Norfolk ancestors

I managed to piece together a few more generations in one of my family tree branches. I'd earlier found a reference to a Catherine Kerridge who married John Skipper in Shotesham, Norfolk. In looking at the Skipper family, I'd found an Abigail Skipper who married a Francis Kerridge. Not having come across the Kerridge name much, I thought they might be connected... and it turns out that Catherine and Francis had the same parents. So we've got two siblings (John and Abigail Skipper) marrying two other siblings (Catherine and Francis Kerridge). I love it when the puzzle pieces come together like that.

So... Catherine and Francis Kerridge were the children of Francis and Elizabeth (probably Elizabeth Leech, based on the only Kerridge marriage I could find in the right area at the right time). Elizabeth may have been the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Leech. If so, she was baptised in 1698 in Norwich, married Francis in 1719 in Shotesham, and may have been buried in Shotesham in 1742.

Essex ancestors

I found some records on the Seax site. I was able to trace the Wheeler family back a couple of generations (I'd been stuck at 1798 with Sarah Wheeler), and I found some new names relating to that branch of the family: Saitch/Satch/Sach, South, and Hobro. All of these people lived in Messing, Essex in the 18th and 17th centuries.

I tried to find information about Sarah Wheeler's husband, Joseph Winkell (spelled Wincle on their Colchester marriage record of 1818). He was from Kelvedon, according to the 1851 census, but I couldn't find a baptism record of anyone with a similar name. There is a large Wyncoll family in northeast Essex (the same area as my Winkell family), and I think they must be connected somehow. Finding that connection is proving to be next to impossible, though.

Kerridge?

I came across a marriage record for John Skipper and Catherine Kerridge in 1755 in Shotesham, Norfolk. My putative ancestors were John Skipper and Catherine (maiden name unknown), who started having kids in 1756 in Shotesham... so the record could very well be applicable. I haven't come across the Kerridge name before, and I can't find any record for Catherine other than the aforementioned marriage.

It sure would be nice if one of these ancestors led to a decently researched family tree. I'm tired of finding dribs and drabs of my ancestry one solitary person at a time (and inevitably hitting a brick wall immediately after)!

James Carden

I broke down and ordered the certificate. I'm not too much further ahead, though. Or, rather, behind, since I'm trying to go back in time!

James Cardon was the son of John Cardon and Lucy, born 1818 in Dublin. John was a corporal in the Royal Horse Artillery at the time.

There is a marriage record (I think it was in Pallot's?) for a John Carden of the Royal Horse Artillery who married a Lucy Foster in 1812 in Woodbridge, Suffolk. These might be James's parents... however, Lucy is listed as a widower, so Foster is not her maiden name. I wonder if it might be Fryett; the only record in that area that I can find of these names comes from a daughter (Elizabeth) of John Foster and Lucy Fryett in 1809.

In any case, if I've got the right John and Lucy, then my James had at least two full siblings as well: John Carden (1812) and Matilda Carden (1815). Unfortunately, it looks like this is as far back as I can go without getting heavily into military history... which I have no idea how to do.

Elliott family

I have ancestors with the surname Elliott. The earliest one I know of was Thomas Elliott, who married Margaret Johnston in 1756 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Their daughter, Margaret, is my ancestor... but it looks as though they had two sons as well. David's branch of the family is in Aberdeenshire. Thomas (junior) was a plantation owner in Jamaica. He had a number of mulatto children with a woman named Judith Sherman, and (as the story goes) he left property to some of these sons when he returned to Scotland with his wife. Yes... it appears he was married and having children with his wife during the same period when he was having children with Judith. The scoundrel!

I'm curious as to whether these Elliotts are connected to the Border Reiver Elliots. That would certainly be an interesting bit of information!

Not Irish after all?

I bought a few pay-per-view credits and had a look at findmypast's armed forces birth indices... and I found my ancestor. James Carden (spelled Cardon in the index... close enough) was born in 1818 in Island Bridge (an area of Dublin, Ireland). I already knew he was born there around 1818 or 1819, but now at least I've got the exact year pinned down. Too bad if I want to find out more I have to spend a lot more money to do so. And I really wish these certificates were digitized so I could just view them; I don't really care if I have a paper copy in hand (in fact, I'd prefer not to).

This new information also points to the fact that James may not have been Irish at all. It looks like his father was probably a military man as well. Perhaps the family didn't even spend much time in Ireland. Unfortunately, the time period we're talking about is before 1841, so I can't even search the censuses to find out the whereabouts of this family.

Mind the gap...

I thought I'd finally found that elusive royalty link... but it all depended on a rather spurious connection in someone's family tree that I could find no evidence for.

There are a few branches of the family that have names that are promising. When I search for information on these names, I come up with information about how so-and-so came over with William the Conqueror or that so-and-so was part of a highly influential family in the 1300s. The problem is, I have no way to connect my brick walls in the 18th and 19th centuries back to the Middle Ages. I have no idea if my Lovett family in Buckinghamshire is descended from Richard de Louet of Normandy. I have no idea if my Stafford family in Northumberland is connected to the 13th-century de Staffords. Stupid gap!

Brick walls all around!

I've hit brick walls with pretty much every branch of the tree now. Short of actually going to the British Isles and doing some in-person research, I'm probably not going to get much further.