Who were the parents of James Coverl(e)y born 15 Oct.1770 bap. at St Sepulchre, London, my 4 x GGF?

Question

The baptismal records show his parents as Richard Coverly and Elizabeth.

Most trees show them to be Richard Coverly (b 1753 or 1755) and Elizabeth Burton. This information does not stack up when the records are examined:

James was born in 1770, His listed siblings are Thomas b. 1768 and Maria b. 1792. The marriage and Banns records of Richard Coverly (widower) and Elizabeth Burton (Widow) indicate the wedding to have taken place on 15 Aug 1791. Unlikely then, that they were parents of Thomas and James, although they could well be the parents of Maria.

There are additional Marriage and Banns records for Richard Coverly, Bachelor and Jane Flintoff, Widow giving a marriage date of 1 Oct. 1780. Clearly this could easily be the same Richard who later married Elizabeth Burton but, again, is unlikely to have bee the father of Jams and Thomas.

There are baptismal records for Richard Coverly in both 1755 and 1753 in the East End of London, so it seems that there were at least two contemporary Richard Coverlys.

Can anyone unravel the muddle in order to clean up the Ancestry of my 4 x G/Grandfather?

Comments

I just had a quick look at this and I think you need to work backwards carefully and 'spring clean' the profiles on the way before worrying about James's parents. As he died in 1841 he's on the GRO index and there is one possible matching death recorded in Q4 1841 under "West London Union" aged 72. The district of West London (which includes St Sepulchre-without-Newgate) covered the area just west of the old City of London but it's nowhere near Hackney or the East End. If born in 1770 he would also have been 71 not 72. I also don't understand why he'd be buried in St Botolph's Aldersgate. London was a big place, even then, and there will have been multiple people with the same name at the same time.

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OK, thanks.

All valid points. I don't see that I am ever likely to find James' true parents when all of the baptismal records for him, his brother and possible sister just refer to her as "Eliz" or Elizabeth. Without a maiden name there doesn't seem to be anything to work on. I think it is just a question of cleaning up the tree by removing some of the obvious errors (Elizabeth Barton and Jane Flintoff for example) and leavng the rest as "best guess".

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There's a fair chance that Richard and Elizabeth were married at St Sepulchre in the 1760s. I just checked the LMA archives and they have the parish registers. This is 1764-1776 for example:

Reference Code:  P69/SEP/A/004/MS07222/002

FROM COLLECTION: P69/SEP - SAINT SEPULCHRE, HOLBORN: CITY OF LONDON
  /P69/SEP/A - PARISH REGISTERS
   /P69/SEP/A/004 - Registers of marriages.

Unfortunately they're held off-site, need 48 hours notice, and require microfilm to view. However they are claimed to be available online at ancestry.co.uk You don't even need to subscribe to ancestry - you can get free access from some libraries in the UK.

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Mm. Interesting - this could be the breakthrough I am looking for. Unfortunately I have just checked Ancestry (I am a member of Ancestry.com) and there is no sign of this record there. Excuse my ignorance, but what are LMA archives and without access to a microfilm viewer have you any ideas how to progress from here?

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Thanks to Google I now know what these Archives are and have found the entry you refer to. I have emailed them to see if I can access the records without a trip to London.

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OK glad you found out that LMA = London Metropolitan Archives. They did say that these marriages have been digitised on ancestry.co.uk though. Can you try searching for London marriages in this parish at the right time on ancestry? Seems unlikely they'd be wrong about that. I go to the LMA from time to time but I don't know how to use the microfilm viewers. One service they do offer is paid research ... not cheap though.

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Not finding any joy. Both Ancestry and FamilySearch have the records for St Sepulchre, Holborn's marriages in that time period.  Ancestry has the actual images (you can page thru the Register if you'd like, but I didn't). FamilySearch allows you to search the parish for that specific time period (transcriptions only).  I searched for any Ric* marrying an Eliz* - five couples were returned, but not anything that I could identify as your peeps.

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No. Nor me. Begins to look like a dead end. Thanks for trying.

Answer 1

Richard Coverly

mentioned in the record of Thomas Coverly

Name	Richard Coverly
gender	Male
Wife	Elizabeth
Son	Thomas Coverly

Other information in the record of Thomas Coverly

from England Births and Christenings

Name	Thomas Coverly
Gender	Male
Christening Date	26 Oct 1768
Christening Date (Original)	26 OCT 1768
Christening Place	ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE,LONDON,LONDON,ENGLAND
Father's Name	Richard Coverly
Mother's Name	Elizabeth

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•  
• No image available

England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

Indexing Project (Batch) Number	C02577-7
System Origin	England-ODM
GS Film number	380208

Citing this Record

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQLN-X4R : 6 December 2014, Richard Coverly in entry for Thomas Coverly, 26 Oct 1768); citing ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE,LONDON,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 380,208.

Answer 2

Richard Coverly

mentioned in the record of James Coverly

Name	Richard Coverly
gender	Male
Wife	Elizabeth
Son	James Coverly

Other information in the record of James Coverly

from England Births and Christenings

Name	James Coverly
Gender	Male
Christening Date	04 Nov 1770
Christening Date (Original)	04 NOV 1770
Christening Place	ST SEPULCHRE,LONDON,LONDON,ENGLAND
Father's Name	Richard Coverly
Mother's Name	Elizabeth

•  
•  
• No image available

England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

Indexing Project (Batch) Number	C02323-7
System Origin	England-ODM
GS Film number	375000, 375001

Citing this Record

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NLLB-YC9 : 6 December 2014, Richard Coverly in entry for James Coverly, 04 Nov 1770); citing ST SEPULCHRE,LONDON,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 375,000, 375,001.

Comments

Richard Coverly

mentioned in the record of Maria Coverly

Name	Richard Coverly
gender	Male
Wife	Elizth.
Daughter	Maria Coverly

Other information in the record of Maria Coverly

from England Births and Christenings

Name	Maria Coverly
Gender	Female
Christening Date	02 May 1792
Christening Date (Original)	02 MAY 1792
Christening Place	ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE,LONDON,LONDON,ENGLAND
Father's Name	Richard Coverly
Mother's Name	Elizth.

•  
•  
• No image available

England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

Indexing Project (Batch) Number	C02577-8
System Origin	England-ODM
GS Film number	380208, 380209

Citing this Record

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NLP3-944 : 6 December 2014, Richard Coverly in entry for Maria Coverly, 02 May 1792); citing ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE,LONDON,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 380,208, 380,209.

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Mother's maiden name not provided by famlysearch.org

Three different christening dates shown at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London for three individuals named Richard Coverley. 

Richard Coverly England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975	christening: 26 October 1755 ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE, LONDON, LONDON, ENGLAND
Richard Coverley England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975	christening: 19 February 1720 ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE, LONDON, LONDON, ENGLAND
Richard Coverley England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975	christening: 25 March 1753 ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE, LONDON, LONDON, ENGLAND

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Thanks for this - pretty much the information I have. In view of the lack of confirmed detail about the identity of the Elizabeth mentioned as parent to Thomas, James and Maria, should the information posted about Richard be either removed or listed as suspect? Also, of course, are these three actually siblings? From the dates it seems probable that Thomas and James were brothers but possible that Maria is not a sibling - maybe a cousin. Much more research is needed, I feel, as the whole Coverl(e)y ancestry going back from James and his possible siblings to Edmund b.1580 must now be questioned.