Overlooked Information Provides a Richer Picture of Fourth Great Grandfather
Isaac White: 1742-1819 (Maternal Fourth-Great-Grandfather)
I was recently reminded that reviewing records of ancestors that
I first researched years ago can provide valuable new information. While
looking at a fan chart of one section of my tree, I noticed that I had no
mother listed for my fourth great-grandfather, Isaac White. This prompted me to
take a fresh look at his profile on my Ancestry tree. While I found two new
records that added to my understanding of his life, most of what I discovered
had been overlooked on my first pass through the records.
So what did I know about Isaac White? He appears to have
been born around 1742, based on records showing his age at different points in
his life, and his death record from 1819 which stated he was 77 years old at
death. His entire adult life seems to have been spent in West Bagborough,
Somerset, England, where he was a farmer. As rural farmers in the 1700s rarely
moved any great distance, he probably was born in the same general area.
I had listed his father as William White, born in 1724. I
apparently copied this information from other trees on Ancestry without taking the
necessary effort to verify this parentage. I should have been a little dubious
just from looking at the purported father’s birth date; William would only have
been eighteen when Isaac was born. In addition, William White was born in Holborn,
London, almost two hundred miles from West Bagborough. Why would he have
relocated so far from home? Or why would his son Isaac have done so?
I looked at three other family trees that included birth
records for Isaac. All used the same birth record, showing parents William and
Ann, from the parish of Frome St. John, Somerset. Frome is forty-five miles
from West Bagborough, which was a red flag. However, the bigger problem with
that birth record was the date, which all three tree owners (and I) had
blithely ignored: July 1754, twelve years after my Isaac’s likely 1742 birth
date. The Frome parish record was probably for a completely different Isaac
White. I have removed the record from my tree’s profile for Isaac White.
My searches so far have not turned up any likely parents for
Isaac, so ironically my attempt to identify Isaac’s mother led to the removal
of his father from my tree. My “brick wall” on Isaac’s parentage is now taller
than ever.
However, I made two other discoveries that were very
interesting. First, when I examined Isaac’s original 1773 marriage record, I
noticed that he had signed his own name quite legibly, showing he was literate.
However, his spouse, Elizabeth Cox, could only make her mark—a little oval
shape. She obviously could neither read nor write.
I also examined a Land Tax Redemption Record from 1798 for West
Bagborough. It shows that Isaac White was a tenant farmer – the “occupier”
according to the terms of the record – of three parcels of land owned by what
looks like “William Yeo”. The Redemption Records were taken nationwide in 1798
to assess a land tax on landowners. The records show the property owners, the
names of the occupants/renters of the land, and the tax amounts owed. This is
proof that Isaac was farming land in West Bagborough, but did not own his land.
The final discovery was the most interesting, and provides the best—and saddest--glimpse into the lives of these long-dead ancestors. Isaac White died August 15, 1819 at age 77.
Someone in England uploaded the newspaper report of
the inquest into Isaac’s death. The item is printed below:
It sounds as if Isaac was an alcoholic. He got so drunk at
age 77 that he passed out in the yard, falling onto his back, and apparently asphyxiated
on his own vomit. Since his wife didn’t go looking for him when he didn’t come
home, it would appear that she was accustomed to his heading out to drink and
not returning home for hours.
My new discoveries about Isaac White showed me the value of
reviewing the data in my family tree. New sources may have been added over the
years, like the newspaper item on the inquest. But even more importantly, valuable
information can so easily have been overlooked in a first pass through records.
Sources:
UK, Land Tax Redemption, 1798 for Isaac White. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2319/records/502617?tid=46986934&pid=322190764690&ssrc=pt
Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations,
1754-1914 for Isaac White. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60858
Inquest Verdict. Taunton Courier, Taunton, Somerset. Page
7, 26 Aug 1819.
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