Abraham Amos’ parents

All that I wrote in the previous post about George Amos’ parents and siblings had actually been researched some time ago, definitely before this summer, and quite probably even earlier than that. However, since there is some confusion online about his parents, it seemed a necessary prelude to the presentation of my new research. That is, having already determined the parents of George Amos, it was time to determine his grandparents. Fortunately, his parents’ marriage record provided a good starting place.

George Amos’ parents, Abraham Amos and Isabella Cock, were married 25 May 1847 in Eythorne, Kent. The marriage record revealed that the groom’s father was Thomas Amos and the bride’s father was Simon Cock. I first turned to the paternal side, to find the childhood family of Abraham Amos. Census records indicated that Abraham had been born about 1820 or 1821 in East Langdon, Kent. So the first step was easy: search East Langdon christening records for an Abraham Amos whose father was Thomas, and who was baptized around 1821. The results of this search left little question that I had located the correct individual; an Abraham Amos was baptized on 7 Apr 1821 in East Langdon. His parents were Thomas and Amy Amos.

Finding his siblings—for during this time frame I felt reasonably certain he would have some—proved more difficult. A search for other children of Thomas and Amy Amos in the East Langdon parish records yielded nothing, nor could I find there a marriage record for the couple. Widening the search to the entire county of Kent produced one possible sister of Abraham: Sarah Amos, baptized 1 May 1808 in Eythorne, but the relationship was by no means certain.

Since I didn’t seem to be getting very far at either FamilySearch or Ancestry, I decided to try my luck at Find My Past. They have many British parish records in their collection, and although I don’t have a subscription to their site, and therefore would be unable to view the transcriptions or original records, hoped the search results could lead me in the right direction. So I went to their “Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Baptisms 1538-1912” database and entered the search terms to find a child of Thomas and Amy Amos. Suffice it to say, using Find My Past in conjunction with FamilySearch (Ancestry was no help in this case), I believe I have identified a large part, if not all, of Thomas and Amy’s family. 

The Church of St Mary and St Ethelburga in Lyminge, Kent
Photographs by Gnangarra...commons.wikimedia.org [CC BY 2.5 au (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

Their eldest child seems to have been a daughter, christened Mary Amis on 11 Nov 1798 in the parish of Lyminge. This parish, dedicated to Saints Mary and Ethelburga, also houses a marriage record for Thomas Amos and Amy Dunn on 17 June 1797. In just the year before the birth of their first daughter, and in the same parish, it is quite likely the right couple. The record notes (or at least one of the transcriptions of the record does; I have not yet had the opportunity to view the original document) that the bride is “of this parish” and the groom “of Hastingleigh.” Given this valuable information, it ought to be relatively simple to trace the next generation back; however, thus far I have been unable to find a baptismal record for either party.

It seems that by 1805 the small family has relocated to the parish of St. Mary the Virgin in Dover, about fourteen miles to the east. A son, Thomas Ames, was baptized there on 24 May of that year. By 1 May 1808, they were about seven or eight miles from there, in the village of Eythorne. This was, indeed, the possible child I had wondered about before. Sarah Amos, it turns out, does fit into this family.

Once the family made it to Northbourne, another six miles, they seem to have stayed put for a while. A son, John Amis, was baptized there in 1810, and then a daughter, Susanna Amis, on 20 Feb 1814.

Google Map of the approximate route of the Amos family, from about 1797 to 1821.

Lastly, after a gap of seven years, came my great-great-great-grandfather Abraham Amos. He was baptized in East Langdon, about five miles from Northbourne. The entire route, from Lyminge to East Langdon, along modern roads, is a distance of about 33 miles. It appears an entirely reasonable route for a family during a period of a couple decades. Especially if the father was an agricultural labourer as his son Abraham later became.

I suspect that a child or two... or three... is missing somewhere in that seven-year gap between Susanna and Abraham. But for a basic investigation, nowhere near being a reasonably exhaustive search, it’s a pretty fair reconstruction of a family.

Sources:

Ancestry, “England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, Ancestry, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016), entry for Abraham Amos’ 1821 baptism; citing England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 Oct 2017), entry for Mary Amis’ 1798 christening; citing Lyminge, Kent, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,736,875.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 Oct 2017), entry for Thomas Ames’ 1805 christening; citing SAINT MARY THE VIRGIN,DOVER,KENT,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 355,633.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 Oct 2017), entry for Sarah Amos’ 1808 christening; citing Eythorn, Kent, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,736,696.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 Oct 2017), entry for Susanna Amis’ 1814 christening; citing Northbourne, Kent, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,835,535.

“England Marriages, 1538–1973,” database, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 Sep 2017), entry for Thomas Amis and Amy Dunn’s 1797 marriage; citing Lyminge, Kent, England, reference Item 2, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,736,875.

Ronnie Cobb, “Marriages 1665 to 1841, Lyminge,” database, Kent Online Parish Clerks, Kent Online Parish Clerks (http://www.kent-opc.org/index.html : accessed 7 Oct 2017), entry for Thomas Amis’ and Amy Dunn’s 1797 marriage; citing Lyminge parish register, entry no. 379.

George Amos’ parents

Ordinarily I wouldn’t describe myself as someone who has trouble focusing, but lately—since the end of summer, in fact—I have felt like I have genealogical attention deficit disorder (ADD). My approach has been remarkably scattered. I might spend a few hours on the Howard branch, and then hop over to the Robinaults. After a few hours with them, I might return to the Howards, but get distracted by the allied Filby family. Then, for no apparent reason, I might turn to the Brosius and Wade lines, followed by a leap to the Stroesser family.

At length, the second annual WikiTree Source-a-Thon arrived, and I volunteered. For those of you who don’t know, the Source-a-Thon was a weekend-long event in which volunteers sought sources for unsourced profiles on the WikiTree site. This was tailor-made for my temporary genealogical ADD, as I researched unrelated individuals from many and varied locales. After three days of arbitrary source-finding, I was finally ready to settle down.

George Amos

The branch of my family which finally engaged me, for whatever reason, was that of George Amos. Yes, George Amos of the Creeksea Ferry, the subject of my very first blog post. There has been some question about his parentage for a while: namely, whether his parents are Edward Amos and Sarah Constable or Abraham Amos and Isabella Cock. Both couples have a son named George Amos born in Kent during the correct time frame, but after some deliberation I have fallen firmly in the Abraham and Isabella camp.

(Unfortunately, I have some fears that I may have inadvertently begun the Edward and Sarah fallacy by tentatively placing them on my Ancestry tree without publicly stating that the placement was only tentative.)

The argument for Edward Amos and Sarah Constable is based entirely on census records, for which Abraham Amos and Isabella Cock have an equal claim. But the marriage record of George Amos and Elizabeth Filby bears some pretty strong evidence, in that it specifically states that Abraham Amos is the groom’s father. If that is not enough, the 1911 census records our George Amos’ birthplace as “Martin, Kent.” The son of Edward Amos and Sarah Constable was baptized in Buckland, Kent, but the son of Abraham Amos and Isabella Cock was baptized at St. Martin, Guston, Kent.

St. Martin of Tours church, Guston, Kent
By John Vigar (http://www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Guston) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

(Incidentally, you will sometimes see our George Amos recorded on online trees as George Hammond Amos. That was the baptismal name of the son of Edward Amos and Sarah Constable. There is no evidence to support a middle name of Hammond for this George Amos.)

Accepting that Abraham Amos and Isabella Cock are George Amos’ parents, George had at least three siblings. The eldest, likely a half-sibling, was born illegitimately to Isabella Cock in about 1840. He was baptized William Cock on 15 March 1840 at Tilmanstone, Kent, his mother’s home parish.

Abraham and Isabella married seven years later, on 25 May 1847 at Eythorne, Kent. Their first child as a married couple (and quite possibly as a couple at all, depending on the paternity of William) was Thomas, who was born on 31 October 1947. Note that he was born only five months after his parents’ marriage. He was baptized a few months later, on 23 January 1848, at Eythorne. Next came John Abraham, baptized 14 September 1851 at St. Martin, Guston, Kent; and last of their known children was George himself, baptized 22 May 1853, also at St. Martin, Guston, Kent.

Sources:

1911 census of England, Essex, 27 St. Thomas Road, South Fambridge, Essex, household of George Amos; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Sep 2012); citing RG 78, RG 14 PN 10108, enumeration district (ED) 14, schedule number (SN) 91.

Christ Church (Southwark, Surrey, England), London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921, “1875 (Register of marriages, P92/CTC, Item 037),” George Amos and Elizabeth Filby marriage record, p. 106; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Feb 2016).

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 Sep 2012), entry for George Amos' 1853 christening; citing Guston, Kent, England, reference p35 rn279; FHL microfilm 1,886,151.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 30 Dec 2014, George Hammond Amos, ), entry for George Hammond Amos’ 1852 christening; citing Buckland (near Dover), Kent, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,886,085.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 23 Sep 2017), entry for John Abraham Amos' 1851 christening; citing St. Martin, Guston, Kent, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,886,151.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 Sep 2012), entry for Thomas Amos' 1847 birth; citing reference item 9-12, FHL microfilm 1866545.

“England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 22 Sep 2017), entry for William Cock's 1840 baptism; citing Tilmanstone, Kent, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,835,794.

“England Marriages, 1538–1973,” database, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 22 Sep 2017), entry for Abraham Amos and Isabella Cook's 25 May 1847 marriage; citing Eythorn, Kent, England, reference p22, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,866,546.