The marriage of Samuel Hite and Jane has now been found - she was Jane Bruce and they married at Hail Weston Hunts on 22 Nov 1803 "Samuel Hight of Colmworth" Samuel and Jane were a bit lax about baptising their earlier children, baptising three en bloc in 1821, and all were aged 7-10 according to censuses. Three other sons that I know of, William, Samuel and James weren't baptised either (unless Pater has found them), but they can be identified through their father being named as Samuel on their marriages. There may be more children around that I'm not aware of as there's a big gap between 1803 and 1810, the implied birth of the first child that I know of. The only other Hite couple that was reproducing in Colmworth at this time was James and Ann (Stringer) and they too didn't take baptisms too seriously. James was transported in 1805 and 3 of his children who must have been born before 1806, and a number of Ann's children who were born after 1805 who were illegitimate, were all baptised in 1819. I think if John were an illegitimate son of Ann (Stringer) he would have been baptised in 1819 along with the rest. So on balance I think you're probably right in allocating him to Samuel and Jane, who had at least three more unbaptised sons. Probably the only way to prove it is if Samuel left a will naming his children - you could try sending an email to BLARS asking if they hold such a will. I'll send you what I know about the Hites off board David --- En date de : Mer 1.10.08, Peter Booth <[email protected]> a écrit : > De: Peter Booth <[email protected]> > Objet: Re: [BDF] Bedfordshire Genealogy Research John HITE c1811 COLMWORTH > À: [email protected] > Date: Mercredi 1 Octobre 2008, 6h59 > Peter, > > Are you aware of the Australian connection to a similar > branch of this > family? I've passed your message on to a descendant who > should contact you > direct. > > As for John, I looked all through the Colmworth batches > for surnames > starting with "H" and found nothing. This is > strange, because the remaining > children of Samuel Hite and Jane are all christened. > > But then again, there is no record of the marriage of > Samuel & Jane. Her > name comes from christenings of children. > > You should also be aware. There are a number of > questionable user > submissions and adult christenings that confuse the issue. > Look at Mary > Hight with mother Jane. She is said to be born 1807 and not > christened until > 1841. Three other supposed sisters are all christened on > the same day. > > Lots of traps for inexperienced players. > > Peter in Sydney > > > > > The List Guidelines > > http://bedfordrootsweb.blogspot.com/ > > The Bedfordshire Surnames List > > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/bedford.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message

David is quite correct and as usual has done some excellent work and evaluation. I'm wondering whether lack of records for boys means only the girls were christened or if a separate book of male baptisms was destroyed or unable to be deciphered. As David indicated, although Samuel & Jane married in 1803, no christenings are recorded until 1821 when Sarah, Susan and Hannah are all christened on the same day. Charlotte is the next christened in 1823, but if records can be believed, poor Mary has to wait until age 34 in 1841. Birth dates for sons can only be derived from 1841 census If one could positively identify all their marriages, it might be possible to get a better idea of the girls ages from subsequent censuses. Hannah for example married in 1827, so one would put her birth before 1810. For James Hite and Ann Stringer, their marriage is recorded as 27/3/1795. Edith is christened Apr 1796 A user submission has William as April 1798. But then nothing for 20 years until 1819 when Mary is christened in March and four months later in July comes Frances. A user submission has Samuel christened on the same day, but transportation records put his birth about 1801. The father James is sentenced to the hulks in 1805 but I don't know anything further of him. Ann Stringer has three apparently illegitimate children after James' incarceration in 1805. Peter