Rachael Bickerton

Lonesome Dove

If I take “Snaith George” away from his parents on the Shared Tree he will have no-one in his past. After several hours of searching, I’ve yet to find his real ma and pa. Based on geography alone, there is a good chance he is the son of John and Elizabeth DOVE. They christened their boy in Bubwith, about ten miles from where “our George” married Rachael Lansdon née BICKERTON. Alas, the few sources that give his age all disagree. The 1841 England & Wales census says he is 35, the 1851 Canadian census offers 47. So, calculated birth years of 1806 and 1804. The Bubwith christening took place on 8 September 1802.

Rachael Bickerton’s birth year is an equally moveable snack – 1806 (1841census), 1801 (1851 census) and a very precise 16 April 1796 attached to her christening in Howden, attended by parents John Bickerton and Jane RICHARDSON. FamilySearch gives eleven hints for Rachel/Rachael and only one is duff – the 1851 census, which makes her the wife of “Middleton George” and mother of three children not her own. In that year, of course, she was over 3,000 miles away in Ontario.

I am waiting for replies to messages I sent a while ago to two contributors to the Doves from Hook/Snaith/Goole. I would prefer it if descendants made the needed corrections.

I wonder how much Snaith George knew about his ancestry. Was he able to tell his children about their roots? Some days ago I discovered that his fourth daughter Harriet married Benjamin F. CHEESBRO in Norfolk, Ontario on 11 September 1858. Today I discovered that this union is peculiarly represented on the Shared Tree.

DOVEharrietCHEESBROben_FSTss

The marriage date is wrong and this Benjamin’s birthplace is given as Saginaw. His two brothers were born in Methley, Yorkshire, a few years later. But, the parents of the Benjamin F. CHEESBRO who married “our Harriet” are given as Joseph and Jane in the Norfolk marriage source. A quick look at the growing Methley CHEESBROUGH family in England looks right, hence the ticks. Its Y-line goes back to Robertus, born 1586, but if you explore the Shared Tree further it becomes clear that Harriet married into a family of great distinction – assuming the earlier generations have been assembled with greater accuracy than those in the 19th century.

For now, in truth, poor Snaith George is bereft of forebears.

Dove Tale

One George DOVE was a grandfather of the WARLEY girls of Middleton on the Wolds.

Last month, I deliberately titled a post Floy Warley, so that this blog might take the top spot from Rootspoint – should one in a billion people Google-search for the poor woman.

I was tempted to play the same card today with George, but there are two Yorkshiremen with this name, contemporaries, who found their wives, both called Rachael, in villages only twenty-five miles apart. I didn’t want to flummox the crawlers.

Over at FamilySearch the bots (whatever) can be fooled into offering inappropriate hints – though human agents must unwittingly contribute false data to make this happen.

I will call the men George of Middleton and George of Snaith, after the places where the census enumerators found them in 1841. In real life, only one was the grandfather of Charlotte and Floy. On the Shared Tree, both of them are. It is a complicated tale.

DOVEgeo&SELLERrachael1_FSTss

The only significant error here is George of Middleton’s birth date. The absence of Rachael’s family name is made good by the next screenshot.

DOVEgeo&SELLERrachael2Mar_FSTss

Note the date and place of the marriage.

DOVEgeo&BICKERTONrachel2_FSTss

Same date, different place. This is George of Middleton with his correct dates of birth and death, his parents and his youngest daughter Esther (sometimes Easter) – but married to George of Snaith’s wife. Now, a further complication.

DOVEgeo&BICKERTONrachel1b_FSTss

The two Rachaels fledged a number of baby Doves before civil registration began but, fortunately, they then had several children that are readily found in the GRO Births Index.

In the first quarter of 1839, George of Middleton registered the birth of Jane Elizabeth, Charlotte and Floy’s mother-to-be, in Driffield Union.

In the last quarter of the same year, George of Snaith registered the birth of George Wesley in the Goole Union. Middleton is in the Driffield Registration District, and both Hook and Snaith are in the Goole RD.

1839

DOVE, Jane Elizabeth, Mother’s Maiden Surname: SELLERS (sic). GRO Reference: 1839 M Quarter in DRIFFIELD UNION Volume 23 Page 30 Occasional Copy: B.

DOVE, George Wesley, Mother’s Maiden Surname: BICKERTON. GRO Reference: 1839 D Quarter in THE GOOLE UNION Volume 23 Page 213.

The 1841 households of the two families are found in the FamilySearch sources.

1841_George&Rachel_MIDDLETON

“Elizabeth” here is Jane Elizabeth.

1841_George&Rachel_GOOLE

Young George is George Wesley.

George of Middleton has at least five IDs. I haven’t rounded up all the IDs for George of Snaith but suspect he has a similar number. The wives ditto. So, there is a lot of merging to be done. The mixing of the marriages, evident in the screenshots, won’t make this straightforward.

One day, perhaps, the FamilySearch “system” will be smart enough to red flag the data entry errors that have caused this mess – rather than acquiesce by offering a Census hint for the “wrong” family.

1851_RightGeorgeWrongRachael

One George and Rachel duo has the birth and death dates of the other, ensuring this hint points to the wrong clutch of Doves. Not a Match.