Stowe help needed. Also - my family. (General)

by TBonz, Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 10:40 (6571 days ago)

Hi all.

I have found that my ancestor's brother was born in Stowe, England. Google search places this in the Forest of Dean and I have several maps showing its location.

But they are not parish maps and I'm not sure of the exact parish. It seems to me that it is either Newland or Saint Briavels.

Before I can start searching, I need to know the parish. I'd appreciate any help in placing Stowe in its proper parish.


Jane WILLCOCKS (WILCOX, etc.) b Dec 23, 1810 was said to be born in Cheltenham (according to family tradition and her obituary.) She married an Irish soldier (Andrew GRAHAM) in Manchester and they seemed to have lived all over the place. Three of four of the birth records of the children of their son Andrew GRAHAM jr. give Stowe as the birthplace of Andrew GRAHAM Jr., born circa 1842.

I don't yet know Jane's parents' names, as she was married in 1832 and they didn't give name of father until 1837. I have that marriage record and the baptism of their first son, Francis.

All but Andrew GRAHAM senior (who died in Ireland) and Andrew GRAHAM Junior (who emigrated to Australia) emigrated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is my own place of birth.

Thanks for any help.

Stowe help - Location

by slowhands @, proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 12:57 (6571 days ago) @ TBonz

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/
co-ords 356251,206313

I'd say try Newland first , then St Briavels :-)

Stowe help needed. Also - my family.

by TBonz, Monday, December 04, 2006, 19:14 (6565 days ago) @ slowhands

Thanks so much. Newland is online, so I ruled that out straightaway.

St. Briavels only goes to 1831 here and for some inexplicable reason, it hasn't been filmed by the LDS nor is it on the BVRI 2nd edition which I own (and on which I found the marriage I had been seeking for 20 years.)

The whole case is odd. Andrew Graham was born, according to several Australian records (he emigrated there) in 1842. I can find NOTHING from the Civil Registration for Andrew Graham in Gloucestershire (doing a few years forward and a few back) and none of the "Male Graham"s seem to be right either. I'm at a loss as to why his birth wasn't registered and so I was hoping to find his baptism in Stowe.

By summer of 1844, the family was somewhere in Northern Ireland.

Does anyone here have any access to St. Briavels records for the 1842 time frame and could do a lookup? I'm American, so my only resources to swap in return would be American ones (Ancestry lookup, etc.)

Thanks for any advice. This family is driving me nuts. They moved around too much.

Stowe help needed. Also - my family.

by May @, Monday, December 04, 2006, 20:09 (6565 days ago) @ TBonz

Clearwell is also worth a try. I have found Fred Williams from my own family tree was born at Stow and baptised at Clearwell.

Stowe help needed. Also - my family.

by TBonz, Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 15:55 (6549 days ago) @ May

Where exactly is Clearwell please? It's not on my map of parishes (the one split into five parts. I'm looking at the Forest of Dean part now.)

I'm a bit frustrated. LDS doesn't have St. Briavels past 1812. This wonderful site appears to have it to 1831, but I need 1842 or perhaps 1843. I thought I was being smart by ordering the BTs for 1842 in lieu of the unfilmed parish records, but St. Briavels isn't listed! I went to see the roll tonight. It starts with Saintbury. I went through all of the S's and even to the end of the roll.

I'm at a loss as to why the record wasn't listed in the civil births. I've checked every permutation of the surname, first name and even "male" with the surname. Arggh.

Does anyone know where to access St. Briavels records that won't cost me a fortune?

Stowe help needed. Also - my family.

by May @, Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 22:00 (6549 days ago) @ TBonz

You could go to www.old-maps.co.uk
Type Stowe in the place name field and press the search button.
Select Stowe, Gloucestershire from those listed.

The reference is 356500 / 206500 if I remember correctly.
If you pan east you will see just how close it is to Clearwell. Stowe is only about three miles SSW of Coleford "as the crow flies"

It is not always possible to find old civil record transcriptions simply because they may just be work in progress or, as a (pre forest of dean transcription project) transcriber for freebmd working on the old handwritten records, I know that some of the pages have just faded away and are impossible to read. If you have ancestry.com they have the best Civil Register images I have seen and you could use the beta search to view the old civil registers online this way but its a long shot. If you do this you will need to look for entries recorded at Monmouth for West Dean and Westbury on Severn for East Dean

The centre of the Forest of Dean was extra-parochial in those days, and it became split into West Dean and East Dean for administration purposes. That means the main Churches were around the perimiter. The smaller newer Churches were sometimes referred to as Chapelry's of the main Church until they were large enough to go solo and the records were included with the main church's. There were many Chapels in the forest - Baptist, Wesleyan, Congregational etc., and we also have to remember that Baptist's do not baptise infants.

As to where to find the Parish records I can only say be patient - the transcribing team for this site are working on it.
Hope this helps you.

Stowe help needed. Also - my family.

by Olwyn @, Thursday, December 21, 2006, 22:42 (6548 days ago) @ TBonz

I know I may be well out here,but are you certain you are talking about Stowe in the Forest of Dean and not Stowe on the Wold in the Cotswolds?
Just a thought.

Stowe help needed.

by slowhands @, proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Thursday, December 21, 2006, 22:49 (6548 days ago) @ Olwyn

or Stowe in Buckinghamshire/Northamptonshire, in Shropshire, in Staffordshire etc etc !

an example :-
For Stowe Bucks, I would expect Buckingham rather than Aylesbury as the Reg District.
however this might just be your man

Name: Andrew Graham
Year of Registration: 1845
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Aylesbury
County: Buckinghamshire
Volume: 6
Page: 312

If Father was still a soldier at that time, you might reasonably expect the birth to be in a garrison town rather than a small village in the FoD.

Any further clues ?

Stowe help needed.

by TBonz, Wednesday, December 27, 2006, 15:44 (6542 days ago) @ slowhands

Father was out of the service by Jan 1840. After that, I've no idea where the family was other than knowing that in July of 1844 they were somewhere in Northern Ireland. In 1863, they were in Tyrone county, Ireland (I found the marriage of my ancestor there, but no baptisms there or in the surrounding parishes.)

The Australian records list his year of birth as 1842 (this is from four birth records of his children, and his marriage record.) Three of the four birth records list his place of birth as "Stowe, Gloucestershire, England". Our own history has his mother, Jane Willcocks Graham, as being born Dec 23 1810 in Cheltenham. I've never confirmed that definitively, but am working on it. As I said earlier, she married Andrew Graham Sr. (the soldier) in Manchester. I've no idea how she got from Cheltenham to Manchester, her parentage, etc. The marriage was too soon to have the father's name and the witness appeared to be related to Andrew Graham Sr.

I'm beginning to wonder if they weren't all baptized in Ireland.

Andrew's parents were married in the church of England and family tradition has them as Episcopalian. In fact, great-grandparents descended from them and still alive when I was little were still Episcopalian.

I guess I'll just wait until the Clearwell and St. Briavels records come online here. This great place already had Newland and Parkend. No luck for any of them.

Can't figure out why I can't find this record in the Civil registration.

I'm hearing that some Irish parishes will in future be going online for pay. Perhaps I'll get my answers then. I hope so.

Thanks for all of the advice from those who gave it. As someone new to researching the Forest of Dean area, I appreciate it. Every little bit helps. Someday I'll crack this mystery!

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