William Dolman 1803 Cherhill

Dear Andrew I confirm that we have continued with your research as follows: 1) Baptisms check To make sure there were no entries in Cherhill, that the White Horse Index missed, we searched the following: CHERHILL Parish Baptisms Started search 1805 1805 Dec 25 - Edward, son of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN 1805 Dec 25 - John, son of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN Stopped search 1810 No further DOLMAN entries (taken from original registers on fiche) So this result appears to confirm the White Horse results, using confirmed sources. In case you didn't already have this, the following entry was spotted, which appears to be William's wife: CHERHILL Parish Baptism 1804 Nov 18 - Ann, dau of Uria and Sarah POTTOW. (taken from original registers on fiche) 2) Marriage entry We checked this marriage entry from 1823: DATE: 03 APR 1823 PLACE: Cherhill GROOM: DOLMAN William BRIDE: POTTOW Ann The details of this were correct, plus: Both were of this parish. Marriage by banns. He marked, she signed. Witnesses Samuel ROGERS and Jane POTTOW 3) Calne Baptisms We checked these IGI-found entries, which proved to be as follows: CALNE Parish Baptisms 1802 Sep 12 - William, son of William and Elizabeth DOLMAN, born 3 September. 1803 Dec 28 - William, son of Ann BUTTON, born 4 September, reputed father is Walter DOLMAN. (taken from original registers on fiche) So the second of these was illegitimate, not something the IGI mentioned! You probably only have to worry about the latter if he was later legitimised, or if they were in a long term relationship, causing the child to be brought up as DOLMAN. Walter however, appears as father to another woman's child too, in 1805. 4) Calne burials We did check the Calne burials up to the end of 1808, to see if any of these died in infancy. We came across a William BUTTON in 1804 but he appeared to be an adult (had an illegible occupation entered), and then found this burial: CALNE Parish Burials Started search 1802 1806 Oct 28 - Walter, son of Ann BUTTON, reputed father Walter DOLMAN Stopped search 1808 (taken from original registers on fiche) As this might have been a confusion over the child's name, and he might really have been William, we went back to the baptisms and found that there WAS in fact a son Walter born in 1805, so possibly Ann and Walter senior were in a long-term relationship after all, but it still looks more likely that their William remained as Button. There is a possibility though that Ann was sent away (to relatives in Cherhill?) to have the child, but brought the child back to Calne for baptism. 5) Conclusion So, whilst we have found some nearby baptisms for William DOLMAN (1802 & 1803, Calne), there is no certainty about whether either of these are your William. We can of course continue the search, looking for possible marriages or burials for these 2 people.

William Dolman 1803 Cherhill

Dear Andy I confirm that we have now carried out the following searches for you. 1) Review I note that you are wanting to find the origins of William DOLMAN. We have a record of his marriage, as follows: DATE: 03 APR 1823 PLACE: Cherhill GROOM: DOLMAN William BRIDE: POTTOW Ann Our Wiltshire Marriage Index does usually record ancillary information if it is given in the registers, but in this case, there does not appear to be anything further about this couple. I also checked for a Marriage Licence Bond for this couple, but there does not appear to be any surviving document for this. 2) 1851 census I checked for William in the 1851 census, and found his household as follows: THE PARISH OF: Cherhill ENUMHOUSE: 0038 SURNAME : DOLMAN FORENAME: William AGE : 48 RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSE: Head BORN : Cherhill IN THE COUNTY OF: Wilts SURNAME : DOLMAN FORENAME: Ann AGE : 48 RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSE: Wife BORN : Cherhill IN THE COUNTY OF: Wilts SURNAME : DOLMAN FORENAME: Jhon AGE : 19 RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSE: Son BORN : Cherhill IN THE COUNTY OF: Wilts SURNAME : DOLMAN FORENAME: George AGE : 15 RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSE: Son BORN : Cherhill IN THE COUNTY OF: Wilts SURNAME : DOLMAN FORENAME: Clare AGE : 11 RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSE: Son BORN : Cherhill IN THE COUNTY OF: Wilts SURNAME : DOLMAN FORENAME: Hugh AGE : 08 RELATIONSHIP TO HEAD OF HOUSE: Son BORN : Cherhill IN THE COUNTY OF: Wilts So he does seem to have been born in Cherhill. However, that doesn't mean that he was baptised there, or indeed anywhere at all. I therefore think that we need to double-check the obvious place (Cherhill) before we go off blindly searching other places. 3) Baptisms search Robert Marsh therefore extracted all the DOLMAN entries in Cherhill around this time, which he says are as follows: CHERHILL Parish Baptisms Started search 1789 1789 Dec 20 - Mary, dau of James & Betty DOLMAN 1790 Nov 07 - Catharine, dau of Isaac & Molly DOLMAN 1792 May 27 - James, son of William & Elizabeth DOLMAN 1792 Dec 25 - James, son of James & Elizabeth DOLMAN 1795 Apr 05 - Ann, dau of James & Bety DOLMAN 1795 Nov 15 - Isaac, son of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN 1795 Nov 15 - Rebekah, dau of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN 1799 Nov 17 - William, son of William & Betty DOLMAN 1801 Mar 01 - Jane, dau of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN 1805 Dec 25 - Edward, son of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN 1805 Dec 25 - John, son of Isaac & Mary DOLMAN Stopped search 1810 So we do have quite a few couples here, who could be potential parents for your William: James and Elizabeth/Betty Isaac and Mary William and Elizabeth However, I find it strange that after a concentrated burst of children, there are then no further ones between 1805 and 1810. 4) Marriage search I checked our Wiltshire Marriage Index for marriages of the above 3 couples, in case there was mention of a link with another parish. I was able to find these three, as follows: DATE: 03 SEP 1789 PLACE: Cherhill GROOM: DOLMAN James of this parish BRIDE: WILTSHIRE Elizabeth of this parish DATE: 04 JAN 1790 PLACE: Cherhill GROOM: DOLMAN Isaac of this parish BRIDE: RAWLINGS Mary of this parish DATE: 08 NOV 1787 PLACE: Cherhill GROOM: DOLMAN William of this parish BRIDE: BULLOCK Elizabeth of this parish So all of these appear to we well settled in Cherhill, and no other clues as to other places. In case that none of the above couples were the parents of your William, I also checked for other DOLMAN male marriages between 1785 and 1810, and noted these: 11 JLY 1785 at Steeple Ashton 22 DEC 1787 at Maiden Bradley 06 APR 1788 at Chippenham 27 MAY 1792 at Lacock, groom of Compton Bassett 28 MAR 1796 at Longbridge Deverill 22 SEP 1801 at Longbridge Deverill 04 DEC 1809 at Devizes St John 14 OCT 1804 at Calne We could investigate these further if you wish. 5) IGI entries I note your comment about the IGI entry from 1799. As you will see, this does appear in the Parish Baptisms, so that's ok. It's a bit early to be your William though, and if (as you say) he died, then that does discount him. We can check the burials if you wish, to confirm this is the case, let me know if you want this done. I do also note a couple of contributors have entered William DOLMAN 'about 1803 at Cherhill'. Which means that others have looked for this baptism, and failed to find it. I did also note from the IGI, the following entries: William DOLMAN 03 SEP 1802 - Calne, Wiltshire, son of William & Elizabeth William DOLMAN 28 DEC 1803 - Calne, Wiltshire, son of Walter & Ann. So there are also a couple of other nearby possibilities, providing that these can be verified from the Parish Registers at Calne. 6) Further searches To try and resolve this problem, I would suggest the following a) Get copy of marriage entry for William DOLMAN in 1823. The witnesses names may give us some clues. b) Check the Cherhill registers for 1805-1810, in case there has been an error in the White Horse index.