Clearly, it's now the wrong time of year to write about him. So I thought I'd take a look for any "Valentine" PARRYs instead. An exact search on both first name and surname finds 344 records across all collections on Ancestry. But quite a few of them have the middle name of 'Valentine' in the last couple of centuries and, unfortunately, records don't always include middle names, which makes it difficult to follow these people all the way through their lives.
I was intrigued to find two Herefordshire Valentine PARRYs on Ancestry, in the 1700s in the "All England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975". One of these was baptised 25 Mar 1798 at Saint Owen, Hereford, the son of Henry PARRY and Catherine. The other was baptised 13 Feb 1752, at Abbeydore, Hereford, the son of an Anne.
It always pays to check what other sites hold - from FindMyPast, I discovered there was also a burial of a Valentine PARRY at Abbeydore on the 13 Feb 1752 so it seems likely that Anne's baby barely lived, if it did at all.
Regarding the Valentine born in 1798, the "UK, British Army Muster Books and Pay Lists, 1812-1817" on Ancestry do show a Valentine PARRY being mustered at Winchester between 25 Dec 1813-24 Mar 1814, and also between 25 Mar 1815-24 May 1815. Could those entries relate to him?
There's also an entry in the "All Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900" database for a Valentine PARRY, born in Hereford, All Saints, who enlisted in the 81st Foot Soldiers, on 30 Jan 1811, aged just 12. This age would tie in with him being the son of Henry and Catherine.
At enlistment, he was only about 4ft but, by 24 years of age (1823) he was 5ft 7.5 inches. His skin complexion was fair, with dark hair and brown eyes. He enlisted at Eastbourne, signing up for life. There are additional details under the heading "By whom enlisted" which I think states that this was by "Major Milling by permission of the Commander in Chief to be trained as a Drummer" - possibly added as an explanation for enlisting someone so young, the other lads on the page having ages that ranged from 14 - 21 years.
The Registers have some added page numbering, which doesn't seem to fit with the filming order but, if the images on Ancestry are consecutive, then it appears Valentine briefly deserted in Enniskillen, between 30 April 1820 - 2nd May 1820, and that he died in St John, New Brunswick on 3rd September 1829 through "the Visitation of God".
It would be good to find out more about this Valentine, but that's all I know so far.
On FindMyPast, there is also a burial of a Valentine PARRY "of Crickhowell", in 1756, in Llangattock, Breconshire. Unfortunately, the rest of the date is unclear and there is no information about age. Since the entry does not say "son of", it does seem possible that this Valentine is an adult - so where did he come from?
Another question which currently has no answer.
The border area of Herefordshire, Breconshire and Monmouthshire has always been one of my areas of 'particular interest' for Parrys, since my own family tended to 'border hop' between those three counties. I also know that the name Valentine appears in the area in the 1600s as there are three Will abstracts which include it - the Will of Miles PARRY of Dulas, written in 1609 and proved in 1614-5, mentions the sons of his brother Rowland, which include "John, Simon, Valentine & Rowland". The Will of Margery PARRY of Eastnor, spinster, dated 1655 and proved 1658, mentions her brother, "Valentine, of Ewias Harold, gent."
The Will of a Valentine PARRY of Ewias Harold, which was written in 1667, is then proved in 1694.
All of which serves as a reminder that I still have a lot of work to do to make sense of the numerous Herefordshire Parry Wills, in comparison to the pedigrees put together from various documentary sources.
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| A section of a pedigree for PARRYs from Herefordshire |
My "ToDo" list grows ever longer!
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