Francis SHEARD 1801 to 1876

Then for the baptism of Jane SHEARD and they found:

26 February 1829. Jane daughter of Francis and Margaret SHEARD of Huby (Tailor) Borthwick Institute Ref: (PR SUT/F 8)Then for the baptism of Mary Anne SHEARD and they found:

• 18 April 1831 Marianne SHEARD daughter of Francis and Margaret of Huby. Tailor. Borthwick Institute Ref: (PR SUT/F 8)

(This is the total information that we have about Margaret, it should be noted that she was buried just 12 weeks after the burial of her 7 month old second daughter Mary Anne. There was an outbreak of cholera in 1832 but of course there may be no way of actually finding out the cause of Margaret’s death, or Mary Anne’s for that matter).

Finally, they searched the parish registers of St Michael Le Belfry for the marriage of Francis SHEARD and Catherine GREEN and found:

• Francis SHEARD of this parish, Tailor, and Catherine Margaret GREEN of this parish, spinster, were married in this church by banns 22 July 1833. Witnesses: Joseph SHEARD, Jane Eliza GREEN, Hannah GREEN and H Batten. Borthwick Institute Ref: (PR Y/MB 12)

From the IGI we learnt of the baptisms of 4 children to Francis SHEARD and Catherine Margaret – Hannah Eliza, William Joseph, Francis & Edward but have so far not been able to find a baptism for Joseph but of course we do have a copy of his Birth Certificate. It maybe that Joseph was never baptised or the family were or became non-conformists, Joseph certainly married in a non-conformist church although his brother Francis married in a Church of England church.

It will be noticed later that the Sheard’s do appear to have been pretty casual about their religious allegiances.