Hello Peter
Thanks again for your comments and sorry for delay in responding.
Your original enquiry for the Gwilts has turned into one for my Crow
family. You do seem to have a lot of good data for the area and have
provided me with quite a few useful bits of data on them and that is
much appreciated. I wonder if it is no trouble if you have any other
data readily at hand for any of these Crows noted below. I am
particularly interested in Peter Crow b 1766 Castlewright, Eleanor Crow
b 1807 Kerry and Peter Crow her son born Kerry? 1827.
I did not have the marriage of Elizabeth Crow to Joseph Jones of Eilth
and so that is very useful for me. I have an 1861 census record that
has Elizabeth Crow(nee Edwards) aged 69, and now a widow, living with
this couple and their children in Upper Drewen, Castlewright. I had
thought that she was just a lodger but this now links these in very
nicely to each other.
My Crow line is ironically a line of the Peters. It goes William my
grandfather then Peter GGF, Peter 2GGF for certain and then must
probably John 3GGF and finally Peter 4GGF. this last Peter is one that
I mentioned before. Peter Crow is quite a rare combination of family
and given names and so it has proven comparatively easy to track them
down, even though there have been some problems due to the reported
birth place.
Peter Crow married Hannah Middleton in 1788 in Hopesay. They are found
in the census records for 1841 and 1851 both living into their 80's. In
these census records they are living at Bishopsmoat, which as far as I
can see is just one or perhaps two farmsteads. There cannot be more
than a dozen people associated with the location and so the two deaths
that you found for a Jane Crow and a William Crow are also of
particular interest. See end of EMAIL.
I have found the following children attributed to them, covering an
incredible 29 year birth period. If I use her reported age in the 1851
census then she was 21 at the christening of her first child and
therefore aged 50 at the time of the last. Though it is possible that
she gave birth at 50, it would seem very unlikely. All my researches
have shown that there are quite a few instances of mothers giving birth
up to 46 years of age, but I have not found any mothers giving birth
later than this. In the 1841 census we find this Susan with her husband
and indeed Peter & hannah. She is 22. So there is a little bit of a
question here. There is also a Richard Crow aged 12 staying with the
family whom I have not traced. All the children of Peter & Hannah were
christened in Mainstone with exception of the first Thomas who was
christened in Hopesay.
Thomas Crow c 17/2/1789 m Elizabeth Edwards the line that leads to the
Gwilts
Elizabeth Crow c 28/8/1791 m Richard Pugh I think
William Crow c 8/12/1793. I have not found a marriage for him so
possibly he is the one whose buriel record you found.
Henry Crow c 12/6/1796. He married an Eleanor Groves from Munslow and
did have a Peter Crow in Kerry in 1830 but he died.
John Crow c 12/7/1801 who also married an Eleanor but an Eleanor Crow
whom I have not traced at all. They also had a Peter Crow but where was
he born? All the later census records I have for him say he was born in
Kerry bar one that says he was born in Berriew around 1827.
Annie Crow c 8/3/1804 possibly m a William Thomas or did she die see
your list reproduced below.
Richard Crow c 9/6/1805 m Susan Teague
Mary Crow c 16/8/1807 m Samuel Marston
Thomas Crow c 29/7/1810
Ann Crow c 23/11/1812 m William Jones
Susan Crow c 1/11/1818 m John Price
The fact that there are two Thomas Crows in the brood would suggest
that the first one died before the birth of the second. Yet I have
linked the first into the husband of Elizabeth Edwards and have not
been able to trace the second one at all. It is therefore possible that
this Thomas originates from another family group.
I understand your point about social classes and am not sure how to
factor that into the data above. I do have a lot more data about these
families and everything seems to link together.
Thanks again
Best Regards
One other item at Shrewsbury Archives is a CD of burials produced by
Shropshire Family History Society. I abstracted out the Crow entries
from
Mainstone St John in case they were relevant to you:
26 June 1804 Anne. I wonder if this is the Ann from my list above. I
have not found any census records that match her and William Thomas so
this tends to suggest it is her and hence also accounts for the other
Ann in the list.
24 September 1800 Elizabeth. At present I do not think this Elizabeth
is part of our family
26 August 1825 Jane of Bishops Moat. I believe this is a child of
Thomas & Elizabeth Edwards.She would have been only 1 or 2 years old.
2 April 1836 Mary of Hyssington Carndel. I do not think this Mary is
part of our family.
12 Oct 1810 William. Have not been able to trace William from above
list so this could be him or your next entry which is at Bishopsmoat.
18 Apr 1819 William of Bishops Moat