| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Surname variants also include Fergeson, Furgeson, Fargison, Fargueson, etc.
2. Censuses:
1841 Eng: Heddon-On-The-Wall township, Northumberland, p. 3 of 8, both born in county of Northumberland.
Thomas Charlton, 73.
Elizabeth Charlton, 71.
3. Reviewed Ancestry.com 23 Nov 2002.
4. Online Ordinance Index has the following extracted record (Film printout 6904961, film source 0593804, dates 1775-1838, batch C06481) which gives Elizabeth Charleton, b. 21 Sep 1806 to Thome. Charleton and Elizabeth Ferguson and christened 29 Sep 1806 at St. Thomas Aquino Roman Catholic, Stella, Durham, England. County Durham directly adjoins County Northumberland. There is no Catholic church in Heddon-on-the-Wall and this particular church is just a few miles southeast of Heddon-on-the-Wall. Another child Ann is also christened in the same church per FHL film # 593804. The church records are written in Latin. Each christening is divided by town location title. Before Ann Carlton is "Heddon-on-the-Wall." The god parent listed for Ann is Maria Lock. Sometimes godparents could be a relative (maybe Maria Ferguson or Maria Charlton?). It is interesting that the Charlton parents are buried in the Established Church whereas some of their children were baptized in a Catholic Church.
CHRISTENING:
1. Trying to determine Elizabeth's birth or christening and parentage is problematic. We only have two direct contemporary sources to work from to get an approximation of Elizabeth's birth - the 1841 census which shows her age as 71 (birth ca. 1770) and her tombstone with the inscribed age of 72 with a death date of 1 Jun 1846 (birth ca. 1774). Further investigation into the death age by accessing Family Search's "Diocese of Durham Bishop's Transcripts for Heddon on the Wall in Northumberland," p. 333, shows the burial record as "Elizth Charleton / Heddon / June 3 /76 years (John A. Blackett, Vicar)." This burial age record gives a birth date of 1769/70. Censuses are notoriously unreliable for ages since the census taker would sometime estimate the age or the individual themself was not very accurate. As for the tombstone, it appears to have been placed at least 30 years after her death meaning her age may or may not be entirely accurate. The one census she shows up in, 1841, indicates she was born in the county of Northumberland. We also know from her 29 Jun 1795 marriage in St. John Lee that she had been residing long enough in the parish of St. John Lee to be considered "of the parish" and that one of the witnesses was John Ferguson - probably a father or brother. It is probably this marriage witness that has led many past researchers to "assume" John as the father. This in turn led the same past researchers to look for any John Fergusons in the area and "assume" him to be her father without actually being able to prove the connection. The first LDS patron submittal of Elizabeth in 1934 showed a birth of "About 1781" of Hexham, Northumberland. This date of course doesn't work at all with the marriage of 1795. As for the location, Hexham is the main church in the larger regional area, which adjoins and includes St. John Lee. Unfortunately, there is no such entry in Hexham. Since then, the LDS extraction program as of 31 Jul 2009 for all of Northumberland has generated the following christening possibilities for any Elizabeth christened between 1765 and 1781, which I list as follows chronologically; however, I have not found a definite proof of a confirmed link - so this is a process of elimination:
A. Eliz. Ferguson, b. 13 Jun 1767, chr. 5 Jul 1767 at St. James Blackett formerly Silver St. Indp. or Pnewc, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland to John and Isabell Ferguson.
B. Elizabeth Ferguson, chr. 7 Aug 1768 at Norham, Northumberland to Matthew Ferguson.
C. Elisabeth Fargeson, chr. 27 Aug 1769 at Saint John Lee, Northumberland to Jno. Fargeson of Walfell.
D. Elizabeth Ferguson chr. 21 Jul 1776 at Longhoughton, Northumberland to William and Elizabeth Ferguson.
E. Elisabeth Fargison chr. 5 Oct 1777 at Saint John Lee, Northumberland to John Farguson of Acomb.
F. Elizabeth Farguson chr. 25 Jan 1778 at Stannington, Northumberland to Andrew and Isabel Farguson.
G. Elizabeth Ferguson, chr. 15 Apr 1781 at Belford, Northumberland to Thomas Ferguson.
Even though the extraction program may not be 100% comprehensive for Northumberland, it does cover a lot of ground including a 10 or so mile radius around St. John Lee Parish where we find Elizabeth's marriage (the exception being Newbrough/Warden, which records I reviewed on FHL film). The entry which some past researchers have focused on is the 1777 entry (after realizing the 1781 assumption didn't work) since it was in the same parish as the marriage. Unfortunately, it doesn't jive exactly with the 1771 or 1774 dates we now know of Elizabeth from the 1841 census and tombstone, both of which never seemed to have been available to the earlier researchers. Assuming that her christening was indeed recorded, which it may or may not have been, we must now try to find her by process of elimination using logic and what we now know.
Assuming an age of 16 minimum for marriage, we would need to discount any date after 1779. An age of under 21 would be very unusual and something I have never seen in the English records; the normal minimum of 21 to be considered "full age" making a birth date of 1774 or a bit earlier even better. Occasionally I have seen marriages as early as maybe 19 or 21, which would give us birth of no earlier of 1776. In any case we can eliminate entries F(1778) and G(1779) above as being unrealistic. Entry E(1777) is marginal at best when age is the only consideration.
We can also judge the entries by localities. Of the various geographic locations given above, the varying distances in miles from St. John Lee (or even nearby Hexham which is 1.4 miles from St. John Lee) are as follows: Newcastle 21.8, Norham 76.5, Longhoughton 54.4, and Stannington 28. We have determined that our Elizabeth's husband, Thomas Charlton, was born in Newbrough, which is 5.7 miles from Hexham and only 3.6 miles from St. John Lee. St. John Lee literally looks at Hexham across the river. For reference, Heddon-on-the-Wall, where Thomas and Elizabeth would eventually settle is 13.6 miles from Lee St. John. Geographically, entries "C" and "E" in St. John Lee are the most likely prospects especially considering the marriage location. A possible second choice would be "A" in Newcastle; however, it doesn't seem from my general studies of the area that those in the Hexham area mixed much with Newcastle at this time even though we cannot totally rule it out. The area around Hexham was administered as part of the Duke of York's jurisdiction and separate from the rest of Northumberland; in fact, for probate for the area, you must go to York and not Newcastle as you would for the rest of Northumberland. I find that it was really only later in the 1800s that these rural areas started to move towards the industrial areas such as Newcastle.
We can also use the children of Thomas and Elizabeth as a reference point. From the point of view of their childrens' confirmed christening locations, we have one daughter at the Catholic Church near Lee St. John, two children at the Catholic Church at Stella (west side of Newcastle), one at the Catholic Church Minsteracres at Bywell St. Peters which is halfway between Hexham and Heddon, one at Heddon, and two unknown but traditionally ascribed to the Hexham area. From all of this, St. John Lee ("C" and "E") again seems the most likely location for Elizabeth's christening with Newcastle "A" a very distant possibility. Generally marriages were performed in the bride's church making St. John Lee very probable for her birth as well.
In reviewing the marriage record, we know there was a witness named John Fargison, who would most likely be her father or a brother. Unfortunately the residence in the record only states "of this parish," which does not give us a specific location within the parish, which would have helped us to neatly tie in the various christening records.
From a time period perspective, the two entries of Lee St. John (1769 and 1777) seem to bracket the projected birth date of 1774 as reported on the tombstone. Even though there is no documentation that I have seen reported, previous submitters to the LDS IGI had seemed to believe the latter of the two - "E" or 1777 - as the most probable, which certainly could be the case; however, it may have only been the most easy and convenient choice. In short, at the time of the 1795 marriage, she would have been either 25 or 17 respectively if we accept either of the two christening entries from St. John Lee.
Focusing on the two dates of 1769 and 1777 in St. John Lee, then we should also review the birth years of Elizabeth's children. We have births of proven children up to 1809 which would mean a childbearing cut off age of 40 if born in 1769 or 32 if born in 1777. This would tend to lead us to the 1769 date; however, we have the problem of two potential but unproven children after 1810 (maybe 1812 and 1816), which would better lend itself to a birth of 1777. Being the post-1810 children are still tentative at best, we are still left unfortunately with the same dilemma until we can prove their connection or not.
Now if we factor in the burial record quoted above and not the tombstone age, we are then certainly left with the "C" option which fits nicely for 1769, which is close to the census age.
Using the now preferred 1769 date in St. John Lee, then the family for the same father and location within the parish is as follows:
-4 Mar 1764, Edward son of John Fargison of Walfell.
-27 Aug 1769, Elisabeth dau. of Jno. Ferguson of Walfell.
-21 Nov 1773, Mary dau. of John Fargeson of Wallfell. [Bur. 6 Mar 1774.]
If we were to accept the 1777 date in St. John Lee, then the family for the same father and location within the parish is as follows:
-26 Dec 1774, Mary dau. of John Farguson of Acomb.
-5 Oct 1777, Elisabeth Fargison to John Farguson of Acomb.
-18 Jul 1779, John son of John Fargison of Acomb.
The 1777 Elizabeth above does have a John for a brother, but he would only have been 15, which would have been too young to be a witness for a marriage. It should also be noted that many past researchers, who have assumed a John Ferguson for Elizabeth's father, have wrongly surmised John to have been born about 1738 of Hexham and buried 25 Jul 1801 in Hexham. I have thoroughly refuted these dates and locations by studying Hexham and the surrounding area parish records. See his notes for more information on this and for an extensive search on possible Johns and all Fergusons in a larger conclusive radius search.
Long and short, of the two Elizabeths, the 1769 Elizabeth is by far our best option and the direction I now pursue.
MARRIAGE:
1. LDS IGI extracted record per batch M004191, film 0095002, printout 6902831 shows Thos. Charlton md. Elizabeth Fargison 29 Jun 1795 at Lee Saint John, Northumberland, England. The actual record on FHL film 1068897 also shows that both are of the parish and that she is a spinster, Thos. signs with an X, and Elizabeth signs as Elisabeth Fargison. The record also shows her name as Elisabeth, not Elizabeth. Witnesses signed as follows: Thos. Fenwick and John Ferguson. John would normally be the father, but could be a brother. This is probably what has led past researchers to "assume" that Elizabeth's father was John Ferguson.
BURIAL:
1. During my visit to the area in June 2009, I found the following tombstone immediately on left of the walkway leading to the main door of Saint Andrew's Church in Heddon-on-the-Wall. This is the local Anglican church. This would be Elizabeth's tombstone and it was evidently placed almost 30 years at least after Elizabeth's death. The tombstone reads as follows:
"The Burial Place of Thomas & Elizabeth Charlton of Heddon-on-the-Wall.
Elizabeth, Daughter of Thomas Charlton, Jun'r, who died January 5th 1836 Aged 12 years.
The above Thomas Charlton died Jan. 10th 1853 Aged 87 years.
The above Eliz'th Charlton died June 1st, 1846. Aged 72 years.
Also the above Thomas Charlton Jun'r died March 25th, 1852, Aged 56 years.
Thomas Charlton grandson of the above died Jan'y 21st 1874 Aged 45 years.
Margaret Charlton, widow of Thomas Charlton, Jun'r died August 20th, 1875 Aged 77 years."
2. Family Search's "Diocese of Durham Bishop's Transcripts for Heddon on the Wall in Northumberland," p. 333, shows the burial record as "Elizth Charleton / Heddon / June 3 /76 years (John A. Blackett, Vicar)." Note the difference in the age and the date of burial versus the tombstone.
PHOTO:
1. Photo of tombstone described above is on file with me.
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1769 - 1846 (~ 76 years)