“Burials
in the Parish of Ombersley in the County of Worcester in the Year 1835. Page 108, No. 863 Name: Eliza Mears Abode: Hadley When Buried: May 28th Age: 1 By whom the Ceremony was performed: L. H.
Burrows, Curate.”[i]
Bishop's Transcripts, Burial record, Parish church of Ombersley, Worcester, 28 May 1835, see full page below. |
Eliza MEEARS was listed in only one record and her surname was spelled Mears. The Ombersley parish record listed her abode as Hadley upon her burial 28 May 1835 at age one.
The curate, L.H. Burrows, is the same man who had listed christenings for her siblings, Elizabeth [28 July 1833], Sarah [18 October 1835], and Jane [7 January 1838] in the Ombersley parish records.
Page 108, Bishop's Transcripts for Ombersley parish burials, 28 May 1835, No. 863, Eliza Mears |
A search was performed in the Ombersley parish records for any record using the Meears surname [under any of its variant spellings] for the years 1833 to 1840 because these were the years George and Sarah Ann Gibson Meears lived with their family in that area. We know they had moved to Batheaston in Somersetshire by 9 September 1840 when their daughter Emma was born.
The only records listed under the Meears surname for the 1833-1840 period of time were connected with their family. Thus, it was concluded that Eliza Mears of Hadley was the daughter of George and Sarah Ann Gibson Meears and had died as an infant.
It is important to note that this child did live. There is often an effort to combine her records with those of her sister, Elizabeth, who was listed as Eliza on the Amazon’s manifest when she emigrated. Elizabeth was born 3 July 1833 and lived a full life, married Thomas Sunderland Hawkins, and had descendants. Elizabeth Meears Hawkins died in Mexico 20 March 1901. See the previous blog.
[i] Eliza Meers burial 28 May 1835, Church of England. Parish church
of Ombersley (Worcestershire) (Main Author), Bishop’s Transcripts, Baptisms and
burials, 1820-1838, page 108, no. 863, FHL film 350594.