Parents of Ann and Sophia Herbert (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, February 05, 2012, 21:25 (4670 days ago) @ cmfenton

Have you tried searching this site's PRs using the "advanced search" feature ?
(see link at base of PRs search page). This brilliant facility lets you search just about anything with just the minimum of known data. I've tried searching "Baptisms" using just "Herbert", "Jo" (to find all possible spellings of John) and "An". This gave 53 records dating back to 1696. These can be easily sorted to give a table in chronological order, stating dates, names & parish, so very easy to quickly sort thro. The majority are from the Newent & Oxenhall area, the flat agricultural area northeast of the hilled Forest "proper". This is quite far & different from Newland & Bicknor which (as you probably know) are the western edge of the Forest on the River Wye boundary, more of an industrial area. A few of these hits standout as being nearer to your marriage parishes so in my mind are more likely, particularly this one:

Record ID 56507
Entry Number 33
Year 1813
Month Dec
Day 12
Parents Surname HERBERT
Child Forenames Charles
Fathers Forenames John
Mothers Forenames Hannah
Mothers Surname
Residence Forest of Dean
Occupation Collier
Officiating Minister T. D. Fosbrooke Assist[ant] Curate
Event Baptism
Memoranda son of
Notes
Register Reference P275 IN 1/7
Page Number 5
Parish Chapel Ruardean

(So the advanced search cleverly found Hannah, always worth looking for this spelling, plus Ruardean is precisely the same area as Newland/Bicknor).

I wonder if Charles is a possible relative ???

Similarly checking the "Burials", a similar trend develops with some "hits" in Ruardean again, plus neighbouring Monmouth, Redbrook, Lydbrook and Walford. These deserve studying perhaps for clues.
As do the results of searching "Marriages" for "Herbert"(both groom and then bride surname). Here check the witness's names . For this reason perhpas this "hit" is one of those deserving more attention:

Record ID 44592
Entry Number
Year 1849
Month Oct
Day 30
Grooms Surname HERBERT
Grooms Forenames Philip
Grooms Age full
Groom Condition widower
Grooms Occupation butcher
Grooms Residence Hewelsfield
Grooms Fathers Surname HERBERT
Grooms Fathers Forenames John
Grooms Fathers Occupation butcher
Brides Surname HERBERT
Brides Forenames Eliza
Brides Age full
Brides Condition spinster
Brides Occupation
Brides Residence Tintern
Brides Fathers Surname HERBERT
Brides Fathers Forenames Isaac
Brides Fathers Occupation farmer
Licence or Banns banns
Date of Banns
Signature or Mark He marks she signs
Witness 1 Edward Thomas Ball
Witness 2 Anna Herbert
Other Witnesses John Herbert
Officiating Minister
Event Marriage
Memoranda
Notes
Register Reference
Page Number
Parish Chapel Tintern Monmouth

Basically this is a very usefull searching tool indeed and may give some clues to build on, I do hope so.

Finally, have you found the girls in the Census' ?. It's possible they are sharing their married homes with their elderly parents, perhaps ?.

PS !
Also, this could help you search for possible children of Sophia & Ann, especially as it very cleverly allows for spelling variations, as well as being far quicker than trawling thro the individual PRs.

How about these for John & Ann, they stand out from the list wrt the dates (just after their marriage), the location (near to English Bicknor).

129280 1817 PARSONS Enoch, John Ann, Forest(Ruerdeanhill)[sic], Collier, Hope Mansell
12897 1824 PARSONS Thomas, John Ann, Ruardean Hill, Collier, Drybrook
13246 1829 PARSONS Joseph, John Ann, Ruardean Hill, Collier, Drybrook
13348 1830 PARSONS Isaac, John Ann, Ruardean Hill, Collier, Drybrook

HOWEVER, I can find NO baptisms for James Brain & Sophia/Sophie etc at all.
I CAN see several Ruardean baptisms for father James Brain & Hannah/Mary around this period...