James Presant with Elisabeth Cross & Harriet Pratt

James was one of three, or four children of  John Presant and Virture Crowe.  The oldest was Susannah Harriet b: 1810 in Bradiston, Norfolk, the second was George b: 1812 at Acle, Norfolk, according to parish records, then James b: 1817 in Yarmouth.  There is a  fourth child named Barcham Bane b: 1821 per parish transcripts in Gorleston with Southtown, although the name is unusual so I am suspicious about a connection with this person.

Above are the oldest pictures I have of any Presant's so far.   Mrs. Lee is the sister of James, and is assumed to be Sussanah Harriet but I haven't proven that yet, nor can I find any marriages between a Presant and Lee.  I know of two marriages of James Presant.  The first in England and the second in Canada.  James b: 1817 was first married to an Elisabeth Pleasance Crofs, or Cross b: 1818.  The f was used as an "s" back then for certain spellings, but pronounced as two "esses".  There is a civil registration of marriage showing that on February 25, 1839 James Charles Presant , age 23, occupation Miller and living in Yarmouth,  married Elisabeth Pleasance Cross, age 21, residence given as Plough Street in Yarmouth.  The grooms father is listed as John Presant , occupation Butcher.  Father of the bride was John Cross , occupation Gentleman.  Married in the parish church in the parish of Bungay Trinity in the County of Suffolk by license.  

I do know that James and Elisabeth had one child, Edward Henry Presant.  I know that from a registered death that occurred on September 12, 1839 at age 5 weeks.  Informant was James C Presant, the father who is listed as the occupier of House Bradwell.  The registration district is Mutford-Lothingland, so they were living in Bradwell a few miles southwest of Great Yarmouth. James' father and mother are buried in Gorleston, (his mother's maiden name was Crow, or Crowe and she died in Great Yarmouth).  His grandparents are buried in Gorleston.

When James Charles Presant is married a second time in 1845, it is to Harriet Pratt and he is living in Canada and working as a miller in Guelph, Ontario.  This last marriage and their nine children in Ontario and further information was taken from a Presant family history created by his surviving relatives in Canada.

Later in the 1881 Ontario Census James' brother Benjamin is also living in Guelph, with his occupation as Butcher, the same occupation as his father and grandfather.  The older brother to James, William John, is living in Guelph by 1881.  But his occupation has changed from being a Butcher shown in an 1850 city directory for Great Yarmouth to a farmer in Canada.