To those of you in England

[telecom_goddess]

Soooooooooo I've mentioned before in this thread That I am doing geneology/ancestry research. Well my 3rd great grandfather William Stevens, was supposedly born in Gib Menth, Warwickshire. That parish or villlage doesn't seem to exist anymore. As far as I can tell it's Old Milverton now. Does anyone live near there that could maybe verify that for me? Ancestry's map pointed to Old Milverton but who knows how accurate that really is.

Also does anyone know of good resources to search out the english records? I'm getting sick of going round and round on google

Thanks

[Lachrymose]

I have an Ancestry.com account that I can look some stuff up for you with.

If you don't have one, and you're seriously into this, then I would suggest getting the paid version if you can. It's about $90.00 for a year, but it's amazing.

ETA: Is Batson a related name that you know of? I've already found something, if so.

ETA2: Hah..I noticed your last thread was titled "ancestry.com"...so..

ETA3: As far as Gib Menth goes, I'm not so sure about that. I get no Google results at all from searching for that in quotes, except threads from you. That leaves me a bit suspicious.

ETA4 (sorry): looks like I would need to upgrade my plan to access international records. I may not be of that much help after all.

[Lachrymose]

All right, I'm tired of editing that one, so a new one it is.

Is it possible that Gib is short for Gibraltar by any chance?

Or could "Gib Menth" actually mean Gibraltar Methodist Church somehow?

I realize, not in Warwickshire, but still a British territory.

[Chromatix]

For 18th and 19th century place names, you will want to look at old maps. Since you have a candidate position, you should be able to find maps for that specific area.

[houdini]

Just done a bit of rummaging for you....

For records, try one of Birmingham's Libraries - http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Sate...endermode=live. (and note the local history section too, it's got a link to censuses). Apparently Handsworth transferred counties in the early 1900's, so I suspect most records would now be someplace in Birmingham.

No sign of Gib Menth at all - could it have been transcripted wrongly? It's worth having a poke on Google Maps - if you know it's around that area (and Handsworth is nearby too), see if anything jumps out at you for place or street names. I had a quick look but couldn't see anything immediately.

Unfortunately I'm a bit too far away to do day trips to that area, but if you're after something specific then let me know and I may be able to make a trip.

[KiaKat]

Could it be the name of an estate, rather than a village or town? Given the timing, there were a lot of tenant farmer-filled estates throughout the UK.

[telecom_goddess]

Hmmm I dont know what Gib Menth means exactly it just showed up as the place he was born. I dont know England well enough to tell what it is. As for Bateson yes that is my grandmother and she married a Lester William Stevens from that family.

I do have an ancestry world account at the moment. Thanks for the help thus far and keep it coming if you can . I wouldn't ask anyone to make a special trip anywhere though that's too much .

[telecom_goddess]

Still not a lot of luck getting anything past 1803 or finding out what Gib Menth means. *sigh* It would be so much easier if I could BE there and track down records.

[telecom_goddess]

Making progress.....popular opinion here and elsewhere is that it was translated wrong and it's actually Gib Heath, Warwickshire, England.

Now with that known does anyone live near there? Or if a church there might have records going back to 1803?

Thanks all....

[Chromatix]

Warwickshire seems to include most of Birmingham, and there seems to be a suburb of Birmingham called Gib Heath. In the early 19th century, that would still have been countryside.

This is probably the best nearby church to start looking. It seems to be the only one old and established enough to have early 19th century records. The substantial graveyard and street names like "Church Hill Road" are very promising.

[houdini]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary...ch,_Handsworth and http://www.achurchnearyou.com/handsworth-st-mary/

The Wikipedia page states that the parish register was deposited at Birmingham Central Library, and they also have a copy of the gravestone list. However, some of it also seems to be online - http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/mi/mi...dsworth_m.html
The website that those are on could also be useful - http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/

[telecom_goddess]

Warwickshire seems to include most of Birmingham, and there seems to be a suburb of Birmingham called Gib Heath. In the early 19th century, that would still have been countryside.

This is probably the best nearby church to start looking. It seems to be the only one old and established enough to have early 19th century records. The substantial graveyard and street names like "Church Hill Road" are very promising.

Oh pretty structure I like it....thanks! So in essence the way the addresses/names/areas would work it would be Gib Heath, Birmingham, Warwickshre, UK?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary...ch,_Handsworth and http://www.achurchnearyou.com/handsworth-st-mary/

The Wikipedia page states that the parish register was deposited at Birmingham Central Library, and they also have a copy of the gravestone list. However, some of it also seems to be online - http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/mi/mi...dsworth_m.html
The website that those are on could also be useful - http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/

Nice....thanks very much....gives me something to go on

[Chromatix]

Well *these* days it is part of Birmingham, and because that's such an important city now, Warwickshire wouldn't usually be mentioned until you get out of the suburbs. But in the early 19th century, as I said, that would still have been countryside, so Gib Heath would have been a place - maybe a village - in it's own right within Warwickshire. The postal address would have referred to the nearest post town, whichever that was - I don't have immediate access to the right old maps to figure that out. Remember that before the 1840s when lots of railways were built, people did not travel more than a few miles unless they had a *really* good reason.

At that time it looks like St. Mary's was a church serving several nearby villages at the same time, without any other churches for a number of miles around. The other churches that are there now are modern constructions serving the increased population of the city. At the time though, everyone from these villages would file up the hill and make that miniature pilgrimage on Sundays, and that is where local marriages and so on would happen.

Incidentally, the typical placement of churches on hills and giving them tall towers and spires served as protection from lightning for some distance. Nowadays this tends to be enhanced with conductors running from the top of the spire to a good earthing point in the ground. If you go and visit, that's one thing to look for.