William Dove and Jane Morgan

William Dove and Jane Morgan were the parents of Mary Dove and online records had given me a marriage for Thomas Rawlence and Mary Dove 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford, Wiltshire, England. I hesitated for ever so long to look seriously at this marriage but decided when I was writing up my 52 ancestor Challenge for my 4x great grandparents to at least write about William Dove and Jane Morgan my possible 4x great grandparents.

Enter electronic availability of Wiltshire records online at Find My Past. I had read the Woodford Parish Records and accepted the spelling of Mary's last name as Dove in the 9 Dec 1807 record of Banns for marriage with Thomas Rawlence. However Find My Past has the surname of Dear - Thomas Rawlins married Mary Dear 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford, Wiltshire, England. There isn't an original copy of the register online at this time.

As it turns out I do have a copy of this record from the Banns book:

The records on Find My Past are from the Wiltshire Parish Records Index which was created locally so I do tend to think that their knowledge of the families is greater. The surname Rawlence does leave one wondering and has left me in that state ever since I found it over ten years ago. Does the surname of Mary spell Dove or Dear - this is a different record from the actual marriage record which was used in the Find My Past Transcription.

Time will tell the correct surname of my 3x great grandmother. A few strong DNA matches with people still living in this area in England may be helpful as I inherited strongly from my Rawlings grandmother.

Brick Wall Number 4 - Wife of Thomas Rawlins

Brick Wall Number 4: Wife of Thomas Rawlins

Almost from the beginning of my research days I have been able to reach back to Thomas Rawlins (and further back but the name of his wife was a riddle. There was a marriage of a Thomas Rawlence
and Mary Dove 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford on the IGI but I see now that it is record by another researcher as Thomas Rawlins and Mary Dear same date. I have an image of the original record from the Woodford Parish Registers. The original record reads Thomas Rawlines and Mary Dove both of the parish, bachelor and spinster, with witnesses John Thornton and Dinah Moore.  There are no Rawlins family in the Woodford registers that I found in this time frame. There are Dove families in the register. Possibly Mary is the daughter of William Dove and Jane Morgan who married 1 Jan 1783 at Saint Thomas Salisbury Wiltshire. I only found one child in the register at Woodford Robert baptized 14 Apr 1793 and buried 6 Aug 1793 all at Woodford (he was baptized the same day as he was born). William is like the son of William and Mary Dove (Mary was buried 4 Jun 1787 at Woodford) and the mother of William also Mary Dove a widow was buried 30 Oct 1733 at Woodford.

The riddle in all of this is that the first child of Thomas and Mary Rawlins isn't born until circa 1813 and she has likely died by 1819 when another child is given the same name Harriet. Family lore in another family line says that Thomas was at the battle of Waterloo (like is later daughter in law's father George Lywood). I have not yet found that reference. The next child after Harriet is Isaac and likely born around 1818 as he died december quarter 1885 at Amesbury (aged 67 years).  The last child of this family born in 1825 is my 2x great grandfather William Rawlings.

I am somewhat on the side of thinking that Mary Dove is the wife of Thomas Rawlins. It would be nice to find a really solid proof. The marriage lines say that he is of the parish of Woodford but I know that he was born and raised at Enford but he could have gone there to work. Certainly his father Jeremiah Rawlings married at Tilshead but the priest identified him as of Enford. Handy information but this doesn't appear on the Woodford Parish Registers. 

The younger children in this family were born at Enford and I do not know yet where the older children were born.

Dove family at Woodford

Mary Dove mentioned yesterday was married to Thomas Rawlence at Woodford, Wiltshire 9 Dec 1807 and I would like to find further proof that this was indeed the Thomas Rawlins baptized 20 Sep 1783 at Enford. I have read through the Woodford parish registers and there are no entries of baptisms or burials for the Rawlins family which is a positive in this case. Woodford is ten miles south of Enford but given the tendency of these males to mary away from Enford - Jeremiah father of Thomas married at Tilshead and William Rawlins may have married at Wylye. So I do not discount this possibility.

I transcribed the Dove family members in the Woodford parish register when we were at Salt Lake City in 2008 and discovered a Robert Dove baptized 14 Apr 1793 at Woodford (buried 6 Aug 1793 also at Woodford) but that was the only baptism of a child at Woodford for William Dove and his wife Jane. A William Dove and Jane Morgan were married 1 Jan 1783 at Saint Thomas Parish Church, Salisbury. This is possibly the William Dove who was baptized 4 May 1755 at Woodford son of William and Mary Dove. A Mary Dove was buried 4 Jun 1787 at Woodford at 65 years of age giving her a year of birth circa 1722. William and Mary Dove baptized four children William Dove, Samuel Dove baptized 27 Mar 1757 at Woodford and buried there 29 Nov 1758, Ann Dove (daughter of William and Mary Dove) buried 30 Apr 1764 at Woodford and Robert Dove baptized 30 Apr 1763 at Woodford and buried there 30 Jul 1769. A Mary Dove (widow) was buried 30 Oct 1733 at Woodford. For William Dove (father of William Dove baptized 1755) no baptism found at Woodford and Susanna Dove buried at Woodford 14 May 1717.

Not sure where to proceed with the Dove family? I did read some of the parish registers around Woodford but note also that Rawlins was spelled Rawlence by the priest in the marriage at Woodford. Likely I need to continue trying to find Thomas Rawlins for sure and I need to continue looking for Rawlins/Rawlings entries in this area of Wiltshire.