Hello Heather, >From the consistency of her estimated birth-dates as reported at her death and in the censuses of 1861-81it would seem that she was likely born in 1831 - perhaps 1830; less likely 1832. It would follow that she at least told the truth about her age - as being 21+ - in 1854. But to me the largest area of doubt arises from her middle name of Smith... It was by no means unusual for a *son* to have a [grand-]maternal surname as a 'second given name', but it was far less frequent for a daughter, although that did happen. *Unless* she was born illegitimately to a Miss SMITH who subsequently married a John JESSON (who could quite easily have been her natural father) and grew up with JESSON tagged-on as a 'courtesy' surname. It could well be worth your while looking for such a marriage - hopefully in the early 1830s - and then for the baptism of an illegitimate Sarah SMITH. The place you really need to try to find her is in the 1841 - with all the doubts that information from that will bring - for it'd also be highly likely that by 1851 she would have 'left home' some years earlier, epecially if she had a number of younger brothers and sisters. HTH Gus ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Quineys" <pquiney@post.com> To: <warwick@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 9:05 PM Subject: [WAR] Sarah Smith JESSON - Birmingham Hello list I'm wondering if anyone can help, or has come across 'my' family of JESSONs. I have Sarah Smith JESSON marrying into my HINTON family in 1854, Edgbaston. She is 'of full age' as is her groom, Thomas Hinton. Her father is listed as John JESSON, shoemaker. I can trace her following her marriage through the census returns from 1861 - 1891 inc. I *think* I have her as a visitor in 1901 (so difficult to confirm), but I cannot find her before her marriage (1841 and 1851 census) or her family at all! She is consistently recorded as being born in Birmingham, Warwickshire. Her age is 29 in 1861, 40 in 1871, 50 in 1881 and 70 (!) in 1891. She dies in 1903, Birmingham. I keep thinking that with a fairly unusual name of JESSON (so I think), it should be easier then it's proving. Any help, finds or ideas would be very welcome :-) Heather ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to WARWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello Gus Many thanks for that. It certainly sounds very logical. There is nothing that I can see on IGI which fits (marriage of John Jesson to ? Smith) and not knowing which parish within Birmingham she was likely to be baptised doesn't help me find her or her mother's name. (And I don't live locally to pop into the records office :-( ) Think you're right about having to find her on 1841 and 51. Think I need to sub to Ancestry again (I only sub for a month at a time - it's cheaper :-) ) Thanks for your ideas - much appreciated Heather Q Gus Tysoe wrote: > Hello Heather, > > From the consistency of her estimated birth-dates as reported at her death > and in the censuses of 1861-81it would seem that she was likely born in > 1831 - perhaps 1830; less likely 1832. It would follow that she at least > told the truth about her age - as being 21+ - in 1854. > > But to me the largest area of doubt arises from her middle name of Smith... > It was by no means unusual for a *son* to have a [grand-]maternal surname as > a 'second given name', but it was far less frequent for a daughter, although > that did happen. *Unless* she was born illegitimately to a Miss SMITH who > subsequently married a John JESSON (who could quite easily have been her > natural father) and grew up with JESSON tagged-on as a 'courtesy' surname. > > It could well be worth your while looking for such a marriage - hopefully in > the early 1830s - and then for the baptism of an illegitimate Sarah SMITH. > > The place you really need to try to find her is in the 1841 - with all the > doubts that information from that will bring - for it'd also be highly > likely that by 1851 she would have 'left home' some years earlier, epecially > if she had a number of younger brothers and sisters. > > HTH > > Gus > >