Moses Teague (c.1792-1840) and Martha Cowmeadow (née Clayton (General)

by tinak , Monday, October 12, 2020, 20:31 (1495 days ago) @ tinak

Hi Mark,

Following up on the theory of illegitimacy, I have found the record of a baptism of a Martha Clayton. It took place on 10 April 1814 at the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lancashire. The mother's name was Hannah Clayton, she was resident at Dukinfield and the register states that the child was illegitimate. Whilst the location seems to be wrong, a number of factors make me wonder if this could be our Martha.

1. The date corresponds with the information that Martha gave in the census returns.
2. Dukinfield was a coal mining area, so it is possible that Hannah moved to Backwell to find work. I believe that in those days the authorities would return a person to their home parish if they became destitute, so perhaps Hannah got sent back to her home area when she became unable to work owing to her pregnancy if she could not support herself financially.
3. I have been puzzled for a while by the fact that not only have I been unable to find any trace of Martha's baptism at Backwell, but I have not been able to find any evidence of a family by the name of Clayton living there around that time. I have now found the Backwell parish registers on Ancestry, and checked the baptisms from 1810 to 1820. There was no child with the surname Clayton baptised at that time. Clayton seems to have been a name which was most prevalent in the north-west in the early 19th century. I have found some evidence of Claytons in the Forest of Dean, but nothing to connect them with Martha.
4. Martha and James Cowmeadow named their second child Moses. Their eldest child was called Hannah. James's youngest sister was called Hannah, and she died at the age of 5, so it is possible that Hannah was named after her. However their next son and daughter were called Elizabeth and James - James's parents' names - so I wonder if the eldest two were named after Martha's parents.

All a bit speculative, of course, but I will keep digging!

Tina.