Trying to find out how I can trace the Father of James EDWARDS born in shrawardine around 1804. Found details of his mother Emma but none on his Father - if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be grateful.
[Post split into several parts as the accursed spam filter won't let me post it in one go.]
First, I note that this query is also being pursued on RootsChat:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=676317.0
Personally, I would suggest that folks posting their queries on more than forum should make this known as it can save people who are trying to help them, from covering ground already trodden, and/or flag up other information which might assist.
In this case, there is more info over at RootsChat ....
The following Rootchat thread, to which Medwar58 has also posted, is also relevant, and indicates that Emma Edwards was born abt 1809 in Shrawardine and married (in 1838) a John Birch from Shrawardine or Baschurch:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=234764.0
I have found Emma in an Ancestry family tree which names her parents as Edward Edwards and sarah, and gives Emma's birth year as abt 1811. It shows lots children for Emma and her husband John Birch, but the first, James, was born abt 1834 in Shrawardine - some time before Emma's marriage to John Birch on 23 Jan 1838 at Shrawardine. So presumably the hunt is for the father of James Edwards, born abt 1834 rather than 1804.
Here is James with his mother, stepfather and stepbrothers in 1841:
.....
And here is James with mother, stepfather, more stepsiblings, and his maternal grandmother, in 1851:
This hopefully clarifies who James was, but doesn't answer the question of who his father was. Answering that question could well prove to be difficult. As he was born in 1834 there will not be a birth certificate for him. Quite likely he would have been baptised at Shrawardine (or maybe in a neighbouring parish), but chances are that the record of that event will not name the father (though it would be worth checking just to be certain!). By 1861 James was married to Sarah, born around 1841 in the parish of St Alkmond's. Most likely this was the marriage of James Edwards and Sarah Grice, registered June quarter 1860 at Shrewsbury (volume 6a, page 1237); the ShropshireBMD site shows the marriage took place at Shrewsbury St Alkmunds. A copy of the marriage certificate might show a name and occupation for James's father - but if James was not told who his father was, or if he was given misleading information, then the record might show no details for the father, or a made-up identity (as was the case with the marriage register entry for my own 2x great grandfather, Henry Atcherley).
Another possible way of tracking down your paternal ancestors beyond James (or narrowing down the field) is DNA testing (y-DNA test for the paternal line - the chances of the 'family finder' test working for people that far back I suspect are slim), which might throw up a match if any other descendants of one of James's paternal ancestors have also taken a test with whichever company you choose to use. That's an area beyond the bounds of my expertise however.
Steve
Not sure how far you've got since posting this Medwar, but i have a copy of James' baptism entry if you've not got it. He was entered as 'illegitimate son of Emma EDWARDS' Shrawardine, and she is a servant. He was baptised on 20th Oct 1833 in Shrawardine.
Emma is my 3rd Great Grandmother 
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Hello
Perhaps you could elaborate a bit how you found the information you have. As far as I can see James EDWARDS baptism is not included in the LDS Family Search coverage of Shrawardine and I can't see him listed in the census.
Mike