Martha Berryman of Biscovey, St. Blazey, Cornwall, UK

Research note by Wesley Johnston for the St. Blazey Families Project

last update 11 Mar 2013

Overview

Martha Berryman appears directly or indirectly in three records of the parish of St. Blazey, Cornwall: the birth of a base child, the death of another base child, and her own death. This research note documents my considerations in piecing these records together and attempting to find Martha's baptismal record.

St. Blazey Records

In reverse chronological order, Martha appears in four records at St. Blazey.

- 1832 Jun 17 - burial of Martha Berryman (as Berry Man), age 46 [thus birth about 1786]

- 1824 Feb 22 - baptism of Edward Rowse, base child of Martha Berryman (as Belman but later records confirm Berryman)

- 1820 Aug 12 - burial fo Eliza Berryman, age 3 months, base child of Martha Berryman

It should be noted that Martha's age 46 on her burial has to be considered skeptically. Since she was not married, presumably her only next of kin was her 8 year old son Edward. So whoever gave Martha's age was almost certainly not really aware just how old she was.

The 1832 burial must be further examined, since burials at that time gave only name, age and abode. So the question arises whether the Martha Berryman who died may have been another Martha Berryman. In all of the Cornwall Family History Society (CFHS) research database, there are only four marriages of a Martha to a husband with the surname Ber*n. One of those is after Martha's burial, and one of those was in 1792, when she would have been only about 6 years old. Thus there are two possible Marthas, as the wives in these marriages:

- 1818 Apr 26 - St. Ives - Martha Curnow & John Berriman

- 1822 Jul 5 - Crowan - Martha Williams & Richard Berryman

Neither of these are near St. Blazey. Also, no baptisms of Ber*n children with a mother named Martha took place at or near St. Blazey. So it seems very unlikely that any married woman named Martha Berryman would have been the one who died in 1832.

Where Was She Baptized?

The CFHS DB gives only three candidate baptisms in the 1780's and 1790's on a search for Martha B*MAN:

- 1788 Apr 20 - Towednack - base child of Mary Berriman

- 1794 Oct 2 - Crowan - daughter of Edward and Martha (Rodda - married 24 Dec 1792 at Crowan) Berryman

- 1795 Apr 26 - Gulval - base child of Margaret Berriman

All of these places are in westernmost Cornwall, far from St. Blazey. However, they are all near each other. Crowan is 14 miles from Towednack and 13 from Gulval. Gulval is only 4 miles from Towednack, which is only 2.3 miles from St. Ives.

There were only two marriages of a Martha Berryman in all of Cornwall in all years:

- 1824 Jul 17 - Madron - Martha Berryman & Francis Batten

- 1826 Dec 27 - Gwennap - Martha Berryman and John Morrish

Madron is 50 miles from St. Blazey but only 2 miles from Gulval, so that the 1795 Gulval baby Martha may well have been the 1824 Madron bride Martha. Gwennap is about 1/3 of the way from the location of all three baptismal places (Towednack, Crowan, Gulval) from St. Blazey, so that the 1826 Gwennap bride Martha could have been any of the three. But the three baptismal places are close enough so that any of the three could have been either of the two brides -- although the Gulval-Madron proximity does lend probability to the 1795 Gulval baby Martha being the 1724 Madron bride Martha.

There were only three other pre-1837 Martha Berryan/Berriman burials

- 1824 Apr 22 - Towednack - burial of Martha Berriman, age 33 [thus born about 1791]

Towednack is close enough to both St. Ives (2.3 miles) and Crowan (14 miles) that either of the Marthas in the two marriages considered above could have been the one who died in 1824 at Towednack. Or she could have been any of the three baptisms, though off by at least 3 years in age. So the burial does not really rule out any of the three who were baptized.

BUT there is one other record that must be noted in this search. This is a baptism:

- 1813 May 23 - Crowan - Mary, base child of Martha Berryman

Any of the three candidates would have been of age to bear a child in 1813. But only one of them had a mother named Mary. So there is slight evidence in favor of the 1813 Crowan mother Martha being the 1788 Towednack baby Martha.

BUT was this 1813 Crown mother Martha the St. Blazey Martha? After all, St Blazey Martha named her children Eliza and Edward, and the 1794 Crowan baby Martha's father was named Edward, which lends weight to the 1794 Crowan baby Martha being the St Blazey Martha.

Trying to Make Sense in the Absence of More Information

There is simply too little information to provide a definitive answer. Other records are needed to do that.

If just one of the three candidate Marthas lived until the 1851 census, then there might be more clarity, but I have not yet searched for any of them there.

Thus only speculation is possible with the information that the parish registers provide.

I think it is most likely that the 1795 Gulval baby Martha was the 1824 Madron bride Martha. If so, then one of the other two Marthas was probably the St. Blazey Martha and one of them was the 1826 Gwennap bride Martha.

I think it is also likely that the 1824 Towednack burial Martha was one of the two Marthas whose married name was Berryman, probably the one married at St. Ives.

Who was the 1813 Crowan mother Martha? The 1794 Crowan baby Martha really is most likely, depsite the 1788 Towadneck baby Martha's mother's name being Mary. But the places are close enough that either of them could have been the mother. AND both of them are off by the same 3 years from the St Blazey Martha's age 46 in 1832.

So it really comes down to a good case for both the 1788 Towadneck baby Martha and the 1794 Crowan baby Martha having been the 1832 St. Blazey burial Martha (and mother of the two base children there).

Conclusion

I am going to carry her as the 1794 Crowan Martha, although I am not at all locked into that, so that if further solid evidence supports a different conclusion, I will go where the evidence leads.

My reason for going with the 1794 Crowan Martha is that she named her son Edward. That really is not enough to overcome the 1813 Crowan mother Martha naming her daughter Mary, which is exactly the same argument. But with so little to distinguish them, this miniscule difference is the difference for how I will carry her in my tree -- with a big caveat for anyone else to read this research note before coming to their own conclusion.