Hello everyone, I am new to this list and Cambridge research but not to other genealogy. I'm hoping to get in touch with anyone researching this ARCH family. William ARCH (christened 24 Jun 1823 Balsham - son of William ARCH & Elizabeth) married 8 Jul 1851 at Balsham (have certificate) to Charlotte BLANKS. They had children: William c1851, Hammond 27 Feb 1853, Elizabeth 23 Mar 1855, Elizabeth Ann 6 Sep 1856 and Kate Susan 2 Apr 1859 (have birth certifs except for William). William ARCH remarried in Balsham (age 45, labourer) to Bets(e)y BROWN (age 24, daur. of Charles BROWN) 22 Oct 1864 (have marriage certif). They had children Ellen 1865, Charles 15 Nov 1867 (have certif), Ann 1870, Emily 1872, Emma 1878. Betsey Brown ARCH also had a son George BROWN before she married William. What I'm trying to confirm is William 1823 ARCH's mother's name. William c1800 married Elizabeth LOFTS 5 Jan 1819 (extracted record - IGI Batch M134061). William age 40 and an Elizabeth age 30 are on the 1841 Eng. census, along with Martha 15, Emma 10 and Peter 5. Per IGI Batch C134061, William ARCH and an Elizabeth christened these 7 children at Balsham: Mary Ann 6 Nov 1819, William 19 Nov 1821, another William 24 Jun 1823, Martha 9 Sep 1825, Peter Lofts 14 Feb 1828, Emma 24 Apr 1831, another Peter 1 Nov 1835. As adults' ages were rounded down in 1841 census, Elizabeth could be as old as 34 (so born C1806) which would make her age 13 at her marriage. Does this seem possible? The only likely christening I can find for Elizabeth is 8 Apr 1806 at Linton, daughter of William LOFTS and Sarah. The name of son Peter Lofts ARCH chr. 1828 would seem to indicate Elizabeth LOFTS may be the mother of all these children. Sorry to be so long-winded. I thought more detail would be helpful in identifying a connection. I have quite a bit of information on Charles Arch 1867, his marriage in 1895 to Elizabeth Alice AYTON, their 7 children, and their emigration to Canada. Regards, Janet Bush (Ontario, Canada)

Hi Janet If you haven't already found it, a good starting point for Cambs research for the period in question is the excellent Cambs FHS website at http://www.cfhs.org.uk/Search.html Some random thoughts: - the minimum age for a girl to marry in 1819 was 12, but in practice there were very few marriages where the bride was as young as this - more likely that Elizabeth's age in 1841 is an enumeration error, and she was actually older. Her death certificate should give her age - FreeBMD has deaths of an Elizabeth Arch in the Dec quarter 1842 and another in March quarter 1846 in Linton registration district which includes Balsham. Balsham parish register burials might give the same detail. - there are no Elizabeth burials on the Cambs FHS burial index which fit, but possibly she died between 1837 and 1841 and William remarried another, younger, Elizabeth in an attempt to confuse future family historians. But this conspiracy theory is not supported on FreeBMD where I can't see a death of an Elizabeth nor a marriage of a William pre June 1841! - the Cambs FHS Baptism index (which is more complete for Cambs 1801-37 than the IGI) shows that a Peter and Mary Lofts had two children baptised in 1801 and 1812 in Balsham (and the IGI has a third in 1800). That's a big gap between 1801 and 1812. Possibly other children fitted in there who weren't baptised, for whatever reason. These were the only Lofts baptisms in Balsham in this period, and Elizabeth's marriage in Balsham suggests it was her home parish - although you need to check the parish register if you haven't already done so, to see if the marriage entry gives any clues, eg Elizabeth otp, or Elizabeth of the parish of Linton (or wherever) and the names of the witnesses (who might be siblings). The fact that she named two of her children Peter suggests that it may have been her father's name (although I'm not a great believer in naming patterns). - a census was taken in Balsham in 1811 a transcript of which is available from Cambs FHS. These early censuses don't usually show very much, but it may show a name and the number in the household, which might give you an idea as to whether or not there were more Lofts in the household than there are baptisms. - I agree with you that Elizabeth Lofts was the mother of William's children following their 1819 marriage - you should be able to order and view a microfilm of Balsham parish register at your nearest Family History Center of the LDS (or a fiche transcription is available from Cambs FHS) Hope this helps Regards David Janet Bush <[email protected]> a écrit : Hello everyone, I am new to this list and Cambridge research but not to other genealogy. I'm hoping to get in touch with anyone researching this ARCH family. William ARCH (christened 24 Jun 1823 Balsham - son of William ARCH & Elizabeth) married 8 Jul 1851 at Balsham (have certificate) to Charlotte BLANKS. They had children: William c1851, Hammond 27 Feb 1853, Elizabeth 23 Mar 1855, Elizabeth Ann 6 Sep 1856 and Kate Susan 2 Apr 1859 (have birth certifs except for William). William ARCH remarried in Balsham (age 45, labourer) to Bets(e)y BROWN (age 24, daur. of Charles BROWN) 22 Oct 1864 (have marriage certif). They had children Ellen 1865, Charles 15 Nov 1867 (have certif), Ann 1870, Emily 1872, Emma 1878. Betsey Brown ARCH also had a son George BROWN before she married William. What I'm trying to confirm is William 1823 ARCH's mother's name. William c1800 married Elizabeth LOFTS 5 Jan 1819 (extracted record - IGI Batch M134061). William age 40 and an Elizabeth age 30 are on the 1841 Eng. census, along with Martha 15, Emma 10 and Peter 5. Per IGI Batch C134061, William ARCH and an Elizabeth christened these 7 children at Balsham: Mary Ann 6 Nov 1819, William 19 Nov 1821, another William 24 Jun 1823, Martha 9 Sep 1825, Peter Lofts 14 Feb 1828, Emma 24 Apr 1831, another Peter 1 Nov 1835. As adults' ages were rounded down in 1841 census, Elizabeth could be as old as 34 (so born C1806) which would make her age 13 at her marriage. Does this seem possible? The only likely christening I can find for Elizabeth is 8 Apr 1806 at Linton, daughter of William LOFTS and Sarah. The name of son Peter Lofts ARCH chr. 1828 would seem to indicate Elizabeth LOFTS may be the mother of all these children. Sorry to be so long-winded. I thought more detail would be helpful in identifying a connection. I have quite a bit of information on Charles Arch 1867, his marriage in 1895 to Elizabeth Alice AYTON, their 7 children, and their emigration to Canada. Regards, Janet Bush (Ontario, Canada) ------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------- Découvrez une nouvelle façon d'obtenir des réponses à toutes vos questions ! Profitez des connaissances, des opinions et des expériences des internautes sur Yahoo! Questions/Réponses.