Dennis Bill's Family History

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James Edward BEAVEN/BEVIN of Melksham, Wilts,
I have a link in my tree to James Edward BEAVEN born in Whaddon, near Melksham, Wiltshire in 1835. His father was also James Edward BEAVEN born about 1805 in Melksham. I have searched the Melksham registers and have found a baptism for a James Hayward BEVIN on 19 May 1803, son of Christopher and Mary BEVIN. I think this must be him, it's easy to see how his middle name could have mutated from Hayward to Edward as it probably had not been written down other than in the church register. I would appreciate any evidence to confirm or deny this.

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My WISEMAN research
I began by finding that my WISEMAN ancestors didn't stray far from Ringwood in Hampshire, about 30 miles from where I live. I soon found a family tree on FamilySearch that went back to about 1540. It seemed too good to be true - and it was! When I checked the data against the parish records there were discrepencies. As the WISEMANs had been fairly static, I decided to extract all WISEMAN records from the parish registers and then see if I could construct a tree that way. I have gathered the data but it does not form a contiguous tree. There are small related groups but without connections between them. This is not helped by some gaps in the parish registers, one as much as 20 years (1680-1700). I have also collected data from the adjoining parishes (Ellingham, Ibsley, Harbridge, Sopley, Fordingbridge and Christchurch to date - see below) to see if that helps. I suspect that some of the links assumed in the FamilySearch data will never be proven to an absolute level of certainty.

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Ringwood Parish Registers
I have transcribed information from the church registers of St Peter & St Paul's, Ringwood, Hampshire from michrofiche records and the transcriptions made by Dr Little in the 1960s. The data collected is as follows:

WISEMAN - Births, banns, marriages & burials involving WISEMANs.
WITT - Births, banns, marriages & burials involving WITTs
CURL/E - Births, banns, marriages & burials involving CURL/Es

All cover the period from the beginning of records (about 1580) to about 1840.

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Harbridge, Ellingham, Sopley, Ibsley, Fordingbridge and Christchurch Parish Registers
I have also copied all WISEMAN, WITT and CURL/E records from the available transcriptions of these registers. I have also checked the microfiche of the actual registers for Harbridge, Ellingham, Sopley and Ibsley and I am in the process of extracting information from the microfiche of Fordingbridge and Christchurch. Again this information covers the period from the beginning of records (about 1580) to about 1840.

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The Morant Family Papers
The Morant family owned the manor of Brockenhurst, which includes Ringwood, from 1792 to about 1918 (having bought it from Lord Arundell). I have extracted information about WISEMANs, WITTs and CURL/Es from these records held in Hampshire Record Office. They mostly relate to farm and house tenancies.

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FREE look-up
I have collected over 800 WISEMAN, WITT and CURL records in addition to those in my Family Tree plus another 160 surnames related to them by marriage - all records are pre-1840, click here to see a list. If you have an interest in any of these families in the south west area of Hampshire, email me the details and I will look them up in my data described above. Equally any information you have will be gratefully received. Included in the above are some records I have collected from east Dorset and south west Wiltshire as I have researched other family branches in those records.

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BENNETTs and TROWBRIDGEs of Wiltshire & Dorset
My great-great-great grandparents were James BENNETT and Dinah TROWBRIDGE of Tollard Royal, Wiltshire. I have traced their families back and after only two generations they end at the same place - they were apparently cousins descended from John BENNETT (born 1723) and Sarah BENNET. I am still looking for the baptism of their daughter, my great great grandmother, Rachel BENNETT, about 1816. I have a number of unpublished records from south west Wiltshire and east Dorset parishes - see FREE look-up above

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WATERS of Waldron, Sussex
I have done some research on-line and in East Sussex Record Office into the Waters family that were resident in Waldron and the surrounding area back to Richard and Mary WATERS about 1740, but there are no WATERS records in the Waldron registers before this. I would appreciate any information on the family whereabouts prior to this or additions and corrections to my published data.

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FOSTERs and PENNICOTTs (and COOPERs)
My great grand-father was Amos FOSTER (b 17 Jul 1850, Whetstone, Middx), son of Mary Ann FOSTER and allegedly Charles FOSTER. He gave Charles as his father when he married Louisa PENNICOTT (father Joseph Pennicott) at St Mary's Church, Portsea, Portsmouth on 24 Sep 1871, but his birth certificate shows no father's name. I searched the 1851 census for a Mary Ann FOSTER to see if I could find a likely mother, but to no avail. After much searching (pre-online census data) I found him in the 1861 census as a boarder, age 10, with a family called COOPER (husband, wife and six children). This quickly led me to the 1851 census where he is with the same family as a 'foster child', age 8 months. It was some time afterwards that I noticed that the wife of the COOPER household was called Mary Ann !! Could this be the answer? Again after much trawling through the Portsmouth area church marriage records I found the marriage of William COOPER to Mary Ann FOSTER in Alverstoke on 14 Aug 1826 - Bingo?! Unfortunately the marriage record is of the style that does not give the fathers' names so it is difficult to trace her parents and siblings. I have checked the Whetstone area in the 1851 census for COOPERs and FOSTERs but there is no obvious link and so I'm convinced that she must have had a married sister (or another non-COOPER relation) in Whetstone, Middx., otherwise why would she go there to have the baby? If you know anything about these COOPER and FOSTER families that had a link with Alverstoke (Gosport) in the 1820s I would like to hear from you.

Amos and Louisa had twelve children between 1873 and 1891. I have searched all the Portsmouth churches but cannot find a single baptism for these children, nor are they in the civil registrations. Also I have failed to find any birth record for Louisa nor can I find her parent's marriage. All help welcomed.

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BILLs of Belfast/Antrim, Northern Ireland
When my great-grandfather James Bill joined the army in Belfast in 1868 he gave his place of birth as Shankhill Road, Belfast (born 1848). The army records indicate that he was a Presbyterian. I visited PRONI in Belfast in June 2004 and searched the St Anne's, Shankhill Road records and found a record in 1849 that could have been James BILL or BELL - there appear to have been many Bills and Bells in Antrim at this time. The date and the father's name, William, fitted and the mother was Ellen McC(ALLON). I widened the search to other Belfast parishes and eventually to other denominations but with no success. So I'm fairly certain that this is James BILL but would like to find some corroborative evidence.

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TUOHEY/TOOHEYs and GAVINs of County Clare, Ireland
My great-grandmother was Mary TUOHEY who was born in Feakle, County Clare in 1860. Her father was Patrick TUOHEY and her mother Catherine GAVIN. They had at least five other children, Bridget (1862), Michael (1863), Catherine (1866), Patrick (1868) and Edmund (1870). There were no other GAVINs in Feakle at this time so I would appreciate any information on Catherine's history and on Patrick's as well. Any information gratefully received.

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CARROLLs of Birr, County Offally (King's County), Ireland
My great-great-grandfather was Michael EGAN (b1812). He married an Ellen CARROLL about 1830/40ish but I can't find the marriage (it may pre-date the church registers that start about 1838). I searched the 1821 Census for Birr and found the following five Ellen CARROLLs within an acceptable age range:

A - Ellen CARROLL (b 1819) of Tim (b 1771) and Catherine (b 1786)
B - Ellen CARROLL (b 1818) of Daniel (b 1789) and Catherine (b 1792)
C - Ellen CARROLL (b 1814)
D - Ellen CARROLL (b 1812) of Michael (b 1776) and Eliza (b 1783)
E - Ellen CARROLL (b 1810) of John (b 1770) and Mary (b 1786)
HELP !!

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LOVETTs- Portsmouth from 1799 but where before that?
My cousin Ted Wiseman and I have traced his maternal line of LOVETT back to 1799 when John LOVETT, the youngest son of Thomas LOVETT and Sarah CASSELL, was baptised in St Thomas's, Portsmouth on 18 Sep 1799. According to the 1841 census Thomas and wife Sarah were both born about 1761 and Thomas was born outside Hampshire. Help with locating this LOVETT family before 1799 would be most welcome.

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