Please be aware that some assumptions have had to be made in order to re-construct the family lines below.

As shown in Part I, certain PARSONS families have been associated with the parish of Winscombe since 1692, though it must be said that the line did not remain easy to track and there are many gaps. In Part 2 the search is made a little easier because civil registration was introduced in July 1837 and census returns made it possible to group families together. It is not plain sailing however. Most researchers will be wary of ages given on census returns and ages at the time of burial. Some of my family age between censuses faster than the 10 year gap. Another point to bear in mind is that stated place of birth is not always trustworthy, particularly amongst adults. It is fair to say that parents are usually correct in giving the place of birth for their children, but sometimes unreliable when it comes to imparting their own details. Sometimes place of birth is simply not known and appears on the return as such. Often though, the impression is that adults recall places that they have lived rather than their actual place of birth. Finally, the person who gave the census information may have, for a variety of reasons, given incorrect information.

I have followed the lines of six families associated with Winscombe in some way. Some of the information is from Winscombe parish registers, the remainder from the Census returns of 1851, 1861 and 1881.

Three events remain unresolved.

On 22nd June 1821, a William PARSONS bachelor of Winscombe married Ann BOWERS, spinster of the parish of Burrington, in Burrington.

William PARSONS was buried in Winscombe 16 December 1823, aged 68 (born c 1755)

On 11th December 1846, the burial took place in Winscombe of William PARSONS aged 90 (born c 1756) of Portishead.

 Colour code: Base line; First generation; Second generation; Third generation

(iii) 1840 Wm. Edward, Winscombe.

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