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Hi there,
Bit of a long shot but does anyone know where I can look for a couple of baptisms - Mary Biggins c.1750 and James Biggins c.1745, I want to know if they have the same father.
I've tried the baptisms on here but they all seem to be in the 1800's and I can only get back as far as 1752 with what I have.
Wendy
Hi Elaine,
Yes tried there and you are right there are some Biggin family in Norton, Derbyshire but our Biggins family are definitely Sheffield. It was worth a try. We have a Andrew Biggins baptised at the Cathedral, father James a nailor. Andrew was apprenticed to Richard Milns and Richard Milns married Mary Biggins in the Cathedral. Haven't got Mary Biggins and just wondered if she was Andrew's auntie, i.e. James sister.
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
I wonder........
St Mary Ecclesfield. I know its not Biggins but!!!!!
21 Aug 1720 BURGIN Jno John Sh:Green
20 Nov 1723 BURGIN Mary Joseph Shiregreen
20 Feb 1722 BURGIN Matthew John Shiregreen
What struck me was the Nail Maker you mention. Ecclesfield had many. My Batty married into the Woodhouse line for instance and then on to Attercliffe.
Just a stab in the dark.
Elaine.
Hi Elaine,
Alas no I don't think so, worth a try though, thankyou. My lot were definitely Sheffield - Pond Street area. James was born c.1745 and Mary c1750, It's all a bit up in the air sort of thing, because according to the records she didn't marry Richard Milns until she was possibly 32 years old. Their marriage took place at the Cathedral on 15th September 1782. Richard died in 1794 (no age shown) and was buried at All Saints and I found a burial for Mary Milns (widow) in 1824 aged 74 years also at All Saints so have just put two and two together, no confirmation of anything. Will just file it away again and check further down the line, thanks for your input.
Wendy
What year was Andrew Biggins baptised at the Cathedral?
I have a book containing baptisms at the Cathedral for the years in question and there are NO Biggins listed in the book. It might be that the names are indexed wrongly hence the reason for asking on Andrew to see how his name was indexed.
They could still have been baptised in Sheffield of course but just not at the Cathedral.
John
Hi it was the 6th January 1769 sure it was shown as Biggins but could have missed the s off or Biggen but I usually make a note if it is any different.
Hi Wendy,
I have a CD of Sheffield Parish Church Baptisms that cover 1752-1812.
The only Biggins/Biggen on that CD is as follows.
Thomas son of James Biggins a Nailor.
Another question that comes to mind...... You say All Saints for burials is that the one at Ecclesall? Burials start 1789.
Back to the Parish Church(Cathedral)
Baptisms start 1560 - 1816 at S.A. transcripts and indexes
The YAS seems to have 1608-1703 & 1729-1752.
The years I am quoting are from the Booklet "The Small Guide to the Parishes in the Sheffield Area" by SDFHS.
Down the road Sheffield Indexers will be filling in some of those early years at the Parish Church.
Elaine.
Note.
Whats going through my head is that if they were from Ecclesall area (using All Saints) Baptisms there were entered in their register as well as at the Parish Church. It was a chapelry of the Parish Church. It became a separate parish in 1746.The book states that the baptisms only start in 1784 at All Saints. I presume that means they were entered in the Parish Church registers prior to that. You probably know all this just making it clear to anyone who holds earlier than 1752 S.P.C. material.:upside_down_face:
According to Fmp Andrew son of James Biggin was baptised at SPC in Dec 1769.
Thomas Son of James Biggins, Nailer baptised at SPC 1766.
Dave
Correctio, Andrew was Jan 1769, as Wendy said.
Dave
In the baptism book I have for the time period in question there is no one with the surname Biggin or Biggins indexed in it.
The original image on FMP for Andrew’s baptism at “the Old Church” doesn’t say that James was a nailor.
It doesn’t give any occupation for him.
Heths
Morning Elaine, if you mean the Yorkshire Archaeology Society regarding the book the Yes it is
We need to venture back to the beginning of this post now and find the baptisms of the two people first mentioned.
I think people forget that Norton for a long time was in Derbyshire and the boundary went down the middle of Herdings Road which in those days was called Glen Avenue. My mother lived on one side of it and had to go to Ridgeway School while her friends opposite went to school in Sheffield. So I wonder if the baptisms we have found in Norton are in deed the correct ones and the family assumed that Norton had been part of Sheffield all the time.
John
Hi
There were quite a few Biggin families who did live Norton area but my Biggins were around Pond Street and Sheffield area (Biggins Bros cutlers were part of this family.
There is undisputable evidence that James Biggin(s) (and variant spellings), a Nailer, was already living and working in Sheffield in 1766, when son Thomas was baptised at SPC. Son Andrew followed in 1769 and Andrew, son of James Biggin, Nailer was apprenticed to MILNS in 1784 for 7 years (so born about 1770)
Based on the death of James he was born about 1745, and the Mary Biggins who married MILNS in 1782 (SPC) was (based on her death), born around 1750.
There is nothing in all of this evidence which indicates where either James or Mary was born, and there is no sign of a marriage for a James in the 1760+-10yrs period
FMP has marriage records for SPC and Norton in that period, and it has baptism records for SPC and Norton in the period 1740 to 1750 so we can be reasonably sure that James and Mary were not baptised in either of those places and James did not marry in either of those places.
Is it simply a case of birth elsewhere and (for James) marriage elsewhere before moving to Sheffield around 1765?
Dave
Hi Dave T,
I had more or less come to that conclusion myself, possibly, like Elaine said, they were born in the Ecclesfield area and moved down to Sheffield but thankyou for your input, at least I've eliminated Sheffield as their baptism place.
Hi Wendy & DaveT,
Coming to the same conclusion as both of you. I have checked the baptisms for Ecclesfield out back to 1599 and no Biggins.Biggin.Bigen at all.
On the 1841 census I did find a family in Oughtibridge and not having any luck at Bradfield either.
I wonder..... could this family have been non conformists?
They were certainly in Sheffield when the death of James occurred in 1787.
The cutler company I believe were electroplaters? and may have started somewhere around the 1830's on Arundle St. Another observation the name of "Ruth" I can only find a death for Ruth Biggins 1803 aged 57 at SPC. She was a widow. Do you know where else she shows up?
Thats my two cents worth.
Elaine.
Just had a quick look our Apprentice & Freemen Index.......
NO Biggins but certainly some(Andrew) are listed under Biggin.
I wonder.....
James Biggin of Greenhill, falcif Freedom 1681.
One. what is a falcif? and Two. this could be the start of finding where the family originated from.
Elaine
Note Falciform comes up when I Googled. Having a sickle or scythe shape.Lots of scythesmith in that area of Sheffield and out into Derbyshire.
Hi Elaine,
All of Andrew and Mary's children were baptised at the Cathedral (presume so) - all shown in FMP but just says Sheffield. Andrew and Mary Parkin were married there on 7th April 1788.
His brother Thomas was also married widow Sarah Brookfield nee Sanderson, their children also baptised at the Cathedral.
HOWEVER! On searching generally through FMP baptisms and marriages I have found a James Biggins baptised on 6th April 1724 son of Luke Biggins at Holy Cross, Ryton, Durham, living Winlaton.
James went on to marry Ruth Watson on 23rd June 1755 at Holy Cross in Ryton.
They had 6 children baptised at Ryton between 1755 and 1764 and I am just wondering if this is my James and they then moved down to Sheffield. His occupation is not mentioned on any of the baptism records. When he died in 1787 in Sheffield his age wasn't given. I'm going to tentatively put these on my tribal tree so I have a note of them all and then see if I can trace any of the children.
Hi everyone,
Think I've cracked it! I found a whole lot of Biggins being born Winlaton, Ryton, Durham and have managed to track quite a few of them and guess what - they're occupations are nailors. I think my James and wife Ruth moved down to Sheffield with daughters Ann and Mary, Ann married a Peter Matthews in 1777 at the Cathedral and his other daughter Mary married Richard Milns in 1782 at the Cathedral. James and Ruth went on to then have Thomas and Andrew in Sheffield where they were baptised at the Cathedral. I thought it was funny they had only 2 children, in fact they had 8 in total, the rest living in Durham, except a couple of them who died young.
Thank you for all your help but think we've got to the bottom of it. James was born much earlier than I thought in 1724 and Mary was his daughter, not his sister.
Wendy W
Hi Wendy,
I think you have indeed cracked it. One of the reasons I have carried on looking at this your line was that the children born to Andrew from 1800 on and you say baptised at SPC are not showing up in our database.
Which is very strange as its in the last year we transcribed 1800 to 1808 so I should be able to search for four of Andrews children.
Pleased for you and now to see whats what with our database.
Take care Elaine.
PS. I had extracted all the Biggin/Biggins married at SPC from 1735-1803.
I've only just noticed this discussion, and followed it with interest. My Biggin ancestors came from Norton, and I'd assumed all the local Biggins were related. My ancestor George Curr and his brother John also came to Sheffield in the 1770s, and they were probably born in Stella, also a township of Ryton, and many of my wife's family came from the same area. It's surprising how many people made such long journeys, for what they hoped would be a better future, and Durham to Sheffield is nothing compared with the Atlantic crossing.
I have now traced a lot of my Biggins ancestors back to Winlaton and Gateshead. However the Norton Biggin families are on the whole a different bunch but their paths do cross mainly due to birth and marriage registrations where quite often the s was added and sometimes missed off. A lot of the Norton Biggin were scythe makers, the Sheffield Biggins started off as nailors but ended up in the cutlery trade