Why can’t I find a burial record when the local registers have recently been digitised?
QI’m trying to find a death record for Nicholas Huntley born in Tewkesbury (baptised 27 March 1758) to Thomas Huntley and Sarah Wilcox. Nicholas married Hester Morris (née Holburson) on 27 November 1786 in nearby Charlton Kings. Their three children were born in Cheltenham. A newspaper article places a Nicholas Huntley in Cheltenham in 1821. His daughter Cahaziah (baptised 1788 in
Cheltenham) also disappears from the records after this date.
Sheila Mason
The evidence you have on Nicholas Huntley’s life so far indicates that he was living in Cheltenham during the years in which his children were born.
You have noted that Cahaziah/Cheziah Huntley was baptised on 23 November 1788 in Cheltenham. The Gloucestershire Archives collection on ancestry.co.uk also shows a Thomas Huntley, son of Nicholas and Ester Huntley, baptised in Cheltenham on 20 May 1793. There was also a Kesiah Huntley, baptised in Cheltenham on 18 June 1797, born to the couple. It is possible that “Cahaziah” was a misspelling of Kesiah, and that the naming of the second Kesiah indicates that the first child had died. Interestingly, the baptism record calls Nicholas “Nicholson”. It may be worth checking records with this variant. There is a possible burial entry for Nicholas’ wife, Hester, in Cheltenham St Mary’s on 20 March 1820. Unfortunately, this record does not state whether Hester was widowed at that date.
It is difficult to search for a death record before 1837 (assuming that Nicholas died before the year civil registration was introduced to England and Wales) without focusing on a specific place. If Nicholas had moved away or died away from Cheltenham, even if he had stayed in Gloucestershire,
Ayou will need to find clues relating to that.
If Nicholas was buried with his wife in St Mary’s Churchyard, he should appear in the records on Ancestry. Since you have checked these with no success, it may be that Nicholas’ burial record will be found in one of the Diocese of Gloucester parish registers that have not been digitised. These are held by Gloucestershire Archives, and you will need to visit in person to view them. To check how the registers can currently be accessed, you can email archives@gloucestershire.gov.uk. Emma Jolly