15 Mar 2021

I recently bought some more baptism and marriage indexes from the Suffolk Family History Society and I thought I would try and find someone we had not traced before. I ended up looking for Frances Chapman who married William Snowling some time before 1819 (he was then deported to Australia). We have never found her in the registers although she is listed in the census as being born in Carlton Colville around 1801.

Ancestry kept trying to suggest that William Snowling married Frances Gosthing since there are several trees containing that link. I set out to prove them wrong by locating the original source of our knowledge of her maiden name. I ended up on the Fressingfield baptism indexes prepared by the Suffolk Family History Society and there they had “chapman” as the occupation of the father. Suddenly I realised that we had quite probably made a mistake. There was no trace of a Frances Chapman in the baptism index for Lothingland Deanery that covers Carlton Colville.

However, when searching the Norfolk Family History Society’s online index I found only three William Snowlings marrying, one of whom married Frances Gosthing in Norwich St. James on 29th Sep 1818¹

I immediately checked the baptism index for Lothingland Deanery again and found the following:

Baptism in the parish of Carlton Colville, St Peter on the 21 Jul 1799, Frances daughter of Francis and Frances Gosling late Roberts. Born 17 Jul.

But strangely there is another almost identical entry:

Baptism in the parish of Carlton Colville, St Peter on the 28 Sep 1800, Frances daughter of Francis and Frances Gosling late Roberts. Born 18 Sep.

So her name is almost certainly Gosling, not Chapman or Gosthing, but it’s unclear what the two entries mean.

There are no other baptisms for children of Francis Gosling in that deanery. However there are a series of baptisms of children of John and Hannah Gosling, late Woolner in Carlton Colville between 1780 and 1798:

• 10 Sep 1780 Francis, son
• 24 Nov 1782 Hannah, dau.
• 17 Oct 1784 William, son
• 10 Jun 1787 Barbara, dau., bn 10 Jun, pb, late Woolner
• 3 Oct 1790 Thomas, son, bn 26 Sep, pb, late Woolner
• 10 Mar 1793 Stephen, son, bn 5 Mar, pb, late Woolner
• 16 Oct 1796 Mary, dau., bn 12 Oct, pb, late Woolner
• 29 Apr 1798 Charles, son, bn 25 Apr, pb, late Woolner

There is also a John son of John and Hannah Goslon also baptised in Carlton Colville on 1 Mar 1779, which is likely to be part of the same family. There are no other Goslon baptisms in the deanery.

There are also a few other Gosling families in the area:

• Francis and Catherine Gosling with four baptisms in Barnby and Mutford between 1769 and 1776
• George and Mary Gosling (late Gosling) with four baptisms in Gorleston between 1798 and 1805
• John and Margaret Gosling with one baptism (Sarah) in Lowestoft in 1810
• John and Sarah Gosling (late Spurden) with one baptism (John) in Lowestoft in 1777
• William and Ann Gosling (late Nurse) with six baptisms in Gorleston between 1777 and 1788

I also have the marriage index for the Lothingland deanery 1754-1812 and looked up the Gosling marriages:

• 8 Sep 1768 Barnby, St. John the Baptist, Francis Gosling of Fressingfield, to Catharine West
• 12 Nov 1797 Carlton Colville, St. Peter, Francis Gosling of Barnaby to Frances Roberts
• 9 Nov 1791 Gorleston, St. Andrew, George Gosling to Mary Gosling
• 3 Nov 1763 Sibton, St. Peter, James Gosling of Peasenhall to Elizabeth Fleet
• 1 Nov 1772 Sibton, St. Peter, James Gosling to Sarah Talbart
• 20 Apr 1786, Bramfield, St. Andrew, John Gosling to Elizabeth Cooper

And some Gostlings:

• 8 Nov 1797, Barnby, St. John the Baptist, John Gostling to Milcar Barber
• 20 Jun 1808, Lowestoft, St. Margaret, John Gostling to Sarah Spurden
• 9 Dec 1764 Halesworth, St. Mary, Thomas Gostling of East Dereham, to Sarah Cadmore

At first I thought the John and Hannah’s son Francis baptised in 1780 was the same Francis who married Frances Roberts. However since his marriage notes that he was of “Barnaby” [Barnby] I checked the baptisms for Francis and Catherine Gosling in that parish and found him. They had four children baptised:

• 11 Jun 1769, Barnby, St. John the Baptist, Francis, son
• 14 Apr 1771, Barnby, St. John the Baptist, Catharine, dau.
• 31 Jan 1773, Mutford, St. Andrew, John, son
• 10 Mar 1776 , Mutford, St. Andrew, Thomas, son

Barnby is the neighbouring parish to the west of Carlton Colville, Mutford borders both Barnby and Carlton Colville to the south west.

The result is a tree that looks like this:

• Francis Gosling = Catharine West
  • Francis Gosling, bap. 1769 = Frances Roberts
    • Frances Gosling, bap. 1799/1800 = William Snowling