Henry was the son of Nathaniel and Letitia Payton and was born circa 1815 in Kidderminster. On 28 November 1836 there is an entry in St. George's church PR's for the christening of William Henry Payton, son of Henry and Jane Payton of Chapel Street, Kidderminster - Henry was recorded as a butcher. The 1841 census shows that William Henry Payton [age 4] is living with his grandparents, Nathanel and Letitia Payton in Chapel Street. By 1851 both Nathaniel and Letitia had died and young William was in the workhouse. When William married he left blank details of his father so I'm assuming that he didn't know his name. Although I have searched the PR's for St. George's, St. Mary's and St. John's in Kidderminster I have not been able to find the marriage for Henry and Jane or, more importantly, their burials. I've also checked the IGI and the GRO. When I visit Worcester again next month I'm going to recheck the PR's in case I've missed an entry. I'm trying to find out what happened to Henry and Jane - any suggestions would be welcome. Sue

Hello Sue, You say in your 2nd posting that you've not found Henry or Jane in any census, and that their burials are also untraced, so (without a baptism either) how can you believe that Henry was born c.1815 - or even the child of Nathaniel and Letitia? The IGI only lists 5 children born to them who were baptised at 'Kidderminster' [which at that stage would have been St Mary's] between 1808 and 1813: 1798 - Susannah 1800 - Rosanna [died 1801] 1803 - William 1808 - Eliza 1813 - Phoebe All are 'extracted' entries - and the extractions would seem to be full up to 1875. Granted that there are 2 long gaps there (each side of Eliza) where other children could've been born/baptised elsewhere - and Henry could well have been one of them. I may be barking up a wrong tree here, but it has the *appearance* of a 'formula guess' that he'd become a father at age 21... Nathaniel, at any rate was a Kidderminster Native - he was baptised there on 24 Apr 1774, apparently the oldest child of a William & Jane, who went on to baptise 6 more there between 1776 and 1791, although none were Henrys. [All extracted items] Nathaniel's marriage to Letitia is as obscure as those of his parents and his supposed son :-( The IGI has a patron submission of Kidderminster, 26 Dec 1797 to a Letitia TAYLOR - but it's not among the extracted marriages for Kidderminster. "Letitia TAYLOR" has no fewer than 4 Submitted baptisms [all Kidderminster; 20 Jan 1774; daughter of Henry & Jane(!)] - but again this doesn't show up in the extractions. Another problem is that the only linkage between William Henry and Nathaniel & Letitia is in the 1841 Census - which is notorious for not showing relationships :-( William could, indeed be their grandchild - but as easily a great-nephew or maybe even a nephew. Plus the fact of his being recorded there does *NOT* mean that he was a "usual resident" - all it actually *records* is that he spent that one night there. There are several sources available at Worcester The potential marriage of Henry and Jane [UNKNOWN]. On your visit to Worcester will you be going to the Record Office at County Hall or the History Centre in the middle of the town? Only the latter holds the Worcestershire Marriages Index 1660-1837, which is believed to be "complete" for the period from 1754 for all marriages in any Parish that has ever been a part of WOR. It might also be worthwhile looking there for the marriages of William & Jane and Nathaniel & Letitia. Additionally it holds the National Burials Index - hopefully to include the recent 3rd instalment by the time you get there - as well as Indexes of Wills proved at Worcester up to 1928, and copies of the documents on film. I accept that [on the evidence of the baptism and the 1841] the chances are low that a butcher or a bombazine weaver would leave a Will - but if Nathaniel was acting as a Guardian to an orphan he just might have felt the need to. All this isn't intended to sound - or be - negative... Merely trying to widen thearea which you seem to've mined already! Gus ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue" <wyemist@gmail.com> To: <eng-worcester@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 9:18 AM Subject: [WOR] Henry & Jane Payton > Henry was the son of Nathaniel and Letitia Payton and was born circa 1815 > in > Kidderminster. > > On 28 November 1836 there is an entry in St. George's church PR's for the > christening of William Henry Payton, son of Henry and Jane Payton of > Chapel > Street, Kidderminster - Henry was recorded as a butcher. > > The 1841 census shows that William Henry Payton [age 4] is living with his > grandparents, Nathanel and Letitia Payton in Chapel Street. By 1851 both > Nathaniel and Letitia had died and young William was in the workhouse. > When > William married he left blank details of his father so I'm assuming that > he > didn't know his name. > > Although I have searched the PR's for St. George's, St. Mary's and St. > John's in Kidderminster I have not been able to find the marriage for > Henry > and Jane or, more importantly, their burials. I've also checked the IGI > and > the GRO. When I visit Worcester again next month I'm going to recheck the > PR's in case I've missed an entry. > > I'm trying to find out what happened to Henry and Jane - any suggestions > would be welcome. > > Sue > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-WORCESTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Sue, My guess would be that Jane died in childbirth and Henry left the child with his grandparents. Have you tried looking for Henry in 1841 and 1851 etc.? Of course, Henry may have died as well. You don't mention any other family living with or near Nathaniel and Letitia in 1841. I can see from their 1797 marriage that the would be in late 60's. Free BMD also has their deaths in 1847 and 1845 resp. It's a little odd that unlike four other children of Nathaniel, Henry is missing from the christening batches. But he is after 1812. Perhaps somebody local may know of available burial records? Peter in Sydney.

Peter, Although I have searched under various spellings of Payton I have not been able to find either Henry or Jane on any census. I believe that the Payton's originated in the area and Henry certainly had siblings so I thought it was odd that no-one took William in but maybe they just simply couldn't afford to do so. In the early 1870's William and his wife took in and raised my grandfather after he was orphaned as a toddler so I'm particularly interested in his early years. Sue ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Peter Booth <pbo08596@bigpond.net.au> Date: 21 September 2010 10:35 Subject: Re: [WOR] Henry & Jane Payton To: Sue <wyemist@gmail.com>, eng-worcester@rootsweb.com Sue, My guess would be that Jane died in childbirth and Henry left the child with his grandparents. Have you tried looking for Henry in 1841 and 1851 etc.? Of course, Henry may have died as well. You don't mention any other family living with or near Nathaniel and Letitia in 1841. I can see from their 1797 marriage that the would be in late 60's. Free BMD also has their deaths in 1847 and 1845 resp. It's a little odd that unlike four other children of Nathaniel, Henry is missing from the christening batches. But he is after 1812. Perhaps somebody local may know of available burial records? Peter in Sydney.