Going Further Back In Time – Bettis’s

The earliest census data available is the 1841 census, once you get past that you have to start on the Parish Records of the towns your relatives lived in. The Parish records have lists of christenings, marriages and burials.

Each County Council has a ‘Records Office’ where copies of all the Parish records from that county are available for public view – on microfiche or micro film, some of these places are in council offices and you need to book an appointment, other councils keep their records in public libraries available to anyone.

There are a few transcriptions of certain churches parish records available on the internet, but these are not complete and you have to be lucky to find a transcript for the church you are interested in

The main source of Parish Register records on the internet is The IGI (International Genealogical Index).
This is an ambitious project undertaken by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (The Mormon Church) Volunteers have transcribed parish records and these have been made available on line at www.familysearch.org
These records are not complete, and as they are in many cases transcribed from not necessarily clear photographs of 250 year old handwriting, are not always 100% accurate – but they are the best records available.

Bettis’s

From the Census data and the Marriage certificate of James and Emma we know that James was born in Stanford Rivers in 1825, and that his father was also listed as James Bettis.
A search on the IGI for records of the Bettis family in Stanford Rivers gives the following records

20 January 1823 – Esther Bettis – Marriage to John Staples
January 1815 – James Bettis – Marriage to Sarah Turner
1809 – Rebecca Bettus – Marriage to Richard Brewster
18 June 1797 – John Bettis – Christened, Parents : James
17 July 1795 – Maria Bettis – Christened, Parents : James
17 March 1793 – James Bettis – Christened, Parents : James
10 October 1790 – Esther Bettis – Christened, Parents : James, Jane
29 June 1788 – Rebecca Bettis – Christened, Parents : James, Jane
16 April 1786 – Susan Bettis – Christened, Parents : James, Jane
5 October 1777 – Anne Bettis – Christened, Parents : James, Jane
1774 – James Bettis – Marriage to Jane Halls (James birthdate listed as 1749)

There needs to be assumptions made to put any links together with GGGrandfather James and these records.

Firstly we have to assume that the James mentioned as Father on the wedding certificate is James born in 1793, who married Sarah Turner in 1815 (age 22) and had a son James in 1825. There is no record of James & Sarah having any children, but there ages and the village fit.
Secondly, the last 3 christenings of James, Maria and John only list the Father, James so we are assuming that the Mother was Jane (Halls), though there is no real link, there is the possibility of a second marriage or it being a different James to the one married to Jane Halls

But with these assumptions in place we can come up with a family tree like this.

There are many other records of Bettis’s in the neighbouring parishes of Chipping Ongar, High Ongar, Greensted, Blackmore, Stondon Massey, Willingale Doe etc. These go back further to earlier generations though I’ve found no way to link any of these to the Stanford Rivers branch of the family, and through them to me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

* Copy This Password *

* Type Or Paste Password Here *