Genealogy Chat

see below

Hi to all of you, I'm studying my father's ancestors and there are big families with lots of common surnames, even some of the not so obvious surnames are common in these parts. This is why I'm just after some advice to make sure I'm not overlooking anything as I try to tie all my information together. My great-grandfather, Thomas COOK married Mary PORRITT in 1863 in Whitby. Thomas is shown as being aged 21 and Mary, 25. Mary's father is listed as Thomas PORRITT, a farmer. On the 1871 census, the couple are living in Loftus and Mary's birth place is shown as Moorsholm, which is a small village on the edge of the North York Moors. On both the IGI and in local parish records, I've found a baptism record for Mary in 1836 (this doesn't quite match up with her ages on subsequent certs and censuses). The parish records go further than the IGI and state Mary as the daughter of Thomas & Ruth PORRITT of Moorsholm. On the IGI also, I've found a marriage for Thomas PORRITT and Ruth FAWCETT in 1828. On Mary's marriage cert in 1863, one of the marriage witnesses is a William FAWCETT. I'm probably puzzling over nothing but do you think I've done enough to prove that the Mary in the parish records is the Mary on the marriage cert? It's just that when you have information coming from lots of different sources, I'm always a little worried that I start making wrong assumptions and overlook some facts. The surname, PORRITT is very common in Yorkshire - do a search on the LDS site! Hope the above makes sense! Thanks Andy.

Hi Andy Are you able to get to the parish records? i'm taking everything I find on IGI as a possible lead and not 100% correct until I see the parish records. Karen

Hi Karen, Yep, I've been studying parish records these last 2 weeks. Moorsholm does/did fall under the parish of Skelton-in-Cleveland. On the IGI, it makes no reference to Moorsholm, whereas on the parish records for Skelton, it says Mary, daughter of Thomas & Ruth PORRITT of Moorsholm. I agree with you about backing up what you find on the IGI with looking in the parish records. My message was a probably a bit long-winded but I just wanted to show what I had found and make sure that I had established the correct link between baptism records and the marriage cert that I have in my possession.

Hiya Andy Could Mary have been lying about her age to make her nearer Thomas' age? There is only a descrepency of 2 years so it could well be the same lady. If your still unsure try searching for her birth in a wider area. Could the Porritt and Fawcett families have been good friends? This tends to happen in my family where grooms, brides and witnesses seem to have surnames in common. Come to think of it, I think I might have a possible Porritt in my tree somewhere. If I remember right its back around the early 1800's in the Whitby area. I'll take a look after tea. Jeanette

Jeanette, Have to admit I can get a little paranoid about age discrepancies although I know that lots of them did it, either because they were unsure or had ulterior motives for doing so. She is 25 on marriage cert in Sep 1863. Her age on 1871 census is 33 and on her death cert in Feb 1878, she is 39. If she was two years older than she claimed then my great-grandfather must have caught the bug, as he was 66 when he died, but is aged 64 on the gravestone! If I'm being critical of my research then perhaps I need census information from the 1841/51/61 censuses as I'm maybe relying too much on the 1871 census, where it states Mary's birthplace as being Moorsholm. I know that my great-grandfather's birthplace is in about 3 different places, all local though.

Andy I just had a look for my possible Porritt. Here's how it goes: One of my Greenleys married a Ralph Nellis(t) in 1845 in Folkton, Yorks (confirmed with parish records and marriage entry says Ralphs father is Ralph Nellist). On the IGI I found Ralph Nellist(jnr) christened 7 March 1823 in Eskdaleside-cum-Ugglebarnby, Parents Ralph Nellist and Sarah. Again on the IGI I found Ralph Nellist (snr) married Sarah Porritt 14 December 1818, Whitby. As I say it is only a possible at this stage as some of it isn't confirmed with the parish records. Let me know if it fits in with anything you know. Cheers! Jeanette

Hi Andy My grandmother lied about HER age! She said she was born in 1873 when she married, which meant she would have been 21. However ........ she was, in fact, born in 1876! She was only 18 when she married ...... and lied, because she married without her parents permission! Consequently, when she died, her age on her birth certificate showed she was 3 years older than she actually was!

I think the question is whether there were two Thomas Porritts having families in Moorsholm in the 1830s These things happened, but usually the culprits were cousins or maybe 2nd cousins. The population of the whole township was only about 70 households, which doesn't leave much room for random coincidences If there were two, you'll need to sort them out even if there was only one Mary If there was only one Thomas, the only question left is whether the first Mary died and was replaced by a sister called Mary born say 1838. Probably impossible to disprove, but if there isn't any evidence for it, there isn't. The same issue could be raised about most ancestors

Robin, Thanks for that, some useful comments. In fact, with that in mind, I did a lookup on 1837online and found a Mary Porritt, who fits the profile: Mary Porritt, born Jun 1838, Guisborough. Moorsholm falls under Guisborough, although this one might not be mine. However, I'm going to have to investigate this now. Think also that I need to do a check of the 1841 census and have a look at the residents for Moorsholm, shouldn't take long as it's not a big place. Jeanette, Will let you know if I find anything. :-)