Friday, June 12, 2015

James Vaux Articles in the British Newspaper Collection on FindMyPast

There is a British Newspapers record collection on FindMyPast.com that I have been searching over the past days.  I have only a few English ancestors residing in England since 1700, so I've been searching for articles aboutg them, including:

1)  John and Ann (Marshman) Richman, John and Rebecca (Hill) Rich, James and Hannah (Rich) Richman, John and Ann (Jill), all of Hilperton in Wiltshire, before 1870.

2)  Alexander and Margaret (Mansley) Whittle, Robert and Jane (Haslam) Morley, Rachel Morley, all of Bolton in Lancashire before 1860.

3)  James and Mary (Palmer) Vaux, John and Joanna (Laver) Vaux, all of South Petherton in Somerset before 1860.

I finally had some positive results with the search for James Vaux.

Here is the search page for the British Newspaper collection on FindMyPast:


I put James in the first name field, Vaux in the last name field, and Petherton in the What Else? field.
I chose the 1800 to 1849 Date range and received 8 matches:


1)  The first match was titled "Married" but when I looked at the page, there was also a "Died" portion of the highlighted column, which had a short note about the death of James Vaux (1787-1839), my 4th great-grandfather:


The paragraph from the Dorset County Chronicle newspaper, dated 25 July 1839, says:

"July 23, at South Petherton, after a short illness.  Mr. James Vaux, who lately returned from america, where he left a wife and family."

2)  Another article from the Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser newspaper, dated 31 July 1839, says:


This paragraph says:

"On the 23rd instant, at South Petherton, of a paralytic seizure, Mr. James Vaux, aged 52, who has left a wife and eight children in America."

That article adds a cause of death and more information about the family in america.

3)  Another article, in the Sherborne Mercury newspaper, dated 2 January 1832, mentions James Vaux:


This article says:

"TO BE SOLD, IN FEE, BY AUCTION,
By Mr. CHAFFEY, at the Crown Inn, in South Pe-
therton, in the county of Somerset, on TUESDAY, the
10th day of JANUARY next, at five o'clock in the af-
ternoon, on the conditions to be then produced.
THE following valuable PREMISES, in
Lots, viz. ---
1. -- A Dwelling House, Garden, and Outhouses, situ-
ate at South Petherton.
2. -- An Orchard, called Kealand Orchard, also situate
at South Petherton, and containing by estimation 4 acres
(more or less).
N.B.  The above-mentioned Lots are in the occupation
of Mr. Samuel Vaux.
3. -- A Close of Arable, called Holefaxen, containing
by estimation 6 acres (more or less), situate at South
Petherton aforesaid, and now in the occupation of Mr.
James Vaux.
The Occupiers will shew their respective Lots and the
further particulars applications may be made to Mr.
NICHOLETTS, Attorney at Law, South Petherton.
Dated 13th December 1831."

This article may indicate that Samuel and James Vaux were residing ("occupation of") on this land and the land was to be sold for some reason (as part of an estate settlement, perhaps bankruptcy of the owner, or to sell the land for profit).  James Vaux migrated to America on 1 May 1832 aboard the ship Cosmo out of Bristol.

This investigation of the British Newspapers collection has been very useful.  These articles about James Vaux are useful - two of them identify his death date and cause of death, and the third defines a residence his 1831.  I wonder if I can find the Holefaxen Close or Kealand Orchard in present day South Petherton?

The FindMyPast search finds a specific article or column of information on the newspaper page, but does not highlight the search terms, which makes the search for the specific notice a bit tedious.  I like that I can narrow the search to a date range (in this case, 1800-1849) and can specify a keyword.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/06/james-vaux-articles-in-british.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver


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1 comment:

cleaverkin said...

I also have an ancestor who came over on the Cosmo. There's a published memoir, John Benwell's An Englishman's Travels in America, wherein the author describes an untimely fall passage on the same ship Cosmo, wherein, despite initial bad weather resulting in "a partial destruction of the rigging, the loss of some sheep on the deck of the vessel, and a slight indication of leakage", the overall impression is of the monotony of a long ocean voyage, albeit punctuated by close encounters with icebergs and Newfoundland fishing boats, as well as "a fracas between the captain and cook...which nearly ended fatally to the former, who would have been stabbed to a certainty, but for a by-stander wresting the knife from the hand of the enraged subordinate, who had been supplied too liberally with spirits by the passengers; a predominating evil on board all emigrant ships."