Hi Jenny, Someone is going to check HRO for me.I will check the Church register again for him. J C Clarke's birth year came from the Church record of his baptism and this fits in with his ages on the census for 1871/81 and with his death certificate. Given the circumstances of his birth, he may not have been registered. I did check quite a few James Cole Clarke, James C Clarke and J Clarke's in different parts of the country but as the parents details didn't match they didn't supply birth certificates. Regards Bazzer ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenny M Benson" <genes@cedarbank.me.uk> To: <ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 3:11 PM Subject: Re: [PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT] Brick walls James CLARKE(b177 & JamesCole Clarke(b1866) > > 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 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message -- 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