Hi Listers, The above are my brick walls. James CLARKE was born in Widley c1777/8/9 (according to 1841-51 census).He was a brewer and running The King & Queen Inn, High Street Cosham until his death in 1860 aged 81. He married Elizabeth COLE in Dec1813 at St Peter the Great Chichester. I can't find his birth record or who his parents/siblings were. James Cole CLARKE is my g/father. he was born in May 1866 in Cosham Widley. His parents were James Cole Clarke (b 1824 - d Nov 1865.The son of the James b c1777 & Elizabeth b c1794) and Sarah TRIBE (b c1824) As you can see he was born shortly after his father died. James was married twice, firstly to Alice Mary TILL in 1887 and then to my g/mother Fanny Alice SAMWAYS in 1902.I can't find his birth record anywhere.He should registered in FAREHAM. As his mother was born in the Chichester area I even tried there. I also tried Portsmouth without any luck . I know from past experience that there are a lot of clever (creep, creep) people on this list who seem to be able to produce vast amounts of information as if by magic. Can anyone help please. Regards Bazzer Portchester Fareham Hampshire -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 3393 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len

Bazzer, if the May 1866 date came from the IGI entry then remember this is the baptism/christening date. It may be worth checking the original entry on 'fiche in the Portsmouth Record Office for any further information that would help. Ian Bazzer wrote: > Hi Listers, > The above are my brick walls. James CLARKE was born in Widley c1777/8/9 > (according to 1841-51 census).He was a brewer and running The King & Queen > Inn, High Street Cosham until his death in 1860 aged 81. He married > Elizabeth COLE in Dec1813 at St Peter the Great Chichester. I can't find his > birth record or who his parents/siblings were. > James Cole CLARKE is my g/father. he was born in May 1866 in Cosham Widley. > His parents were James Cole Clarke (b 1824 - d Nov 1865.The son of the James > b c1777 & Elizabeth b c1794) and Sarah TRIBE (b c1824) As you can see he was > born shortly after his father died. James was married twice, firstly to > Alice Mary TILL in 1887 and then to my g/mother Fanny Alice SAMWAYS in > 1902.I can't find his birth record anywhere.He should registered in FAREHAM. > As his mother was born in the Chichester area I even tried there. I also > tried Portsmouth without any luck . > I know from past experience that there are a lot of clever (creep, creep) > people on this list who seem to be able to produce vast amounts of > information as if by magic. Can anyone help please. > Regards > Bazzer > Portchester > Fareham > Hampshire > > >

Bazzer wrote >The above are my brick walls. James CLARKE was born in Widley c1777/8/9 >(according to 1841-51 census).He was a brewer and running The King & >Queen Inn, High Street Cosham until his death in 1860 aged 81. He >married Elizabeth COLE in Dec1813 at St Peter the Great Chichester. I >can't find his birth record or who his parents/siblings were. Unfortunately the FHL Catalogue only lists one film for Widley, and that is BTs from 1780-1850, so probably too late for your man. Have you checked with Hampshire Record Office (or even the current vicar) to see if records exist for earlier years? >James Cole CLARKE is my g/father. he was born in May 1866 in Cosham >Widley. His parents were James Cole Clarke (b 1824 - d Nov 1865.The son >of the James b c1777 & Elizabeth b c1794) and Sarah TRIBE (b c1824) As >you can see he was born shortly after his father died. James was >married twice, firstly to Alice Mary TILL in 1887 and then to my >g/mother Fanny Alice SAMWAYS in 1902.I can't find his birth record >anywhere.He should registered in FAREHAM. As his mother was born in the >Chichester area I even tried there. I also tried Portsmouth without any luck . There are a few possibilities: 1 His birth was never registered. (*) 2 He was only named as James Clarke when registered. 3 He was born somewhere totally unexpected - never rely on "should have been." Have you looked at Fareham Church Registers for his Baptism? (Remember, he may not have been baptised at all or maybe not until was anything from a few months old to adult.) (*) It occurs to me that as he was not born until 6 months after his father's death, his mother may have been afraid that she would be accused of having an illegitimate child. Anyway, just because it was "the law" doesn't mean that everyone complied with it, for whatever reason. -- Jenny M Benson