William Harris (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, July 14, 2011, 01:56 (4890 days ago) @ juliette

Well done ! Great for a beginner, particularly carrying a wound !
I must say I thought Hyett was an unusual if not rare name, new to me and I've worked all round the uk, yet in fact I see 261 Hyett PRs in Westbury On S alone !, and thats not allowing for probably a fair few misspellings on top. Thats what I like about this subject, you learn so much about social life of the past, such as how particular surnames are often specific to an area.
This site's great for that, as you can see Hyett is very much a Severnside name !
http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Map.aspx?name=HYETT&year=1881&altyear=1998&am...

Glad to also see t'other threads helping you out too re Robert Hyett etc. Never feel afraid to email members direct if they appear to be researching "your" lines, they may be distant relatives of yours, and will probably help you with more info if you get stuck, for example the usefull Census Returns which this site doesn't hold. (Re the email pls check your inbox.)

So from

Record_ID: 18948
Entry_Number: 62
Year: 1843
Month: Jan
Day: 21
Grooms_Surname: HARRIS
Grooms_Forenames: William
Grooms_Age: Of Full Age
Groom_Condition: Batchelor
Grooms_Occupation: Labourer
Grooms_Residence: Eastern Division of Dean Forrest
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: Harris
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: William
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Labourer
Brides_Surname: WILKINS
Brides_Forenames: Susannah
Brides_Age: Of Full Age
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation: [not stated]
Brides_Residence: Westbury
Brides_Fathers_Surname: Wilkins
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Shoe Maker
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns: [not stated]
Signature_or_Mark: Both Sign
Witness_1: Thomas Wilkins
Witness_2: Sarah Wilkins
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: Thomas May.Wetherell
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P354 IN 1/7
Page_Number: 31
Parish_Chapel: Westbury on Severn
Soundex_Groom: H620
Soundex_Bride: W425

so Wm Harris born abt 1823 say, father Wm perhaps born 1805,same area probably. Thats the trouble when they just said "full age" ie "adult", anything from 20 to 60!. Dont forget too the given ages on marriage & burial records are often guestimates in ye olde days, perhaps with some years "lost" for personal reasons...
Also note only bride's witnesses are recorded, unusual, so no clues re the grooms errant parents.

My advice when searching is to not apply too many filters, yes this can help but it might cause you to miss things. Also by reading apparently unrelated PRs you may accidentally find other family members for future use. In this way I discovered six brothers & sisters we never knew my grandmother had !. I suggest you methodically work thro each & every possible PR for a given name, including spelling variations, within a likely time period, in this case say William Harris Baptisms, probably W-O-Severn, from 1780-1825?. In fact there are only 15 in total on the database, so easy to do all.

Sure enuff you get a likely:

Record_ID: 61925
Entry_Number: 654
Year: 1824
Month: Feb
Day: 22
Parents_Surname: HARRIS
Child_Forenames: William
Fathers_Forenames: [base born]
Mothers_Forenames: Elizabeth
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Westbury
Occupation: [not stated]
Officiating_Minister: Miles Coyle Curate
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P354 IN 1/6
Page_Number: 82
Parish_Chapel: Westbury on Severn
Soundex: H620

I see your problem now re Father's & Mother's full names !.
That said its very common for the child to take the father's name so no real secrets here, this lad's father is quite probably a William Harris too, although not certain of course.
I love these quaint old phrases, I have some "b-b" in my line too!

I see theres also these William Harris' in W-O-S. Got to be worth tracing their parentage, most certainly close relations.

Record_ID: 61490
Entry_Number: 220
Year: 1816
Month: Aug
Day: 27
Parents_Surname: HARRIS
Child_Forenames: William
Fathers_Forenames: John
Mothers_Forenames: Elizabeth
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Westbury
Occupation: Soldier
Officiating_Minister: Rich[ar]d Wetherill Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P354 IN 1/6
Page_Number: 28
Parish_Chapel: Westbury on Severn
Soundex: H620

(Wow, I've never found a soldier before, I think far more interesting than my line of colliers)
Note how certain first names are very common(sorry, popular) such as fashionable "Royal" names like Elizabeth, William (my dad, his dad, his dad, my son, etc etc); often passed down from parent to children; not helpful to us though !

Or even perhaps:

Record_ID: 82581
Entry_Number: 2766
Year: 1811
Month: Jul
Day: 21
Parents_Surname: HARRIS
Child_Forenames: William
Fathers_Forenames: James
Mothers_Forenames: Mary
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister: Richard Wetherell Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Son of
Notes:
Register_Reference: P 354 IN 1/3
Page_Number: 89
Parish_Chapel: Westbury on Severn
Soundex: H620

In such a situation look for other Harris's and try and build family groups, perhaps finding same witness's names will help, perhaps suggesting a hierarchy within a family or local group. T'other PRs found may give additional relevant clues such as parents names etc. Also try to find the Burial Record for each parent, that may help gauge the likely age of their children, again helping you distinguish the different families.
I suspect here James Harris & John Harris are sons of another William Harris too.