Genealogy Forum UK

Hi Everyone,

After a break due to looking after my 7 month old, I have decided to return to looking in to my Brierley Hill family. My ancestor is called Richard Raybould and according to his ages on census and death certificate, he was born approximately in 1800. (His age on death cert said 88 and he died in 1888). He married twice and his second marriage took place in 1850. I have the marriage certificate and he states his father was also called Richard Raybould but didnt state any occupation or if Richard Senior was alive or not. He claims on all census that he was born in Brierley Hill.

I cannot locate any baptism at all of Richard and havnt even found any baptisms in the area of a Richard Raybould with a father of the same name.

If anyone knows of any ways forward I could try, I most appreciate the help and advice.

Kind Regards
Claire

Hi Claire, Richard has been entered twice on BCC here:- http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/fa ... uld-Family

and:- http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/fa ... uld-Family

Didn't we look at this before, and thought that maybe Richard was illegitimate and made up his father Richard just for appearance sake?

As for a baptism, there were dozens of Chapels in and around Brierley Hill, most of those Non Conformists Records have been lost over time, the only thing you could do is find out what holdings Dudley Archives have, there is a list, but it is probably out of date by now.

I have some Church Books for Brierley Hill will have a look later and see if there are any Rayboulds mentioned.

Linell.

Hi Linnell,

I cannot remember at all if we discussed Richard previously. We probably have as I have been stuck at him for years now.

There is a possibility that he is illegitimate I suppose. I have no idea if I could ever find out for sure if that was the case or as you say, he was baptised non-conformist. He married CofE both times and all of his children appear to be CofE, but I suppose that doesnt mean his parents were CofE.

I guess this is where my Raybould line may end

Claire

Hi Claire, yes all our lines come to an abrupt end at some point, when you cannot go back any further. I would not give up on him though, I would search the Land Tax Records for Kingswinford they run from 1780 - 1830, I did view them once on film, but there were so many names I couldn't list them all, they are held at Stafford not Dudley. As for the Marriage being C of E they were all C of E even if you were a Methodist or Baptist, whatever or Roman Catholic you had to Marry in the Church of England. Brierley Hill and Cradley were hot spots for Non Conformists, John Wesley preached there circa 1770 and everyone suddenly wanted to be Methodist. Good luck anyway from Linell.

I dont want to give up on him at all. I will have to try and get to Stafford sometime to view those registers. I never realised this area was a hub for Non-Conformists until you said. Its looking very good for them to be Non-Con. Its quite gutting when you get to the brick wall stage though when its a line you feel particularly attached to. Claire

Forgot to say you can also search for a Burial for a Richard Raybould. I would search St Michael Brierley Hill, St Mary Kingswinford &Old Swinford. Our Ancestors can be found on all manner of old Documents, some are listed in The Links section.such as Dudley archives, Staffs Archives, The National Archives & Local History Books. Linell

I found a Henry Raybould who in 1909 was the Church Organist at Brierley Hill Methodist Chapel, is he one of yours Claire?

Linell.

we need to move this to the Black Country section

I have no idea if he is mine Linnell. I do hope he is though

I've mainly concentrated on my line from Richard and his first wife Mary Stevens. Their first child Samuel was my great x 3 grandfather. He moved to Tunstall before moving up to Barnsley and then Yorkshire. I dont think any of Samuel's siblings came up to Yorkshire but I am now starting to look at them all in more detail to see what became of them. I am hoping they might provide more clues to Richard.

What about this one?

http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/fa ... uld-Family

There was an Elizabeth Raybould witnessed Richard and Mary's marriage in 1826.
Elizabeth Raybould snr is 55 in 1841 but could have been a bit older because of the rounding down so maybe born as early as 1782 which would work for Richard's birth? And she could have been the witness to his marriage.

Elizabeth jnr could be this one which fits with her age in 1861 at least

name: Elizth. Raybould
gender: Female
baptism/christening date: 02 Apr 1809
baptism/christening place: SAINT THOMAS,DUDLEY,WORCESTER,ENGLAND
father's name: Richd. Raybould
mother's name: Elizth.

name: Samuel Raybould
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 19 Oct 1806
baptism/christening place: SAINT THOMAS,DUDLEY,WORCESTER,ENGLAND
father's name: Richd. Raybould
mother's name: Elizth.

Elizabeth and Lester married at St Thomas

1830 Lester Holt B
28 Jun Elizabeth Raybould S
Witness Benjamin Raybould, Eliza Raybould

and before that

1828 Benjamin Raybould W
26 Oct Eliza Whittiker S
Witness Lester Holt, Elizabeth Raybould
You could try seeing if you can link any of those names together?

Hi Gardener,

This looks very interesting and certainly a possibility. I will take a look at all those names and see if they come together at all.

Many thanks
Claire

Mmm, just looking at my info I have of Richard, and I have just looked again at his marriage cert to Hannah Gardener...one of the witnesses was called Maria Holt. The two witness names have meant nothing to me before, but I wonder if Maria Holt was connected in anyway to Lester & Elizabeth?

I need to look at this more

Well, i've just been looking through online baptisms for St Thomas, Dudley that are on FreeReg and the following are all children of Richard & Elizabeth:
"¢ 10th July 1796 Ann Raybould
"¢ 11th Feb 1798 John Raybould (Richard & Betty)
"¢ 23rd Feb 1800 Mary Raybould
"¢ 29th April 1804 Benj. Raybould
"¢ 19th Oct 1806 Samuel Raybould
"¢ 2nd April 1809 Eliz"™th Raybould
"¢ 24th March 1811 Thomas Raybould (Richard & Betty)
"¢ 29th Nov 1812 Joseph Raybould
"ƒ
You can image how excited I got when I saw this entry for a Richard Raybould baptism in 1802:
Place : Dudley
Church: St Thomas
Baptism Date: 12 Sep 1802
Forename Richard
Sex M
Father Forename: William
Mother Forename: Elizabeth
Fathe rSurname: RAYBOULD

This fitted so well with the pattern of baptisms and I really thought I could have found my Richard but sadly the father on this one is called William

There is a marriage on Familysearch of a Richard Raybould to Elizabeth Shakespear at St Mary, Kingswinford on the 28th May 1792.

Found a burial at Brierley Hill of a Richard Raybould on the 19th Jan 1845. Age given as 82. This is very likely to be Richard senior.

There is a marriage on Familysearch of a Richard Raybould to Elizabeth Shakespear at St Mary, Kingswinford on the 28th May 1792.

28 May 1792
Richard Raybould, otp & Eliz. Shakespear, otp
by banns Richard Willetts
Wit - Jnr Bunn & Rosanna Round