Jeremiah Rawlins (1755 - 1834)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 26

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Jeremiah (Jerome) Rawlins is another of my 4x great grandfathers. He has been known to me since the early part of my time in genealogy. I first met cousins online in 2006. From one of the cousins I received the fiche for Enford and I have imaged the records for the Rawlins family there. Jeremiah, unlike the rest of his siblings, was baptized at Netheravon instead of Enford. Fortunately my cousin had obtained that record as well and the priest has noted that Jeremiah was of Enford when he was baptized. Of note, the Rawlins family lived right at the edge of  the village of Enford close to Netheravon and perhaps on that day or at that time it was just more convenient to have Jeremiah baptized at Netheravon.

Jeremiah was married to Sarah Tanner at Tilshead 1 Nov 1780 and again the priest made a notation that Jeremiah was of Enford.

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Note the spelling of Rawlins as Rallings. This Rawlins family did not begin to spell their name Rawlings until the early to mid 1800s. Some of my cousins still use the Rawlins spelling for their surname (particularly in Australia).

Jeremiah and Sarah baptized eight children at Enford, 1 baptism not found:

Elizabeth baptized 26 Aug 1781 and married to William Hurkett 10 Feb 1808 at Enford
Thomas baptized 20 Sep 1783 and married to Mary Dove 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford
Anne baptized 6 Dec 1785 and likely dead by 1793
John baptized 8 Oct 1786 (his only son William emigrated to Australia)
Jeremiah baptized 13 Feb 1790 (went to Australia)
Anne baptized 4 Apr 1793; buried 7 Dec 1793 at Enford
William baptized 5 Mar 1797
Anne baptized 5 Mar 1797
James born circa 1801 and married to Ruth Lay 24 Apr 1828 at Enford

My line descends down through Thomas married to Mary Dove and lately correspondence has indicated that my original thought that Thomas may have served in the Napoleonic Wars including being in Canada may be correct. There is a descendant of a child of a Thomas Rawlings born in North America. There is also a daughter Harriet born circa 1813 in Wiltshire but deceased likely by 1819. Thomas and Mary were married 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford. A search of this parish register does not show any Rawlins/Rawlings families there other than this marriage of Thomas and Mary. Mary was of the parish of Woodford although no baptism has been found for her there. They have six children known by me:

Harriet 1813
Isaac 1818
Harriet 1819
Jeremiah 1821
Jane 1823
William 1825 (and my ancestor)

William Rawlings married Elizabeth Lywood 22 Sep 1849 at Amesbury and they had seven children:

George born circa 1851 at Milston married Mary Ann Mead
Harriet born circa 1852 at Enford and married to Charles C Butler mar quarter 1869 at Devizes
Elizabeth born 19 Oct 1853 at Enford and married to William Taylor 11 Feb 1882 at Ludgershall
Mary Jane born circa 1856 at Enford
William born circa 1858 at Enford and married Jane Barlow jun quarter 1883 at Collingbourne Ducis
David born circa 1863 at Enford and married Hannah Elizabeth Broadhurst dec quarter 1891
Sidney Herbert born circa 1870 at Collingbourne Ducis and married Lily Sherwood 10 Oct 1892 at Abbots Ann

My ancestor was Elizabeth and she had a child before her marriage to William Taylor named Ada Bessie Cotteril Rawlings baptized 27 Aug 1876 at Kimpton, Hampshire. Bessie would marry Samuel George Blake 1 Jun 1903 at Kimpton and they were my paternal grandparents. On the 1881 census she is listed as Ada Rawlings living with her maternal grandparents at Collingbourne Ducis.

William Rawlings circa 1902













William and Elizabeth Rawlings get my vote for best grandparents ever as they took in their grand daughter at some point after her birth and baptism at Kimpton (her baptism was five months after her birth at Kimpton) and she perhaps remained with her grandparents until after her mother's marriage in 1882. On the 1891 census she is listed as Bessie Taylor living with her step father, mother and siblings. She then married as Edith Bessie Taylor and I have it on good reference that Ada pronounced by a Wiltshire resident could well sound like Edith by the time it is recorded as such in Kimpton. My father mentioned that he had three grandfathers although only met the one shortly before he came to Canada. My grandmother did know she was illegitimate as her step father signed as a witness on her marriage registration and the name of the father was blank. Perhaps the families decided that they would not marry. Such information did not pass down in my family or in the family of her step siblings.But it all worked out for the best for all parties it would appear as each went on to have their families and were content.

Back to Jeremiah my 4x great grandfather and he was a labourer. His father was William Rawlins and the marriage which another researcher (paid by my cousin) felt with a reasonable search was William Rawlins and Mary Ford 30 Sep 1741 at Wylye and I agree that this is the likely marriage for this couple. They had eight children and five of them were baptized at Enford. For the eldest Mary I have not yet found a baptism; I am missing one for Edward and the youngest, Jeremiah, was baptized at Netheravon.

Mary Rawlings born circa 1742 married Stephen Cotterel 28 Jan 1764 at Enford ( A grandchild of this couple would marry in Australia her second cousin William Rawlins (son of John).)
William baptized 17 Nov 1743 and married Mary Dyke 25 Sep 1766 at Enford
Edward born circa 1745 and married Ruth White 20 Jun 1766 at Enford
Elizabeth baptized 26 Jun 1747 and married Thomas Hillier 31 May 1772 at Enford
Thomas baptized 14 Jan 1748 and buried 11 Jul 1758 at Enford
Martha baptized 23 Jun 1751 and married Robert Matthews
John baptized 22 Oct 1752
Jeremiah baptized 13 Apr 1755 at Netheravon married Sarah Tanner 1 Nov 1780 at Tilshead

At this point William Rawlins and Mary Ford are elusive. Mary was buried 10 Mar 1789 at Enford. My object today is to learn more about William Rawlins and Mary Ford as I have not looked at this family for quite a long time. Solving the mystery of my grandmother happened back in 2006 following the purchase of eight birth/marriage/burial registrations that then permitted me to fit the family of Elizabeth Rawlins/William Taylor together with proofs. At that time I hypothesized a possible ancestry for William Rawlins which I put together from Family Search but discarded it. I have not yet found information for Mary Ford.

Searching for William Rawlins on Find My Past does verify the marriage at Wylye for a William Rawlins and Mary Ford. That this is my William and Mary is mostly based on the best fit - the only couple in the area that fits the description.

There is a baptism of William Rawlings 5 Jun 1716 at Box son of William and Ann and there is a marriage in 1750 at Box of William Rawlings and Mary West which eliminates this William from consideration. There is also a burial in 1760 of a William Rawlings at Box but could be the father of this William. The other baptisms would be underage.

There is a burial in 1759 at Charlton near Pewsey (six miles from Enford) that could well be William Rawlins. The last child born was Jeremiah in 1755. Back in 2004, 2005, 2006 I did a search on the Rawlins family in Family Search and discovered a William Rawlins baptized 6 Apr 1722 at Steeple Ashton son of John Rawlins and Ann Carrington who had themselves been married 21 Dec 1722 at Trowbridge (3 miles from Steeple Ashton). I also found a Mary Ford baptized Nov 1722 in Edington daughter of William Ford and Sarah Harding who had themselves been married 14 Apr 1718 at Edington. These two places are only 2.7 miles apart and just 11 miles to Wylye. They are both underage at the marriage in 1741 but why did they chose Enford to live in. Since William was a labourer he could well have obtained a position in that area noting that Enford is just 14 miles from Edington and 15 miles from Steeple Ashton. At the time this seemed rather fanciful and I abandoned the thought until I decided to write up William Rawlins as my 4x great grandfather and revisited these possibilities.

Looking at Ann Carrington she was baptized 25 Mar 1690 at Holt (2.3 miles from Trowbridge) so a reasonable distance. She was the daughter of Thomas Carrington and Anne Drewett who were themselves married 1 Aug 1687 at Colerne. Colerne is just nine miles from Trowbridge so not too far away. Thomas Carrington was buried 22 Jan 1717 at Holt and Anne Drewett was buried 3 Jul 1722 at Holt.

Looking at William Ford  baptized 15 Jan 1698 at Edington and he was the son of George Ford.

There is a John Rawlings baptized 21 Sep 1696 at Colerne son of William. There is a William Rawlings baptized at Steeple Ashton 16 May 1669 son of William.

Also baptized at Colerne children of William and Ann Rawlings:

Ann Rawlings baptized 17 Nov 1686
William Rawlings baptized 9 Jan 1689
Elizabeth Rawlings baptized 12 Sep 1692
John Rawlings baptized 21 Sep 1696
Thomas Rawlings baptized 14 Jul 1700
 
John, William, Thomas, Henry, Joseph and Gifford Rawlings/Rawlins are all baptizing children in this time period at Colerne.However this is the only John that fits into the marriage of John and Ann.

Looking at the places and events in which I am interested, John Rawlings/Rawlins baptized at Colerne son of William would appear to be an interesting possibility. Then this William perhaps the William baptized at Steeple Ashton 16 May 1669 also son of William. There is a William Rawlings baptized 23 Jan 1624 at North Bradley son of James (North Bradley is just 3 miles from Steeple Ashton).

There are a couple of marriages at Collingbourne Kingston for a William Rawlins - 1684 and 1694 with Anne Farmer and Ann Piper (widower at the second marriage). But it is 24 miles away so reluctant to look at that one too enthusiastically. 

I think the scenario John Rawlings baptized at Colerne son of William baptized at Steeple Ashton son of William baptized at North Bradley son of James sounds like a more reasonable lineage than moving large distances.

Ancestry of Jeremiah Rawlins:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Edith Bessie TAYLOR (b 1 Apr 1875) - Kimpton Hampshire England
4. Elizabeth RAWLINGS (b 19 Oct 1853) - Enford Wiltshire England
5. William RAWLINGS (b 1825) - Enford Wiltshire England
6. Thomas RAWLINS (b 20 Sep 1783) - Enford Wiltshire England
7. Jeremiah RAWLINS (b 13 Apr 1755) - Enford (Netheravon) Wiltshire England
On examination the following appears interesting
8. William RAWLINS  (b 6 Apr 1723) - Steeple Ashton Wiltshire England
9. John RAWLINGS  (b 12 Sep 1696) - Colerne Wiltshire England
10. William RAWLINGS (b 16 May 1669) - Steeple Ashton Wiltshire England
11. William RAWLINGS (b 23 Jan 1624) - North Bradley Wiltshire England
12. James RAWLINGS

This is exciting to look at Rawlins/Rawlings once again. The spelling appears to be somewhat interchangeable in the records with notations being made that it is Rawlins in the Register and Rawlings in the Bishops Transcripts for the same record.

Looking a little more at Mary Ford wife of William Rawlins and married at Wylye, I had found possible parents earlier and I rather think these parents work very well. I am always somewhat troubled when you do not see the forenames appearing later (Sarah does not appear but looking at the marriage of Jeremiah Rawlings to Sarah Tanner which is a solid paper trail and Sarah does not appear in descending families in my line).The parents of this Mary could be William Ford and Sarah Harding who married 14 Apr 1718 at Edington. William is baptized at Edington 15 Jan 1698 son of George. There is a George Ford baptized 8 Apr 1672 at Edington son of William Ford. No marriage for George Ford that is reasonable but there is a marriage for William Foarde and Anne Horte 27 Oct 1662 at Colerne (Colerne is 13 miles from Edington). Another day I must get back to the Ford family. I will also work on the Sarah Harding family. Another time I shall work on the Rawlings family to see if I can find siblings and spouses for the possible ancestors of William Rawlins baptized 1723 at Steeple Ashton..

Dove Family at Woodford

The Dove Family at Woodford is one of my finds at Salt Lake City back in October/November 2008 and I am a long time getting back to looking at them and why I felt the evidence pointed to Mary Dove being the wife of Thomas Rawlins. Thomas Rawlins was baptized 20 September 1783 at Enford, Wiltshire. The Rawlins family had been at Enford since 1743 when their eldest son was baptized there. Thomas was a grandson of the couple that are first at Enford. I need to actually transcribe the Parish Registers for Enford to determine if there were Rawlin(g)s there prior to 1743 - visually I have not found any.

Jeremiah Rawlins (baptized 13 Apr 1755 at Netheravon, Wiltshire) was the father of Thomas above and he had married Sarah Tanner at Tilshead, Wiltshire 1 Nov 1780. When I found the marriage of William Rawlings and Mary Ford at Wylye I was not overly surprised at the distance as this family seemed to move about marrying. However, now that I have worked on French Canadian Parish Registers I need a little more now when I find these records although this was the only marriage that would work in the IGI and BVRI II for William Rawlins/Rawlings. However, as I mentioned in the Rawlings writeup I will continue hunting out more evidence for this marriage. The Jeremiah Rawlins and Sarah Tanner marriage is correct (Jeremiah is identified as of Enford). That brings me back to Thomas Rawlins and marrying Mary Dove at Woodford, Wiltshire 9 Dec 1807. Enter the 1841 Census where Thomas Rawlins is found with his wife Mary and two sons Isaac 25 years and William 15 years and at Enford, Wiltshire. The age of Thomas works (55 years and actual would be 58 so rounded down as per the instructions given to the enumerators) and the age of Mary is also 55. They are listed as being at Netheravon and I believe this family lived on the outskirts of Enford close to the outskirts of Netheravon so it is the enumerator's call likely as to where they are listed. I am lucky with this family as the 1861 census lists Thomas a widower, William and Elizabeth Rawlins (my 2x great grandparents) are living with him along with two of his sons and I am now realizing that Jeremiah is still there so he was not transported after all - the Jeremiah transported was sent in the 1840s to Australia. Always good to go back and check material.

But back to the Dove family and I found a marriage between William Dove and Jane Morgan 1 Jan 1783 at SaintThomas, Salisbury, Wiltshire. This William  Dove is perhaps the William Dove baptized 4 May 1755 at Woodford and the son of William and Mary Dove who baptized four children at Woodford and Mary was buried there 4 Jun 1787.

Children of William and Mary Dove

William (as above)
Samuel baptized 27 Mar 1757; buried 29 Nov 1758 at Woodford
Ann buried 30 Apr 1764 at Woodford
Robert baptized 30 Apr 1763; buried 30 Jul 1679 at Woodford

I did not find a marriage for William Dove and Mary at Woodford but this was at Salt Lake City and I did not spend a great deal of time reading back through the Parish Registers. There was a Mary Dove buried 30 Oct 1733 at Woodford as well. There was a Susanna Dove daughter of Mary Dove (widow) buried 14 May 1717 at Woodford.

I did not find a baptism for a Mary Dove between 1783 and 1798 at Woodford but I did find Robert Dove baptized there 14 Apr 1793 and buried 6 Aug 1793 at Woodford. No other children appeared to have been born to this couple.The beta site of the IGI lists a Mary Dove as buried 12 Jun 1787 at Woodford (no further information given). I would anticipate that her baptism/birth was likely in the 1780s because she married in 1807 at Woodford.

I need to further investigate the Dove family and purchasing the Woodford Parish Registers might be a good step. I shall investigate doing so for the next Dove day.

I also want to get back to working on our son-in-law's French Canadian Ancestry (Bédard, Dumoulin etc) and will now set up an hour each day to look at particular families. This process works very well for me and leaves me free in the morning to work on Blake and Pincombe or other material that comes to light. I also want to get back to entering books into Library Thing to complete that project.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 14 Dec 2008

Yesterday I completed the Protestation Returns for West Harnham, Britford and East Harnham and partial for Foffant. I thought I might find my Lywood family at Foffant along with the Baylie and Deart family but I am still transcribing these records. I also have the Enford, Milston and other returns in the area of these two to transcribe. Likely it will take me about a week to transcribe all of the Wiltshire Protestation Returns that I photographed. I know that my Rawlings family were at Enford from 1742 on but do not know where they were located prior to that although I am going to order the Enford Parish Register fiche just to be sure that they were not at Enford back in the 1600s. Since Jeremiah went all the way to Tilshead to marry it is certainly reasonable that his father William may well have married at Wylye and the marriage to Mary Ford is the correct one for this line.

I am starting to sort through the parish register fiche for the parishes of Enford, Milston, Netheravon, Woodford and Little Cheverell to select the copies that I want to purchase. As well I want to purchase some from Hampshire so am looking at Kimpton (I photographed the bishops transcripts but they are quite sparse so will purchase the actual parish register fiche for the years that I do not currently have). I also have the list for Fyfield where my Rawlings also lived, for St Mary Bourne where I want to look at Lambden, Longparish which is just a pursuit of Blake entries and I may leave this one for a bit, Weyhill and Wherwell are the same as Longparish. That leaves Hurstbourne Tarrant and Hurstborne Priors where I want to look at the Pearce family although I think that mine is from Abbots Ann and Collingbourne Kingston and may look at Collingbourne Kingston first so need to get the specs for this parish from the Wiltshire Record Office.

One of my projects though for this week is to complete my list of my records - I have listed all my CDs so just need to list all my fiche to give to Christ Church Anglican Archives. I will eventually donate them all there as I do not think that Library and Archives Canada would want such a selective set of records. I will look at both though so that they will have the maximum possible use. I also want to get back at my listing of the Bishops Nympton Parish Records. I just have the easier section to do now although it involves most of the fiche - the first four fiche produced over 250 pages of text (single spaced) but the next 25 will not produce nearly as much in comparison as they are all forms now for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 13 Dec 2008

Completed Chittlehampton images for the bishop's transcripts. About 1400 entries with 30 entries for Pincombe extending from an entry in 1577 (Helen daughter of Richard Pincombe)to the mid 1700s with the deaths of the older Pincombe members living at Chittlehampton which is rather interesting. My Richard Pincombe is at Bishops Nympton in 1599 baptizing his son William (my 8x great grandfather), his daughter Ann died in 1598, his wife Ann died in 1601 and he remarried in 1603 (Francis Gill). There are two Richard Pincombes of whom I am aware - both born at or near North Molton (1545 and 1570 - the first is the son of Thomas Pencombe and Johane and is an Uncle to the second one who is the son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snow (at East Buckland)).

Started work on the Dunster Somerset Poor Law Records and will set that aside in favour of the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire. I want to order the parish register fiche for Wiltshire next and now have the itemized sheets back for Enford, Little Cheverell, Milston, Netheravon and Woodford. I want to ask them for itemized sheets for Collingbourne Kingston, Langford and Ludgershall next. I will likely order the complete sets for the earlier registers for the five parishes. This has proven to be the easiest way to look at my families there and, in some cases, the Family History Library only has the Bishop's Transcripts (Devon is one example and Dorset) which tend to be incomplete although they do have the Poor Law Records which are most complete and very interesting reading.

I had thought to begin on Upper Clatford Manorial Records but I am keen to see the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire so will turn to those images next.

Getting ready for Christmas, the Christmas tree is now up and the Creche. We look very decorated and our eldest will soon be home for Christmas. Her train was canceled yesterday due to an ice storm but it should come today although it is delayed which means a late arrival at Montreal and even later coming here.