I have been so busy with the Pickle Patch that I have neglected my genealogy. When I am not planning things in the gardens, I do work on my genealogy — just not like I used to before the gardens. I know I can devote one day to “Document Day,” as I am committed to my community volunteering at my local LDS FamilySearch Center. If you are not familiar with FamilySearch Center, then you should be, as this is where the majority of my records come from — but you do need to know how to search on FamilySearch.
In the feature photo, I am pointing to a possible area where Mary Beans could have been born, called Whatton, Nottinghamshire, UK. Ever since coming back from the UK and finding Mary Beans Levers’ headstone (show photo), my goal is to find out more information on Mary Bean, like her parents, and take it even further back, as right now I have her line at about 1710 — since her headstone had her age on it, that’s why I’m starting with 1710.
So far, I have ruled out a Mary Beans, also born in 1710 in Orston, Nottinghamshire. She was a good contender, as Orston is also close to where she lived with her husband, Robert Levers, in East Bridgford. Their marriage record did state they were both from East Bridgford, but back then that doesn’t mean they were born there. She is not listed in the parish baptisms for 1710 in East Bridgford.
This is very tedious work, sifting through all the documents and analyzing the minutest details, like name spelling. Everything has to align for me to finally say, “I have my answer and can now document it in my tree.”
After all the work of finding the Mary born in Orston — locating her parents’ marriage, identifying all their children, and piecing together that entire family — I finally found the proof that ruled her out in Thomas Beans’ 1746 will. In the will, it lists Mary with a married name of Maltby, and my Mary Beans married Robert Levers in 1735 and died in 1791 in East Bridgford. This took me several weeks to do, as the records, like the will, can only be viewed when you are at any FamilySearch Center, affiliate library, or the main library in Utah.
Today I started fresh with my prework that I did at home using FindMyPast (FMP) as a non‑paying member, so I don’t get to see everything—just enough, though, to know what I need to do at the FamilySearch Center. Just so you know, when you are at a center, FamilySearch Centers have premium websites that let you see the information like a paying customer. I am not sure to what extent you are allowed, but so far I can see the information I couldn’t see at home. I use FMP in conjunction with the FamilySearch catalog, so I have two tabs open when on FamilySearch while signed in. You have to be signed in to view anything.
My new Mary was born in Whatton on 27 Feb. 1710 to father John Beans. I then went on FMP to see if I could quickly find a marriage record for John Beans and found one for 1707 to Frances Marsh. The reason why I am using FMP is that the catalog is of the Bishop’s transcripts for Whatton, 1626–1851, and they are not indexed yet. I forgot to mention that Ancestry does not have the Whatton parish records, and this is my workaround.
So, I fleshed out the family and found children born from 1708–1721. As I find the marriage and baptismal records, I download them to my thumb drive to look at home and just have them on file, so I don’t have to re‑look them up later.
My next Document Day Tuesday, I hope to be able to find that piece of evidence to confirm that this Mary is indeed my Mary — my 6th great‑grandmother. Now that I am done with my log, I can start doing more prework for next week.
Happy Sleuthing!
