I have a copy of the marriage certificate for John BOURN and Elizabeth Jones, (John Frederick’s parents), 20 April 1835. On searching for this marriage BOURN was listed/read as "BOWIN", on the 1841 census the name is spelt BOURNE and listed/read as "BOWINE". On this census John Bourne is an agricultural labourer and it also states that he was not born in the county of Gloucestershire.

What I would like to know is in what county John Bourne was born, if he had brothers or sisters living in Lydney and also his date of death/burial. I know he was alive in 1848 when his son John Frederick was born, as he registered the birth on the 15th November 1848, but on the 1851 census his wife Elizabeth is a widow. I have searched all the registers and visited St Mary’s church yard, Lydney, Gloucester records office and seen the Forest of Dean Burial Register to no avail. What I have found is that on the baptisms, 4th July 1845, of Joseph and Margaret he calls himself RICHARD BOURNE. I don’t know whether his actual name was John Richard or Richard John.

I have copies of Richard Hale and Sarah Ann BORNE’s marriage and the baptism’s of their seven children.

At the Family History meeting in Bream last month I met another person who is researching the Hale family but she did not have any Bourne’s in her tree.

I also now live near Newport, S.Wales.

Regards
Ron