Elizabeth Shillabeer
I was named for the only grandmother I knew, Elizabeth Taplin; born in 1879, she was the youngest of 5, with a brother and 3 sisters.
Despite various genealogical problems I traced her father, James, back to the Hampshire marriage of William Taplin of Odiham to Mary Gruggin of Winchfield at Winchfield on 1 Dec 1766, witnesses Thomas Taplin and James Stacey. A James Stacey and Mary Taplin, both of Winchfield, were married at Winchfield in 1763; a Thomas Taplin married Elizabeth Wyeth at Dogmersfield in 1764 with a James Stacey again a witness, or he may have been the Thomas Taplin of Odiham who married Rebeccah Hall at Basing in 1775. None of them were baptised at Odiham, and William was the only one to settle there – 3 years later and probably with 2 children, William and Mary, whose baptisms I have yet to find.
I believe William and Thomas Taplin and Mary (Stacey) were probably cousins if not siblings, but there were so many Taplins around the area in the 18th century, and almost every family had a Thomas, Mary and William, so I need to know what happened to each one of them - that shouldn’t be so difficult, should it?
The search for Elizabeth’s father James started the Taplin ONS; that for William, Mary, and Thomas has expanded it, but it is piecing together the fascinating stories behind the records that has kept me addicted.
I may never prove it, but I now believe my William, who was buried Jan 1813 aged 78 at Odiham, was bapt 1735 at Overton, s/o William and Elizabeth (Perrin) and probably part of the large north Hampshire family who keep popping up, in Hampshire and other counties - even when I think I’m working on quite another family. Unless you have found another future for William of Overton? He certainly wasn’t married or buried there…
Many families moved around the country in the 19th century and their progress can be followed in the census, but how do we follow them before that? Where did your Taplin ancestors start out?
We don’t claim to know all the answers but we hope we’ve found some of them, thanks to the research of our wide network of members.
