and with place of death, not where the deceased was living. If your Joseph were a carter, then he probably was away from home when the accident occurred. As far as the age is concerned, the details are presumably shown as provided by the coroner, so there is an extra intervening person to get things muddled up. Brenda

My only problem is none of the records I have about him refer to him as a carter. As I say, maybe a news report might clear things up?

I had the same with my ggg grandfather, the church burials have him as 48, the certificate 59, I think when they were writing another copy to go to London they put the one above or below by mistake. I am more than sure that the wife or next of kin would have known their age. This was in 1839. In answer the the other question, if he was a farm labourer then he may have been using the cart for something they did more than one job on a farm. Irene

I've been to Worsbrough a couple of times and its actually a really lovely place :) Even been searching round the graveyard thats not far from St. Mary's. I have Worsbrough connections on my maternal grandmother's side (she was born in Worsbrough Bridge) so I've done a little research around that area. However The Scarfe's are my maternal grandfather's family so its unusual to have any Worsbrough connection with them. I've gone over all the street names the Scarfe's were living at with my Mum (she's the only one in the family not living in the area anymore) and she reckons the Scarfe's seemed to have moved around a small area of Barnsley, mostly in what is now the town centre and nr. the railway station. I just get the feeling that Worsbrough is a bit far to travel for work, especially if they were still living in central Barnsley. I've asked about the newspapers and its a bit of bad news :( The Barnsley chronicle didn't start until 1858 so no one knows what publication it might have been mentioned in. I've been told I'll need to go to that big newspaper library in London :( As I've just started a new job (its seasonal so I'll be getting gradually more hours over the next month or so) I haven't the time to go looking. Ah well, I guess I'll have to leave this little mystery for a while. Thank you to everyone whos been so kind! You've all helped me.