Marsden Family: Ancestry, Part 1

Compiling the records of the Marsden family on Ancestry is an ongoing effort. Ancestry includes a series of "hints" of historical and other information that should be added to each person's entry. I try not to include resources without some confirmation that the record is actually for the person in question and is accurate, or agrees with other sources on the family.

Here is my current family tree on the Marsdens. As you can see, I have not traced the family tree past Charles and Mary Ann Hancock Marsden.

The little leaf icons show that there are hints for Charles Marsden and all of the grandparents in the family.

Here is Charles Marsden's current page in the family tree:

I've already attached a series of hints, including connections to ten other family trees. I always connect to other family trees, if their information looks even generally reliable, so that I get notifications if they add other resources, and so they get notifications when I add new resources. I just looked through all the family trees that I've linked to Charles Marsden, and I don't recognize the names of any of the tree owners. Just one of the tree is thoroughly sourced, but that tree has also added a fictitious wife and child to Charles Marsden. That means that I shouldn't rely on any of these family trees and any work I do on this family will need to be based on my own research.

Here are the sources I have in Ancestry on Charles Marsden. First, his U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. This is a database compiled by Ancestry from Family Search and other sources, and should not be taken as a definitive source. It could be accurate and based on family records, but it could include mistakes. This record shows the following information:

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
Name:     Charles Marsden
Gender:     Male
Birth Place:     En[gland]
Birth Year:     1804
Spouse Name:     Mary Ann Hancock
Spouse Birth Place:     En[gland]
Spouse Birth Year:     1803
Marriage Year:     1826
Marriage State:     En[gland]
Number Pages:     1

The citation is given in Ancestry as follows:

Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

The next record is from the England & Wales Free BMD records. From 1837 to 1915, local English and Welsh government registries made a quarterly report to the General Register Office in London about all the births, marriages and deaths occurring the preceding quarter. The events are listed by quarter, which is why Charles Marsden's death is listed as "Jul-Aug-Sep 1854."

England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915
Name:     Charles Marsden
Date of Registration:     Jul-Aug-Sep 1854
Registration district:     Chesterfield
Inferred County:     Derbyshire
Volume:     7b
Page:     311

Here is an image of the index showing Charles Marsden's death. I have changed the contrast so it is more readable. Charles is on the fourth line.

Here is his entry.

The entry states that he died in Chesterfield and that the information is in book 7b, page 311. I have not been able to figure out how to access that information.

Here is the citation information for this record:

FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.

You don't have to have Ancestry to access this index. It is also available at the website FreeBMD.

Charles Marsden shows up in two English census records. Here are both of them with complete citations. The citations as I have included them here contain more information than would need to be listed in a book or article.

Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1841. Ancestry.com. 1841 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010. Class: HO107; Piece: 194; Book: 10; Civil Parish: Chesterfield; County: Derbyshire; Enumeration District: 18; ; Page: 1; Line: 1; GSU roll: 241296.

Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1851. Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Class: HO107; Piece: 2147; Folio: 596; Page: 10; GSU roll: 87779-87780.

The Marsdens in the 1851 census, page 11. (Lucy and Eliza Ann Marsden.)

And that is enough information for one post. I will look at each of these census pages individually in subsequent posts, and continue with the other resources from Ancestry after that.

To be continued...

New Church History Library Catalog

For anyone interested in Mormon Studies, Mormon history, genealogy, the history of the Western United States, or even history in general, you will want to become familiar with the new Church History Catalog of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I assume this is being released in advance of next week's annual meeting of the Mormon History Association in Calgary, Alberta, which I wish I could attend.

This new online catalog brings together the collections of the Church History Library, a huge database of Family History Books, the BYU Digital Collections, and the Church History Library Collections at the Internet Archives.

Here is an article about the collection from the academic Mormon history blog, Juvenile Instructor. ("The New Church History Library Catalog.") The article notes that the Church is expanding its online digitized holdings, and that:

...over 500,000 documents and images are presently available on the catalog. Additionally, the catalog includes opportunities for historians to request digitization of various collections (providing approval is granted).  Although digitization will come with an attached cost, once completed, the digitized images will be made available to the whole Mormon history community, thus allowing patrons to build the body of digitized documents.

If you have any questions or comments about the catalog or the collections, the Juvenile Instructor article would be a good place for them.

Marsden Family: RootsWeb

In RootsWeb, there are 25 results for Mary Ann Hancock with spouse Charles Marsden. Each entry shows how much information is included. I don't bother to look at entries that don't show a person entry, family tree, and documentation. (See icons beneath name.)

Here is a summary of the entries with multiple icons:

1-3) Shows a line of descent running through daughter Harriet Marsden Gaunt. Harriet seems to have died in England in 1867. Her widowed husband, William Gaunt, may have gone to the United States, since their daughter Elizabeth Gaunt married John Tavennor Snelson and they had a son, William Edward Snelson, born in 1892 in Salt Lake City, Utah. So Harriet did not make it to Utah, but some of her family did. Trees 2 and 3 show added information that Elizabeth Gaunt Snelson died in Salt Lake City in 1921. All these lines seem to have duplicated information for some of the children. (Trees submitted by 794468, 92052, and a44830.)

4) Shows a line of descent running through James Marsden. (Tree submitted by bevangenealogy25.)

5) Shows descent through Ann Eliza Marsden Hitesman. She went to Utah and married there and seems to have remained there. (Tree submitted by ldshistorical.)

6) Shows James's line again. (Tree submitted byterrijpt1.)

7) Shows a line of descent through Eliza Marsden Brailsford. The family was in Derbyshire at least through 1867. The family tree shows that Eliza died in 1867, but I would need to double check this information since Harriet is shown to have died that same year. Unlikely. The family tree shows that after 1867 at least part of the family went to Utah including Eliza's widowed husband. (Tree submitted bygenlady2.)

8) Shows line through James Marsden. (Tree submitted by greendragonfly.)

9) Wood Family Tree. Shows lines of descent through eight children. This is the first tree that has documented information citing censuses and parish records and other information, so this is the first tree out of all those listed that I would actually cite as a source. (Tree submitted by woody65.)

In previous years I would have used the last family tree as a resource, but now I usually construct my own from primary and secondary sources on Ancestry, checking all the information and lists of children against family records, NewFamilySearch, and published sources. I'll probably check this family tree against my compiled tree to see if it has any additional leads.

To be continued...

Marsden Family Posts

The Survey, Part 1
The Survey, Part 2

Mary Hancock Marsden Emigration
RootsWeb

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 

RootsWeb

1890 Diary of Mary Isabell Pettit, Part 14

And now back to Mary Pettit's diary, which we should finish this week. Thanks once again to my daughter for typing it up—she is using it for one of her Personal Progress projects. And as I have noted before, we are providing the text as previously typed from the original, complete with original spellings.

16 November – Sunday

I didn’t go to school this morning. After dinner Harry came and we went to the tabernacle. Br. Geo. Q. Cannon and President Woodruf spoke. The Fifth Ward administered the Sacrament. We had a very good meeting and unusualy interesting to me. Also attended evening services in the ward. We sat unusualy late and the time passed rapidly.

17 November – Monday

My day at the store has been very quiet when I came home Aunt Mary [Pettit Seeley] was here. Had had a very pleasant trip visiting friends. We all felt tired and retired early.

18 November – Tuesday

I came home and sewed untill late in the evening.

19 November – Wednesday

Nothing out of the usual run of things today. Harry came down and spent the evening.

20 November – Thursday

Have been a little busy today. When I came home Uncle David [Seeley] had arived home from his visit to Sanpete and feels so sick and miserable has decided to start home tomorrow. I played and sang a little for them and then went to meeting. Harry met me after and we took a walk and I told him of Ma and my conversation about going to the temple. We were of the same mind.

21 November – Friday

I went to work as usual and commenced my work as usual but not feeling in the best of health or spirits. Mrs. C. asked me to do work which I refused to do and came home. Aunt Mary and Uncle David was packing up to go home. I got a nice hot dinner and left the rest of the work. They left to catch the 4 oclock train. We were all sorry to see them go but had enjoyed this visit.

22 November – Saturday

Have been busy all day at house work.

23 November – Sunday

I went to school and took great interest in the lesson. Harry walked home with me. About two oclock he came down and we went up to Netties. Came back in time for meeting. Bro. Pierce spoke. We had a very interesting sermon.

24 November – Monday

Today I have been washing and did not finish untill dark.

25 November – Tuesday

I arose earlier than usual. Prepared a scanty breakfast and after partaking of the same commenced ironing finished at noon. Spent the rest of the day mending and sewing carpet. Harry called for a few minutes in the evening.

26 November – Wednesday

Have finished making over my brown dress. It being Wednesday I spent the evening as I have done for over two years past.

27 November – Thursday

This is Thanksgiving Day. I have not done much of anything. After dinner (which was a pleasant affair all of the family being present) I read “Called Back”. Harry came and we went to the Theatre to see the play which I had been reading. Liked it very much. It was late when we got home.

28 November – Friday

I have made my black skirt and almost finished it.

29 November – Saturday

Have been busy at the house work nearly all day. Went uptown about four oclock. Got home about dark.

30 November – Sunday

Have been to school today. Harry, Dasie, Nellie and myself [Daisy and Nellie were Mary's two younger living sisters] went to the ice house and seen them making the ice on our way from school. We came just in time to go to meeting. So we went. After meeting we did not go home but over to Mrs. [Lucy Marsden] Greens to supper. Afterwards took a walk then came home.

To be continued...

The book Mary mentions, Called Away, was written by British novelist Frederick John Fargus under the pseudonym "Hugh Conway." It is a minor work.

Picture of the autumn leaves from www.flickr.com/photos/burnblue/2086229151/, available under a Creative Commons license.

Henry Green: Birth in 1867 to Emigration in 1887

Henry Green
b. 7 October 1867       Brampton, Derbyshire, England
m. 9 December 1891   Logan, Cache, Utah
d. 10 May 1941 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
b. 13 May 1941 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Wives: (1) Mary Isabell Pettit; (2) Eliza Turner Green
Father: William Green; Mother: Lucy Marsden

This history of “Henry (Harry) Green” includes a number of pictures of Leone Green Layton and her family, so the history may have been written by Leone.

It was the height of the Industrial Revolution, during the reign of Queen Victoria. Prime Minister Disraeli was leading the fight to pass the Reform Bill of 1867, which would give many factory workers the right to vote. America was just recovering from the Civil War. On October 7, 1867, in the small town of Old Brampton, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, a boy was born to William and Lucy Marsden Green. Henry, or Harry, as he was called, was the first son and the third child in a family of ten.

William Green

Lucy Green

“Birth Place of The Green’s”

Brampton, England

William Green, a potter, was a good provider and he and his wife made a happy home for their large family. Lucy Green was a good member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having joined as a child with her family. She taught her children the principles of the Gospel and instilled in them a testimony of Jesus Christ. The death of her infant daughter, Lucy, and of her mother in 1877 made her realize the importance of the Gospel; she had her four oldest children baptized (and herself rebaptized) in 1879 when Henry was twelve. Henry’s father was tolerant of the Church, but his grandmother, aunts, and uncles were very bitter, and persecuted the Church members. In contrast, his mother’s family, the Marsdens, were active. An uncle James in Zion sent money for Henry’s two older sisters, Elizabeth (a school teacher) and Ann to emigrate to Utah.

Harry and his brothers and sisters were well-educated. After attending Brampton Boarding School and passing government examinations, on December 4, 1883, age sixteen, Henry became a pupil teacher. The headmaster wrote of him, “Henry Green is honest and industrious. I’m sorry to lose.” An excellent penman and a good writer, he expressed himself very fluently.

Henry grew up to be a tall (about 6'2"), handsome, fine young man—very mature and responsible. Brother B. B. Nichols (who traveled with Henry to America) wrote to William Green and said, “Let me say, Mr. Green, your boy [Henry] is all right, and the blessings of God shall be with him, for he is a noble young man.”

The steamship Wisconsin

It was a sad, but exciting day in June, 1887, when Harry, at age nineteen, said good-bye to his family and his sweetheart, Sarah, and set sail from Liverpool on the boat Wisconsin. He vividly described his voyage, the wretched accommodations, poor food, terrible stench in the letters he wrote. People from many nationalities made the voyage—even three American Indians. As they arrived in New York harbor, he wrote, “This is a lovely place, grand morning, and everything is lovely to the extreme. We are going to try to catch a 10 o’clock boat for Norfolk—Excuse haste.” They went from Norfolk to Chattanooga, Kansas City, and Denver by train. He eagerly experienced his first watermelon, fireflies, the countryside, and a 4th-of-July celebration. In Denver he confronted a “confidence man,” was almost swindled, and learned a good lesson.

To be continued...