Posts Tagged ‘Lincolnshire’

James Baines in the British Newspaper Archive

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on 7 May 2012 | 3 Comments »

When The British Newspaper Archive website was launched last year, I found a few interesting stories involving some of my ancestors (more on those another time…). It’s been a while since I last had a look, and with new pages being added all the time, I thought it might be worth another search. Perhaps there would be something to add to the story behind William and James Baines?

I searched for “James Baines”, once filtering with Nottinghamshire results, another with Lincolnshire. One result mentioned “James Baines, Eagle”, and was from 1870. Considering the 1871 census shows he lived in Eagle, Lincolnshire, this looked like a match. Having a closer look at the census page, James and Elizabeth’s twin sons Walter and George Henry were born in Eagle in 1870.

It turned out it was only a short message:

Stamford Mercury – Friday 1st April 1870

NOTICE.

I, JAMES BAINES, hereby give Notice, that I will not be answerable for any Debt or Debts that my Wife, ELIZABETH BAINES, may contract after this notice. JAMES BAINES, Eagle, his Mark x.

Witness, GEORGE STEPHENSON.

His second wife was named Elizabeth, and it appears the witness was a neighbour, or at least lived fairly nearby – there is a George Stephenson on the following census page.

It seems this isn’t particularly unusual, entering the phrase “not be answerable for any Debt or Debts” into Google brings up several newspaper transcriptions from the 1800′s, many of them on genealogy websites.

I wonder what exactly led to James putting this notice in a newspaper? Has anyone come across a notice like this before?

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The story behind William and James Baines?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on 30 April 2012 | 2 Comments »

My great great great great grandfather James Baines was born in North Clifton, Nottinghamshire in the 1820′s. He can be found on the 1851 census living with his parents, John and Ann, in North Clifton, where he worked as a Blacksmith. By the 1861 census he was a widow and lived with his brother and family in Newark. His son William, my great great great grandfather, was living with his grandparents, James’ parents John and Ann, in North Clifton.

Ten years later, in 1871, James can be found living with his second wife and their three children in Eagle, Lincolnshire. In the same year William was living in North Clifton with his widowed grandmother Ann.

On Christmas Day 1876 William married Mary Ann Duckworth in St Leonard’s Church, Newark. On his marriage certificate his father James was recorded as deceased – yet over 30 years later, in 1911, James, now 88 years old and a widower, was living with William and his family!

On previous census records, 1881, 1891 and 1901, James lived with his family in Swinderby, Lincolnshire.

When William was living with his grandparents, did he know his father? What happened to Williams mother, why did she die at a young age (I believe her name may have been Elizabeth, but I’ve not been able to confirm this). Was William lying on his marriage certificate, or was he always told his father had died? Perhaps he had a reason for wanting nothing to do with his father?

There’s a story to this – but perhaps we’ll never know the truth.

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