Hertfordshire Genealogy: FINCHER, Tring, early 19th century

Alan Fincher (alan.fincher @t ntlworld.com), of Berkhamsted, Herts, writes I am a direct descendant of John Fincher, Bricklayer of Tring. He appears in the 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses for Tring in Aylesbury Road, but had died by 1881, by which time his widow Zilpha (nee Fitkin) was living at 40 Albert Street with unmarried daughter Elizabeth, plus 2 grand-children William Parker, and Ellen Rance, (both of whom I believe are not children of Elizabeth, but probably each of other John/Zilpha daughters - another as yet unsolved puzzle !). John married Zilpha on 1st August 1824 at Tring Parish Church, and I have seen the microfilmed register entry. The witnesses were Daniel Fincher and Rebecca Mitchells.

What I am struggling to do is to prove who John's parents were. His census ages (47, 58 & 68) indicate a DOB of about 1803 or 1804, and all declare him as Tring born, but a search of the Parish registers yields no matching christening, either as an infant, or an adult.

Another researcher speculated that his parents are James Fincher and Jane Mullis, who married 3rd January 1792 in Tring Parish Church. Their children include (definitely)... Daniel (1794-1868), Sarah (b. 1796), and Ellen (b. Abt 1800). There was no rush to christen any of these 3, Daniel being christened March 1822, on the same day as his own son George, and Sarah and Ellen in October 1822).

But James / Jane do not appear to have christened other of their children....

Mullis (b. 1801) seems highly likely to have been Jane Mullis' son, (though again I can't yet prove it...)
Ann (b. Unknown, No christening found), is almost cetainly also a daughter, as her son William Freeman (chr Gt Linford Bucks in 1830 - IGI) appears living with (both unmarr) Sarah and Ellen in 1851 Tring census as Sarah's Nephew)
There are 5 other infant burials attributed to James (or James/Jane) in Tring Parish registers, (no DOBs, age or gender recorded, unfortunately).

Note that some of the entries for child/infant burials say "Child of James Fincher at the meeting from London" or "(at New Mill)" leading me to think these may be non-conformist Burials that have just been recorded in the Parish register. Certainly descendants of John/Zilpha are often Baptists, many being buried at Akeman St Baptist Church). If James/Jane were Baptists, it could explain the lack of christening of their children (at least before adult-hood).

John being a surviving son of Jane/James b. abt. 1803-4 fits well into the dates I have or can speculate on, but I have no other "evidence", other than that John's wedding to Zilpha was witnessed by Daniel Fincher, so Daniel may well have been a brother, (there are no other Daniels in Tring then, I think).

So finally, my question ! What other sources might exist that allow me to ascertain for certain who John's parents were, please ? Is there likely to be anything useful at HALS that goes beyond the info I already have, (or don't have !), from Parish Registers and Censuses, please? Any help much appreciated, as I've hit a brick wall right now.

Some immediate comments

There can be very little doubt, from what you say, that the majority of people called Fincher living in Tring were baptists - and there is little point in looking for any reliable birth/baptism records because they don't exist. The adult baptisms in 1822 are likely to have been because of some "conversion" - for instance Daniel's wife may have been from the established church, and when they came to baptise the child the vicar discovered to his horror that the father had never been baptised into the Church of England.
The name is sufficiently common to be very cautious about who was who (see Right Name, Wrong Body). There were at least 6 different adult male Finchers in Tring in the 1780s (Militia list records the names George, James, John. Richard, Thomas and William, with an earlier Robert) and over 50 Finchers living in Tring at the time of both the 1851 and 1881 censuses.
You don't give the names of John and Zilpha's children but the 1851 records William, Mary, Charles, Elizabeth, Henry, Martha and George. While there may have been other children there is no match with grandparents James and Jane, uncle Daniel, or aunts Sarah and Ellen. On these grounds I would have thought it unlikely that John was James's son. (see The Inheritance of Single Christian Names)

You ask What other sources might exist that allow me to ascertain for certain who John's parents were, and you may find it useful to look at How can you be certain about .... Parish registers and census returns are some of the most useful records available but they are not a "certain" source - and can easily be misinterpreted by beginners. There are many other records which can contain clues and wills can be a very useful source where they exist - but unfortunately most poorer families did not leave them. Manorial records can help follow the occupancy of a property from generation - if the tenancy was on a copyhold basis - but I don't know if any relevant records exist for Tring. The Parish Chest (See Tate's book "The Parish Chest") will have contained a vast selection of very documents which may contain relevant information - only some of which will have survived. In the case of Tring these are now at HALS - who will have them catalogued. Some (but not all) have been microfilmed and are available worldwide - as the following entries from familysearch shows:

Note	Location Film
Church rate assessments, 1828-1833; church rate assessments (includes accounts), 1848	FHL BRITISH Film 1593818 Items 9-10
Vestry minutes, 1820-1922; poor rate assessment, 1797-1835, 1841, 1857	FHL BRITISH Film 1593819
Poor rate assessment, 1857; copies of poor rates, 1810-1820, 1828-1835; poor rate assessment, 1825, overseers' accounts, 1779-1787	FHL BRITISH Film 1593820
Overseers' accounts, 1818-1822; guardians' accounts, 1822-1835; overseers' accounts, 1835-1839; overseers' accounts of receipts and disbursements, 1832-1857; lists of voters for the election of guardians, 1835; registers of owners of property and of proxies for election of guardians, 1861-1890	FHL BRITISH Film 1593821 Items 1-5

Before looking at any class of document you need to know what its purpose was and the kind of information it will contain. Most will not include explicit genealogical data - but help to build a picture of who was living when and what they were doing - which can be very useful in sorting out who was who.

Because Tring was a town there are also town council records - some of which are are HALS - but I don't know whether they go far enough back to be of interest. Another possibly are estate papers - but you will need to ask HALS - and it is possible that some are in the Rothschild archives. A number of old lists of people living in Tring are included in "A History of Tring" by Sheila Richards, which you should be able to see in your library.

September 2002

Alan Fincher responds with some more detailed information:

I didn't want to overload my original question with too much information, as I thought it rather long already.

But to pick up on points you mention...

1) Yes many of this family are definitely Baptists, and many are buried at Akeman Street Baptist Church, Tring (see below) This also includes my grandparents and great grandparents.

2) Yes, I have details from all censuses 1841 (poor film, unfortunately) through to 1901 (now finally on Internet), and have recently acquired Militia list, so am aware it's very much a local Tring name. All 51 in Herts in 1881 are in Tring, although some have left the county. 1901 seems similar, although a couple have made it 4 miles to nearby Northchurch, and my g.g. aunt Minnie Jane is in Watford. I'm aware of the dangers - there are big inconsistencies between a lot of census detail.

3) However I'm confident John and Zilpha's children included...

October 2002

Alan Fincher wrote further: To prove you points about how you must be careful of relying on anything but original source materials, the 1851 census published in book form has Mullis (son of James Fincher & Jane Mullis) as "Wallace"

Unfortunately a day long trip to HALS failed to turn up anything new about the FINCHER family of Tring. However it did prove useful in solving some unanswered questions I had in other areas - for example 'Maidenhead Street' appears in the 1841 census, but disappears thereafter. When looking at deeds of Tring Town Farm, (where I failed to find a possible Fincher connection), I instead found out that Maidenhead St was what is now called Park Road / Park Street.

I think your site is excellent, and that we are lucky in Herts to have someone who amidst an obviously very busy life, still finds time to share his expertise with others to this degree. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the update, and the corrections (which have been made). I must admit that I hadn't come across Maidenhead Street, Tring, before.

January 2003

Alan Fincher provides further information on his research: Since I sent my original query back in August 2002, I have made little progress on the original task, namely getting back any further FINCHER generations than my g.g.g.grandfather John (b. Abt. 1803-1804).

I've been unable so far to trace any non-conformist records for Tring for the relevant period, and although I'm starting to build a pattern of possible Fincher family groups for the late 18th century, in most cases it's still speculation. As there were probably 4 or 5 couples who could have been John's parents I don't think it's going to be easy to prove much, unless I trace some more informative sources than I've seen up until now.

But it's not all bad news, and can give an update on two of John's daughters from the original postings, who until now I could only speculate about after each had reached 19.

I now know that Mary Fincher (b. Abt 1832) married George Parker from Thundridge Herts, and the following children can now all be attributed to these parents.

(Sarah) Jane Parker (b. abt 1858)
William Parker (b. 12 Feb 1862)
Emily Parker (b. Abt 1866)

All appear in various census as either grand-children of Mary's parents, or as nieces or nephews of brothers or sisters. By 1881 George & Mary Parker are at 24 Wingrave Road, Tring, where Mary's widowed mother-in-law, Eliza Parker is head of family. 4 grand-children of Eliza Parker are also shown, and although not conclusively also Mary's children, the dates work, and it is highly likely that they all are, I think.

For John's younger daughter Martha, (b. abt. 1842), it's similar - i.e. at least one child seems to have been farmed out to her family. Martha married Thomas Rance, and Ellen (Nellie) Rance (b. 3 Nov 1871) is her daughter, but shows as living with her grand-mother and aunt (Zilpha & Elizabeth Fincher) in 1881, and just with Elizabeth in 1891, following Zilpha's death. By 1881 Martha is living with her husband Thomas and 6 further children at an address in St Pancras.

So in both cases it may just have been the size of the families that prompted some children to be living elsewhere.

I'm not sure if you are interested in posting this additional information, as it's straying some way from my original question, but it might be useful to anyone trying to un-ravel the large numbers of Parkers, and especially Rances in Tring.

The final point of interest to me is that the IGI fails to show any parish records relating to the two marriages and very many births I've now added to my tree, (and for Tring the IGI does seem to fairly accurately match the actual register entries that exist). This is all further evidence I think that the majority of this family were practicing Baptists, and had no need for the Church of England's services once marriage at Baptist Chapels was legally possible.

I have added links for the Parker and Rance families in the index

If you can add to the information given above tell me.

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