Possible link-up of the elusive Horn(e)s

Try as I might, I haven't been able to find much information on my 3x great-grandparents, David and Isabella Horn(e).  David was born in 1793 in Roxburghshire, Scotland.  Isabella was born in approximately 1801 (according to the 1841 census, which of course rounds off the ages), but somewhere other than in Midlothian.  Both appeared on the 1841 census with their children (and David's father, James) in Edinburgh.  But by 1851, they had disappeared.  David and Isabella's three sons were living in Berwick-upon-Tweed under the care of the eldest (James Wilson Horne, age 24); their daughter Isabella, age 18, was working as a house servant in Edinburgh; and their daughter Agnes, age 16, was living with her uncle in Edinburgh (also James Wilson Horne... and there are more besides those two in this family!).  Despite spending money on Scotland's People and scouring the records available on Ancestry.com and on FamilySearch.org, I have not been able to find any records of David's and Isabella's deaths.  I'm assuming they died; the only other possibility is that they abandoned all their children and left the country in the 1840s (which seems unlikely).  Since their deaths would've been before 1855, I probably wouldn't get much from the death records anyway... but at least I would know what happened to them.

David's wife, Isabella, has been a bit of a mystery.  First of all, her maiden name appears to have been Horn(e) as well (this is according to the death registration of David's brother, James Wilson Horne -- the uncle mentioned above).  The family appeared to use the Scottish naming pattern, so I'd assumed that Isabella's parents would be Robert and Isabella.  I couldn't find any families that matched... though I did find an Isabella Horn, born 1802 in Orwell, Kinross-shire to Robert Horn and Catharine Hunter.  I might have dismissed this possibility until I noticed that this Isabella had a brother named Henry.  This is a name that didn't appear on David's side of the family.  So, if this is indeed Isabella's family, it would account for the boys' names that didn't really seem to show up in David's family.

What's even more interesting, however, is that I poked around a bit more and found that the only Robert Horn I could find in the right time and place was one born 1762 in Cleish, Kinross-shire, making him the son of David Horn and Isabel Westwood, and the brother of James Horn... who is also (I believe) David's father.  All of which means (if I've corrected all the dots correctly) that David and Isabella Horn(e) were first cousins as well as husband and wife.

Whew!  This would be interesting if it proved to be true.  Mathematically speaking, it's impossible to have all unique ancestors; some of the branches have to join back together further up the tree.  It's surprising to me that this is the first instance of a first-cousin marriage in my direct ancestry that I've found.

Hiding in Essex...

It seems that many of my ancestors either weren't truthful about a) their last name, or b) where they were born. Or maybe they just didn't do the whole baptism thing. I've been looking through the Seax site and getting thoroughly frustrated. Aside from the ancestors that I found there before on one branch of my family tree, I'm coming up with nothing. I've gone nearly cross-eyed from trying to decipher those old registers... and all for nought.

I'm seeking birth/baptism/parentage information on the following people who were supposedly born in Essex:

Eleazer Willsher, born c1575 (his children were born at Scripps Farm in Coggeshall... I couldn't find them, either)
Susannah Clarke, born c1640 in Coggeshall
William Fisher, born c1640 (daughter Elizabeth was born 1664 in Coggeshall)
Joseph Lambert, born c1645 (possibly in High Easter)
Henry Hobro, born c1655 (wife was Mary; daughter born in Great Wigborough)
Edward Saitch/Sach, born c1695 (married in Messing)
Mary Hayes, born 1703 in Bradwell Juxta Coggeshall
Elizabeth Jordan, born 1708 in Coggeshall
James Wheeler, born c1730 (married in Messing)
Joseph Hills, born c1740 in Epping
Elizabeth Bull, born c1745 (married in Manuden)
Joseph South, born c1745 in Essex (wife was Rose; daughter born in Messing)
Martha Steele, born c1755 (probably in Essex; buried in Great Easton)
Susanna Bassott, born c1771 in Wivenhoe
William Chiddock, born c1778 in Great Bentley
Joseph Wincle/Winkell, born c1789 in Kelvedon

If you have any information about any of these people, please leave a comment!

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!