Tag: Booth

Finding Sarah Booth’s baptism and the Friths of it All

Posted on by Kathleen

In my last entry, Thank You Reverend Cooper and Reverend Brooks, I talked about how Reverend Brooks style of logging baptisms was unusual for the time but also a huge help in advancing my research.

Context, I am guessing you are wanting some

It all really started with the family history “book” I am writing. My family members have always been so supportive of my genealogy journey, and so interested in seeing the records and findings. I had been wondering how best to share it with them. One random day I just opened Power Point, yes Power Point 😂, and just started making a book. This allowed me to start actually putting my research together and see things taking shape. I noticed things I either didn’t see before or I was seeing it again after a long time.

Sarah Booth

When I’ve been entering my records into my clean file, I’ve added any addresses or identifiers of places. I also know that you are supposed to look a few pages around each family to make sure that there isn’t someone important very close. However, 😂, I don’t always have access to the image version of the England or Scottish censuses. So I can’t even say how many times I have looked at the actual census record for this, I know I’ve seen it, just not often. When you are using just indexes, it’s almost impossible to really know who the neighbors are. So this time, I’m making sure to see the actual images.

Below is the 1851 England census1 image for William and Sarah Travis. Their daughter Frances Wright Travis is my 3rd great-grandmother. I know from Frances’ birth certificate2 and death certificate3 that Sarah’s maiden name was most likely Booth. I also knew that William and Sarah had a son named Thomas Booth Travis and that name was used more than once by their descendants.

If you look at the 1851 census, right next to William and Sarah Travis is Thomas Booth and wife Harriet with their children. What I noticed first about this Booth family was the 14 year old son Ammon Booth. William and Sarah had a son Ammon Hayden Travis born in 18604. Ammon is enough of a unique name that it made me stop and take notice. I decided to go back to the 1841 England census and find this Thomas Booth family and see what information was there.

1841 England Census

The Thomas Booth family was living in Hyde at Mount Pleasant House5 (I think) in 1841. When we look back to Frances’ birth certificate it lists her place of birth as Mount Pleasant Hyde! WHAT!? Frances and her parents are living with the Travis side of the family in 18416 at Ralph Fold, now called School Lane next to the Hyde Chapel where the baptisms of all these children will take place. I plotted these locations into Google Maps and they are 9 minutes walking distance apart. Maybe what happened is Sarah stayed with her parents while she was waiting for the baby and then once the baby was born they moved to her husband’s family home. I’m not sure of the circumstances but it seems plausible to me.

Okay But Where Do The Friths Come In?

Right, back on track. How did this all lead me to the Frith family. Here is where FamilySearch’s Full Text Search came in.

I started with just a simple search for “Thomas Booth” and Ammon. Notice I did not even try using Sarah. When there is a unique name that stands out for a family it really is best to use that to cut down on false positives. Yes, you will eventually want to search every nook and cranny you can. I was just on an adventure down a rabbit hole while trying to write up a family history. I didn’t want to dig too deep yet. In hindsight, I probably went too far but c’est la vie, am I right? 😂

Thomas Booth Will

You might wonder why I am breaking things up so much? It’s because WordPress tells me I get too wordy and this improves readability. Anyway, Thomas Booth’s will is the first record that came up for my full text search. What did I find there?

I found Sarah, wife of William Travis, that’s what I found and also the married names of Sarah’s sisters and the names of her brothers and a nephew. I do love when they are all listed so clearly. I know this is for sure the same Thomas because this 1864 will starts off with Thomas Booth of Bowker Street and I have the family recorded in the 1861 census7 at Bowker Street, right down to the grandson Henry Booth living with them.

I’m Still Not Seeing How The Friths Are Involved

I know, I know. 😂 Like I said, WordPress does not get me and my writing tone. Further down on the Full Text Search Results was a result for Ammon Booth’s baptism8. From the same book as, the Thank You post.

There it is! Harriet, the daughter of Joseph and Hannah Frith. The problem remaining is that Ammon is not Sarah. However, Reverend Brooks took over records in 1806, and started recording baptisms this way almost immediately. Thomas Booth and Hannah Frith were married in January of 18179. So, on to the records for me and yes. I went page by page. Full Text search does pick up some of the children but not all. So I went full speed on doing a full search. My only regret is not creating a new file and documenting the whole parish. In fact I don’t rule it out for later.

The Children of Thomas Booth and Harriet Frith

I’ve never felt the true meaning of “If it was easy, everyone would do it” before this moment. I went page by page, found 8 children of Thomas and Harriet Booth. Susannah is missing because she was born after the FamilySearch images ran out. That’s understandable but why, oh why is my Sarah missing. 🤦‍♀️ Have I spent all this time on the wrong family? Did I miss something?

So What Did I Do?

I went back to Ann’s 1818 baptism record and I looked closer at each one and I was determined to go all the way until I reached Mary in 1822. To be really sure that I hadn’t missed her. What would I have done if I didn’t find Sarah then? No idea, because I found her10. 😂. I most likely would have checked one more time the whole record set between 1817 and 1838. If she still wasn’t there I would have checked other surrounding parishes. After that I would have added this event to a growing list of bad luck when it comes to records of my ancestors surviving.

Let’s Unpack What Happened Here

Rev. Brooks was amazing, but also still human. If you look, it gives Thomas’ name as Thomas Hyde but the wording is very strange. Usually he would say Sarah daur. of Thomas Booth of Hyde by Harriot his wife daur. of Joseph and Hannah Frith… In this record, he has just missed adding in the “Booth of” part of the transcription. Anyone just skimming will just assume this is Sarah Hyde, daughter of Thomas Hyde. The addition of Joseph and Hannah Frith as the parents of Thomas’ wife was the bit of information that made me see that this is very likely my Sarah.

Without Rev. Brooks making this change and sticking to it for so many years, I have no idea how long it would have taken to figure out that this is my Sarah, if ever. In fact who knows, maybe new information will come to light and I will learn it’s not my Sarah. Genealogy is Fun isn’t it? 😂 The rollercoaster of emotions is so exhilarating for me.

What’s Next?

Well, I have found the 1831 Will of Joseph Frith which also lists his children, including Harriet Booth. So that is next to analyze. Including what might be a connection between a Frith daughter and the Mount Pleasant House that Frances was born in. I also need to hunt down leads on the Booth children that I was given clues for in the Thomas Booth Will. A family historian’s work is never really done and I would have it no other way. So now you guys know why I was so inspired to write a Thank You post for a Reverend in a long ago parish in England that wasn’t even related to me.

Footnotes

  1. 1851 census of England, Cheshire, Werneth township, folio 640, page 9, William Travis household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 15 Jan 2025); citing PRO HO 107/2154. ↩︎
  2. England and Wales, birth certificate for Frances Wright Travis, born 10 May 1841; citing 19/274/170, Jun quarter 1841, Stockport registration district, Hyde sub-district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  3. California Department of Health Services, death certificate 5899 (1921), Frances W. Redford. ↩︎
  4. England and Wales, birth certificate for Ammon Hayden Travis, born 6 Sep 1860; citing 08A/20/275, Sept quarter 1860, Stockport registration district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  5. 1841 census of England, Cheshire, Hyde parish, folio 7, page 8, Thomas Booth household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 21 Jan 2025); citing PRO HO 107/111/8. ↩︎
  6. 1841 census of England, Cheshire, Hyde township, folio 14, page 21, William Travis household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 15 Jan 2025); citing PRO HO 107/111/14. ↩︎
  7. 1861 census of England, Cheshire, Hyde parish, folio 153, page 34, Thomas Booth household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 21 Jan 2025); citing PRO RG 9/2558. ↩︎
  8. Hyde Chapel (Hyde, Cheshire, England), Hyde Chapel Records: Births, Baptisms, and Burials 1710-1838, record for Ammon Booth baptism (1836); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2025). ↩︎
  9. St. Mary’s Church (Stockport, Cheshire, England), Marriage Registers, 1584-1901, “Marriages, Oct 1800-Feb 1819,” Thomas Booth and Harriott Firth marriage (1817); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2025). ↩︎
  10. Hyde Chapel (Hyde, Cheshire, England), Hyde Chapel Records: Births, Baptisms, and Burials 1710-1838, record for Sarah Booth baptism (1820); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2025). ↩︎

Thank You Reverend Cooper and Reverend Brooks

Posted on by Kathleen

When researching in the 1800s, you inevitably come across the issue of trying to find out the maiden name and parents of your women ancestors. It’s just a fact of genealogy that it wasn’t well recorded for a very long time. When you can find any glimpse of information, it’s so exciting. There are tons of work arounds and tricks you can use to determine the name but nothing beats something that gives you the information without having to spend years finding it… I mean, that’s fun too, I won’t lie to you.

Baptism and Christening Records

Of the types of records where I would tell you to look for a mother’s maiden name. Baptism records usually would be very low on the list for the early 1800s.

The above image is from the Hyde Chapel parish records on FamilySearch.org. This group of images spans from 1705-1838. It contains mostly births and baptisms. It’s wonderfully legible, gives the first name of both parents and the date of birth, which wasn’t always given in English baptism records. The image above shows Reverend Bristowe Cooper is the clergy member who is keeping record of the baptisms in 1785.

“A Register of Christenings commencing among the Protestant Dissenters of Hyde Meeting, under an Act made in the twenty third year of the reign of GEORGE Third, & bearing… Date from the first Day of October, One thousand, Seven Hundred and Eighty Five._

Bristowe Cooper._”

February the 1st, 1805

I start with Reverend Cooper because without his meticulous record keeping, I’m not sure I would have had the fortitude to page through every. single. page. of these records. Yes, every single page. For 20 years, Reverend Bristowe Cooper kept beautiful records.

On February 1, 1805, Rev. Cooper passed away after a lingering illness. His successor, Rev. James Brooks, finished recording the last baptisms for his predecessor. For about one year after Rev. Cooper’s death other clergy members filled in at the church and Rev. James Brooks made note of that also. If I hadn’t been paging through one page at a time, I don’t think I would have even noticed these events unfolding until Rev. Brooks next decision.

January 1806

It’s obvious once you see how organized the baptisms are after a change of clergy that they were tracking the baptisms elsewhere and this was the final product. After so many years of having these kind of records jump around in dates and not keep any kind of order, it’s really so refreshing. Anyway, the fact that this is information transcribed from another source is important to note because it means there is chances for errors when the transcriptions were being made. This comes in handy to know when I found a small error in the baptism record for one of my ancestors in this record set.

In January of 1806, Rev. Brooks marks down that he has taken over the baptisms for the parish.

Going by the handwriting, I can’t even be sure when Rev. Cooper ceased keeping his own records. The handwriting never changed dramatically. I couldn’t even really see signs of the illness that eventually claimed Reverend Cooper’s life. Rev. Brooks continued using the same exact format as Rev. Cooper used for about 5 pages… Yep 5 pages in he made a huge change. A change that I will be forever grateful for.

Absolutely Necessary… I agree!

“Having lately had the Register consulted on very important business, and finding a more particular form of Registry in many cases absolutely necessary to a clear distinguishing of names, I have for the future resolved to notice the maiden name of the mother, and the names of her Parents, & also the places where the father and mother of the child were registered.”

Excuse me, I’d like all of us to take a moment and just let that sink in. He did not always record where the parents were registered but I’m not even worried about that. I’m too grateful for the wealth of information and context that we are getting just knowing the maiden name of the mother and her parents names. I don’t know what important business inspired him to make this change, but I am so thankful it did.

You might think to yourself, wait, I’ve seen English baptism records and they have those boxes to fill in. Not just a blank piece of paper.

Yeah, Rev. Brooks wasn’t a fan…

One page. He got through one page of that and decided it just wasn’t for him. If you can see on the bottom right there is a hand pointing to another note from him. Why am I falling in love with a minister who was alive in 1827. If you want to see it bigger, No worries! I have it right here.

“I shall for the future write through the lines, and enter the Baptisms as above (namely the same as in my former register) putting down the time of birth as well as baptism and also noticing the parents of the wife. In this country where the same surnames are very common, noticing the maiden name of the wife & comes quite necessary.”

I agree Reverend Brooks. I definitely agree. Me and my 5 Thomas Booths and 5 William Travis’ absolutely find it necessary as well. Reverend Brooks continues this all the way through where the FamilySearch images stop in 1838. Do you want to know why it’s not devastating to have it end in 1838? Because civil registration began in England in 1837. Which means I can use the General Register Office website for anyone born after 1837.

So if you have anyone you are researching who used Hyde Chapel then have some fun searching through Reverend Cooper and Reverend Brooks meticulous notes.

Because of him, I need to introduce you to the Friths…

Using these records and FamilySearch’s Full Text Search, I have been able to go back another generation past Sarah Booth, to her mother Harriot Frith, daughter of Joseph Frith and his wife Hannah. Oy vey. I really have to update the blog on my research. Soon! You can bet I’m also searching through these Hyde Chapel baptisms for William Travis and Thomas Booth!

William, Father of William

Posted on by Kathleen

Even though my main focus is to clean up my source citations, every once and a while you just need to put in a little research time. So that’s what I do when I just need to do something fun with my genealogy.

This strategy has paid off for me because I managed to find William Travis and Sarah Booth’s marriage record! That means I’m back one more generation since it gives the father’s names.

Continue reading “William, Father of William” →