BAPTISM CERTIFICATE WILLIAM TAYLOR, LONG BENNINGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE, 1800

William was baptised in Long Bennington, Lincolnshire, England on 12 March 1800.

William's brothers and sisters were - John baptised 1788 buried 1789, Rosamond 1791, Elizabeth 1792, Anthony 1793, Susan 1798, John 1802, Mary 1803, Anthony 1805, Sarah 1808, Charles and Joseph not sure of baptism dates. Of these children there are six who died as babies. There could be more, they may not all be correct.

Whoever cursed the parish clerks who watered the ink - hear hear!!!

MARY BAGGALEY/BAGALEY

Now we come to the mystery lady!!!!

I had thought that my elusive great, great grandmother was born to William Bagaley and Jane nee Hardwick in about 1805. All of the children born to this couple are documented and are in the right area and around the right time frame. There is a gap between 1803 and 1806, but no record has been found for Mary born c1805. Recent searches seem to be showing that there were NO babies named Mary born (or registered) to William Baggaley (or any variation of the name) with wife named Jane anywhere in Lincolnshire! However there is a record for Mary Bagaley born to William Bagaley and Mary in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Could this be my Mary - I don't know - I've searched and searched and searched, really don't know where else to look, and still haven't found her birth or death! (NOTE: see below for recent [2009] details on the death of Mary).

If William and Jane were Mary's parents, her siblings were Ann baptised and buried 1803, William baptised 1806, John 1808, Thomas 1809, Robert 1812, Richard 1814, another John 1816, another John 1817, William 1819, another William 1820, Peter 1823, and James 1825. It seems at least six of the children died almost at birth, another at age 11.

Once again, on the premise that William and Jane were Mary's parents, there is reason to believe she had a daughter Elizabeth in 1827 - father unknown. She appears to have been raised by Mary's parents William and Jane and died aged 21 in Long Bennington on 20 May 1848.

Of course if Mary was born to a completely different family, then all of the above will be meaningless and a whole new set of people will become of importance (if I ever find them!)

However we do know that William Taylor and Mary Bagaley were married 3 December 1829 in Long Bennington and made their home there. He was a labourer, or agricultural labourer.

They had ten children as far as is known - how did they feed and clothe them? What sort of house did they all live in?

Their first child was Mary born 1830, then Jane in 1831. Robert came along in 1832 and Susannah in 1834. These children were all born in Long Bennington. The family then moved - not far away - to Balderton, Nottinghamshire where their next daughter Ann was born in 1836. Sadly she died and they named their following daughter Anne. (Anne was my Great grandmother). She was born 15 Jul 1837 and baptised in Balderton, Nottinghamshire. Other children were Richard and John (twins) in 1840 (one of these twins may also have been known as Thomas). William was born 1841 and Sarah in 1843. The last six children were all born in Balderton.

A large family! By today's standards anyway, how did they manage to survive, were they happy...?

The twins both died as infants, Richard on 16 February 1840 and John 21 February 1840; the Parish Records show them both being baptised 21 February 1840....

Sarah died 16 July 1843, which left Mary, Jane, Robert, Susan, Anne and William.

The children's father William died 14 October 1848 aged 49, in Balderton, long before any of them had left home or married. His daughter Susan is shown as the informant on his Death Certificate (this document has been acquired). On the 1851 census Mary is shown as a widow aged 46, pauper. Her son William aged 9 was also with her. Daughters Jane (aged 20) and Anne (aged 13) were working as house servants not far from home - both are shown on the census return at their place of employment.

By 1861 the census shows Mary was still living in Balderton, in Church Lane - age 56 - widow.

Map showing Church Lane, Balderton

Finally after years of searching for further information on my great, great grandmother, and a number of red herrings which got me nowhere, it seems she has been found....!

Thanks to the world wide web where I had made my quest known, I was contacted by some local people in the Newark area who had access to local Parish Records. They managed to locate a burial which appeared to fit my Mary and having now acquired the Death Certificate we know that she died aged 63, suffering from paralysis on 26 January 1867. Place of death is shown to be King Street, Southwell and it can reasonably be deduced that this was the home of her daughter Susan Noble as census returns for 1861 and 1871 show Susan residing in King Street. Present at the death was Mary Kemp and further research (once again thanks to my Newark based people) showed that in all probability she was a sister-in-law to Mary Taylor nee Baggaley. Both were born around the same time in Long Bennington, and the IGI shows a Marriage between Thomas Kemp and Mary Taylor in Halloughton in 1823. Halloughton is situated about 12 miles from Balderton. Parish Records for Long Bennington show that William Taylor did indeed have a sister Mary, baptised in 1803.

The above postcard is dated 1918 and although later than
the era of the Noble family it gives an idea of the area.

In 1999 we visited the various Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire churches - Balderton, Long Bennington, Sibthorpe - but there were no headstones with any of the family names on them although burial records show that both William and Mary are buried in Balderton.

NOTE: A question arises - as Mary was shown to be a pauper on the 1861 census - why wasn't she receiving any help from her children and their families....? All of her children appeared to have work, and homes close to where their mother lived. Of course we know none of the circumstances or what their lives were like and it's very likely we'll never know the answer!

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM TAYLOR & MARY nee BAGGALEY
Mary, Jane, Robert, Susan, Ann, Anne, Richard & John (twins),William, Sarah

SEE DETAILS BELOW ON EACH OF THE CHILDREN:

(1) MARY TAYLOR (christened 1830) married Michael Bark - widower - in the Parish of Balderton, Notts. 11 October 1862. Their children were Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary and Esther Jane. Michael Bark died at Southwell, Notts. in the June quarter 1886 age 60. She (Mary) died in the March quarter 1895 aged 65 - also at Southwell. 1841 census - with parents and siblings - Parish of Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1851 census - House servant for Thomas and Henriette Bettingon (?) - Caunton, Nottinghamshire 1861 census - General servant - visitor with Susan NOBLE (married sister) - Southwell, Nottinghamshire 1871 census - with husband Michael BARK and children Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary and Esther J. - Elston, Nottinghamshire 1881 census - with husband Michael BARK and daughter Jane (Esther J..?) - Elston, Nottinghamshire 1891 census - shown as a widow, with daughter Elizabeth (26), unmarried. - Elston, Nottinghamshire

(2) JANE TAYLOR (christened 1831) - married John Simpson in Newark in the June quarter of 1854. They had children George and William. There is a death index (FREE BMD) for Jane Simpson June quarter 1891, regd. York, age 61, and another for John Simpson March quarter, regd. York, age 80. They are possibles for this family. 1841 census - with parents and siblings - Parish of Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1851 census - servant for Esther Rimmington (?) - Parish of Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1861 census - with husband John SIMPSON and son George - High Street, Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1871 census - with husband John SIMPSON and sons George and William - Church Lane, St Michaels, Spurriengate, City of York, Yorkshire 1881 census - with husband John SIMPSON, Jane SIMPSON (daughter-in-law), grandson Samuel, May BARK (visitor and daughter Esther J BARK) (also on census with husband Michael BARK - enumerated in both places) - City of York, Yorkshire 1891 census - with husband John SIMPSON, son George, daughter-in-law Jane SIMPSON, grandsons Samuel and William, grand-daughters Annie and Eveline. Also Fred NOBLE (is he related to Susan NOBLE nee TAYLOR...?) - 10 Victoria St., York - Parish of St Mary, Bishophill Senior 1901 census - John SIMPSON (widower) with daughter-in-law Jane SIMPSON (head) and her children Lavinia and William and Annie. - Civil Parish of York

(3) ROBERT TAYLOR (christened 1832). He married Ann Maria Stocks who was born in Tickhill, York. He is listed at first as a farm labourer, then later as farm foreman, it seems they they had 10 children - Elizabeth, William, George, Maria, John, Ann, Henry, Frederick, James and Emily. There is a Death index (FREE BMD) for Robert Taylor, aged 62, regd. Worksop March quarter 1896 and a further entry for Ann Maria Taylor aged 70, regd. once again in Worksop, March quarter 1903. These entries possibly relate to them. 1841 census - with parents and siblings - Parish of Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1851 census - farm labourer for William Hudson - Epworth, Nottinghamshire 1861 census - with wife Ann and children Mary, Elizabeth and William - Styrrup, Nottinghamshire 1871 census - with wife Ann and children Elizabeth, William, George, Maria, John and Ann. - Harworth, Nottinghamshire 1881 census - with wife Ann and children Elizabeth, William, John, Henry, Frederick, James and Emily - Harworth, Nottinghamshire 1891 census - with wife Ann and children Elizabeth, Harry, Frederick, James and Emily - Harworth, Nottinghamshire 1901 census - Ann (widow) with daughter Elizabeth, son Henry and grandson (?) Fred - Harworth, Nottinghamshire

(4) SUSAN TAYLOR (christened 1834) married William Noble in the December quarter 1852, regd. in Newark, Notts. They had 2 sons William and John Nothing is known of William and he has not yet been located on any census returns. Susan, still unmarried at the time, was the informant on her father's Death certificate in 1848. Information acquired in 2009 shows that her mother Mary Taylor died at her daughter Susan's home in King Street, Southwell in 1867. There is a Death index (FREE BMD) for Susan NOBLE, age 45, Southwell, Notts. December quarter 1879 - certificate has not been acquired. 1841 census - with parents and siblings - Parish of Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1851 census - house servant with Sarah Walker - Burgage - Parish of Southwell, Nottinghamshire 1861 census - (head) (married) with sons William and John - also Mary TAYLOR, visitor, sister - NOTE: no husband shown - has not been located - King Street, Parish of Southwell, Nottinghamshire 1871 census - (head) (married) with sons William and John - NOTE: no husband shown - has not been located - King Street, Parish of Southwell, Nottinghamshire

(5) ANN TAYLOR (died as an infant)

(6) ANNE TAYLOR (christened 1837 in Balderton, Nottinghamshire). Not a lot is known about the early years of my direct ancestor - we know she was with her parents in Balderton in 1841, then in 1851 (details from census record) she was working (age 13) as a live-in house servant in Long Bennington, Lincolnshire for Samuel and Sarah Simpson. By 1861 Ann had moved from Lincolnshire to Wigan. On the census she is shown to be living (age 23) at 23 Dicconson Street, Wigan. She is listed as a house servant for Mr John F Hurley - Civil Service Surveyor of Towns, England - his widowed mother Ann Hurley (66) and niece Kate Ellen Hurley (10) were also living there. The employer/employee arrangement must have been satisfactory, for in 1871 Ann (age 30) had moved from Wigan to No 4 St Georges Square, Claines, Worcester as Housekeeper for the same gentleman - born Port Sea, Hants. - now retired (Surveyor of Taxes). We may not know every little detail, but we now know at least the bare bones of how Anne came to move from Balderton, Nottingham, to Long Bennington, Lincolnshire, (hardly any distance at all!) to Wigan and then to Worcester where she somehow came to meet her future husband. Click here to read on - the marriage of Anne and William Young.......

(7 & 8) RICHARD & JOHN TAYLOR - twins - (both christened 1840, both died as infants).

(9) WILLIAM TAYLOR (christened 1841). 1841 census - with parents and siblings - Parish of Balderton, Nottinghamshire 1851 census - aged 9 with mother Mary (head) (widow) - Newark, Notts. (NOTE: July 2009) It appears that Mary's youngest son died as a child as the Parish Register for Balderton shows a burial dated 9 September 1854 for William Taylor, abode Balderton, aged 13 years. Certificate has not been acquired.

(10) SARAH TAYLOR (christened 1843 - died as an infant).