Candidates for the Parents of Margaret (Snowe) Bliss

Citing this biography: Boyd, Michelle, "Candidates for the Parents of Margaret (Snowe) Bliss," article, Olive and Eliza, last accessed [current date]."

Margaret Snowe married Thomas Bliss 14 April 1616 at St. John the Baptist church in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. Her parents are not currently known. There are, however, claims about their identity and her baptismal date on the Internet. These will both be examined here.

Margaret's Supposed Baptismal Date

First, let's examine the claim that Margaret (Snowe) Bliss was baptized in June of 1586 in Gloucester. The record cited for this, however, is a burial record from St. John the Baptist, Gloucester, not a baptismal record. An argument has been made that the clerk accidentally wrote "buried," instead of "baptized," as there is no other Margaret Snowe in the record.

However:

• It was all too common for people to be missed in early parish registers.
• The claim also does not account for the possibility that Margaret came from a nearby parish. While most people in England at this time did not move far from their place of birth throughout their lives and many married someone from their hometown, it was still quite common for people to meet and marry someone from the next town over or even a couple of towns over (within a plausible walking distance from home). Further research is needed in the parish registers in nearby towns.
• There is not enough information in the burial record to determine the age of the Margaret in that record. Therefore, she could have easily have been any age from infant to an elderly widow. In the latter case, she could easily have been old enough to have been born before the 1530s when parish registers first began to be kept, and therefore, might not show in the records prior to the burial.
• If the record was a single burial record in the midst of a list of baptisms, the idea that the clerk made a mistake would be much more plausible. But this is not the case here. The record comes from a page of mixed baptismal, marriage, and burial records in the parish registers of St. John the Baptist, Gloucester, not separated into lists of distinct types of records.

Therefore, I have serious reservations about the claims of Margaret being baptized in June of 1586 and have chosen not to include that date in the biography above, unless further evidence surfaces.

Margaret's Possible Parents

The other claim is that Margaret was the daughter of a John and Elizabeth Snowe. In this case, John is plausible but not proven as her father but Elizabeth is less plausible as her mother.

As noted above, there is no baptismal record for a Margaret Snowe in Gloucester, meaning that most likely either 1) she was from Gloucester but her baptism was unrecorded or 2) she was from a nearby town. A preliminary search of Gloucestershire parish registers identifies two candidate couples, as shown below.

John Snowe and Anne Jeffres of Gloucester

While Margaret is not recorded, there was a Snowe family in Gloucester. John Snowe is recorded as the father of three children baptized close to the time that Margaret would have been born in St. John the Baptist church there. Assuming Margaret was from Gloucester but her baptism was unrecorded, he would be a likely candidate as her father.

The mother was not recorded. While it has been claimed (with no known sources) that her name was Elizabeth, there is no evidence that John ever married a woman of that name. The claim may have arisen from the existence of a burial record of an "Elizabeth Snowe widdow" in 1615/6 in St. John the Baptist church. However, a John Snowe married Anne Jeffres 4 Mar 1586/7 in St. John the Baptist church. A John Snowe was buried 14 Jan 1599/1600 at the same church while an "Anne Snow widdow" was buried 23 Oct 1621 there. It is more likely that Anne was the mother of the three children (and perhaps of Margaret).

Richard Snowe and Agnes Bennett of Bisley

As stated above, the other possible reason that Margaret's baptism did not appear in Gloucester records is that she did not come from Gloucester itself, but from a town within a reasonable distance of Gloucester. The search of Gloucestershire parish registers revealed that a Margaret Snowe, daughter of Richard Snowe, was baptized in 1583 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, about 12 miles away. Richard Snowe of Bisley, clothier, left a will in 1584, naming his wife Agnes and daughter Margaret, as well as other children. The wife Agnes would have been Agnes Bennett, who married Richard Snowe 17 May 1571 in Bisley.

Thus far, the findings are inconclusive and more research is needed to confirm or eliminate these candidates. Both couples have pros and cons. John and Anne do not have a recorded daughter named Margaret but they had children baptized at the same church were Margaret Snowe later married Thomas Bliss. Richard and Agnes did definitely have a daughter Margaret and, while not in Gloucester, would have been within reasonable traveling distance to Gloucester. However, their daughter Margaret would have been 33 at the time of the Bliss-Snowe marriage in 1616, a little bit older than average for a first marriage (and there is no indication that she was a widow in the marriage record), though still reasonable.

A look at Thomas and Margaret (Snowe) Bliss' known children's names, unfortunately do not yield any obvious clues as to her parents' names. In the five years between their marriage and Margaret's burial, they would have had Thomas, Ann, and Sarah Bliss. Son Thomas was probably named after his father. No Sarahs have been found in either John and Anne's family or Richard and Agnes' family. Ann could possibly have been named after Margaret's mother. However, Ann/Anne/Agnes were all interchangeable in that era.

Below are summaries of both couples' families.

Candidate 1: John Snowe and Anne Jeffres

John Snowe married Anne Jeffres 4 March 1586/7 in St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. John was buried 14 January 1599/1600 at St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England and Anne was buried 24 October 1621 at St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester.

John and Anne’s children are:

1	Henrie Snowe, baptized 27 Oct 1588 at St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
2	Gyles Bliss, baptized 7 Nov 1589 at St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England.
3	Frances Bliss, (daughter), baptized 2 May 1591 at St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England.

Note: There was a John Snowe, who was baptized 21 Jun 1583 at St. John the Baptist church, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. No fathers were being recorded in the baptismal records in that parish at the time this child was baptized, so it is unknown how (or if) he was related to the other Snowes recorded in the parish. As there are no other Snowes appearing in the records for the parish, he could possibly be the son of John Snowe, but only if the latter had a wife before Anne Jeffres. In John Snowe's burial mentioned above, he is called John Snowe the Elder, which is intriguing. However, it is not absolutely certain that John Snowe the Elder had a son named John, as sometimes Elder and Younger could also simply mean that there were two men by that name in the town or parish by that name.

Candidate 2: Richard Snowe and Agnes Bennett

Richard Snowe was a clothier of Bisley, Gloucestershire, England. Richard married first Margret Broughton 18 November 1560 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England and second Agnes Bennett 17 May 1571 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England. Richard wrote his will 7 January 1583/4. He was buried 16 Jan 1583/4 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.

Two of the witnesses of Richard's will were John Snowe (who could not be his son, as his son John had died 1582) and James Broughton. A James Broughton married an Alice Snowe 4 February 1560/1 in Bisley, just a couple of weeks after Richard married Margret Broughton. Any relationship between Richard Snowe, John Snowe, and James Broughton is speculative but interesting.

Richard and Margret’s children are:

1	Joane Snowe, buried 24 Oct 1561 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
2	Agnes Snowe, baptized 27 Sep 1562 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, probably the daughter Anne mentioned in her father's will.
3	John Snowe, baptized 11 Jan 1563/4 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, buried 22 Jul 1582 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
4	Richard Snowe, mentioned in his father's will as his eldest son, perhaps the son of Richard Snowe (son unnamed in the records) baptized Oct 1565 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, married Margret Sewell 15 Mar 1592/3 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, a yeoman of Bisley, wrote will 10 Nov 1596.
5	Thomas Snowe, baptized 22 Sep 1567 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, buried 14 Nov 1568 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
6	Alice Snowe, baptized 6 Dec 1568 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, buried 20 Dec 1569 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
7	Margrett Snowe, buried 20 Jan 1569/70 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
8	Thomas Snowe, baptized 18 Mar 1570/1 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.

Richard and Agnes’ children are:

9	Thomas Snowe, baptized 18 Feb 1571/2 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
10	Margret Snowe, baptized 3 Feb 1572/3 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
11	Samuell Snowe, baptized 17 Jul 1574 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, mentioned in his father's will.
12	Marie Snowe, baptized 6 Nov 1575 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, mentioned in her father's will.
13	Ambrose Snowe, baptized 21 Feb 1576/7 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
14	Bregett Snowe, mentioned in father's will. While it is not which of Richard's two wives was Bregett's mother, it is most likely that Bregett was born between the baptism of Ambrose in 1576/7 and the baptism of Edward in 1580, definitely the largest gap in years in the span of time between Richard's first marriage and Richard's burial. Therefore, she was most likely the daughter of Agnes Bennett.
15	Edward Snowe, baptized 29 Jun 1580 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, probably the son Edmund mentioned in his father's will, married Marye Younge in May 1615 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, buried 10 Aug 1650 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
16	Alice Snowe, baptized 8 Feb 1582/3 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.
17	Margret Snowe, baptized 24 Jul 1583 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, mentioned in her father's will.
18	Elizabeth Snowe, baptized 18 Apr 1584 in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, mentioned in her father's will.