Florence Eveline MASON 1891, and father Noah etc (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, January 19, 2024, 15:06 (100 days ago) @ slowhands

Marriages Jun 1909 (>99%)
JONES Edward John Pontypool 11a 305
MASON Florence Evelyn Pontypool 11a 305

Births Dec 1891 (>99%)
Mason Florence Eveline Westbury S. 6a 243

Marriages Jun 1860 (>99%)
Barnard Charlotte Westbury S. 6a 413
Mason Noah Westbury S 6a 413

To further clarify Slowhands' findings above;

1. Odd how Edward and Florence Jones seem to have evaded the 1911 census, or indeed later records such as death records, at least as far as I can find. Hopefully Duncan you already have this information.

2. Duncan, you mentioned your Dad "was told that either Florence or her Mother were born out of wedlock and took Mason surname?"

Slowhands gave you the above BMD records from the FreeBMD website. At first glance it seems the family weren't churchgoers, otherwise Slowhands would have given you parish records to give more information about the events, especially useful as they often contained sidenotes if a child was baptised out of wedlock. However, we can still look-up the above records on the GlosBMD website which gives a little more info, namely;

Birth Details
Child Surname Child Forename Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
MASON Florence Eveline 1891 Forest of Dean Westbury on Severn, Newnham 62 93

The absence of the mother's former name in this record usually suggests that Florence was illegitimate.

3. Regarding the Marriage of Noah and Charlotte in 1860, the GlosBMD record helpfully confirms this wasn't a church wedding;

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
MASON Noah BARNARD Charlotte Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1860 2 125

http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/MainMenu.aspx

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Despite thinking Noah and Charlotte were not churchgoers, I now see this FoDFH website contains detailed Baptism Records for several of their children, and a couple of marriages, as follows. More details can be found by looking at each individual record, but suffice to say in every one Noah is given as a coal miner, residing Ruardean Hill, and the church is "Drybrook", aka the beautiful Holy Trinity on Harrow Hill, known locally as the Forest Church. http://drybrook.forestchurch.org.uk/

Those baptisms, and a few other records, are:

Year Surname First Name Fathers Forename Mothers Forename Event Parish/Chapel More detail

1861 MASON Jacob Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1863 MASON Joseph Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1864 MASON Thomas Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1866 MASON Amelia Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1869 MASON Elijah Joseph Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1871 MASON Ellen Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1873 MASON George Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1875 MASON Sarah Anne Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1877 MASON Keziah Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1879 MASON Jotham Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1881 MASON George Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail
1887 MASON Sydney Albert Noah Charlotte Baptism Drybrook More detail

1882 MASON Jacob Noah Marriage Drybrook More detail
1885 MASON Thomas Noah Marriage Ruardean More detail

Full records here https://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/resources/parish-records

I think the absence of Florence from this list is further proof she was born out of wedlock.