Working on my 3rd generation report for the ICAPGen Level 1 study group I almost fell down that proverbial rabbit hole. Edward Langley is my 4 times great grandfather born about 1763, most likely in Over Whitacre,Warwickshire, England. His wife was Mary Jones, and his youngest child was Jane Langley, who married a George Jones. George and Jane Jones named their eldest daughter Ada. You could say I am partial to this particular ancestor because I am the last in a line of five Ada’s.

Returning to my subject, Edward and Mary Langley had 7 children (see above). Their first son Thomas died as a child. Thomas was probably named for Edward’s father. Their second son they named Edward. Edward was baptized 5 July 1795 at the parish church in Coleshill about three and a quarter miles from Over Whitacre where his father had been babtized.

In order to find out as much as possible about Edward Langley senior I looked for other records of his children hoping for a mention of their father. I knew about his daughters Jane and Elizabeth from early searches. I had also found his daughter Mary’s marriage to James Farden.. Usually the boys are fairly easy to follow and the girls get lost when they marry, but this time the girls were all easy to locate.. Once I found Jane’s birth, I discovered the parish records were a treasure. Every four or five pages there was another child of Edward Langley and is wife Mary being baptized. Remember this was well before the first full census in the U.K. in 1841. Their first child Thomas was baptized in 1792. Edward was baptized in 1795 and then I discovered Thomas was buried in 1797 at 5 years of age. Next came Myra in 1799, then Elizabeth in 1801. Mary came along in 1805 and John in 1808. John then is recorded in the parish registry having died at one and a half years in 1810. The final child, Jane ( my direct ancestor) being baptized in 1811.
Edward senior died in 1834, seven years before the UK census in 1841.The will attached to the probate records for Edward Langley only named his wife “my dear wife Mary” and his “daughter Mira Langley”. He refers to “all his children still living”, but failed to provide names.
In that 1841 census for Coleshill, Mary Langley is head of household of independent means. Also at home with Mary is her daughter Myra Langley, Sarah Plumbridge, and Ada Jones. Edward junior would have been about 47 years old so he should be out on his own.

A little background information, in October of 2015 I had made a connection with Dave H. a descendant of Elizabeth Langley Plumbridge. He had generously shared photos of his side of the family along with a photo of the family stone or monument (as the British say) in Coleshill St. Peter & St. Paul churchyard in Warwickshire, England. He had transcribed the stone and I had put the information away. Recently I was doing an extensive search on Edward Langley and had forgotten about Dave’s information.

Rabbit hole directly ahead.
On Find a Grave In Coleshill St. Peter & St. Paul churchyard, Warwickshire, England was an entry for Edward Langley (senior).

This shows Edward’s son Edward died in 1882 (rabbit hole). Once I started investigating this Edward I found him on the probate calendar were his wife is listed as Malvina. I looked up their marriage and noted this Edward’s father was shown to be Joseph Langley. Probably not ours. Still not remembering Dave’s emails I located on Find My Past the transcriptions index an records for Coleshill St. Peter & St. Paul churchyard available for a small fee from Birmingham Midlands Society for Genealogy, I went ahead and ordered and found the error.

It looks like they could not read the monument inscription so went to the parish registry and found an Edward Langley who was buried in 1882. This is probably the information that was used for the Find a Grave listing. This Edward who died in 1882 at 48 years of age would have been born in about 1834 the same year the father died at 71. This Edward seniors wife Mary was about 69 years old. Definitely not our Edward junior. Unfortunately since our Edward Langley (junior) burial is not found in the church records in Coleshill, he most likely is not buried there. I will need to research a little more. He may be the one I discovered who was buried in London. Fortunately for me I have a great photo of the Monument in Coleshill church yard taken by Dave and most of it is legible. I can confirm that Dave’s transcription is accurate.

So even though this was a rabbit hole, I was able to correct the Find Your Grave information. Hopefully this will help others avoid that rabbit hole.