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I am trying to find birth and death info for Thomas and Sarah Bissell.

Thomas Bissell's Christening date is December 25, 1787 in Saint Thomas',Dudley,Worcester,England but I do not have any birth records for him.

Based on Thomas and Sarah's first child's christening date and place, their estimated marriage date is in the year 1813 in Halesowen, Worcestershire, England. Their Children's names are Mary, Thomas and Henry Bissell.

I have looked through different Census records but haven't come up with any matches. I also, tried finding a marriage certificate to find Sarah's maiden name but I haven't had much luck with that either.

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    Hi, welcome to Genealogy & Family History SE! Could you please edit your question to include some more details? For instance, what records have you tried to look at already? Censuses? BMD certificates? Parish registers? etc. Your question is tagged London, but you mention Worcestershire. You'll get a better answer to your question if you explain what you know, and why you are stuck.
    – Harry V. ♦
    Feb 13, 2017 at 0:03
  • You say you are looking for both birth and death info for both Thomas and Sarah, but it sounds like you may not have any marriage info for them either. I think you should focus this question on Thomas and see if you can find baptism, marriage and burial records for a Thomas Bisell born around 1785 +/- 10 years (broaden if necessary) that look like they belong to the same person. If you turn up a marriage record then you should have a maiden name for Sarah that will make finding her baptism much easier. Alternatively, you may find that recorded on her death record if it is 1837 or later.
    – PolyGeo ♦
    Feb 13, 2017 at 2:26
  • Is one of Thomas and Sarah's children your direct ancestor? If so, do you have his/her baptism record to provide evidence that you have the correct parents?
    – PolyGeo ♦
    Feb 13, 2017 at 4:54
  • Do you have baptism records for the three children (Mary, Thomas and Henry Bissell)?
    – PolyGeo ♦
    Feb 13, 2017 at 5:19

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I think a good candidate for Thomas may be the Thomas John Smith Bissell who was baptised to Thomas and Elizabeth on 11 May 1789 at Halesowen, the same village where you have surmised that he was married. That baptism record is indexed at FamilySearch:

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NPRY-2HM : 30 December 2014), Thomas John Smith Bissell, 11 May 1789; citing HALESOWEN,WORCESTER,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 886,632, 886,633, 886,634.

This would make him aged about 24 when you say he was married based on the baptism date of his first child. I think it would be hard to find a better candidate, especially because his father was named Thomas like he named his first son.

However, on Ancestry.com I have found a marriage record for Thomas John Smith Bissell and Charlotte Powell on 28 Nov 1814 at Halesowen so unless you have the wrong mother for your ancestor it would appear that this cannot be the correct father.

I think you should re-examine and present the evidence that led you to believe that Thomas and Sarah Bissell were the parents of your ancestor. If that is strong then at least we can be confident about the case for discarding Thomas John Smith Bissell and Charlotte Powell as candidates for being your ancestors before we do that.

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  • I did come across this info already but the Christening date for Thomas Bissell doesn't match up to what I already have. So that actually brought me to another question. How do you know if the info already provided is correct? What if the person that added his Christening date was incorrect in thinking it was December 25, 1787?
    – pepsichic215
    Feb 13, 2017 at 4:42
  • If you are saying that you just accepted a baptism date and location that someone else had in their tree (perhaps at Ancestry) then I think that will be unwise to do. Is there any evidence to suggest that the Thomas who may have married at Halesowen was baptized or ever lived at Dudley?
    – PolyGeo ♦
    Feb 13, 2017 at 4:50
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    I can find the 25 Dec 1787 Dudley baptism of Thomas Bissell (son of Thomas and Sarah) on Ancestry as a "Select Baptisms" record - transcription only, no image. There appear to have been a lot of Bissells in/around Halesowen. Ancestry has probate records for Thomas and William Bissell of Halesowen in 1880, and FMP has a Worcestershire probate record transcription for Thomas Bissell of Halesowen in 1819, so I think some caution is needed in determining which Thomas is which.
    – AndyW
    Feb 13, 2017 at 9:29

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