I can’t find a birth record for my 5x great grandfather who was born in the 18th century. Do you have any helpful suggestions?
QMy brick wall is the birth of my 5x great grandad, Samuel Rowbottom. He married Hannah Dale (born 1729) in 1753 in Belton, Lincolnshire, and they had two children: Samuel, born 1755; and Hannah, born 1758, who died in 1760. I hope you can help.
Wendy Laidlaw
AOn his wedding day in Belton, Lincolnshire, your 5x great grandfather’s name was recorded as “Saml Rowbottom” in the parish register, but spelling (especially of names) was not standardised in the 18th century. A useful strategy in this sort of situation is to check the spelling of the name in any other records that might exist. Samuel’s burial (in the same parish) in November 1797 was recorded under the name “Sammewell Rowbotham (Senior)”, but a search for his baptism using this spelling unfortunately yielded no results. Indeed, because there are several different ways in which the first name can be spelt, it seems more sensible to reduce it to ‘Sam’ in any online search.
A greater issue in this case is the surname ‘Rowbottom’ since there are so many variant spellings (including Rowbotham, Rowbottam, Ruebottom, Robotham, Roebothom, Roobothom, Rubotham, Rubotham and even Rubithom). Ticking ‘Name Variants’ under the surname box on findmypast.co.uk allowed these variants to be searched simultaneously.
Assuming that Samuel was roughly the same age as his wife Hannah, I searched parish baptismal registers from approximately 1729. There were three contenders. A Samuel Ruebottom was baptised on 1 July 1730 in Bole, Nottinghamshire (just 40 miles from Belton, Lincolnshire). However, further searching revealed that this man married a Phebe Thrall in Mansfield in 1761 and he is presumably not, therefore, the object of our search.
Searching the Findmypast collection ‘Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Parish Baptisms 1538–1911’ yielded a Samuel Rowbotham, son of Johannis Rowbotham, baptised on 12 June 1729 in St Michael’s Church, Macclesfield; and another Samuel Rowbotham, son of Samuelis Rowbotham, baptised in the same church on 5 July 1730. Could either of these Cheshire-born chaps be your lost Lincolnshire ancestor?
Ruth Symes