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From: "" <>
Subject: [ENG-SOM] Jerred [Jerread] family
Date: Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:27:54 -0000


This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: JERRED [JERREAD], SHEEKS, NEEDHAM, and BRYCE [BRICE]
Classification: queries

Message Board URL:

http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.england.som.general/12462/mb.ashx

Message Board Post:

My name is Lois Richter, I live in California, and I'm working on surnames which include JERRED (JERREAD), SHEEKS, NEEDHAM, and BRYCE. I wondered if you might help me with your part of the world.

I have so far only found my ancestors on the American continent and am just now starting to research the British connections. All four of these British lines arrive in the Midwest between 1820 and 1875 -- that is, I have records of them here by then.

I am hoping to travel to England in 2009 to do some genealogy research, but I know nothing of the lay of the land, or the travel conditions, or even political boundaries.

Obituaries and family stories refer to Derbyshire and Somersetshire as origins. Are those the correct names? (Someone told me that your "shire" is equivalent to our "county".)

I have several questions.
(1) Would I look for vital records at the shire level of government?
What are the county seats called?
In which cities should I look?

(2) Are those areas located near one another?
How long would it take to drive from one to another?
Are there buses or trains or taxis readily available?
How would you recommend a visiting researcher get around?

(3) Have political boundaries shifted between 1820 and now?
Any suggestions as to which facility/agency has older records?
Are there national records kept on individuals?
Were emigrations recorded?

TIA (thanks is advance) for any help you can give. I really appreciate the sharing that folks from various lists do with each other. Do you have any suggestions of Genealogy groups or lists specific to "Somersetshire"? I think that is the place I want to start, because I have the most recent information about my great-grandfather, from his obituary in 1914. All the other immigrants were a generation before him. Below is his data:

Frederick C. JERRED (some stories say the family name used to be JERREAD)
born 10 May 1851 ["Somersetshire, England"]
died 10 Dec 1914 [NorthMarcellon, Columbia, Wisconsin, USA]
married 1876 or 1877 in Wisconsin to Martha Marie NEEDHAM
--> moved from England to Canada in 1857, then to Wisconsin in 1866
father: John JERRED (JERREAD?),
b. 12 Jan 1822 ["England"],
d. 11 Mar 1897 [NorthMarcellon, Columbia, Wisconsin, USA]
mother: Eliner BRYCE (BRICE?),
b. 21 June 1816 ["Somersetshire, England"],
d. 17 Jan 1897 [NorthMarcellon, Columbia, Wisconsin, USA]

-- Lois Richter, P.O. Box 7, Davis CA 95617-0007 USA

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