How I Found Sarah Sheppard's Parents

Over the years I've worked long and hard to trace descendants of my direct ancestors' siblings, and my efforts have been richly rewarded. On five occasions those descendants had very old family documents that have smashed through 'brick walls' in my family history.

My most recent success was the result of a DNA test. Because I'd traced side branches of the family from about 1800 right down to the 1980s, I could see that one of my DNA matches is a third cousin once removed. I contacted John and offered to exchange information. (I'd written to his mother thirty-six years ago, but she didn't reply, and I'd lost track of that line.)

I knew that my ancestor Sarah SHEPPARD, born in 1762, married Richard GIBLETT in Frome, Somerset, England. Imagine my excitement when John sent me photos of a bible (published in 1736) in which are written SHEPPARD family names and dates, mainly from the 1700s! The bible entries show (among other things) that Sarah's father was Benjamin SHEPPARD, and that he was married on 1st October 1746.

In the magnificent London Metropolitan Archives collection, I found an image of a parish register that says Benjamin SHEPPARD married Elizabeth BEEX on 1st October 1746. [London Metropolitan Archives ref. P91/LEN/A/008/MS07498/001, Saint Leonard, Shoreditch, Middlesex.]

Ancestors whose surnames were used as middle names

I suspect that Elizabeth's surname may actually have been BECKS or BECK. My family has a document written in the late 1800s that says, 'Our maternal ancestor's maiden name was BECK.'

The family also had a habit of using ancestral surnames as middle names; and great-grandchildren of Benjamin SHEPPARD and Elizabeth BEEX include Elizabeth Beck WEBSTER, Elizabeth Sheppard WEBSTER, Richard Giblett WEBSTER, James Porter WEBSTER and George Harley WEBSTER. I had previously identified the origin of middle names Sheppard, Giblett, Porter and Harley. Perhaps this latest discovery explains Beck.

The family bible includes Benjamin's death date, and I found a burial register entry for him in Frome, Somerset.

Without the names and dates in the SHEPPARD family bible, I may never have identified the correct family. Tracing descendants of all of your direct ancestors' siblings, and contacting those descendants, is a research strategy that I highly recommend. It has worked well for me on many occasions. Give it a try!

(This post first appeared on https://uk-australia.blogspot.com/2019/07/how-i-found-sarah-sheppards-parents.html.)

Wiltshire Baptisms (Tuesday's Tip)

Extract from Findmypast's transcription for the 1748 baptism of Sarah GIBLETT

This posted was updated in August 2017 after more entries (for dates up to 1917) were added to the index.
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If you're looking for baptisms in the county of Wiltshire (England) between 1530 and 1917, start by searching the record set Wiltshire Baptisms 1530-1917 at Findmypast.

The transcriptions there (created by the Wiltshire Family History Society and by Findmypast) give some details (such as notes about parents' residence in a different parish) that are not shown in Wiltshire baptism transcriptions on Ancestry.

The illustration shows part of the entry for Sarah GIBLETT, whom I suspect may be a sister of my 4xgreat-grandfather Richard GIBLETT.

If you're researching any GIBLETT, HYDON or HINWOOD family with connections to Warminster (Wiltshire) or Frome, Glastonbury or Shepton Mallet (Somerset), I'd love to exchange information with you. My email address is in the sidebar here.

('Tuesday's Tip' is a theme used by 'Geneabloggers'. This post first appeared on http://uk-australia.blogspot.com/2016/09/wiltshire-baptisms-tuesdays-tip.html.)

Internal Migration (52 weeks of genealogical records: week 2)

Week 2 in the series '52 Weeks of Genealogical Records' is about internal migration (movement from place to place within one country). You may not realise it yet, but many of your ancestors probably did this (maybe only for a short time). In Australia it is especially important to be aware of such movement because each State and Territory has separate records for births, deaths, marriages, wills, electoral rolls etc.

Shauna Hicks recommends timelines to reveal gaps in your information, and certificates to find out about internal migration. Other sources that I use include:

• British censuses:  To quote an example from my own family tree... George WEBSTER married Sarah GIBLETT in 1829, and various sources indicated that they lived in the Greater London area until they died in 1881. I was surprised when I discovered (from census returns) that two of their eight children were born elsewhere in England (Leeds, Yorkshire, c.1833, and Manchester, Lancashire, c.1843).


• Hospital admission registers:  These are often better than death certificates; and they include biographical details for hundreds of people who went interstate (or overseas) during gold rushes and other mining booms. Many returned to their home State, and you may have no idea that they had moved temporarily. Some name indexes are online.


• Wallangarra quarantine registers:  These give details of people crossing the Queensland / NSW border during the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic. The index is online.


• Australian electoral rolls:  There are online indexes for at least two different series of 19th and 20th century rolls (and some rolls are more informative than others).


• Strays Collection Australasia:  A 'stray' is someone who married, lived or died away from his/her place of birth. This index, compiled from many different sources, has details of thousands of interstate and international strays with a connection to Australia or New Zealand.

Examples (abbreviated, without the source citations) from the Strays Index:

• ELLIOT Jeanie, widow of Max HEBDEN... late of Brisbane QLD, formerly of Rabaul PNG, Tenterfield NSW and Bangalow NSW...
• GUNN Ian Morriss, late of Clontarf QLD, formerly of Uganda and South Africa...
• JONES Gladys Ruebene (formerly HALLAM), born 1894 Texas QLD; married... Inverell NSW; died... Grafton NSW...

Tips on using the Strays Index:

1. In FindMyPast's records for Australia/NZ, narrow your search results to Category='Directories and Social History', and Record set='Strays Collection Australasia'. 
   
2. Enter a surname only; then click 'Search'.  In the results, ignore the event year/location. They have nothing to do with the person, and refer only to an index's publication date/place.
   
3. Click on the icon beside the entry to view the document (a typed page on which the surname appears, perhaps multiple times - as shown below). 
   
4. As you can see, beside the image of the page there is a section with details of the publication. Note the page number and dataset, which refer to one of several Strays Indexes published by the Queensland Family History Society. Those publications may perhaps give a better explanation of abbreviated source citations.

To find Strays Indexes for the United Kingdom (with references from census records, headstones, parish registers etc), go to GENUKI and search for the word 'strays'.

For more research tips, see my other posts in '52 Weeks of Genealogical Records':

• 10 Tips for Wills, Intestacies and Probate
• Military Medals

A full list of topics in this series is on www.shaunahicks.com.au.
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On This Day - WEBSTER and GIBLETT

23 Sep 1829 (181 years ago) - George WEBSTER and Sarah GIBLETT were married at Finsbury St Luke, Middlesex, England. George's brother (James WEBSTER) had previously married Sarah's sister (Mary GIBLETT). [James and Mary were my great-great-great-grandparents]

25 Sep 1889 (121 years ago) - Thomas WEBSTER died at Petersham NSW Australia. He was a son of James WEBSTER and Mary GIBLETT, and the husband of Julia CAMPBELL. [Great-great-grandfather]

If you are researching these families, I will gladly provide full details of my sources, which include parish registers and a death certificate.

On This Day - WEBSTER, TEAGUE, GIBLETT and SHEPPARD

6 Sep 1884 (126 years ago) - Ernest Edward WEBSTER married Alice TEAGUE at Camberwell, Surrey, England. [1st cousin 3 times removed]

11 Sep 1783 (227 years ago) - Richard GIBLETT and Sarah SHEPPARD were married at St Johns Church, Frome, Somerset, England. Richard was a tanner and currier. [Great-great-great-great-grandparents, Webster line]

If you are researching these families, I will gladly provide full details of my sources. My thanks to Anne Reece and Karen Cooper for their help.

GIBLETT (Surname Saturday)

Family stories allege that our GIBLETT family originated in France with the surname 'DE GIBLETT'. My ancestor was Richard GIBLETT (born c1751 Frome, Somerset, England). He married Sarah SHEPPARD (sometimes spelled SHEPHERD) in 1783. Children of Richard and Sarah GIBLETT were Ann (d.1787); John (woollen cloth manufacturer of Frome); Samuel; Thomas (married Isabella HOOPER); Mary (married James WEBSTER); Sarah (married George WEBSTER); Elizabeth.

Some members of this family were buried in Nunhead/Camberwell cemeteries, London. Private family letters indicate that there a connection between Richard GIBLETT of Frome and John GIBLETT who married Sarah WHITFIELD at St. Marylebone in London in 1793. Some of that family emigrated to Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia.

See also 'How I Found Sarah Sheppard's Parents'.

('Surname Saturday' is a theme used by 'Geneabloggers'.)