Yorkshire/Devonshire question

Thanks to everyone who answered some of my questions concerning my husband's
English ancestor John Taylor b 6/1/1817. I am unfamiliar with English
counties but I figured that someone couldn't have been born in both
Yorkshire and Devonshire.

roy...

Not unless his mother was transported some 250-300 miles on the back
of a horse-drawn cart whilst giving birth and had the longest
drawn-out birth period in history! You really should try and
familiarise yourself with UK geography, you know, and then you will
realise how impossible a description like "Yorkshire, Devonshire,
England" really is.

roy...

Nor could I, though I suppose there is always the possibility that
one or the other could have been a single house name. For instance,
when I was a kid we once lived in a house called New York - it was
near the village of Golcar, a few miles out of Huddersfield.

You can also find places in Yorkshire (and elsewhere) called New
York, California, Carolina, etc., so the tradition of naming places
in America after their British originals was not entirely one-way.

Roy Stockdill

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about."

Oscar Wilde

CWatters...

I couldn't find a village called Devon in Yorkshire or the other way around.

I have found him in the 1850 in Scott Co, Iowa and from then on through 1880
in the census for Clayton Co, Iowa. Also the 1895 Iowa State Census.

Interesting fact from the 1850 census is that his wife was listed as Betsy,
age 30 born in England. One child, John age 3 (b abt 1847), born in Rhode
Island. I think it is curious that they are of similar age with no other

roy...

What's curious about that - don't understand? And telling us his
wife was called Betsy and born in England means nothing. Almost
certainly she was christened Elizabeth, which was one of the top two
or three names for women, and in 1820 or thereabouts, assuming that
was when she was born, the population of Britain was still
substantially larger than that of the USA (approx 14 million against
9.6 million - look up the figures with web-search). The population of
America did not overtake that of the UK until the 1840s and
accelerated as a result of the huge migration from Ireland as a
result of the potato famine. This is something you folks seem not to
realise, I'm afraid, in your assumptions that England is a tiny
country with about 14 people and a dog! "Born in England" is a
pointless piece of information and suggests, perhaps, that you have
not yet grasped the enormity of your task.

children listed.

In the 1860 census, he is listed with one child, Susan, age 10 (b aft Nov
1850) in New York.

That means that his wife and son died after the family traveled back to New
York where she gave birth to a daughter.

In the 1870 census, he remarried and daughter Susan Taylor is not living
with him.

Also, he seems to have had trouble with math, in all censuses he gave
different ages. (He was the only John Taylor in Clayton county).

In 1850 he was 33, in 1860 as a widow, he was 45. In 1870 after he had
remarried a younger wife, he was 40. Ten years later in 1880 he was back

roy...

Forgive me for pointing this out also, but you seem to be falling
into a common trap of newcomers to genealogy (if such you are).
It is very, very common, to find ages varying wildly in census
returns, especially with people who were born before 1837 when civil
registration - and, thus, birth certificates - were first introduced
in England and Wales. A great many people born before that date had
very little idea of how old they were or, sometimes, even where they
were born! You are making the familiar error of applying modern
standards and thinking to social conditions of more than 150 years
ago and there is no comparison. My advice to you when undertaking
family history research is to cast off your modern mindset and try to
project yourself back into the period you are researching and how
your ancestors would have seen it. They didn't much care how old they
were because it was nowhere near as important to them as it is to us
today. They didn't have to keep constantly proving who they were and
how old they were and very often they only had childhood memories and
what they might have been told by parents to rely upon.

Looking for a will and immigration records in America is your best
bet before you even think of attempting UK research. It may well be
you will never be able to find out where in England John Taylor came
from, which is just one of those disappointments we all have to
accept sometimes.

Roy Stockdill

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."

Mark Twain

C Rihan...

I don't know hwether American records would have the mother's maiden
name mentioned in birth registration or in christening.
If so, it might help you find the marriage.
As Betsy was said to be born in England too, there is the possibility that

C Rihan...

Could have been the name of a hotel too, or the ship he travelled on?

Or perhaps one of the counties was really the name of the the road
in the other county.
finds some in Yorkshire.
eg
Devonshire Drive, Barnsley
Devonshire Drive,Scarborough
Devonshire Green, Marton Le Moor , Ripon
Devonshire Place, Harrogate
Devonshire Place, Long Preston,Skipton
devonshire Place,Skipton
Devonshire Road, Doncaster
Devonshire Road harworth doncaster
Devonshire Road,Maltby,Rotherham
Devonshire Street, Keighley
Devonshire Street, Rotherham
Devonshire Street, Skipton
Devonshire Street Wset Keighley
DevonshireTerrace,Braford
DevonshireWay Harrogate

Or perhaps the Devon was a mistake for Durham
eg Yorkshire Drive, Durham

Or even try as the name of a place.
There's a Devonshire Wood , North Yorkshire

Best wishes
C.Rihan

they married in England before they left.
to check there.

C Rihan...

You may find that the son was alive but staying somewhere else.

C Rihan...

If you can find that marriage, do the records show the fathers of the bride
and groom?
If you can find his father's name that would help you to rule out some of
the Johns in England.

C Rihan...

If he was the only onr around, that could be a great help in finding
his marriage!

Best wishes
C.Rihan

giving his age as 63. (The honeymoon was over by then.)

I will look for probate information and maybe immigration records from the
1840s.

ecunningham...

Dana: Probate is a good idea, immigration may be non-existent or
easily lead you off on a false trail because of the common name. I
would suggest you look for any county histories or local histories.
Many will contain "vanity biographies" written by the families of
older founding citizens. Check Ancestry's Local & Family History
section at your local library.
ecunningham@att.net

Dana Christian