After researching this family for ages I stopped with Joseph Shrubsole & Mary Hodges at the top of the tree. Then after extra research I came to the conclusion that unless other evidence presents itself then the Joseph Shrubsole who married Mary Hodges & who was at the top of the tree is the same Joseph Shrubsole who was baptised 16 Mar 1707 [There are just no other Joseph’s I can find about at the time who would fit]. Unless of course someone out there knows otherwise……………………………….….……..
[I need to add something here about the baptisms recorded from the parish of Ham. It has been noted by several members of the Kent Family History Society that people are baptised in Hartlip & the transcripts show the correct parish but they ALSO show the same baptism in the parish of Ham for some reason!
KCC recently published this information: ‘CASE STUDY Archives Digitisation Project: Our vision is to improve access to our archive collections for everyone in Kent; to deliver seamless access to materials that support the study of local people and communities. In 2015 we asked permission of the Church of England parishes in the dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester if they would consider digitising their deposited baptism, banns, marriage, and burial registers, from the earliest up to 1918. Almost all said yes. This was an enormous project, a first for Kent’ archives service. In 2017 we partnered with ‘indMyPast’ to take forward this exciting and huge project. By May 2018 we had digitised 1,300 registers of the 2,600 eligible, well ahead of schedule. We are now identifying extra material for inclusion in the project, including those parish registers still out in the parishes. A go-live date is scheduled for 2019. By digitising the parish registers we will widen access to these documents, and generate income. Digitisation will also allow us to bank the images and provide a resource for the service for years to come.’ - Once this project is complete & you can look at the digital image of both Ham and Hartlip parishes then things should become much clearer.]
The problem I had was that I found the baptism in both Ham and Hartlip on the same date. At Ham there were no parents names given but in view of the above information I am disregarding the transcription of an entry in the parish of Ham.
The baptism in Hartlip 16 Mar 1707 is of Joseph Shrubsole, son of Thomas & Susannah. I already had this tree from Joseph baptised 1707 back through his parents Thomas & Susannah & to Joseph’s grandparents William & Phyllis, so I have linked the two trees together.
There is only one problem I can still see & that is a lot of people have on their Ancestry trees the parents of Joseph (who married Mary Hodges) as John Shrubsole & Ann Tomlyn. I cannot work out that connection at all, nor can I follow the evidence to prove it. As far as I can research John Shrubsole (who married Ann Tomlyn) is the step brother of Joseph - they both had the same father but different mothers. A snippet of the top of the tree as I have it is attached for you to see.
