Thomas Davies/Davis help

Clifford885

I have found my relatives marriage, namely Thomas Davis/Davies to Mary Parry (ID: KZHF-7B6) on 10th May 1767 but Family Search are putting up a Thomas Davis/Davies born in 1760 which would mean he was 7 when he was married, clearly one of them is wrong.

Now, working forwards, they had a son called Uvedale Davies (ID: MHRL-DYX) with his mother listed as Mary Davies so I suspect the Thomas Davis/Davies is the wrong spouse, not Mary Parry.

I've re-searched for a possible Thomas Davies/Davis but I'm struggling to find a suitable match so............................what next??

Carole McIntyre

Clifford885 -

Hi,

Congratulations on getting that far back in your tree. Not all of us are that fortunate. Not to discourage you, but I did a quick analysis of that family and it seems you have been handed a difficult scenario.

Thomas Davi(e)s started out being born in 1751 KCN8-JG1. There have been multiple merges for this family, both spouses; and birth dates have been changed all around, it seems. Right now, you have a choice of Thomas, one too old and one too young. Taking a quick look for Mary Parry in Herefordshire. There are marriages for a Mary Parry in 1759, 1760, 1781,1782 and 1783 all in Herefordshire. Just to show how common that name was.

Her birth says born in St Peter parish. That was an old parish and was also known as St Albans St Peter.

You have Mary Parry born there and married 307 miles away. The first child is christened in Mansell Lacy, close by the marriage place, the second at St Peter, 307 miles away again, the third at St Martin, Hereford, just 7 miles away, The fourth at Weobley just another 5 miles or so, the fifth at St Martin again, then the seventh at Marden, another 6 miles back again from Weobley, the last three at St Martin again.

In addition you have them christened thus:

1. 18 Aug 1776 , 2. 22 Feb 1777, 3. 19 Jun 1780, 4. 11 Feb 1781, 5. 26 Jan 1783, 6. 20 Jun 1783, 7. 26 Jan 1793, 8. 31 Mar 1793, 9. 31 Mar 1893. Obviously, some are duplicates, but even considering that christening could take place any time after birth, sometimes somewhat later, some of these births are too close together.
2. Mary is married at 12 years old, Thomas at 6. The first child is born 9 years after marriage. ??????
3. Thomas Davi(e)s has two other children listed together, one born 1777 in Shropshire and one born 1782 in Monmouthshire, Wales.
4. There is a Thomas Davi(s) married in Herefordshire 1775 to a different Mary.
5. None of the sources listed for either parent shows any age at all. In fact, no record attached shows where parents were born either.
6. This looks like a merge of several Thomas and Mary couples from various places. They should be separated back out into their respective families.
7. With a common name like Thomas Davi(e)s and not knowing where or when he was born, you have a major puzzle on your hands.
8. I would suggest concentrating on the children on Uvedale, their spouses, children, grandchildren, and so forth. At least then you would have birth, marriage and death records more easily available.

Paul W

One point I just noticed is that the birth detail for Mary Parry has been inputted as:

"about 1755, St Peter, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom".

The county of Hertfordshire is nowhere near the county of Herefordshire, so - unless this is a typo - the birth appears to relate to an unconnected Mary Parry (to the individual who married Thomas Davi(e)s at Mansel Gamage, Herefordshire. So it is the date and birthplace of this Mary Parry that need to be found / corrected.

Clifford885

Thanks for your input, both of you.............................this family tree malarky aint easy is it but it sure is fun.

I had a similar issue with another relative where it looked like they had 19 children so I did what you suggested Carole, removed the ones that clearly weren't relevant which meant the picture was a lot clearer and eventually I found the information I was searching for.

I'm fairly new to this and learning all the time, I've saved 43 video's from RootsTech and learn something new every time, I share grandparents way back with Winston Churchill, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Princess Di, and 2 American presidents, so it aint all hard work is it.

Graham Buckell

I have not attempted to revisit Carole's detailed research.

Some general observations:

1. As Carole says, Parry is a common name. Of course Davis/Davies is even more common, particularly in Wales or English counties close to the Welsh border. Trying to work out which record is correct can be a nightmare.
2. Too many budding family historians - both on FamilySearch and elsewhere - suffer from what I term geographical blindness. Thinking that records from places some 300 miles apart relate to the same family, even if names and dates match, is fanciful without other good evidence to support it. Back then it was rare for people to move even 10 miles, let alone 300. Clearly what has happened is that someone has merged the parents of two (or more) different families. These need to be unmerged - not a job for the faint hearted! I have seen this many times before. For example, I had a case where a family from Devon was merged with one from Yorkshire because the parents' names were the same. The records even had two 1871 census records attached - one from Devon and the other from Yorkshire!!

Clifford885

Personally, I went in to this with a fairly open mind but just assumed that relationships were formed if not in the same village or town, but certainly within a travelling radius.

I was proved wrong when I was working back from my grandfather to great grandfather, 1870s so fairly recent time in relation to a family tree.

My paternal great grandfather was a cooper in a cider factory so worked in the same location but entered in to a relationship with a widow from 100 miles away, how they met is beyond me but record wise, everything matches up.

My maternal great grandfather was in the merchant navy in 1912, born in the USA but shipped between New York and Barrow and that's where he met his wife.

That fortunately was easy to solve but I'm struggling finding his death so I've parked that bit of research for the time being.

The thing I'm finding with this is when your on a roll.............your on a roll, until you come to a grinding halt and try as you might you spend hours researching without success, so you move on, Carole's email will now give me the impetus to move the Davi(e)s/Parry thing to its conclusion.........................hopefully, I'll let you know the outcome when I get there.

I need to get tidier with my research too I think, I tend to park a lot and concentrate on the items that move forward, knowing that I've got to revisit at some point, I've pages and pages of notes just lying there waiting.