Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Hinxman v Blake document and the Question family

I completed the transcription proofreading of the Hinxman v Blake document and sent it off to my correspondent. It wasn't until today that I really could see the intent of the document. Joseph Hinxman was appealing to the local magistrate Lord Thomas Courtney to persuade William Blake (my 9x great grandfather) to properly execute his mother (Johane Blake)'s will. She had divided an orchard between the two of them. William however decided to redo the lease and take the entire orchard instead of waiting until the lease expired that had been passed to them by his mother. She had asked them to enjoy the orchard together as well. Whether William simply didn't want to be executor or he really wanted the entire orchard is the mystery. Just ten years later William wrote his will and Joseph is one of his overseers and there isn't any mention of an orchard in his will. Interesting document as it certainly gives you a picture of the times.

We added another 100 music CDs to Library Thing. We want to do a complete inventory of all of our materials - genealogical, musical, books, fiche and then we can separate them into units and direct them so that our daughters do not have to do all of that work if anything happens to us. We are just beginning the task really but already have over 750 items (about 600 books) entered. A lot of work ahead for us during the long cold winter months!

I then decided to transcribe my three Question family wills and completed that task. I now know that the line of ascent is Elizabeth Question (married to Robert Siderfin and my 6x great grandparents), Augustine Question (my 7x great grandfather), John Question (my 8x great grandfather and he does not appear to have left a will) but his brother Andrew left a will in which he mentions that the first child of John has been born by 1627, and Augustine Siderfin (my 9x great grandfather). The interesting item that ties them all together is the mention of Rod[e]huish which is a small village (manor) in Carhampton where the Question family lived with both my 9x great grandfather Augustine mentioning it in his will and my 7x great grandfather Augustine Question also mentioning Rodhuish in his will. I also have the Poor Law Records which show that this family was continuously at Dunster (Augustine my 7x great grandfather mentions his property at Dunster as well as Rodhuish). So a very good day of transcribing and I need to now work on the other documents that mention the Question family.

I also updated my webpage with the Question family and the new details on the Buller and Beard families.

Tomorrow I need to decide what to work on - probably continue with the entering of the Music CDs into Library Thing for one item.

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