Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hello I have posted in Rootschat and nobody has replied to my question despite 157 views.

I've edited it a bit here to make some sense of it......


I originally got my parish register baptisms from St Peter, Little Budworth back in the day when you scrolled through a microfilm at the LDS centre as John POVALL said that's where he was born on a census or two. I did photocopy every page I could find with a name that was similar to POVALL (also a lot of burials too), at that time a well respected Cheshire genealogist thought that the names I found of POVER and POVAL were likely all from my family, so for years I went with the John POVER baptised in 1804 at Little Budworth as being my ancestor, there was also a George POVER baptised on 10 May 1801 who I took to be his older brother. The rest of the names of siblings following are all variations on the surname.

I don't often view other trees in Ancestry but the other day I did and another member has found the marriage of the parents John and Anne POVALL (nee PURSELL) in Malpas.

The problem for me is that there is a George POVALL baptised on 20 Dec 1800 in Malpas, same parents names.....so if the original George I found is not mine, then John possibly isn't either.....I can't find a marriage for the parents at Little Budworth either as I was trying to double check nor can I find a John in Malpas....

It won't be the end of the world as I have census records, his 3 marriages and death certificates, etc. but I'd just like to find the right baptism to tie up the loose ends.

Despite there being 9 or 11 other trees with the same names none of them have found a birth, they all just cite the censuses that's probably because this John POVER in Little Budworth doesn't come up in an FMP search as it looks like parts of the page haven't been transcribed, I did report it a few months back but they said it can take up to 90 days to correct mistakes.

Any thoughts?

If you have access to FMP this is the page the baptism I have had for many years is on. It's on the left page about 8 or 9 lines up.



http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?i ... 858046%2f1

The only George Povall I can find in the censuses says he was born in Little Budworth.....is it possible that the same child could be baptised in 2 different places?

I can't think why anyone would consider Pover and Povall being the same family, regardless of the parents names being similar. In that area, there were plenty of families with those names.
Little Budworth and Malpas are about 16 miles apart, must have seemed further in 1800. If a person is recorded as being born in Little Budworth, the likelihood he was, not sure why a child would be baptised in both places or what need there would be for it.

Bertie, I was always taught that you should look for all different spellings of surnames as most people were illiterate back then, so I don't understand why you are saying this is not the right family I have as if it's out of the question. The man who told me to consider this is an author of Cheshire publications by the name of Brett Langston who is also in charge of the GENUKI Cheshire web pages, BTW this was back in the day when people used to email each other and ask for advice not like nowadays when it's like a huge overwhelment.

I cannot find another John POVALL born circa 1804 except the one I provided above baptised as John POVER.

I cannot find any other POVALL marriage between John (the father) and Anne besides the one in Malpas in the right years.

The George POVALL I found in Malpas does not appear on any burial or death registers.

The George POVALL I have in the various censuses says he was born in Little Budworth.

No doubting a lot of people were illiterate then, though not the person doing the recording. I understand how a different interpretation of the spelling Povall. Poval,Povel could be made, not sure about Pover and Povall.

It would suggest a vast majority of recorded Pover's could be Povall's and vice versa. Considering both names were used in the area, similarities in families are going to exist and as we know, not all records are online or even survived. So, no surprise we can't find everything.
Just an opinion.

Thank you for your reply Bertie.

According to FMP in an email I had back from them, all of the Cheshire BT's should be there but perhaps some are missing.


Dear Barbara

Thank you for your email.

We should have a complete set for Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Bishop's Transcripts Baptisms, Marriage's and Burials for 1576-1906.

If you do encounter any missing year please do let us know and we will be able to look into the matter for you.

If you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us again.

With kind regards,


Natalie Gray, Customer Support
Findmypast Support Team