Looking for the right Mary Carew c.1750
 

My ancestor, Henry Cottrell, b.1747, Uffculme, Devon, is widely understood to have married a Mary Carew. His children's birth records show the mother to be "Mary" and there are several references in genealogical forums to family records suggesting she was in fact a Mary Carew. That notwithstanding, there is no marriage record to demonstrate that she was a Mary Carew.

Assuming, however, that the family indications of her being a Carew are correct, there are several possible Mary Carews that might qualify. The one favoured by almost all other published family trees and other references including the LDS web site is that she was Mary Carew, b. 1750, St Kew, Cornwall. However, this runs counter to suggestions by others claiming a family connection on genealogical forums that she was born in Exeter (and that she and Henry married in Exeter). Alas, these references now go back 15-ish years, and I've been unable to contact any of the writers.

Available birth records suggest that she might be (a) Mary, "base child" of Mary Carew, born Bickleigh (near Exeter) in 1747, (b) Mary, daughter of John and Deborah Carew, born St Kew, Cornwall in 1750 (as above), or (c) Mary, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Carew, born Creed, Cornwall in 1752. However, Nathaniel and Sarah had another daughter called (d) Mary in 1760, so it's supposed that their first Mary had died before then. Other possibilities are that she was (e) the daughter of Thomas and Betty Carew, born in Laycock, Wiltshire in 1754, or (f) the daughter of Walter and Lydia Carew, born 1760 in Callington, Cornwall.

Henry and Mary's first known child was born in 1779, so it's not unreasonable to suppose that Mary could have been born as late as 1762. But these six seem to be all the possibilities in the whole of England.

Personally, I gravitate toward her being (a), born in Bickleigh, since that most closely matches family suggestions she came from Exeter. However, this runs counter to the conventional wisdom that she was (b), born in St Kew. Do any posters have any thoughts or suggestions as to how the search could be narrowed?

From looking at some of the trees on ancestry, I take it that the "first known child... born in 1779" who you mention is Henry Cottrel, who was christened 1 Nov 1779 at Sidbury, Devon, parents Henry and Mary. FamilySearch has this christening in its parish register transcriptions but Findmypast's Devon records with images don't seem to cover Sidbury baptisms for this period unfortunately. FamilySearch also shows a "Robert Cavey Cotterel" baptised 12 Jan 1783 at Sidbury, parents Henry and Mary, and if only we could look at the image for that one we could see whether the middle name was Cavey or Carew! Or maybe Carey - there seem to be a few of those in Devon.

At Uffculme (for which FMP does have the images), there is a James, son of Henry and Ann Catterall baptised 17 Mar 1776 and a Charles, son of Henry and Mary Cotterell, baptised 5 Nov 1786. This may or may not be the same Henry and Mary as the parents of the Sidbury children.

So it would be helpful if you can tell us which of Henry and Mary's children is your direct ancestor so we don't follow the wrong line!

I should add that I have found that quite often when you see a lot of trees which all have the same name but nothing to prove it is correct, they have all been copied from each other and they all turn out to be wrong! I have also found that family stories often turn out to be wrong. If FamilySearch has a tree showing her name as Mary Carew with no evidence, then it is just another submitted tree which still needs to be confirmed by research.

It's also worth looking for Carew and Cottrel wills, in the hope that a Mr Carew mentions his daughter Mary Cottrell, for example.

I'm descended from Robert "Cavey" (Carew?) Cottrell, and my researches suggest that there may have been three siblings - Henry Jr, Robert and Charles. Having said that, proof is hard to come by!

Carey, as you may know, is often considered to be a form of Carew. Robert's middle name is potentially the only real clue as to Mary's origins, whether it's Carew or Carey. Attempts to find a Cavey connection have drawn absolutely no result.

And I agree - taking info from published family trees can be like the blind leading the blind.

Have you considered attempting to get a copy of the Sidbury entry from the Devon Archives?

Re. Mary Carew, my thought is that she is more likely to have been born at Bickleigh than at the other locations. Bickleigh and Uffculme are just 12 and a half miles from each other, which makes this more likely.

The Bickleigh baptism is on FMP:
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/recor...hlights=%22%22

I think you need to find the marriage between Henry Cottrel and Mary. This may mean a visit to the RO.

Another reason I think the Bickleigh baptism to be more likely than the others is that the other suggestions are for girls baptised much further away. I know people did travel more than we would think in the 1700s, but I grew up in East Devon, and I know the area around Uffculme/Bickleigh/Sidbury very well. Even in the 1950s there were farmers who hadn't been any further than Exeter, and some not even there! What was Henry's occupation?

It's a long way from Auckland NZ!! :D

Ooh! Gosh, I hadn't twigged! Scrap that suggestion, then. :o

Another problem is the missing parishes. There could be other candidates for Mary there.

The baptism of Robert's son George Rice Cottrell, 7 Oct 1827 at St Olave, Exeter, does clearly give Robert's middle name as Carew:
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/recor...hlights=%22%22
Occupation Last Maker, abode Fore Street, and Robert's wife is Sarah, so he is the Robert Cottrell who married Sarah Rice 1 Feb 1814 at West Teignmouth, although no middle name is given on the records for that marriage on FamilySearch (I haven't found an image.) The other children's baptisms don't show Robert's middle name.

That's brilliant - I can at last dispose of the Cavey/Carew conundrum which had been eating away at me. I wouldn't have thought of looking for evidence in the baptismal records of his children. I think I can now say with confidence that Henry's wife was a Carew, at least, but as yet no proof of which Carew she was, or when or where they married.

My own lineage goes through John Hann Cottrell, another of Robert CC's children - Jane Hann was Robert's aunt by marriage, and Mary Hann was his sister-in-law (Henry Jr's wife). It was John Hann Cottrell's family that emigrated to NZ.