Friday, July 31, 2009

Siderfin - 3

Today, I extracted all the BMD information from the parishes around Selworthy for the Siderfin family. I had done this earlier and have a copy of the excel file on my website but I had missed a few of the parishes. Transcriptions on line on a site hosted by Martin Southwood have become available and I extracted from some of the parishes that I do not have. In particular I now have the entries for the Augustine Siderfin/Mary Davis family which is my direct line. I am colour coding my new chart with red for entries I have not yet located and green for verified and identified entries.

I also prepared my bio and abstract for my talk in September and sent that off for enclosure in the conference booklet. This will be my last lecture as I find it takes too much of my time to do these talks and there are plenty of people out there now who talk about DNA. I will continue doing my research studies and eventually they will be published. We are slowly working away on these projects.

I booked my microfilm readers for my film at the Family History Centre for my husband and myself on Tuesday. I suspect three hours a day will work very well for both of us. I will photograph the pages so that I can work away at them in my own time. Hutton Cranswick proves to be interesting for the Carling line as well so will collect that information at the same time. I do hope to learn more about the Bradfield Berkshire Lambden family. If this is my Nathanael son of John Lambden and Joan Caruthue he has five siblings: Mary, Sarah, John, Benjamin and Joseph. Interestingly Nathanael and Sarah's children are: Nathaniel, John, William and Elizabeth and all baptized at Andover. whereas Nathanael and his siblings were all baptized at Bradfield, Berkshire.

Tomorrow I will continue searching out the Bradfield, Hutton Cranswick and Driffield families in order to be ready to read the microfilms on Tuesday.

I bought my shoes for our daughter's wedding. Lovely black leather wedge shoes with a strap. They will be most comfortable and they look quite classical for a wedding. Just need the dress now.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Long Island and return

We just arrived back from Long Island having successfully seen all of our daughter's belongings loaded onto a North American Van Lines truck headed for her new teaching post. She doesn't have a lot so will not be too enormous a job to unpack it all when she heads for her new position. We had packed about 80% of her belongings before we left in mid-May. However, it still took a full day of packing to complete the preparation. It was very warm there and working (even with the airconditioning running full blast) was very difficult. We went to Jones Beach in the evening and had a lovely walk along the ocean beach.

The traffic going down to Long Island was really heavy last Sunday and we waited two hours to cross on the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan Island with a much shorter wait to take Throgs Neck Bridge onto Long Island. The four days passed quickly with last minute packing and a trip into New York City to see the Museum of Art - always a really pleasant visit although we were noticing that it was similar to ROM although on a larger scale. Last ride back on the Long Island Railway for a while I expect. I do not think we would have ever spent so much time in New York City or on Long Island if she hadn't been there. It gave my husband the opportunity to really look at all the places where his ancestors lived - he has over 70 early Dutch/French/Belgium ancestors who lived at New Amsterdam (now New York) and about the same number or perhaps slightly greater who lived on Long Island. We have now visited a number of the areas where his ancestors lived in the 1600s (up to the 1800s) including Block Island, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Dutchess County, New York. We will need to have a longer look at New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Once I feel like being in a car for longer than 20 minutes!

No research at all. I completed reading the book :The Tribes of Britain: Who are we? and where do we come from? by David Miles. A really interesting read although very heavy. Length is 500 pages but that wasn't the weight. Rather the detail that he provides necessitates one spending quite a bit of time either remembering the history of the time period or looking up all of his references.

Our films have arrived at the Family History Library - I ordered Hutton Cranswick (Yorkshire), Driffield (Yorkshire) and Bradfield (Berkshire). My husband ordered two Mecklenberg films (Brohm and Staven). We anticipate spending at least two weeks going 4 or 5 times in the week to work our way through the films. I am looking for the Sproxton and Wiles family at Hutton Cranswick and the Harland, Cooper, Sproxton, and Wilkinson families at Great Driffield. At Bradfield I am hoping to learn more about Nathanael Lambden who was baptized there in 1724 - the son of John Lambden and Joan Caruthue. I have not been able to find the marriage of Nathanael Lambden and Sarah around 1851.

My husband is looking at his Schulz, Passow and Naumann families. We already know that the Schulz and Passow families are in the Brohm register but would like to have a longer look at this parish. We recently discovered Staven as a possible place of baptism for his great grandmother Rachel Naumann.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Freeholder List - Somerset - 1647-1648

Working on some of the images that I took at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I have the Somerset Freeholder Lists for 1647-1648 (a few pages that interested me).

Carhampton
C. Christopher Escott of Cuttcombe gent.
C. John Question of Dunster gent.
Thomas Webber of Luxborrowe gent.
John Towilles of Treborowe gent.
Robert Quirke of Mynhead gent.
Francis Hawkwell of Cutcombe
Robert Nurcombe o.t.s.
Edward Pyle of Selworthie
Silvester Allercocke of Dunster
Henry Chapline o.t.s.
James Quirke of Mynhead
Richard Thorne of Treborowe
George Joyce of Cutcombe
John Richards of Oare
John Bryant of Tymberscombe
r.g. Henry Hatfell of Mynehed gent.

Abbreviations:

C. Committee man
gent. gentleman
o.t.s. of the same place as above
arm. armigerous


No Siderfin names were listed in Carhampton or in Williton and Freemannors below.

Williton and Freemannors
C. John St. Albon of Allfoxen arm.
C. John Siddenham of Dulverton arm.
Jacobus Cade of Stogumber gent.
Elias Halfnoth of Olde Cleeve gent.
Henry Sweetinge of Elworthy yeoman
John Nethercott of Winsford yeoman
John Baker of Halse yeoman
Phillip Henborrowe of Holford yeoman
Jeromy Cole o.t.s. yeoman
Robert Skynner of Dulverton yeoman
[entry crossed through]
Alfred Crewse o.t.s. yeoman
John Sellecke of Over Stowey yeoman
Robert Blake of Halse yeoman
John Thorne of Crocombe yeoman
Richard Blake of Stogumber yeoman
Thomas Cridland o.t.s. yeoman
John Truckwell of Elworthy yeoman

The Jurors List of 1697 does include Robert and William Siderfin in Carhampton.

Carrhampton
Thomas Trill of Blackford
John Harrison o.t.s.
a Barrester Richard Ellsworth of Timberscombe arm.
Robert Siderfin o.t.s. arm.
Robert Cordinge of Cuttcombe
Robert Nurcombe o.t.s.
John Chapman o.t.s.
William Biscott o.t.s.
Nathaniel Yandle o.t.s.
Richard Court o.t.s.
George Escott of Durborowe gent.
Thomas Finch o.t.s. gent.
John Staddon o.t.s.
John Worth of Allerford arm.
Walter Coffin o.t.s. gent.
Robert Quicke o.t.s. gent.
Jacobus Blackford o.t.s. gent.
John Kent o.t.s.
Thomas Wrath of Dunstar, Barrister
William Blackford o.t.s. gent. attorney
Francis Pearse o.t.s. gent.
John Whitelock o.t.s. gent.
Robert Allercott o.t.s.
George Delbridge o.t.s.
John Wilkins o.t.s.
Robert Stronge o.t.s.
John Anthony o.t.s.
George Chaplin o.t.s.
Jacobus Wilkins o.t.s.
William Seely o.t.s. apothecary
Thomas Watts o.t.s.
Walter Slocombe o.t.s.
William Leigh o.t.s.
Hugh Matthewes o.t.s.
Robert Hosegood o.t.s.
Edmund Card o.t.s.
Robert Burt o.t.s.
John Hosegood o.t.s.
George Chapman of Wootton Courtney
Gregory Rawle o.t.s.
Thomas Hole o.t.s.
Attwell Whedon o.t.s.
John Whedon o.t.s.
John Kittnor o.t.s.
Thomas Quirke of Minehead gent.
William Blake o.t.s. gent.
Jacobus Quirke o.t.s. gent.
Aldred [sic] Escott o.t.s. gent.
Philip Butter o.t.s.
William Sidervente of the Borough of Minehead
Samuel Hayman o.t.s.
Simon Punter o.t.s.
Peter Godwin o.t.s.
Andrew Hosegood o.t.s.
Thomas Giles o.t.s.
Christopher Devonshire o.t.s.
Edward Spurryer o.t.s.
Lewis Puttham o.t.s.
Robert Quirke o.t.s.
Jacobus Turner o.t.s.
Robert Cordinge o.t.s.
Giles Edmonds o.t.s.

The Freeholder list of 1733 does not list any Siderfin family members at Carhampton.

The Jurors List at Carhampton in 1697 has
Robert Siderfin o.t.s. arm.
William Sidervente of the Borough of Minehead

There were three children baptized at Minehead (Wilmot b 7 Jul 1614, Robert b 27 May 1616 and John b 11 Apr 1619) with father Robert Siderfin in a time period that fits in with the marriage of Robert Siderfin and Ursula Webber (23 Jul 1612 at Luxborough). I do not have a baptism for William who would have been a juror in 1697 in my lists so need to continue drawing out the BMDs for this area. However William at Minehead married Mary Terrel at Selworthy 23 Feb 1692 so would have been old enough to be a juror in 1697.

My Robert at Selworthy was the son of Thomasine who left a will as a widow naming her son Robert and grandson Augustine. Tracing my line back this far fits into the GPS for my Siderfin family chart. Since he is listed as armigerous it might be possible to learn more about this Robert. There are two candidates - Robert (son of Thomas Siderfin and married 4 times) or Robert son of Thomasine (widow of unknown Siderfin). I suspect it is the former since the Thomas Siderfin line was known to have a coat of arms.

Looking at the Protestation Returns and Subsidy of 1641-42 again:


Protestation Returns - 1641-42
Sidderfin Thomas gent Carhampton 1.
Sidderfin Robert Luxborough 2.
Sidderfin Thomas Luxborough 3.
Siderfin William overseer Luxborough 4.
Sidderfin Robert Minehead 5.
Sidderfin John Selworthy 6.

Subsidy 1641-42

Surname Forename Suffix s d Parish
Syderfyn Thos gent 5 6 Carhampton 7.
Syderfyn Thomas 11 Cutcombe 8.
Syderfin Cristian 6 8 Luxborow Everard 9.
Syderfin William 4 8 Luxborow Everard 10.
Syderfyn Thomas 4 6 Minehead 11.
Syderfyn Robert rater 4 7 Minehead 12.
Syderfyn Robert sen 4 Timberscombe 13.
Syderfyn Robert jun 3 Timberscombe 14.
Syderfyn Wm rater 8 1 Treborough Browne 15.
Syderfyn Robert 13 6 Wotton Courtney 16.

We know that there were a number of Siderfin males paying subsidy in Carhampton and a smaller number were listed on the Protestation Returns. The thought has already been expressed that some of these names on the Subsidy are the same person with several properties. Looking at the Protestation Returns we have: John at Selworthy, Robert at Minehead, Robert, Thomas and William at Luxborough, and Thomas at Carhampton. Are Robert and William brothers at Luxborough and sons of Robert Siderfin who died by 31 Jan 1628 at Luxborough (another brother being Thomas at Carhampton) ? Is Robert at Minehead the son of Robert at Luxborough? Is John at Selworthy the son of Robert at Luxborough? Is Thomas at Carhampton the son of William at Luxborough? I now need to find documents that would allow me to link these families in this way other than Sanders book. Proving John at Selworthy to be the son of Robert and the husband of Thomasine would link my line back to Robert and Christian Siderfin at Luxborough.

From the Freeholder list the Siderfin family was not holding land as freeholders in 1647 which seems odd given the Subsidy of 1641-42 but they could have been holding the land by copyhold (or leasehold) in 1641-42 and would not be listed as freeholders.

Today I shall continue searching through the images that I brought back from the Allen County Public Library.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Ph.D. defense

My most exciting news of the last couple of days is my eldest daughter's successful defense and submission of her Ph.D. Thesis. She is now officially a Ph.D. in her chosen field of study - Library Science. It seems a long way from her first school days when she was already able to read and write comfortably - an accomplishment for a four year old which stood her in good stead in the years ahead. Initially I wondered if she had just memorized the books but as we went further afield into libraries and she would read books she hadn't seen before I knew she had accomplished that one task that separates us from our babyhood. Congratulations to my eldest daughter.

Our second exciting news was a visit to Fort Wayne and another Rathbun Reunion. Whilst there we attended the Allen County Public Library which is truly a marvelous collection of genealogical material quite likely only eclipsed by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in the United States. I held in my hands there, the original of the Siderfin family published by James Hooper Sanders in 1912. What a thrill that was and I carefully photographed every page. It is out of copyright. Although there are a number of errors in his charting, the text of his book is a fascinating story of the Siderfin family as he puts forth his proof for the subsequent genealogy that he produced. I think that he made transposition errors (or he hired someone to make the tree and didn't check it well). He can certainly be forgiven for his errors (he was 68 when he created this family history). Already his mother had been dead for 30 years and it was her family line that he was tracing. More on the Siderfin family later. I will put up a transcription of the book on my website.

The drive to Fort Wayne was quite beautiful. We traveled to London, Ontario and then on through Sarnia/Port Huron and across to Flint and Lansing and then turned south heading for Fort Wayne. That is actually your destination on the road signs making it very straight forward to do the drive. There was a little construction but not that much actually considering the distance that we traveled. The wait at the border going into the USA was about 50 minutes and about 40 minutes coming back into Canada. We went down on a Sunday and came back on a Thursday.

While we were at the Genealogy centre in the Allen County Public Library I took a total of 390 pictures of various items (including 55 images of the Siderfin book) and will now work at transcribing some of the details which I will add to my blog in the weeks and months ahead. I am still working on my 2500 images from Salt Lake City and the Family History Library there and I have another 100 images from our visit to the Ontario Archives. There I took pictures of the Talbot Maps and I would like to produce a listing of the individuals listed on his maps. I have a longer interest in Colonel Talbot but this is a beginning. Needless to say I have an entire winter's work ahead of me. Fortunately I already have my lecture in September prepared except for making any last minute revisions due to new evidence or results. Other than that my time will be spent transcribing and sorting through all my images.

Our next big event is our youngest daughter and her partner's events and more on that later.

We came through heavy heavy rain on our way home yesterday which slowed us down a little but after the rain came the clearing and some of the most spectacular rainbows that I have ever seen. They were absolutely huge and the lighting incredibly strong. The last couple of hours were much improved for lighting and we arrived home exactly at midnight (as predicted by our GPS).

Today I need to copy over my images to my main computer from the portable, wash clothes and come back to earth once again and see what else I can accomplish.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Siderfin - 2

Today I continued with my pursuit of the Siderfin Family. Using Martin Southwood's excellent transcriptions (credit is as given on the webpages), I continued looking at the small villages around Selworthy and discovered, much to my surprise, Symon Mogridge (s/o David and Emmet) baptized at Culbone 28 Mar 1686. There are a number of Mogridge family members there and a number of burials which includes a Simon Mogridge in 1715. I know there was a Simon Mogridge baptized at Porlock in 1645 and it is this Mogridge which I now find at Culbone. Since I know that Symon went on to marry Mary Phelp 9 Feb 1724 at Selworthy and that he was buried at Selworthy 9 Nov 1766 I have no doubt of his existence! Finding him has been more of a challenge so that was a very rewarding search. He had a younger brother who died at a very young age. I could not find a marriage for David and Emmet but this is a usual name for the Mogridge family at Porlock (David). I have two Moggridge lines. Symon Mogridge and Mary Phelp's daughter Sarah married John Rew and his paternal grandmother was Grace Moggeridge (so many different spellings). Grace was baptized at Porlock 2 Dec 1668 and the daughter of Robert Moggeridge and Elizabeth Snow. Robert and Elizabeth were married 26 Nov 1659 at Porlock Somerset. There was a large Moggeridge/Mogridge/Moggridge family at Porlock and I need to draw them out. I bought the Porlock registers a few years back but haven't worked on them very much yet.

I appear to be moving away from the Siderfin family with all of this chit-chat but it was Elizabeth Siderfin who married John Rew (son of John Rew and Sarah Moggridge). Hence the very strong interest plus the Rew family was found at Wootton Courtney where Elizabeth was baptized and the debate is on whether she is baptized at Wootton Courtney because of the Rew family or because of the Siderfin family.

Another researcher believes that James Hooper Sanders (author of the book on the Siderfin Family published in 1912) is descended from Elizabeth's eldest brother John. At the moment I have John married to Joan Adams but there is merit to what he is saying. If John Siderfin married Sarah Clark then the idea that my family is found at Knowle makes sense as this is the John Siderfin at Knowle. However, it then makes the grandfather of the book author Robert Siderfin a second cousin to my 2x great grandmother. For a family that tended to pass down family information this is a surprise. Plus we do not own a copy of the book in our family. However, my family did emigrate to Canada but two of the author's aunts emigrated as well - one to the USA and one to Australia and I know that the Australian family has a copy of the book. I am rather mystified and will continue drawing out the old information on the Siderfin family.

I was concentrating on the 1800s and willing to go with the family tree but definitely I think this does need to be sorted out. Obviously in his family his grandfather had a strong interest in family history and would have known who his grandfather was and that brings us all the way back to 1824 and the father of the groom is on the marriage registration. So we are back to the 1788 Thomas Siderfin and there is a will that helps out there to bring us back one more generation to the John in question. Really the question is who is the father of the John who married Joan Adams and who is the father of the John who married Sarah Clark. That will be something that I will be looking at this next week to try and solve that mystery.

In actual fact it doesn't affect my line at all as I go straight back from Elizabeth (Betsy) Siderfin baptized 19 Jun 1759 at Wootton Courtney whose parents were Robert Siderfin (baptized 23 Jun 1726 at Cutcombe) and Grace Kent (baptized 21 Apr 1731 at Selworthy). Why was Robert baptized at Cutcombe - his mother was from Cutcombe (at least Augustine Siderfin and Mary Davies were married there 29 Apr 1720). Why did Robert and Grace go to Wotton Courtney - Augustine Siderfin was still alive in 1759 at Wootton Courtney although the older children were all baptized at Selworthy. But Augustine's mother was Elizabeth and perhaps my 3x great grandmother was named after her and they decided to take her to Wootton Courtney to baptize her there to please him. Who knows!

Tomorrow I will continue to look at the Siderfin family.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Siderfin - 1

I spent my day on the Siderfin family looking at the Parish Registers, Protestation Returns and Tax Subsidies.

Protestation Returns - 1641-42
Sidderfin Thomas gent Carhampton 1.
Sidderfin Robert Luxborough 2.
Sidderfin Thomas Luxborough 3.
Siderfin William overseer Luxborough 4.
Sidderfin Robert Minehead 5.
Sidderfin John Selworthy 6.

Subsidy 1641-42

Surname Forename Suffix s d Parish
Syderfyn Thos gent 5 6 Carhampton 7.
Syderfyn Thomas 11 Cutcombe 8.
Syderfin Cristian 6 8 Luxborow Everard 9.
Syderfin William 4 8 Luxborow Everard 10.
Syderfyn Thomas 4 6 Minehead 11.
Syderfyn Robert rater 4 7 Minehead 12.
Syderfyn Robert sen 4 Timberscombe 13.
Syderfyn Robert jun 3 Timberscombe 14.
Syderfyn Wm rater 8 1 Treborough Browne 15.
Syderfyn Robert 13 6 Wotton Courtney 16.


Robert and Elizabeth Siderfin baptize a daughter Elizabeth in 1657 at Timberscombe. In 1731 Joan Siderfin daughter of Robert and Joan is baptized. No baptism for Robert Siderfin at Timberscombe. There doesn't appear to be a continuous family line at Timberscombe although Robert Senior and Robert Junior are both found at Timberscombe on the 1641-42 Subsidy.

Historical Perspective: John Siderfin died before 1551 leaving a son William because of the Chancery Proceedings of Siderfin v Foster (see Sanders Book). By 1553, a writ dated 14 May 7 Edward VI (1553) was executed requesting the presence of William and Christian (his wife) Siderfin at Westminster. William left a will dated 20 Aug 1568 and proved at Taunton 15 May 1572 in which he names his son Robert and daughter Jone (married to William Westerne). Robert was born before 1568. The daughter Jone doesn't marry William Westerne until 13 Feb 1602. They have a son Robert mentioned in the will of Jone's brother Robert in 1628. With these thoughts in mind one is left to wonder if Jone was still a young child when William wrote his will. By the time Robert's will is written in 1627 it is 59 years since Robert was mentioned in his father's will. He too could have been still a young child.

Transcription of the will of Robert Siderfin (Probated 31 January 1628)

In the name of God Amen The
nineteenth daie of August in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand sixt hundred
twentie and seaven I Robert Siderfin of the parish of Luxborowe within the
dioces of Bath and Wells being somewhat sicke in body but of perfect minde
and memory praise bee to allmightie god therefore. I doe make this my last will and
testament in manner and forme following. First I bequeath my soule to allmightie
god and my body to bee buried in the Chauncell of Luxborowe Item I give to the Cathedrall
church of Wells vijd. Item I give to Robert Siderfin the sonne of William Siderfin and
to Robert Westeron the sonne of William Westeron and to Robert Siderfin the sonne of
Robert Siderfine of Mynehead to any of them one heafer yeardling Item I give to all the
rest of my sonne and daughters children to every of them five Ewe sheepe apiece Item I give to
the poore of Cutcombe 6s and to the poore of Luxborowe 6s. Item I give to William

[page 2]

Siderfin my sonne my best meane and ploughstuffe for eight ____ to bee deliv[ere]d him after the decease
of Christian my wife and the cubbard in the hall and table board in the farme to bee delivered as abovesaid
Item I give unto Marie Siderfin my daughter unmarried two hundred pounds. Item I give and
bequeath unto Thomas Siderfin my sonne and Mary Siderfin my Daughter all that tearme of
yeares and estate which I have in a tenement called South Wheddon lying within the parish of
Cutcombe Item I give unto the said Thomas Siderfin and Marie Siderfin my seale for yeares
for to Keepe one hundred sheepe upon Brundon and my whole interest and estate therein as
alsoe I give unto the said Thomas Siderfin and Mary Siderfin my lease for tearme of yeares
which I have in Seaven acres of wood lying within the parish of Luxborrowe be my part of Priory
Wood and all such trees as are by the same lease granted mee with forsaid premises are lying
within the Countie of Somerset Item I give unto every of my Godchildren twelve pence apiece
And fourtie pounds of my said daughter Marys portion or also my daughter Janes portion
which is yet unpaid in a great parte is to bee paid by my sonne William unto one of them
which he upon good consideration hath undertaken to paie Item I give unto Elner Westeron and
Johanne Doutch three pounds apiece to bee paid within two years after my decease the residue
Of my goods not given nor disposed I give and bequeath unto Christian my wife and Thomas
Siderfin my sonne whom I make my sole Execators of this my last will In witness whereof
I have hereunto sett my hand Robert Siderfin Witnessed here unto The marke of
Christopher Webber The marke of Robert Coyp The marke of John Burges


We know the date of the marriages of William and Robert Siderfin (sons mentioned in the will) - William married Christian Webber 5 Feb 1610 at Loughborough and Robert married Ursula Webber 23 July 1612. These two were probably born after 1568 since they are not mentioned in the will. In the will he does mention that his son and grandson Robert Siderfin (12.) are living at Minehead. The baptism of the grandson at Minehead was in the register 27 May 1616. We can now start to put the members of family into a date perspective. Since this is my likely line I can now see from John Siderfin (died by 1631) who was the furtherest back family patriarch with wife Christian to his two children William (already mentioned and married to Wilmot Foster (this holds up through the legal wrangling mentioned above)) and Christian who married George Escott 14 Jun 1542. This needs to be followed up a there is an Escott will later that passes land to my side of the Siderfin family plus there is an Escott marriage. I need to find any Escott children and trace them down. Following through William and Wilmot's children who are Robert and Jone. Robert married Christian

Robert Siderfin (12) (son of Robert and Christian) and his son Robert are clearly identified as being at Minehead. This is my likely ancestor. The will identifies the other two children of Robert Siderfin at Minehead as Wilmot and John. In 1647 none of them appear to be married although their baptisms are in 1614, 1616 and 1619. John receives a very small bequest but he is the younger son. Robert senior and junior at Timberscombe (13., 14.) would also appear to be this family as there aren't any other Robert father and son combination in 1641-42. Robert the father of Robert senior has died by 1628. The question though is the John (6.) at Selworthy on the Protestation Returns the youngest son of Robert senior (12.). James Hooper Sanders indicated he was on his chart. We do know that the Robert at Selworthy (baptized 23 Aug 1658) is the son of the widow Thomazine and that his son Augustine is her grandson from the will of Thomazine (not yet seen by me).

We need more information on John (baptized at Minehead) and John listed at Selworthy on the Protestation Returns. He does not pay subsidy in 1641-42 but he would only be 22 years old. That is the link for which we need to provide more proof.

Thomazine Siderfin (mother Robert and grandmother of Augustine) is buried at Wootton Courtney (11 Aug 1709). This brings me back to the Subsidy Chart and Robert Siderfin (16.) at Wootton Courtney in 1641-42 on the Tax Subsidy and he must be the Robert Siderfin (2.) at Luxborough on the Protestation Returns. The query that constantly arises is whom did Thomazine Siderfin marry? Since she is buried at Wootton Courtney, her son Robert is buried at Wootton Courtney, her son Augustine is buried at Wootton Courtney, his son Robert is buried at Selworthy but several of Robert's children are baptized at Wootton Courtney (including my 3x great grandmother) and the others at Selworthy. I think my next step is buying the will of Thomazine Siderfin once I find it!

Wills that I have abstracts of:

William Siderfin
Lived at Luxborough, Somerset
Will dated 20 Aug 1568
Probate 16 May 1572
Christian, burial in Chancel
All bequeathed to Wilmot, his wife
Witnessed by Mr. Alexander Sydenham

Christian Siderfin
Lived at Luxborough, Somerset
Widow
Will dated 28 Nov 1644
Probate 4 July 1648
Daughter Mary Gyldes (lives at Dunster, widow)
Son William Siderfin
Son Thomas Siderfin
Son Robert Siderfin
Daughter Wilmot Siderfin
Sons of Thomas Siderfin (her son) Thomas and Philip

Thomas Siderfin
the elder of Luxborough, Somerset
Gentleman
Will dated 6 Nov 1675 (no probate)
To the poor 10 pounds
His wife is Johan
Son Robert Siderfin
Son Thomas Siderfin (50 pounds) and all his law books
All children to receive one peece of Barbary gould
Grandchild La....
Johan his wife executrix

Thomas Siderfin
Middle Temple, London
Esquire
Will dated 17 Mar 1678
Will proved 15 June 1681 (by Ann Siderfin, widow)
Wife Ann
Brother Robert Siderfin and wife Ann to receive his messuages of Crodon, Manors of Exton and South Quarme (in Exton), lands in Carhampton, Somerset, and in Lambeth
100 pounds a year to his wife
50 pounds per year to Anne his daughter
Survivor of wife and brother to receive lands in Somerset

Katherine Sidderfin alias Graves
Croydon, Carhampton, Somerset
Died at Exeter
Husband Robert Sidderfin
Administration granted 23 Nov 1686 to husband

Thomas Siderfin
Luxborough, Somerset
Administration to his widow Mary 4 Nov 1687
Daughter Christian (wife of John Worth)

Mary Siderfin
Luxborough, Somerset
widow
Will dated 19 Nov 1689
Will proved 10 Oct 1693
Grandchildren: Susanna Worth, Christian Worth, Mary Worth and Sarah Worth
Daughter Christian Worth

Ann Siderfin
Lambeth
Widow
Will dated 22 Mar 1687
Will proved 5 Mar 1706
Buried at Lambeth near husband and mother
Aunt Gee
Aunt Gee's sons Orlando and Joe Gee
Cousin Gilbert East

William Siderfin
Minehead, Somerset
Gentleman
Will dated 9 Mar 1716
Will proved 17 Dec 1723
Niece Rachael Clothier
Wife Mary to be Executrix

Richard Blackford
Dunster, Somerset
King's Masters Extraordinary in the Court of Chancery
Will dated 8 Jan 1688
Will proved 4 Apr 1689
Wife Elizabeth Blackford
Son William
Daughter Sidwell Blackford
Sister Mary Coffin
Sister Christian Blackford
Cousin John Quirck
Cousin Robert Siderfin
Sister ....Hawkins
Son in law Edward Dyke
Daughter Elizabeth Dyke

Mary Quirke
Periton, Minehead, Somerset
Widow
Will dated 3 Mar 1728
Will proved 29 April 1730
Son in law Walter Siderfin
Grandson Thomas Quirke
Daughter Mary Question
Daughter Alice Siderfin
Son John Quirke
Son James Quirke
Son Robert Quirke
Son Thomas Quirke

Robert Quirck
Minehead, Somerset
Gentleman
Will dated
19 July 1731
Will proved 9 July 1731
Uncle Mr. Robert Siderfin (Executor)
Son of kinsman Mr. Walter Siderfin, is Robert Siderfin, gives his estate in Old Cleeve

With all these mentions of the Siderfin family in wills and abstracts I have not yet seen the will of Thomasine Siderfin (mother of Robert and grandmother of Augustine), widow. She was buried 11 Aug 1709 at Wootton Courtney.

Andover Parish Register 2 - 7

I completed the second Register for Andover this morning - the last three of four pages were a real challenge. I might go back again and try to redo before I start on the third register. I have a lot of partials and blanks in the 2nd register. There are now 3030 baptisms, 739 marriages and 2606 burials. This small town is showing healthy growth although there must have been some sort of disease in April and May of 1642 as the numbers dying was quite high for that time period and included my 9x great grandfather William Blake who would have been 55 years old.

I will leave Andover once again and return to Timberscombe to work on the Parish Registers there. I also want to take a peak once again at the Siderfin family. I spent about an hour talking to Siderfin researchers in England. He is likely my 5th cousin but might be my 7th as he is tracing back along a different line. I want to also check the BMDs for the area as I reconstructed the tree that James Hooper Sanders had published in 1910. I may not have gone back far enough though to catch the change that they have mentioned to me. Since they are there and I am here I tend to think that they probably got it right! So I would need to disprove with solid proof from the BMDs. We share Augustine Siderfin who was a schoolteacher and left a will which they will likely see today. I would love to see that will actually and must purchase it one of these days. It seems certain that Augustine's father was Robert and his mother Elizabeth . When Augustine is buried in 1762 my 3x great grandmother was already 3 years old so might have been mentioned in his will. Becoming a teacher was a "family" thing in that family. Two of my 3x great grandmother's siblings were teachers as well as my 3x great grandmother. Going beyond Robert the father of Augustine Siderfin appears to be problematic. James Hooper Sanders clearly shows this to be John Siderfin (b c 1619) married to Thomasine who left a will in 1707 naming her son Robert and grandson Augustine amongst others. However the name of her husband is not mentioned. The family appears to be buried at Wootton Courtney but this John was buried at Selworthy which is perhaps a clue in itself. He is buried much later than see (1707 compared to 1731). Is it the correct husband? Moving backwards from John appears to be straightforward. I have removed all entries above Robert on my webpage for the moment until I find proof for this continuous relationship.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here - clear and finally warm in the afternoon. A cold night the night before going down to 8 degrees celsius. That is cold even for Ottawa! Today it rained first thing and will likely be overcast as more rain is promised. The garden is enormous this year and the birth of baby bunnies equally amazing as they munch away in the garden. My husband has put up wire cages everywhere but they sit on top of the cage and eat the vegetation through the breaks in the wire!

Today I will look at Siderfin since my cousins are busy at Taunton Record Office in Somerset. That way if they do decide to get back to me again I may have a few more comments. I sent them the Protestation Returns and Subsidy for 1641-42 for the Siderfin family. Reading through the information an explanation is given for the longer list of Siderfin family members paying subsidy than the list for Protestation Returns. If an individual pays subsidy on more than one property than their name will appear as many times as they pay a subsidy - which quite makes sense!

Siderfin Family

Protestation Returns - 1641-42
Sidderfin Thomas gent Carhampton
Sidderfin Robert Luxborough
Sidderfin Thomas Luxborough
Siderfin William overseer Luxborough
Sidderfin Robert Minehead
Sidderfin John Selworthy

Subsidy 1641-42

Surname Forename Suffix s d Parish
Syderfyn Thos gent 5 6 Carhampton
Syderfyn Thomas 11 Cutcombe
Syderfin Crispian 6 8 Luxborow Everard
Syderfin William 4 8 Luxborow Everard
Syderfyn Thomas 4 6 Minehead
Syderfyn Robert rater 4 7 Minehead
Syderfyn Robert sen 4 Timberscombe
Syderfyn Robert jun 3 Timberscombe
Syderfyn Wm rater 8 1 Treborough Browne
Syderfyn Robert 13 6 Wotton Courtney


This is the time period in question. One wonders is Robert our ancestor as he is at Wootton Courtney and/or is John at Selworthy. Definitely Thomasine widow of our Robert's father is buried at Wootton Courtney. John doesn't own any property but does that negate him? We can not be sure until we find a positive link. My 3x great grandmother was baptized at Wootton Courtney as were two of her sisters Grace and Ann. All of her brothers were baptized at Selworthy. The two villages - Selworthy and Wootton Courtney - are only three miles apart. John may have found it advantageous to sign the Protestation Return at Selworthy (he would have been 22 years old at the time and the Robert at Wootton Courtney appears to be the wealthiest of the Siderfin family. Robert could be John's father. I think I need to find a burial for Robert Siderfin married to Ursula Webber. I had sorted all these men out in the Subsidy so will have to go back and rethink it. That was before my blog. Now I write everything down so that I can go back and remember what I thought with evidence!

Looking at Wootton Courtney I see that Robert Siderfin and Elizabeth Siderfin (both of Selworthy) were buried there in 7 Mar 1731 and 28 Dec 1738. Could this be the parents of Augustine Siderfin. Is John being at Selworthy just a feature of that village being the closest to where he was farming? When did John die and where is he buried? I will try to answer those questions today looking at the BMDs for the villages. Just noting that Joanna (the eldest daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Siderfin of Selworthy) is buried at the age of 8 years at Wootton Courtney (and she is noted as being the daughter of Robert of Selworthy). Is this a sufficient link to prove that Robert at Selworthy is the direct descendant of Robert Siderfin and Ursula Webber?

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Andover Parish Register 2 - 6

I continued with the Andover Parish Registers #2 once again today. I have just 9 pages left in this register and will try to mostly complete it tomorrow. There are now 2968 baptisms, 739 marriages and 2430 burials.

Henxman entries:

Henxman wife Henxman Thomas 1632 June 20
Henxman Richard son Henxman Mr. John 1635 December 9
Henxman Margreatt wife Henxman Mr. William 1637 December 27

The spelling for Hinxman in this register is definitely Henxman.

Batt Richard Henxman Thomsen 1637 October 16
Noyes Samuell Henxman Jane 1638 February 25 both otp
Henxman Thomas Horne Mary 1641 July 5


A couple of new Blake entries that I was looking for - children of Richard Blake (older brother to my William). His son is born after the Visitation of London and he died at the age of four. I just do not feel that this Richard is the Richard Blake in the Visitation.

The Register has its good pages and its really dreadful pages and the flat file shows that very well with its empty squares! However, I will know that entries are missing in that time period and if it affects my family lines that I can make an even greater effort to read the pages. I tend to look carefully though to see if it is an entry of any of my family names.

I spent time on Genealogy Wise once again. I think it is going to be an excellent site for picking up new ideas and information. In the course of a day of reading I can come across interesting bits of information that would probably be of value to others and just seeing names and events in posts can serve to bring the thought to the surface and I can then relay the information. We are just at the beginning though now. I need to spend a little time with Andrew Rowcliffe once again to re-remember my thoughts since the time that I spent on him predates this blog unfortunately!

I received an email about Siderfin and I need to think about the comments. Basically they are taking our mutual line back in a direction that I can not agree with since the wills clearly indicate that their ancestor was a brother to my ancestor and I know that my ancestor's father was Robert. However, they are into the Record Office so we will see what they can find there. I am very confident back to Augustine Siderfin now but would like to see his will. They will likely do that tomorrow. That could change ideas but we will see.

Tomorrow I will work on the Parish Registers for Andover - I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that I will complete the second Parish Register. The next register (3) is 3 fiche or 171 pages. I know that it has some difficult sections once again but I am working forward to the really good copy that Andover Parish has in later years. Some new names are appearing at Andover but still the older names are current there. Andover is growing slowly.

I was working on my Genuki pages. I am getting an error message and it is from my creating my *.html files from Excel. If I take out the text that is creating the problems then I lose some of the formatting and it is so easy to format with Excel. I shall have to work up a solution. One solution would be to put them on my own website but the idea was to have them up on Genuki's website for permanence.

Next set of registers to work on will be Timberscombe.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Andover Parish Register 2 - 5

Another day on the Andover Parish Registers and I was typing the burials when I discovered three pages of marriages with one upside down. I transcribed all those marriages and found one interesting Blake marriage. Widow Ann Blake married and I am still trying to decide who this widow would be. I then continued with the burials and completed to the end of 1635 (began at 1634). The marriages that were upside down were from 1641 and are missing from the IGI so a real find.

I will note the new Henxman entries tomorrow night as I have closed the file for the night.

I also worked on Genealogy Wise and the Rowcliffe family. I have a second member of the group who descends from Andrew Rowcliffe and Joan Harvey. Another cousin thinks that the IGI is correct with having William as the father of Andrew. I am still ambivalent. I think that perhaps Andrew is the son of Andrew but that the entry giving his birth as 1695 is incorrect. There isn't a William on the St Pauls Brief at Merton and Andrew is definitely at Merton - he farms land at Merton. Joan is baptized in 1690 at Dolton and she is buried in 1760 giving her a lifespan of 70 years which isn't unreasonable. They marry in 1720 at Merton. More time is needed looking at the Merton and Meeth registers to see if I can find a few more answers. The first register for Merton that is extant is Parish Register 2.

Tomorrow I will continue with the Parish Registers. I would like to complete the burials this week for Parish Register 2. I am just starting page 11 of the third row which leaves me with 16 images. I have been doing about 6 per day so it is reasonable that I could complete this fiche by Thursday.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Andover Parish Register 2 - 4

I continued working on the Andover Parish Register 2 today and completed the baptisms for this register. There are now 3028 baptisms in the excel file. There are two new Henxman entries:

Henxman Christian daughter Henxman Joseph 1637 January 18
Henxman Elizabeth daughter Henxman Joseph 1640 May 26

These are the grandchildren of my 10x great grandfather Richard Blake's sister Eleanor who married Joseph Hinxman.

I started into the marriages and there are now 663 marriages in the excel file.

This is going to be an enormous file when it is completed up to 1900 at some point in the distant future!

We went to the Re-enactment of one of the Battles of the War of 1812-1814 at Upper Canada Village today. Yesterday the events were rained out but today the battle took place. It was extremely well done and one of the units was the Royal Artillery. My great grandfather served in the Royal Artillery from 1864 to 1885 so was pleased to see the uniform. I imagine it was somewhat changed from 1812-1814 but probably not a great deal. We are toying with the idea of taking on re-enactments as members of the Royal Artillery (my husband and I). I also have one 3x great grandfather who was in the 23rd Regiment of Foot so that too would be interesting. He served in the Peninsular Wars. It is possible that I have a second 3x great grandfather who served in the Peninsular War as well. I am still trying to discover if he did.

Tomorrow I shall continue with the transcription of the Andover Parish Register 2. I think perhaps I will complete this Register and then go back to the Timberscombe and complete a number of the Bishops Transcripts pages. Then I will return to do the 3rd Parish Register which is one that I especially want to look at for Andover. It will not likely answer particular questions but having all the data will be helpful.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Genealogy Wise

A bit of eye strain so I decided to leave the Andover Parish Registers alone for a day. Just a couple of years left of baptisms and then I start the marriages and after that the burials. I have completed the first row of images and I am working on the 4th image of the second row (12 images to a row). There are 4 complete rows and 4 images in the fifth row. A total of 52 images on this fiche so I am just a little over 1/4 of the way through Parish Register 2.

I worked on Genealogy Wise for a while creating a few new groups. I had created my personal Blake Family of Hampshire UK, Pincombe one name study and Siderfin one name study. I have now created a Hampshire Genealogy group (UK), a Routledge from Bewcastle Cumberland group, an H11 mt DNA group, and a Buller Surname group. I have joined a number of groups including an England Family History, London Genealogy, Devon Genealogy, Warwickshire, Tapp, and a Blake Surname. I joined the Blake Surname group out of curiosity as I already have my Blake Family of Hampshire UK group.

Tomorrow I hope to spend some time on the Andover Parish Registers once again. Next week I will get back to Timberscombe Parish Registers.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Andover Parish Register 2 - 3

Carried on with the Andover Parish Registers again today and completed to the end of 1639 which is 2903 baptisms in total now in my excel file. A couple of new Blake entries and one surprising one which was a daughter (unnamed) to old Mr. William Blake. I shall need to work that one out. Again a couple of new names but still the older names continue in the register. This Register stops at 1642 and I will then do the marriages from 1634 to 1642 and following that the baptisms from 1634 to 1641. Then I can begin Register 3 which runs from 1642 to 1684. This will be a most interesting register and hopefully in better shape than the second register. I do know that ahead of me are pages and pages of neatly written baptismal, marriage and burial records. That will inspire me to keep going!

We went for a 10.5 km bike ride this morning and it was quite fresh. The parkway is closed for the next six weeks so we can partake of that great roadway every day of the week instead of just Sunday mornings when it is closed to traffic. I miss bike riding in the winter. It is very relaxing just to stroll along the Ottawa River on our bikes feeling the wind and enjoying the greenbelt.

I added Hampshire to my groups at Genealogy Wise. I need to update with information on Hampshire. I will advertise the DNA study at FT DNA as well. Acquiring people with a paper trail back to Hampshire is quite difficult actually. I only have six people of the 21 who are in the study. I asked to set up a Midlands and Birmingham mtDNA study and that one is still in the thought process. We will see if they are willing to set up this one. I think it will be very interesting as a study because Birmingham is like a crossroads with people coming there from the counties around Birmingham (Midlands); coming from Wales to Birmingham to work in the cotton factories; coming to Ireland to escape the famine and coming from Scotland to work in the factories. We should find an enormous variety of mtDNA and I will ask for a paper trail back to Birmingham and the Midlands. I have to decide which counties to include although it could be that that terminology is already decided for me.

This evening we went and ordered films from the Family History Centre - I ordered Hutton Cranswick and Driffield Yorkshire and Bradfield Berkshire. My husband ordered Staven, Schonbeck and Brohm Mecklenberg Germany. We are trying to put together his Schultz family for the next reunion in September. We have the details now for his great grandfather Schultz and want to acquire the details for his great grandmother Neumann. It has been quite a chase looking for their details.

Tomorrow I will work on the Andover Parish Registers. I think I will concentrate on them for a few days and then pick up the Timberscombe Transcripts again. I want to complete the Timberscombe by the end of August. The Andover will be a much longer proposition as I have 100 fiche for Andover up to the early 1900s.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Andover Parish Register 2 - 2

I continued working on the Andover Parish Register 2 - baptisms and completed up to the end of January 1638 with a total of 2839 baptisms now recorded. A couple of new Blake baptisms that I knew should exist and now I have them in the database. These are Richard's children (older brother to my William) and I continue to think that it is a mistake to think that the Richard Blake in the London Visitation is this Richard. I believe that he is descended from the Robert Line (as opposed to the Nicholas Line). I just happen to be descended from both lines as the parents of my William and his brother Richard are descended from the Nicholas line (their father Richard Blake) and the Robert line (their mother Jone Blake). A few new family lines have appeared but the old ones are still at Andover.

We put in a busy day with visiting the dogs at noon to take them out for a short walk and then they came back to us this evening and helped us to eat up the left over chicken. They both really enjoyed their plates of chicken.

Genealogy Wise is a new social networking site especially for Genealogy so I have joined and set up a Pincombe and Siderfin group. I will setup a Blake group as well for my Hampshire Blake family. I joined the Guild of One Name Studies Group and the Devon Group.

Tomorrow I will continue working on the Andover registers. They are a challenge right now as the copy is very poor.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Andover Parish Register 2

I commenced the 2nd Register for Andover Parish and as I had said earlier it is a challenge. I managed 173 baptisms today (completed 6 pages) which was about 2.5 years worth. It is almost impossible to read some of the entries and what helps me is knowing who may be there and piecing the letters together to make the names! I did find a couple of Blake entries that I was looking for - daughters of Richard elder brother to my William. Richard and Joanne his wife had five daughters and three sons with only the daughters and one son surviving infancy. A number of writeups on the Blake family name this Richard as the Richard on the London Visitation. Richard on the London Visitation of 1633-34 is the son of Richard Blake and Jone (Blake) Blake. Jone's father was said to be William of Eastontown (nr Andover). I think it is Robert (brother to Nicholas (father of William))'s son or grandson Richard. Robert was the eldest son and received the larger portion when his father died. Although Robert had six sons which must have diminished his estates somewhat but I suspect that it is his son (fifth) that went off to London. I can not at this time determine who Jone is as I do not have a daughter Jone for William Blake at Eastontown. The other determining factor is that Richard (son of Richard (son of William, son of Nicholas)) does not have two living sons in 1633-34. Reading through this portion of the Parish Register does clear that item up quite a bit.

Two more Hinxman baptisms

28 Feb 1635 Thomas son of Thomas Henxman baptized

28 Feb 1636 Thomas son of Thomas Henxman baptized

I must admit to being somewhat mystified at the exact same date for the two baptisms but perhaps it was in memory of the first one. I haven't looked at the burial portion of this register yet and that may answer the question.

We have a walk over to the Green Belt and back (7.6 kilometres) which was a good hike. The weather is just pleasant for a walk mid afternoon - sun is not too hot.

I decided to check the Hampshire Visitations as well. This was is dated 1634 and so fits in well with the London Visitation at this similar time period. The Hampshire lists William at Eastontown and this is my William but my Richard isn't listed. The only sons listed are: John married to Margaret Blake (daughter of William Blake (Robert Blake's son William (2nd cousins)); William married to Margaret Hibberd and his son William married Ann Tutt and Peter who remained a Bachelor but was a counsellor of the Inner Temple in London. The only daughter listed is Agnes - I have her married to Kynton as per the will but on the Visitation she is married to Roger Hyde. I need to see if I can find an answer to that query!

Tomorrow I will continue to work on the Parish Register for Andover and for Timberscombe.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

1604 Land Survey of Bewcastle-Cumberland-UK

I spent yesterday creating an excel file for the 1604 Land Survey of Bewcastle, Cumberland, UK. Bewcastle was the home of my 3x great grandparents Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth (Routledge) Routledge. They were both baptized at Bewcastle in 1763 (Thomas 25 July and Elizabeth 27 August). Thomas' parents were Henry Routledge (baptized Bewcastle 30 Jul 1720) and Margaret Tweddle (baptized Lanercost 6 Mar 1728) and Thomas was born at Borderigg. Elizabeth's parents were George Routledge and Grace Routledge. George was born at Todhills (baptized Bewcastle 17 Apr 1729) and Grizzel (Grace) was born at Oakshaw (baptized Bewcastle 6 Dec 1741) and Elizabeth was born at Raw. Thomas and Elizabeth were second cousins once removed. Grace was the daughter of Henry's brother Thomas and his wife Elizabeth Storye. Although I can work my way back in this family into the late 1600s, early 1700s linking back further has a few difficulties.

Using the Parish Registers for Bewcastle gives you a likely path back to the 1660s but the next set of records back is the Protestation Returns for Bewcastle which list 28 Routledge males over the age of 18: 1 Adam, 1 Bartholomew, 1 Christopher, 3 Edward, 1 Francis, 2 George, 1 Gilbert, 1 James, 1 Michael, 1 Nicholas, 1 Quintin, 1 Richard, 1 Rowland, 4 Thomas and 3 William. The list does not provide any details on whether these are children of/parent of making it interesting but useless for genealogical purposes. However, the 1604 Land Survey is another story. It does provide the names of the Fathers of individuals who are tenants on the land to which their father holds title. There are, interestingly enough, 56 Routledge names on this list at Bewcastle. Family Lore says that during the reign of James I (VI of Scotland) the Border Reivers were heavily punished (hung!) and their land stripped from them. A number of them fled to Ireland to escape. The decrease in numbers in just 37 years would appear to indicate that something had happened.

On the Land Survey we find: Adam with son Adam; Allen with son John; Andrew with sons Adam, Archibald, James, John and Thomas; Archibald with son William; George with sons James, Jerrat, and Quintin; James with sons Adam, James, Thomas and William; Jarret with son Thomas; Jeffery with sons Richard and Thomas; John with sons Clement, Cuthbert, George, Jerrat, Quintin, Thomas and William; Martin with son James; Nicholas with son Edward; Quintin with sons Andrew, Francis, John, and Simon; Richard with sons George, Jenkin, and John; Robert with son Jock; Rowland with sons Anthony, Cuthbert and Edward; Thomas with sons Richard and William, and William with sons Alexander, Edward and John.

The problem would be that all of these sons are likely 20 or more in 1604 making them in their 60s in 1641-42 when the Protestation Returns are written. I am using wills but it is a slow process transcribing them in order to put these various lines together. Do they all lead back to one MRCA? That remains to be seen. My cousin thinks so and we continue looking for data to take us back to the 1400s when the first reference to a Routledge (Simon) is found.

I also read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in anticipation for the movie release due to come on the 15th of July here.

Tomorrow the plan is to get back to the transcriptions. I was distracted from that today by the release of the Tithe Apportionment database prepared by the Friends of the Devon Archives. I spent several hours looking at the data and quite tired my eyes out. It is interesting seeing all of my Pincombes there, plus cousins Rowcliffe, Charley, Rew and others.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Cumberland

Cumberland occupied me somewhat the last couple of days. We have been discussing what we have available in terms of resources. I have a number of resources that I would not particularly do lookups for anyone but would look to see if there is value in them buying it. But I also have the Protestation Returns for Eskdale Ward completed now (still needing proofreading though) and can do lookups on them for people. I also want to make a list of the 1604 Land data for Bewcastle and area as that should also be interesting to look at the Routledge family.

Still haven't gotten back to transcribing but soon I will do that. I am quite anxious to get back to Andover and Timberscombe. Both will be difficult that is for sure. What I need are the dark cold days of Canadian winter to inspire me. Having so much sun and blue sky from early morning to after nine in the evening is incredibly distracting plus it is very light to do transcriptions. I work in a slightly darkened area but winter is a better time. I always find that happening as the long day comes.

Tomorrow I shall continue with my genealogical work. Always finding something new and interesting. I happened upon a descendant of my great great Uncle Sidney Rawlings's wife sister. I learned a whole lot about her Sherwood family and have added that to Legacy.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

DNA study

I decided to extract the mitosearch entries for T haplogroup and that ended up being nearly 2000 entries. I extracted them by subgroups T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and as I write this I realized that I missed T and T* so will have to go back and collect them as well. I decided to do that and then come back and continue with my blog. There were another 700 entries which should prove very interesting. I will match them up with the mutations and see if I can add their knowledge of geographic location to the database effectively.

Needless to say my transcriptions are being set aside. I think perhaps I must have needed a rest from them. I shall get back to them soon though as I am very interested in the Andover registers in this time period.

I spent a little more time on my presentation as I have to do a short write up for the syllabus and also speak with one of the other speakers. I shall email her tomorrow since I am more or less ready with all my thoughts in place :)

One of the Mead researchers wrote to me today to ask about my talk and I explained that I wasn't doing anything with the Mead in this talk and it was mostly my own family lines (my husband is the Mead descendant). I do not have any American ancestry actually. With three grandparents born and raised in England and my father also born in England (he and his parents came to Canada in 1913), the chances of having American ancestry are quite slight.

I also learned a little more about the Sherwood family. The reputed father of my grandmother Blake was the grandson of John Sherwood. It might be interesting to discover if he actually was her father (George Cotterill).

Tomorrow will be another busy day and we have been having rain most days this week. It leaves me free to work away on my genealogy.