How can I find my forebear James Kent?
QI can’t find my ancestor James Kent before or after 1804. I found him married to Ann Haydon (born 1777, St Ewe, Cornwall) in Mevagissey, Cornwall. James and Ann had a son called Edward Haydon Kent in 1819. The only James Kent that I can find who was born around the right time was baptised in Launceston, Cornwall, in 1778. Can you help me? Michael Kent
AAt Edward Haydon’s marriage in 1840, he stated that his father was James Kent, a cooper; there is no indication that James was deceased. In the 1851 census, I found a likely entry for James at St Clement (cooper, age 70, born Mevagissey), , suggesting that he was born around 1780.
Launceston is 40 miles from Mevagissey. Cornwall Online Parish Clerks ( cornwall-opcc- database.org) lists five James Kent baptisms ms s between 1770 and 1781, including one baptised in 1781 at St Dennis, 10 miles from m Mevagissey. Searching the database for any y settlement records may indicate whether this James moved to Mevagissey.
However, nonconformity was strong in the south-west, and this is often why a baptism cannot be found. Look for James’ birth or baptism among the records of Mevagissey’s chapels, although many early nonconformist records are lost and infant baptism does not occur in the Baptist Church. Registers sent to the General Register Office (GRO) are online, but check if Kresen Kernow/Cornwall Archives ( kresenkernow.org) has others.
Kresen Kernow’s catalogue includes the will of James Kent, cooper of Mevagissey, dated 1856; could this be your man? The GRO’s site ( www.gro.gov.uk) says that this James died in early 1856, aged 75, so is the man at St Clement in 1851. I suggest you obtain a copy of the will and any others for Kents of Mevagissey. Look at where property was held and for the names of relatives, as this may establish where they originated from and indicate family relationships. Katherine Cobb