Marey Sisley

1754 - 1814  (60 years)

• Name	Marey Sisley  [1]
  Born	1754	Dorset, England   [2]
  Gender	Female
  Died	21 Jun 1814	Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England   [3]
  Person ID	I7871	So Many Generations
  Last Modified	21 Feb 2021

  
  

  Family	James Weeks,   b. Abt 1755, More Crichel, Dorset, England ,   d. 1840, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England  (Age ~ 85 years)
  Married	26 Nov 1775	Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire, England   [4]
  Children	+ 1. John Weeks,   b. Abt 1775,   d. 1 Oct 1857, Fishery Creek, West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia  (Age ~ 82 years)  [natural] + 2. James Weeks,   b. Abt 15 Apr 1781, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. 13 Feb 1816, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England  (Age ~ 34 years)  [natural] + 3. William Weeks,   c. 4 May 1783, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. 6 Mar 1857, Shapwick, Dorset, England  (Age ~ 73 years)  [natural]   4. Sarah Weeks,   b. Abt 1786, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. Yes, date unknown  [natural]   5. Martha Weeks,   c. 13 May 1788, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. Yes, date unknown  [natural]   6. Mary Ann Weeks,   c. 13 Jun 1790, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. 14 Oct 1808, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England  (Age ~ 18 years)  [natural]   7. George Weeks,   c. 29 Jul 1792, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. 21 May 1796, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England  (Age ~ 3 years)  [natural] + 8. Jane "Jenny" Weeks,   c. 9 Aug 1795, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. Yes, date unknown  [natural] + 9. George Weeks,   b. Abt Mar 1799, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England ,   d. Jul 1845, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, England  (Age ~ 46 years)  [natural]
  Last Modified	21 Feb 2021
  Family ID	F2355	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Direct Ancestor

  
  

• Notes

  No actual birth dates for children are known before 1837 whenregistration of B.D&M's. were made compulsory. With very fewexceptions all dates before 1837 are the christening date and notbirthdate. Christening dates are a good indication of approximate timeof birth but that is all. Other records that are available (like agesat marriage and death) indicate that most children were christened twoor three months after birth. Christenings were not just for religiousreasons, particularly in rural areas but because welfare wasadministered through the parish church. So christening records werethe only way children could qualify the family for additionalsupport. However christening dates can be misleading with families whodid not rely on welfare. The dates recorded for marriages are accurateas they were entered in the church register on the actual date of theevent. In death records only burial dates are available. But asburials were mostly carried out on the same day, or the day after,these dates are fairly reliable. James and Marey are theGRANDPARENTS of Benjamin, John and Jane who came out to Australia on"The Brothers" in 1837. They lived at Sixpenny, Handley Dorset. Theirfirst child recorded in the BVI is that of JOHN christened 6-4-1779who was the father of Benjamin, John, Jane and the four other childrenwho remained in England. The year and location of the marriage ofJames and Marey is not known, so the first child recorded, at S/pHandley, does not mean that no other children were born before that inanother location, (a THOMAS for instance). Because the marriagerecord of James & Marey has not been found, the maiden name of Mareyremains unknown. But all christenings of their children, born atHandley, are on record. Fortunately the general populace of Englanddid not move very often or far in the 1700 and 1800's. "Weeks" was arare name in northeast Dorset. In these early records in Englandthe name is often spelt "WICKS". This spelling all but disappeared bythe mid 1800's (in Dorset anyway). Genealogists generally agree thatvariants in such spellings was mostly a matter of dialect andtherefore, for the purpose of this research, the name will be spelt"WEEKS" irrespective of how it is recorded in the records. Forinstance, Benjamin's records are a typical example. He was christened"Benjamin WEEKS" but was married as "Benjamin WICKS". Because very fewcould read or write, the spelling depended on who wrote and recordedthe name and their version of the spelling and how it sounded to them.(Dialect). In Australia the spelling has remained "WEEKS" in allbut one family and that is the family of Benjamin's son Charles JeansWeeks whose name was mistakenly spelt Weekes by the Register of Birthsfor three of his 13 children including the first born George. WhenGeorge was married it was also spelt Weekes on his marriageregistration and from then on the Weekes spelling seemed to stick tothis family in all but a few instances. There are other changes to"Weekes" but they are not in the early times.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2211] Details: Pg. 35, 43. [S2255] Details: Pg. 35, 41, 43 - 44. [S2256] Details: Pg. 41, 43 - 44. [S2205] Anon, Handley Stories, John Weeks - The Poacher, accessed 6 Aug 2020. This page is part of the Handley Stoies on the 6d Handley and Pentridge Community Website.