Marsden Family: The Survey, Part 2

Mary Ann Hancock Marsden

A Marsden cousin just sent a note with some questions about the family, which reminded me that I abandoned the Marsden posts back in December when I was finishing up a research project for my husband.

It's evidently time to resume this project. The timing works, since I'm taking a break from the Eminent Women project over the summer.

Last year I created a primer about Tracing Mormon Pioneer Ancestors using the Richard and Frances Ann Matthews Litson family as an example. I will use that general outline for this family as well.

To restart the project, here are screen shots of my current records on Charles and Mary Ann Hancock Marsden from Brampton, Derbyshire, England. Some of this information is documented. Some of it is from family records and is otherwise undocumented.

These are the current children I have listed in the family records. 

As you can see from the graphics (arrows, Family Search icon), I only have further information for one of the children, Lucy Marsden Green. I assume this is a result of the fact that the father, Charles Marsden, died before the family left for America, and Mary Ann Hancock Marsden died fairly early in the pioneer experience. Not having a family with two living grandparents may have affected how close the family members felt to each other and how much contact they had after a generation or two.

As I have experienced time and time again while writing my series on the Eminent Women, it is very important to track down all the family members back a generation or two, all the siblings, and all the children and grandchildren in order to tell the story of a person's experience. You're not going to understand the family if you just trace back your immediate ancestral line.

We will also learn more about Brampton and Derbyshire, England, as we explore the history of the Marsden family.

To be continued...

Marsden Family Posts

Mary Hancock Marsden Emigration
 The Survey, Part 1
The Survey, Part 2 

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