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William Hayes in Brixton

Posted by Linda Allen on 10/7/2018, 11:04 pm

William is my 2x g-grandfather. The family’s story is that he was born in 1805 in Brixton, Devon. He migrated to Canada in 1830 and married Harriet Retallick in Whitby, Ontario in 1836. I have found many records for Harriet’s family in Cornwall before they migrated to Canada around 1832. But I have not found anything for Hayes in Brixton.
The Retallicks and William were Bible Christians. I welcome any suggestions for finding the records I need to connect William to his Devon family. Thanks!

Re: William Hayes in Brixton

Posted by Chris on 11/7/2018, 5:53 am, in reply to "William Hayes in Brixton"

Brixton Parish registers are available from 1668 on Findmypast, not all have been indexed but you can browse them. I had a quick look and there are no Hayes baptisms recorded in the baptism register around 1805.

There are some Non-Conformist records for Devon on Findmypast, Ancestry, FamilySearch & BMD Registers(The Genealogist).

This is a listing of Non-Conformist records held by Plymouth Records Office. You often find that Non-Conformist records are recorded under the Circuit rather than in a specific Chapel.
http://plymhearts.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Other-places-of-worship-registers.pdf

I've had a quick look at Non-Conformist records on Findmypast and can't see a birth or baptism recorded for a William Hayes c1805.

I believe the Bible Christians were not founded until 1815 and were a break away group from the Methodists
http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc02/htm/iv.v.lix.htm

Re: William Hayes in Brixton

Posted by John Avery on 11/7/2018, 5:05 am, in reply to "William Hayes in Brixton"

It would be useful if you could find the name of the groom's father from the marriage certificate of 1836.

The baptism records for Brixton parish church exist for 1813 to 1839 so by establishing the father of William you could possibly check the marriage records which exist 1753 to 1837. This still leaves a baptism gap but gives background information.

The Bible Christian movement a form of Methodism was formed a few years after the birth of William so it looks pretty certain that if he was baptised it would have been in a C of E church. The Genuki Devon page gives useful detail http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/Brixton

It is possible that nearby Yealmpton church was used for a baptism [St Bartholomew, Yealmpton] but unfortunately the records surviving are 1813 to 1840.

Re: William Hayes in Brixton

Posted by judith on 12/7/2018, 3:54 pm, in reply to "Re: William Hayes in Brixton"

Are you sure its Brixton? not Brixham?
Marriage on familysearch gives witnesses names, fathers names not on records.

Re: William Hayes in Brixton

Posted by Linda Allen on 25/10/2018, 1:17 am, in reply to "Re: William Hayes in Brixton"

Thank you for your responses. His marriage cert. dated 1836 only named witnesses. And, It might be Brixham but the family story is Brixton. His children all stayed in Ontario except my great grandfather who came to Michigan in US. I’ve connected with Ontario cousins who don’t know his family story before going to Canada. Seems odd that names of his parents and siblings were not passed down through his children. My Hayes grandfather died young and before his children were old enough to ask such questions about family. I have recently rejoined Devon FHS and plan to ask for research help. Again, thank you!

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