Yvonne Bean Research
"
re John Bowles - In the 1841
Census, it said that John was "Army", so looked on the Kew
site & found 2 possibilities: one from Wilton & the
other, Winterbourne Gunner. Looked at both Parish records
& found in each a bapt in circa 1776 for a John Bowles /
Boles. I'm going to get in the marriage at Tardebigg
with crossed fingers that there is more info on it - regiment
/ parish. If the Regiment is mentioned, then I can get the
Army papers." 9 Oct 2006
"
The marriage record came in -
it just says that both were of this parish, which leads me to
think that it's the wrong marriage. If he was Army (which he
should've been in 1803) usually the marriage records say so.
No satisfaction with the Army
papers that I got in - basically I'm looking for the date of
death for both John Bowles. This is usually written on
the Pension papers." 10 Oct 2006
"I looked at the marriage of
John Bowles & Mary Snow on the Parish records - LDS
film. I don’t think that this is the right couple.
John Bowles was in the Army from the 1790’s - & would’ve
been still in them at the time of the marriage. No where
on the registers does it mention anything about the Army only
that they were ‘of the Parish of Tardbig’. Usually it
would give the Regiment. I also had this marriage as we
know that Mary was born in Worcestershire, but having 2nd
thoughts, now.
There are 2
different John Bowles that can be our guy:
Covering
dates 1792
Scope and content
JOHN BOWLES
Born
WILTON,
Wiltshire
Served in other regiment(s)
unspecified; 4th Foot Regiment
Discharged aged 35 after 15
years 9 months of service
Access conditions Normal
Closure before FOI Act: 30 years
Closure status Open Document,
Open Description
Held by The National Archives,
Kew
Possible:
Covering dates 1796-1814
Scope and content
JOHN BOWLES
Born
WINTERBOURNE
GUNNER, Wiltshire
Served in 15th Dragoons
(Light)
Discharged aged 37
Access conditions
Normal Closure before FOI Act: 30 years
Closure status Open Document,
Open Description
Held by The National Archives,
Kew
Possible:
Par: George &
Mary born:
11.11.1775 bapt:
29.09.1776 Wilton by Salisbury
Par: Charles &
Elizabeth
bapt: 10.03.1776 Winterbourne Gunner
I’m now awaiting Army
Pensioner records, which hopefully, will give a date of death
to tell us which one is ours."
13 Oct 2006
Review
In the light of Yvonne Bean's research, where are we?
(1) John Bowles
We have the choice of the Christenings in Winterbourne Gunner
and Wilton. John was living in Winterbourne Earles in the 1841
census. Winterbourne Earles, Gunner and Dauntsey are less than a
mile apart, while Wilton is about six miles away, and on the
other side of Salisbury. We would have to go with the local boy
as a 75% chance?
(2) Mary Snow
Her 1851 census entry is the key. It is mis-indexed in
Ancestry.com under Mary Davis (b abt 1784), but the text is Mary
Bowles, and her place of birth is Worchestershire. The town is
not very legible.
Ancestry has read it as Boarcanght.. Yvonne has read it as
Boarcaught (
See
Internet
Query), which looks better.
Either way, it doesn't seem to exist. In a discussion to
Yvonne's query,
Helen
Verrall suggests as possibles
BROUGHTON HACKETT - BROMSGROVE - BOCKLETON. An LDS search for
christeninig of Mary Snow in Worchestershire 1780-90 gives
just one entry 26 Sep 1781, in Bromsgrove,
Worcester (parents Thomas and Mary Snow), so I reckon that is
her. Bromsgrove is at the junction of the M5 and the M42 north
of Worchester. Tardebigge, location of the John/Mary marriage is
two miles WSW of Bromsgrove, so I think this is our Mary, and
that is the marriage. Again it is the only marriage that
LDS has for John Bowles and Mary in the county 1798-1808.
That smells of overoptimism, but the 1851 census does have her
living in Wiltshire and born in Worchestershire. Her age is
pretty close.
Email in from Michael Mar 2013
I was looking at your page on John and Mary Bowles and noticed the bit about the place called
Boarcaught (1851 census) that no one has been able to locate.
I wonder if it is a misspelling of Burcot in Worcester (the
census enumerator may not have been able to spell it as it
wasn't local) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burcot,_Worcestershire.
I've been googling for ages trying variations
of the name and then thought to try the Wikipedia lists of
place names in Worcester and found it there http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_in_Worcestershire.
Comment Les Rowley: This strengthens
the case for Mary Snow quite a bit? Put Mary Snow in as a
75% chance?
Acknowledgemnts
Yvonne Bean's research has given us most of what we know here,
and Michael for the email
If you have additions or
corrections to this page, please
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us Bones in the Belfry
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