Redux: Records of Death for Two Aylard Ancestors

Fresh from the post: I just received three death certificates (technically, Certified Copies of Entries of Death) from the United Kingdom General Records Office (GRO) for some Aylard ancestors. I had purchased these over the Internet about two weeks ago.

One certificate is for John Aylard, a younger brother of my great-great grandfather, William (my genealogy software tells me that John was my 2d great grand uncle). Like William, and their father (also named William), John was a carpenter. However, the certificate verifies that John died in early adulthood, at the age of twenty-one, on 27 March 1842 in Soham. His cause of death was recorded as "inflammation of the lungs." Cross-referencing archaic medical terms, this appears to have been what we would call pneumonia. I think it is not at all unlikely that William later named his first American-born son John in honor of his brother.

The second certificate of note, and of more direct genealogical interest to me, is that of William Aylard — not William Aylard, my great-great grandfather, nor even his father; but my great-great-great-great grandfather! He lived to the respectable age of 81, dying on 29 December 1840 in Fordham. He, too, had been a carpenter, so clearly there was something of a family tradition in the trade. The certificate states that he died of Enteritis, or inflammation of the bowels.

The third certificate is particularly sad, of two-week-old Martin Aylard, who died of "Debility" (lack of movement) on 27 September 1840. I do not yet know his relationship to my direct line, if any, but the fact that his father is named William and that the family lived in nearby Kirtling may suggest a connection.

Research note: I am conducting an ongoing review of every Aylard listed in the Birth/Marriage/Death (BMD) indexes for England, beginning in 1837 when the keeping of official records was first mandated. I record these entries in a research log, and note particularly any listed in the district of Newmarket. This district contains the two small farming towns of Soham and Fordham from which my direct-line Aylard ancestors came. Every so often I will order copies of Newmarket entries, which usually prove to be individuals I know to be closely related. Those who are not, I am very confident, will eventually also prove to be closely related, though perhaps less so.

I have republished this post from my previous blog, Aylard Family Research.