Joseph Dawkins B:1770 (Married 17 Nov 1795 -Congerstone, Leicester) Mary Hayfiel

Question:Hi I am tracing my family tree and I am stuck:

Joseph Dawkins B:1770
Mary Hayfield B:1772

(Married 17 Nov 1795 -Congerstone, Leicester, England, UK)

Children (i know of):
Thomas Dawkins B:1791
Benjamin Dawkins B:1806
William Dawkins B:1805

I searched for Mary Hayfield and all i can find is her father being called "Thos"

If any one has any info or could help me I'd be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Sam

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hi I am tracing my family tree and I am stuck:

Joseph Dawkins B:1770
Mary Hayfield B:1772

(Married 17 Nov 1795 -Congerstone, Leicester, England, UK)

Children (i know of):
Thomas Dawkins B:1791
Benjamin Dawkins B:1806
William Dawkins B:1805

I searched for Mary Hayfield and all i can find is her father being called "Thos"

If any one has any info or could help me I'd be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Sam

Well I've tried Mary Hayfield on the IGI and am getting the following:

MARY HEYFIELD - Christening: 01 OCT 1768 Congerstone, Leicester, England Parents: Father: WM. HEYFIELD Mother: HANNAH

Don't be too inflexible with spellings in this period. They are rarely consistant.

Can't see any Joesph Dawkin's though at Congerstone on the IGI which start in 1738 (batch no: CO34442). Weddings were almost always in the brides home parish, so there is no guarantee that Joesph would have been born in the same place as his wife. The marriage entry SHOULD say, seeing as it is after 1754, but sometimes only says where the groom is living at the time of the marriage, not where he was actually BORN, which could be an entirely different place. If you're very lucky and the marriage was by licence rather than banns, then the marriage bond might survive and give you even more clues. Even the banns should have also been called in the grooms home parish as well as the brides, but that's always assuming that both parties volunteered this information at the time. Even if they did, the vicar might just put "OTP" (Of This Parish) on the form anyway!

Moving back to possible parents of Mary Heyfield and marriages of a William and Hannah, and you find WILLIAM HAYFIELD (this time with an A) and HANNAH HOLLIS at Congerstone on 20 March 1759.

Can't see any Hannah Hollis' at Congerstone though on the IGI. She could pre-date 1738, or possibly baptised as "Ann", so nothing should be ruled out. No Hayfield's at Congerstone this early in the 1700s either.

I'd suggest consulting the original registers rather than relying on online sources. Check and see the general condition - legibility of the actual handwriting and any possible large ink blots which might be obscuring certain entries. Consider all possible alternative spellings for both first and last names and then try neighbouring parishes working outwards in a circle. Working pre-1837 is not easy, and you've done well to get this far. Very few families stayed completely put in one parish for more than a few generations, so you'll do well to get back much further than you are at the moment.

The records do get worse the further back you go in time and it is not uncommon to find entries in an early baptism register from the early 1700s and earlier that names only the father of a child and not the mother. This is a matter of luck that depends on the individual vicar - some were very thorough and diligent in their record-keeping, others less so.

All I guess I'm saying is don't be too despondant, you've done far better than many other people can hope to do!!

Don't know where you are located, but there apparently are parish records from Leicester that include the marriage of Joseph Dawkins to Mary Hayfield - the reference is "Marriages at Congerston 1756-1812" Volumes 2 and 3.

This is also referenced in "Pallot's Index to Marriages" so it seems that there in fact ARE parish records for these individuals in Congerston.

Might have to get down and dirty, the old fashion way, and go to the actual records and have fun in the search process.

JOSEPH DAWKINS - MARY HAYFIELD
17 NOV 1776 Congerstone, Leicester, England
Batch No.: M034442
Dates: 1738 - 1834
Source Call No 0590867
Printout Call No 1238700