Thomas NICHOLLS born 1740 in or around Clun

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Sara Clark nee ...
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I have traced my 6 x Great Grandfather Thomas NICHOLLS to Clun and he was born in 1740. He left Shropshire at some point and ended up in Staffordshire. I am trying to find out exactly where he was born and also who his parents were and any siblings. I have just returned from a visit to Clun and visited many of the churches and graveyards in the area. I found plenty of Nicholls graves but without seeing parish records it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack. I am hoping that somebody has perhaps traced their family tree that far back and may be able to help.

david64
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Michael J Hulme
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Hello Sara

It would help if you told us how you know that Thomas NICHOLLS (could be several spelling variations) was born in the Clun area in 1740 when he must have died before the census, which is the usual way to obtain a birth place.

The link above will take you to the Shropshire Baptisms search page on Find my Past and whilst that site lists Clun as one of the parishes that are included in its record set this is very misleading because the only Clun baptisms are for a Methodist Chapel from 1889-1900, just 8 pages of them.

I cant see an exact match for your ancestor on the Family Search web site so all the more reason why you need to provide us with more information as to why you came to this conclusion.

Mike

Sara Clark nee ...
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Hi, thanks everyone for your advice so far.

 Apparently when Thomas NICHOLLS arrived in Tamworth he had to apply for some land and the transcript of the session in court quoted him saying that he was born in 1740 in Clun. I may need to do a bit more research around the Tamworth area although we pretty much know who he married and have followed the line up to present day.

I have joined the Find my Past website so I'm sure I will get some useful info (with a bit of patience).

Michael J Hulme
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Hello Sara

Contrary to what I said above I have now discovered that the Clun Parish Registers are available on the Find my Past web site but they are currently listed as 'Clun and Bryn' not Clun - arrangements are in hand to get this corrected.

I have now checked through the Clun Baptism Register but there is no trace of your Thomas NICHOLLS with that or any other surname spelling.  I have also checked Clunbury, Clungunford, Bishops Castle & Clun Circuit and Newcastle on Clun for twenty years either side of 1740 but there is absolutely no-one with that name.

Mike