Genealogy Chat

I am certain from certificates that my great grandfather was James Francis Sherwood and my great grandmother Annie Maria Cowley. The 1901 census gives their birthplaces as Kent, Hythe and Worcester respectively, with ages of 47 and 44, indicating birth years of 1853/4 and 1856/7. However, in the LDS 1881 census I can only find a James Francis Sherwood aged 19 , unmarried, born in Lympne, Kent (not too far from Hythe) but that would make HIS birth 1860/61 i.e. 7 years too late. I cannot find an Annie Maria Cowley in 1881. I have found an Annie Maria Cowley birth registered Bromsgrove, Worcester in Jun qtr. 1864, but that puts her age 7 years too young as well. The 1901 census indicates that their first child was born in 1880/81, when, if Annie was born 1864, she would have been only 16. Can anyone double-check on a searchable version of the 1881 census (on LDS I manually looked through 4,000+ records to find James) and/or see what the 1871 census shows. As yet I have been unable to find their marriage. Many thanks.

I will have a look at the 1881 census for you tonight but I have a meeting soon. I am interested in your entry because of the name Cowley. Some of my family are Cowley and are from Worcestershire - Upton upon Severn. Any links? There are quite a few entries for Cowley on the familysearch site. I went to IGI and searched. With each one that came up for the right area I clicked on batch number and found all those christened, married or buried in the same area. Jacky

I found James Francis SHERWOOD 19, um. a blacksmith lodging in Stanford, Kent (just north of Lympne)on 1881 census discs. I live in S.E.Kent and will look for a baptism for him. FreeBMD shows a marriage of a James Francis SHERWOOD registered at Stepney in June Q.1893. On the same page is a Hannah Maria CAWLEY according to the online records.This would be close enough for me to want to check this out, if it were my family.

Thank you both. I had found the 1881 census entry, even the age doesn't tie up it may well be the right person, right area and name, at least. I don't know how I missed the marriage on freebmd, I've looked there a couple of times, must be going blind in my old age, although I didn't go as far as 1893, since grandad was born in 1888 and his birth cert. gives the mother as Annie Maria Sherwood, formerly Cowley, also I didn't turn the phonetic option on. I'll send for the marriage certificate and see if it makes sense. Also for the birth certificate for their first child, as shown on the 1901 census, since it looks as if they were not married when she was born. I suspect that they lied about their ages. If anyone has tried to e-mail me a reply, my computer at home is very sick and I am off-line, so would you mind repeating them here.