Comments

Thank you for that information Pat, you have given me something to work on.  I had not picked up yet that he was widowed at the time of his marriage to Ann Righton, but had seen the son, Benjamin, at some point in my research but couldn't connect them. The Journeyman actually  came from his death certificate (I got it wrong!). 

Brigid

Hi Karen,

I checked out the Cheddar baptisms but looked to see if he was baptised as an adult and found the following entries which I think you may find helpful (or not).

9th Nov 1847 Jessy son of Jessy and Sarah JAMES.  JAMES commonly called BROOKS.

22nd May 1814 Jesse son of Jesse BROOKS  and Sarah.

16th Jul 1817 Jesse son of Jesse BROOKS  and Sarah

There is a marriage between Jesse Brooks and Sarah Ven in 1802 Cheddar.

Regards,

Elizabeth

Yes Pat, you're right. Joe's my brother -in-law. I've read the earlier comments and found the information very useful. Many thanks. Mike Withers.

We have had this query before from a different researcher - Take a look here for the earlier comments.  It does seem that both of you are researching the same Henry WITHERS.

Hello Linda

We have an ancestor in common. Sarah Mercer (bap. 11th August 1785 at Chew Stoke) was the younger sister of my ancestor John Bush MERCER, who was baptised 11th May 1777. There was a brother William bap 23rd April 1780, and another called James bap 3rd November 1782. Their parents were John MERCER, carpenter, otp, and Martha BUSH, otp, married 3rd June 1773 at Chew Stoke by licence, witnesses were John BUSH and Robert MERCER (fathers? brothers?). Sadly the licence no longer exists. Equally sadly, there is a gap in the Chew Stoke registers between about 1740-1753 and I can find no baptism of John MERCER. There is a burial of Robert MERCER, Snr, Oct 10th 1762 at Chew Stoke. There are no mentions of  the name MERCER in Chew Stoke before 1760. I have found mentions of MERCERs in Marksbury up to 1730's, then they seem to have moved out. So, are these the same line? And where did they go 1734-1760? Some MERCERs were in Stanton Prior, near to Marksbury, but I can find no record of the baptism of John MERCER in the area.

Hope this is of use,

Anne