William John BLUNT 1858 Clearwell (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, July 16, 2011, 20:46 (4882 days ago) @ slowhands

Hi Paul,
As Slowhands has listed yes indeed your ancestors were included in the Census Returns. As far as I'm aware everyone in the country, residents and foreign visitors, were included, regardless of village size so even included sailors in ships in ports and so on. The Census Returns are not immediately accessible on this FoD FH site, although many contributors particularly kindly and incorrectly named Slowhands are likely to provide them for you. This information is largely kept by the large subscription websites. However this website does have a vast database of individual Parish Records covering the whole area including Clearwell/Newland etc. This is easily searched and will provide you with many Records of your ancestors which will eventually allow you to piece-together families even without the Census Returns.

eg searching the name Blunt within Clearwell Parish, gives the following two PRs:

Record_ID: 115912
Entry_Number: 457
Year: 1853
Month: Sep
Day: 11
Parents_Surname: BLUNT
Child_Forenames: Maria
Fathers_Forenames: William
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Clearwell
Occupation: Stone Cutter
Officiating_Minister: John Hawksley Curate
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: 8811
Page_Number: 58
Parish_Chapel: Clearwell
Soundex: B453

and:

Record_ID: 115979
Entry_Number: 524
Year: 1856
Month: May
Day: 25
Parents_Surname: BLUNT
Child_Forenames: Eliza
Fathers_Forenames: William
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Clearwell Meend
Occupation: Stonecutter
Officiating_Minister: H. L. Parry Off[iciatin]g Min[ister]
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: 8811
Page_Number: 66
Parish_Chapel: Clearwell
Soundex: B453

which are William John's sisters. Sadly there isn't a direct record for him, however these still give usefull information re his parents.

Searching the database again but without specifying the Parish gives 332 Parish Records for the surname Blunt !. The earliest being in 1616 within English Bicknor Parish, so only a few miles from Clearwell. Interestingly this PR is for the daughter of another John Blunt, there are several John & William Blunts within the PRs which I'm sure you will find of interest.

Record_ID: 109369
Entry_Number:
Year: 1616
Month: Feb
Day: 9
Parents_Surname: BLUNT
Child_Forenames: Susanna
Fathers_Forenames: John
Mothers_Forenames:
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister:
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes: old style date 1615/16
Register_Reference: P138 IN 1/1
Page_Number: 56
Parish_Chapel: English Bicknor
Soundex: B453

Back to finding more about William John's parents, William and Ann, try searching the database for all William Blunts around the year say 1850 +/- 10 years. This gives only 8 PRs to look at, quickly giving the following. As you probably know, the Marriage Record is often most useful, giving occupations, places of residence, parents names and also witnesses names, often family members. However given ages need taking with a pinch of salt, although here we just know the couple are considered adult.

Record_ID: 12736
Entry_Number: 391
Year: 1847
Month: Jan
Day: 20
Grooms_Surname: BLUNT
Grooms_Forenames: William
Grooms_Age: of full age
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation: Stone cutter
Grooms_Residence: Clearwell
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: Blunt
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: John
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Shoemaker
Brides_Surname: BEACH
Brides_Forenames: Ann
Brides_Age: of full age
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation: none stated
Brides_Residence: Redbrook
Brides_Fathers_Surname: Beach
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: Samuel
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Shoemaker
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: Both sign
Witness_1: John Beach
Witness_2: Maria Blunt
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: George Ridout Vicar
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P227 IN 1/12
Page_Number: 196
Parish_Chapel: Newland
Soundex_Groom: B453
Soundex_Bride: B200

And so on backwards or forwards in time....

Also don't forget the site also has a huge amount of other interesting information, be it Historical Documents such as Wills, old maps which you'll find usefull in placing Parishes within the area, photographs and such like. Also don't forget the Forum itself is also entirely searchable, so you may find others have already researched part of your tree.

Re the maps see
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/the-forest-of-dean/maps-of-the-forest

and particularly "Early Map of Parishes"
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/images/maps/parish_map.jpg

Hope this helps, good luck and Happy Hunting !