Searching for marriage of William BELLAMY circa 1742
and information on the parish of Bitton

I have been searching for many years for the marriage of William BELLAMY to Elizabeth around 1741-3. William lived and farmed in Westbury on Severn. He died in January 1802, age given at the time as 88 indicating a birth about 1714-15. Elizabeth died in 1803 aged 84, giving a birth about 1718-19. Their first child recorded in Westbury was Mary, baptised in February 1743.Their seventh child Jane, born in 1752, (who married James WINTLE in 1778), is my g x3 grandmother. There are two possible births for William in the Westbury Area but the baptism of each is a few years each side of 1714-15. I had hoped that a marriage could provide more information to clarify the year of his birth and enable me to link into earlier BELLAMY families. I failed some 15 years ago despite extensive searching to find a marriage in Gloucestershire or surrounding counties and set this aside as a dead end.
Recently I returned to this dead end and using the internet I found a marriage in South Gloucestershire in the parish of Bitton which is on the Somerset border 6 miles south of Bristol. Unfortunately the information is very brief and simply states that on 30th September 1742 William BELLAMY and Elizabeth COLES were married. There are no BELLAMY or COLES entries in this register before this entry and none afterwards. There are COLES in Westbury however. There are Bellamys in North Petherton in Somerset but none relate to this marriage. Does anyone know of a link between these and the BELLAMYs of Westbury?
Is it possible that this is the marriage I have been seeking? It seems quite remote from Westbury. Is there any link between these parishes which could explain this marriage? Bitton seems to have a lot of marriage entries for a small parish. Any advice would be welcome.

May be a copy of the original marriage entry would give witness names and copy Wills (there are many BELLAMY's from Westbury on Severn, on the Gloucestershire Records office database)

There has been, on the forum before, many messages and replies, regarding the BELLAMY/PALMER's of Westbury on Severn and surrounding areas, as they appear to be Farmers who inter-marry over generations (and have parcels of land in different parts of Gloucesterhire) Assume this could be the same for WINTLE/COWLES/BELLAMY

e.g.

Marriage at Westbury on Severn - 6 March 1764

James WINTLE - residence: Abinghall
married
Phoebe GOUGH - of this parish

witnesses: Thomas WINTLE, Toby COWLES

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Phoebe was buried - 18 December 1777 at Westbury on Severn - 18 December 1777 - wife of James

James WINTLE, (Widower) - of this Parish then married Jane BELLAMY - 12 April 1778 - witnesses William & Mary BELLAMY (approx 12 weeks after James had buried his first wife)

John BELLAMY married Mary GOUGH 6 March 1774 - witnesses (William Gough and Jane BELLAMY)

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There is a tree on Ancestry with William BELLAMY and Elizabeth COLES

?

As there is a marriage at Bitton of Edwd COWLES to Hannah LEGG - 29 October 1744, do wonder whether COLES is COWLES - may be again, witness names would help.

Also from Gloucestershire Marriage Index CD pre 1800

Mary BELLAMY of Thornbury married William COWLES of Bristol at Yate 28 December 1710

? I think the surname COWLES is worth looking into

e.g.

Marriage at Westbury on Severn - 31 August 1792

Thomas BELLAMY and Elizabeth SARGEANT - witnesses: James SERGEANT and Tobias COWLES

and Marriage 12 May 1794 at Westbury

Richard BELLAMY and Sarah DREW - witnesses: Sarah WALLETT and Tobias COWLES

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You also mention James WINTLE

If you use the Advance Search:

When Thomas WINTLE married Elizabeth HOLFORD at Westbury on Severn 12 August 1754

witnesses: Isaac HALL and Toby COWLES (died in 1798 - Clerk to the Parish for 20 years)

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Arthur COWLES married Mary WINTLE at Westbury - 28 July 1682

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On Forest of Dean documents - there is a William WINTLE, farmer : Cowle's Farm - Westbury on Severn

Mr. Griffiths, many thanks. I have checked the microfilm of the PR, it only gives the basic info. I have also asked Bristol RO to check the BT's. They have confirmed the BT entry is the same as the PR entry, no more info. I intend to see if there is a marriage licence at Bristol but as yet haven't had the time.
I have a full list of Bellamy wills at Glos. RO and PCC wills at PRO from 1600 to 1800 but none are any help in sorting this marriage. Without knowing Elizabeth's surname a will search is not possible for any of her relatives. The frustrating thing is that I have information and trees for the Bellamy's from 1600 but can't close this gap at 1715-6 at complete the link to my family.

I don't know if this has any relevance to your Bellamy family,but in my family tree I have an Elizabeth Bellamy 1850-1934 who married Cornelius Teague 1842-1905 [farmerin Flaxley]in 1872.They are both buried in Flaxley churchyard.Viewing the gravestones there, it would appear that the Bellamys were quite extensive in this area.
Maurice