William BELLAMY

My Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather

Is my William the William born in 1721 in Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire to Benjamin & Susanna Balamy (sic) and the William Bellamy who married Hannah Ansty at the same place (both being ‘of Balsall’) in 1743? I’m going to go with yes. The dates fit nicely with both the known birth date of William (he died aged 67 in Old Swinford in 1789) and the birth of their daughter Ann in 1745.

According to a poor law document from Old Swinford, Ann was ‘b. St Michael’s Coventry’ in 1745; on 19 January 1745, ‘Hannah daughter of Wm Bellamy and Hannah his wife from Balshall (sic)’ was baptised in Berkswell. It’s about 4 miles from Hampton to Berkswell, and another 1.5 miles to Balsall Common, so we’re talking about quite a small area here.

So perhaps she was born in Coventry and they returned to their own area to get her baptised; either way, I’m satisfied we’re looking at the same people.

The only problem I have is with the removal order issued against William which named Stourbridge as the place which had the legal responsibility to provide poor relief if required.