Gray family at Cherry Burton and continuing with the Blake Free BMD project

Although I started my blog purely as a diary for myself, I love it that people comment on my blog postings. I heard today from a descendant of the Gray family at Cherry Burton. My Robert Gray Junior came to Canada between 1832 and 1835. I do not have his exact date of arrival but I know he was still farming in Etton in the summer of 1832 so he could have come in the Fall of 1832 or by the Spring of 1835 as he and Mary Routledge are married and their first child is born 9 Feb 1836. It is highly likely that Robert Gray has come to London Township in Middlesex County Ontario because of Thomas Carling who is descended from the Carling family who were brewers at Etton in this time period. Thomas was the only child of this family to emigrate and likewise only William Gray and Robert Gray Junior came to Canada initially although they were later joined by their youngest brother James. The other brothers and sisters remained in England (and primarily in the East Riding of Yorkshire). I suspect that he arrived in late 1832 but still no actual paperwork to prove that (I also have that opinion from my fourth cousin George DeKay who has researched his Gray line and published it).

I continue working on the Blake marriages in Free BMD. As I work away gradually evolving in my mind is the schematic for displaying this information once I have captured all of it. I now know that I will use the Registration Districts to display the information. That way I get around the problem of Registration Districts overlapping County lines. In my mapping though I shall  have to find a map with Registration Districts as they were in the decade that I am demonstrating. That should be fairly straightforward. I can then colour them in by density much like the Profiler for British Surnames has done. Although not quite as sophisticated as my programming skills are somewhat limited (and becoming more so as new generations of programming are introduced).

I also want to work on some of the Pincombe wills that I have not yet transcribed. This project once begun has proven to be quite valuable to me and they are also linked to by the Devon Genuki website giving them fantastic usability. It is this visual that is prompting me to complete the task of transcribing every Pincombe will that I possess. I hope over time that my work on Pincombe will encourage people to test for the yDNA Pincombe project at FT DNA

Pincombe y DNA Study

Thus far I do not have sufficient samples of yDNA results to really say much more than that my 5th cousin who has tested has a 22/25 match with a line that traces back to Barnstaple (my tracing which I shall put online) and that family lore says that the Pincombe family of North/South Molton were the ancestors of the Barnstaple/Bideford Pincombe family. My own line was at Bishops Nympton from the late 1500s to the mid 1800s when they emigrated to Canada although siblings of my 3x great grandfather Robert Pincombe remained in Devon and were still living in the Bishops Nympton area into the 1900s. My 2x great grandfather John Pincombe continued to correspond with his siblings until his death in the 1890s. This correspondence continued between his eldest son John Pincombe (lived at Lobo) and his cousins in Devon and Somerset. However, my grandfather died in 1925 when my mother was only eight years old and the lines of correspondence were lost to my family line. I did manage to pick up the traces somewhat and am in correspondence with a descendant of Robert's son George (my 2x great grandfather John was his older brother).

We have visitors this week and the time is flowing by very quickly. Plus I must get ready for my 30 minute talk on the Guild of One Name Studies to take place 8 Oct 2011 at Library and Archives Canada at Before BIFHSGO. Being Thanksgiving weekend I do not anticipate large numbers in attendance, however I shall give a good overview of the Guild and the value to you of membership in the Guild and the opportunity to showcase your one name study if you have undertaken one. They tend to grow whilst you are busy collecting and particularly with rare names you have a sizeable one name study and become somewhat the expert on that surname. But more on that at the talk :)

Blake Marriages 1837 to 1950

One of the projects for the Blake one name study is the location of Blake families in England by decade beginning with 1840s decade and ending with 1940s decade. I have extracted all the Blake marriages from Free BMD and I am slowly putting them into a form that I can use them to produce my charts and eventually maps of England. For the moment I have not touched Wales or Scotland. I will do that at a later date though. Eventually I will also continue this backwards into the early 1800s and 1700s and on back into the 1600s and even 1500s with the Parish Registers. Another ongoing project is extraction of Blake entries from the Norfolk Parish Registers which are online at the Family History Site. This will allow me to move forward with the Blake family there. Another researcher has researched the Blake family in Suffolk and I must be in contact with her again now that we have taken on the Blake one name study.

In total there are 30,993 records on Free BMD for marriages in England, Scotland and Wales between 1837 and 1956 although the last decade (1950s) is only just now coming in. Once I have completed all the counties of England then I will be able to determine the number of Blake marriages in the English Counties as they were in 1840. One of the problems with such a study is small changes that occurred over time in the record keeping in areas that overlap in more than one county and parishes that end up being counted in a separate county for historical reasons. However, the overall view will be an interesting one.

As the yDNA study develops with Barrie Blake and Bill Bleak, there are a few interesting Blake lines emerging and certainly they do not share common ancestry in thousands and thousands of years being from different haplogroups. I am working both forward and backwards in time with Blake families. One of my forward studies is the Blake family at Andover and I am looking at the descendants of Nicholas and Robert Blake (and their sister Elizabeth who married (unknown) Mylne). Their father is thus far unknown to me although other researchers claim him to be William Blake a son of one of the descendants of the Blake family of Calne Wiltshire - there is some discrepancy in just which son he is (several different researchers attach this family at different points in the Blake family there). I still need to prove the yDNA line at Andover but I am hopeful that that will happen in the near future as more and more people become interested in testing their yDNA and in particular Blake descendants.

Once I have completed my survey of the decades I will put it up on the Guild of one One Name Studies website for the Blake study:

http://www.one-name.org/profiles/blake.html

The maps I will likely place on this blog although time will tell on that. This is a long term project as I am only about 1/3 of the way through the Blake marriages at this point. A county file generally take me several hours to organize if it is around 400 Blake marriages and some of these counties have 1000 marriages and even as high as 5000. I would like to complete all the counties before putting the information together but if I find that something interesting is emerging I will relate that on this blog.

As mentioned I am returning once again to the Blake family after my hiatus with my Pincombe family. I will still continue transcribing the Pincombe wills but the focus of my research now will be Blake primarily. Once North Molton parish registers (what I own in fiche anyway) are complete then I will return to Abbotts Ann. The darkening evening is an open invitation to sit at the fiche reader by the hour.

Cardinal Points

A query by John Reid on my blog has given me a thought about Marriage Challenges which are such an ideal support given to the members of the Guild of One-Name Studies (acronym GoONS). There is a possibility that other people out there like myself have purchased marriage fiche from English Counties and thus have access to the marriage lines from 1837 to 1911 - a time when many of us are busy collecting information on our one-name studies. John's question queried what are Cardinal Points.

Cardinal Points are the General Registry Office (GRO) references for the first and last marriage at a given church in each GRO quarter. Knowing these two values, one can then identify the locations of other marriages from their GRO references alone. Using Free BMD and looking at Andover Registration District (Andover RD) and the parish of St Marys Andover (from the fiche) there were four marriages celebrated in the September (or third) quarter of 1837 so that the cardinal points for these marriages would be 2 Jul 1837 marriage of Charles Keel and Esther Snook (first marriage) and 17 Aug 1837 marriage of Elias Luther and Fanny Rutter (last marriage) in this quarter. If you then go to Free BMD you will find that the Keel/Snook marriage is listed as Andover District Volume 7 and Page 39. The Luther/Rutter marriage is listed as Andover District Volume 7 Page 39. Indeed there were only four marriages celebrated at St Marys Andover and they will all be found on page 39 of Volume 7. By having the Cardinal Points it is then possible to locate all marriages celebrated at St Marys Andover and a quick look at Free BMD shows that their were two other marriages in the September quarter namely Howard/Ford and Fuller/Rolfe (which I have already seen on the fiche but if you are doing a marriage challenge you do not likely own the fiche but rather are going to the registry office and finding the Cardinal Points so that you can proceed). Having this information then makes it easier for an individual within the Guild doing a Marriage Challenge to quickly locate the Church where the marriage being requested was celebrated as we only submit the GRO reference (and census information/other information if we happen to have it).

In Andover Registration District, there are a total of  33 parishes (or 66 cardinal points for each quarter although for some parishes there may only be zero, one or two marriages and where only one it is the first and last cardinal point) in Andover Registration District so having the Cardinal Points for each Parish is the best way to do a Marriage Challenge.

The Parishes in Andover RD are:  Abbotts Ann, Amport, Andover, Appleshaw, Barton Stacey, Bullington, Chilbolton, Chute, Chute Forest, Faccombe, Foxcott, Fyfield, Goodworth Clatford, Grateley, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Kimpton, Knights Enham, Linkenholt, Longparish, Ludgershall, Monxton, North Tidworth, Penton Grafton, Penton Mewsey, Quarley, Shipton Bellinger, Smannell, South Tedworth, Tangley, Thruxton, Upper Clatford, Vernhams Dean, Wherwell. You can see it is a lengthy list and takes in all the area around Andover in both Hampshire and Wiltshire (although some of the Wiltshire areas are now in a different Registration District making it even more of a challenge looking back!).

At the last BIFHSGO Conference my husband (my newest member of the Eastern Canada Regional District for the Guild of one-name studies) and I had a table set up talking about the Guild. There was a lot of interest in the table and hopefully our ranks will swell. When you consider there were 400,000 surnames on the 1881 census and we are looking at just over 7500 surnames then you can see we are still only a small proportion of the surnames. We would like to grow; our research helps other people trying to sort out their family lines and gives those of us with that statistical bent a fulfilling occupation in our retiring years :) .

I am going to (and I will start soon hopefully) pull out all the cardinal points for the parishes which I have thus far in Andover RD (and I will soon start to do the other sets of fiche that I have for other RDs) and perhaps one of these days one of our members in the UK will take on a marriage challenge for one of the RDs that my study is deeply rooted in. In the case of the Blake family that is a lot of RDs but the Pincombe family and Lambden family are smaller and localized. It is something that those of us from afar can do to help with the Marriage Challenges.

Thank you John for the question.

Edwin Denner Buller

True to my thoughts following the lecture by Sherry Irvine at BIFHSGO on the weekend, I went through my binders. A little history just to remind myself why I have binders. At the time when I was first beginning family research I needed to separate out my sixteen great great grandparent lines and have a place to collect papers that I acquired (mostly from London Ontario area initially) during my first couple of years of research. This system worked extremely well for me but finally sixteen binders just took up too much room on a shelf and so I decreased the number to eight and that was where I was at with my binders as of last week.

Yesterday and today I went through each binder and extracted the irreplaceable material (mostly scanned anyway but I had purchased some of it and others were given to me) and reduced the material considerably because the binders predated Legacy my family tree software. I now have reduced that paper load and during the survey I found an interesting item which my husband had found on Edwin Buller. The Emigrants database at the Archives of Ontario had an Edwin Buller with wife Emma arriving on the Assisted Emigrants Database in 1874. My Edwin would have been 24 at that time and I was fairly certain he wasn't married but one must follow all leads just to make them negative if nothing else. I actually hadn't followed up on that lead because it predated good accessibility to the Ship's Lists which are now indexed on Ancestry and online at Library and Archives Canada by ship. I pulled up the ships record for the Nova Scotian arriving in June 1874 and there is an Edwin and an Emma but the surname has been crossed through by a y on the surname above it. Looking very very carefully at the surname it is Butler and so I wrote off to Archives of Ontario to mention the transcription I was seeing and sent them the scans of the document. The ship's list also identified Edwin as being 39 years of age and so not my Edwin Buller after all anyway. But I thought that it would save someone else from being led astry by thinking this was their Edwin Buller.

A little background as Edwin Denner Buller is my great grandfather and father to my maternal grandmother. He was born to Henry Christopher Buller and Ann Welch. Henry Christopher Buller was a widower (accounted in an earlier blog) when he married Ann. I have still not discovered if either of his children from his first marriage survived. Nor have I found a burial for his first wife. Henry moved back and forth between Birmingham and London. In London he had a butcher shop in Covent Garden and in Birmingham he had a butcher shop and a restaurant on Lower Temple and Dale End. He maintained these establishments right up until his death in London in 1862. He was buried in London and I have not, to date, found a will for him. Since he died after 1858 I also haven't pursued an intestate statement for him either. More to do next trip to London.

I then put the paperwork on the Assisted Emigrant database away with my notation; not my Edwin as the original shows Edwin Butler. Every once in a while I search for Edwin. He is on the 1851 census as a baby, then 1861 with his grandmother Sarah Welch but missing in 1871 and 1881 and then in 1891 with his wife Ellen and their children including my grandmother Ellen Rosina Buller. I do find that his younger brother Charles Clement Buller is a jeweller in South Africa and that makes sense as he is a jeweller's apprentice on the 1871 census with his grandmother Welch and mother Ann now widowed. This is a lead I need to pursue but it is dreadfully difficult to find informtion on people leaving England to go to South Africa and then returning to England again. Likely he also worked as a jeweller's assistant but I am incredibly curious why he did not after he returned to England. But then I could be mistaken as to his being in South Africa. My grandmother mentioned that he had been to Africa and then he walked with a limp. I know that he wasn't in the Boer War as he died of pneumonia in Birmingham in 1899 and I can find him registering his childrens' births in Birmingham in the 1890s so not likely to be away. I had thought he was in the Royal Artillery but this again was a mistranscription as the individual was actually Edwin Baller. Amazing how many wrong turns one must sometimes make but perhaps I have made enough wrong ones and will now find correct information. One can always dream.

Back to Blake but still working on North Molton

Although I still have more Pincombe wills and documents to transcribe my mind seems to be back to the Blake family once again. I will spend most of the day working on the future Marriage Challenges by the Guild of One Name Studies members for the one-namers getting the lists ready to submit. I like to try and locate them as a Registration District is rather large.

However, my fiche time is still going to be North Molton so I suspect that I will get back into my Pincombe line as well. Reading the last batch (before the Banns which were very nice) of microfiche has been a trial but I would like to persevere and reach the nicest fiche which is usually much quicker to transcribe. I can see though that I need to buy some of the parishes around North Molton like Filleigh and a couple of others to look at for the Pincombe family. Unfortunately Filleigh registers start only in the late 1600s but still would give me a picture of the William Pincombe line that was there.

Of course there is a Blake family at North Molton as well and I am busy collecting all the Blake information in this Devon area. Originally I thought that they were from the Somerset line but Barrie Blake has discovered that descendants of James Blake at Knights Enham were also in North Devon. This means a mixture likely as James Blake's descendants would have been mid to late 1600s unless of course there were Blakes from Hampshire in Devon earlier than James Blake. One little bit of new information always provides a whole lot of new questions!

Following the line of thought of the last lecture at the BIFHSGO Conference I revisited my binders that I prepared on my sixteen great great grandparents. Most of what I had in there is online so I have eliminated half of the binders thus far and about 20 centimetres in depth of paper. A few interesting tidbits that I haven't thought about for awhile have been added to my "watch" pile. Whenever I have a dull moment or need a change I go through my "watch" pile to see if I have missed anything from earlier musings on my families.

I had always resolved to have everything online as much as possible and that is still my aim. I generally create text files with meaningful names (meaningful to me that is :) ) that I can review whenever I am inside the folder of one of my families.

I have also bundled up all my Hampshire, Devon, Somerset and Dorset, Cumbria, Midlands and Yorkshire journals. I hope to give them to BIFHSGO although might just have one last glance as some of them are seven or eight years old now and I was definitely a newbie in those days and I might have missed something interesting that would aid me in my family research. Otherwise they can all go to the library if they are wanted or can be sold to help the society at their table.

I understand that some of the societies now have online journals instead of mailing them to me (just got to be too much so I terminated all my memberships a couple of years ago). I will check and if they have online I will become a member of them once again.

Guild of one-name Studies

One of the many benefits of belonging to the Guild of one-name Studies or GOONs the popular acronym for our research society is the Marriage Challenges which are carried out by members in the UK. One of them or a group will take a Registration District like Crediton, Eton or many many others over time and collect all the marriages for your one-name study providing that you send them an excel sheet with all the desired marriages listed on it. Over time I have received over 100 of the full certificate back and at 9 pounds 50 pence each that is a substantial savings as I do not actually need or want the original for most of the people in my one-name study (I am not necessarily related to all the people especially in my Blake study). I have spent my day putting together my excel charts for several of these Marriage Challenges as the Blake study can have as few as none and so far as many as 70 in one single request. I have now extracted 25,000 of the 30,000 Blake marriages from Free BMD but I am only slowly getting the spouse name entered in. For some areas I have a lot of information but for others not as much. I am just starting to get a feel for the spread of the various Blake lines. Indeed from our yDNA study for the Blake group, there are at a minimum eight founders and they arise in Ireland (likely two different lines), in Hampshire, in Wiltshire, in Somerset, in Devon and continue in Norfolk, Suffolk, London, and the home counties and then north into Yorkshire and I have only just started to build this information.

One of my co-workers has developed over the years a number of family trees on the blake webpage that he has created:

http://blakeheritage.synthasite.com/blake-family-dna-project.php

I am still working on linkages but have concentrated on the 1800s and 1700s but will gradually move back in time. For Hampshire I have linkages back into the 1500s.

I shall continue working on the Marriage Challenges tomorrow in order to submit them in a timely fashion for the researcher to organize. I like to try to check and see if I can figure out at least which parish the marriage is from since the Registration District can include quite a few parishes.

One of my projects this fall is to create the Cardinal Points for Andover Registration District from the fiche that I have (although I have a lot of fiche the number that I have is only about 25% of the entire Registration District). But several other members of the Guild do hold some of these parishes and once I have mine ready I will let them know via our excellent Forum that I am ready to submit my cardinal points if they are able to submit theirs as well.

Banns at North Molton 1844 to 1850 - a treat for anyone researching their lines at North Molton in this time period

Continuing to work away on the North Molton Parish Registers and I have reached the middle of 1634 and will have to see if the rest is on the next fiche. A surprise awaited me on the third fiche of the oldest records. By this time all of my direct lines have moved away from North Molton but I decided to transcribe the entire set of fiche and decided to share this rather interesting list with any interested readers.
Banns were included on the last North Molton fiche for Parish Register 1 which might just be a rather handy list for people researching marriages at North Molton from 1844 to 1850. These are the banns read at North Molton and I did not find that all of banns ended up in a marriage as I did check them on Free BMD. All are of the parish of North Molton unless otherwise stated in the last entry for each couple with a sojourner living in the parish but not considered to be "of the parish" in this time frame.

Surname Forename Surname Forename Year Month Day Year Month Day Year  Month Day Details
Morcombe Joseph Lewis Mary 1844 Apr 28 1844 May 5 1844 May 12 groom sojourner
Quick William Bass Sarah 1844 Jun 9 1844 Jun 16 1844 Jun 23 groom sojourner
Ball William Frayne Mary 1844 Jul 7 1844 Jul 14 1844 Jul 21 groom farmer
Trebble Robert Davy Elizabeth 1844 Jul 21 1844 Jul 28 1844 Aug 4
Williams William Priest Mary 1844 Aug 4 1844 Aug 11 1844 Aug 18
Harris William Yeo Mary 1844 Aug 18 1844 Aug 25 1844 Sep 1 groom sojourner, bride of Swimbridge
Valentine John Saunders Smith Ann Elizabeth 1844 Oct 20 1844 Oct 27 1844 Nov 3 groom sojourner
Shapland George Westcott Joan 1844 Oct 27 1844 Nov 3 1844 Nov 10
Rendle John Saunders Frayne Grace 1844 Nov 21 1844 Dec 1 1844 Dec 8
Handford Henry Slader Mary 1845 Jan 26 1845 Feb 2 1845 Feb 9
Cockings George Frayne Mary 1845 Feb 16 1845 Feb 23 1845 Mar 2
Painter Robert Kingdon Elizabeth 1845 Mar 2 1845 Mar 9 1845 Mar 16
Frayne Peter Bull Elizabeth 1845 Mar 2 1845 Mar 9 1845 Mar 16 bride sojourner
Tapp William Stoker Jane 1845 Mar 9 1845 Mar 16 1845 Mar 23 bride of St Davids, Exeter
Shapland William Dobb Ann  1845 Mar 30 1845 Apr 6 1845 Apr 13 bride sojourner
Stoneman Peter Frayne Mary 1845 Mar 30 1845 Apr 6 1845 Apr 13 Bride of St Vivien Exeter
Rodgers John Saunders Clarke Elizabeth 1845 Apr 20 1845 Apr 27 1845 May 4
Gardner William Crang Grace 1845 Apr 27 1845 May 4 1845 May 11
Darlington James Allen Mary 1845 May 18 1845 May 18 1845 Jun 1
Davy Edward Hill Mary Ann 1845 Jun 8 1845 Jun 15 1845 Jun 22 both sojourners
Rendle Robert Brayley Eliza 1845 Aug 31 1845 Sep 7 1845 Sep 14
Kingdon William Tamlyn Elizabeth 1845 Oct 12 1845 Oct 19 1845 Oct 26
Pile Richard Frayne Margaret 1845 Nov 9 1845 Nov 16 1845 Nov 23 groom sojourner
Frayne George Slader Elizabeth 1845 Dec 7 1845 Dec 14 1845 Dec 21
Slader John Thomas Sarah 1845 Dec 21 1845 Dec 28 1846 Jan 4 bride of Witheridge
Tapp William Hill Ann 1846 Jan 4 1846 Jan 11 1846 Jan 18
Bawden Hugh Milton Mary Ann 1846 Feb 1 1846 Feb 8 1846 Feb 15
Thorne Richard Locke Elizabeth 1846 Mar 1 1846 Mar 8 1846 Mar 15
Frayne Richard Westcott Ann 1846 Mar 1 1846 Mar 8 1846 Mar 15
Yendle Joseph Laramey Mary 1846 Mar 8 1846 Mar 15 1846 Mar 22
Holloway Richard Thorne Mary 1846 Mar 15 1846 Mar 22 1846 Mar 29
Loosmore Thomas Prout Ellen 1846 May 3 1846 May 10 1846 May 17
Redding Richard Nott Grace 1846 May 3 1846 Mqy 10 1846 May 17
Passmor William Cook Ann 1846 Jun 7 1846 Jun 14 1846 Jun 22 bride of East Buckland
Bendle George Mann Ann 1846 Jul 5 1846 Jul 12 1846 Jul 19
Westcott Henry Stoneman Mary Ann 1846 Aug 30 1846 Sep 6 1846 Sep 13
Delbridge James Thorne Ann 1846 Oct 4 1846 Oct 11 1846 Oct 18
Thorne John Passmore Agnes 1846 Oct 18 1846 Oct 25 1846 Nov 1
Shapland James Trick Sarah 1846 Nov 1 1846 Nov 8 1846 Nov 15 groom sojourner
Frayne Philip Frayne Ann 1846 Dec 13 1846 Dec 20 1846 Dec 27
Bawden Henry Webber Elizabeth 1846 Dec 13 1846 Dec 20 1846 Dec 27
Purchase Nicholas Fry Jane 1847 Feb 7 1847 Feb 14 1847 Feb 21
Westcott William Burgess Elizabeth 1847 Feb 14 1847 Feb 21 1847 Feb 28
Webber William Holloway Catherine 1847 Feb 28 1847 Mar 7 1847 Mar 14
Hole John Kingdon Eliza 1847 Mar 7 1847 Mar 14 1847 Mar 21
Gill Michael Kingdon Elizabeth 1847 Mar 7 1847 Mar 14 1847 Mar 21
Webber John Stoneman Charlotte 1847 Mar 21 1847 Mar 28 1847 Apr 4
Hoyle John Marsh Elizabeth 1847 Apr 4 1847 Apr 11 1847 Apr 18
Catford William Cockram Jane 1847 Jun 20 1847 Jun 27 1847 Jul 4 both sojourners
Mayne Joseph Frayne Ann 1847 Jul 18 1847 Jul 25 1847 Aug 1 groom sojourner
Handford John Bawden Mariah 1847 Sep 12 1847 Sep 19 1847 Sep 26
Slader Richard Western Mary 1847 Nov 14 1847 Nov 21 1847 Nov 28
Burgess Henry Smith Ann Elizabeth 1847 Dec 5 1847 Dec 12 1847 Dec 19
Hancock Edwin Gough Ellen 1847 Dec 26 1848 Jan 2 1848 Jan 9
Hancock James John Gough Mary 1847 Dec 26 1848 Jan 2 1848 Jan 9 groom sojourner
Seldon Thomas Blackford Ann 1848 Jan 16 1848 Jan 23 1848 Jan 30 groom sojourner
Westcott William Frayne Ann 1848 Feb 13 1848 Feb 20 1848 Feb 27
Holloway William Kingdon Ann 1848 Feb 20 1848 Feb 27 1848 Mar 5 groom of Bratton Fleming
Robins John Bawden Jane 1848 Mar 12 1848 Mar 19 1848 Mar 26 groom sojourner
Collins William Lang Mary 1848 Mar 26 1848 Apr 2 1848 Apr 9 groom sojourner
Parkin William Bawden Jane 1848 Mar 26 1848 Apr 2 1848 Apr 9
Williams Jonathan Fisher Sally 1848 Apr 23 1848 Apr 30 1848 May 7
Howe William Bennetts Mary Ann 1848 Jun 11 1848 Jun 18 1848 Jun 25 bride sojourner
Lewis William Frayne Mary Ann 1848 Oct 1 1848 Oct 8 1848 Oct 15
Smith Henry Radford Harriet 1848 Oct 29 1848 Nov 5 1848 Nov 12
Holland John Chapple Catharine 1848 Dec 5 1848 Dec 12 1848 Dec 19 groom sojourner
Jones John Burgess Elizabeth Jane 1848 Nov 26 1848 Dec 3 1848 Dec 10
Bawden Hugh Colwell Jane 1848 Dec 3 1848 Dec 10 1848 Dec 17
Laramy William Gough Ann 1848 Dec 17 1848 Dec 24 1848 Dec 31
Laramy John Dascombe Sophia 1848 Dec 17 1848 Dec 24 1848 Dec 31 bride sojourner
Hill John Roberts Joan 1849 Jan 14 1849 Jan 21 1849 Jan 28
Snow James Smyth Elizabeth 1849 Feb 11 1849 Feb 18 1849 Feb 25
Hill Joseph Bawden Mary 1849 Feb 25 1849 Mar 4 1849   crossed out
Chapple James Abbott Elizabeth Jane 1849 Mar 4 1849 Mar 11 1849 Mar 18 bride sojourner
Smyth James Huxtable Ann 1849 Mar 4 1849 Mar 11 1849 Mar 18
Gibbs William Lancey Grace 1849 Mar 11 1849 Mar 18 1849 Mar 25 bride of Challaccombe
Moore John Burgess Mary 1849 Mar 25 1849 Apr 1 1849 Apr 8 groom of Southmolton
Locke Thomas Curtis Priscilla 1849 Apr 29 1849 May 6 1849 May 13
Gould William Meade Ann 1849 Jun 24 1849 Jul 1 1849 Jul 8
Andrews George Bendle Mariah 1849 Jul 22 1849 Jul 29 1849 Aug 5
Ridd Charles Bawden Sarah 1849 Oct 7 1849 Oct 14 1849 Oct 21 groom sojourner
Thorne John Baple Mary 1849 Oct 14 1849 Oct 21 1849 Oct 28 Groom of St Mary Magdalene Barnstaple and bride sojourner
Hill William Hill Mary Ann 1849 Oct 14 1849 Oct 21 1849 Oct 28
Collard Royal Trick Harriet 1849 Nov 18 1849 Nov 25 1849 Dec 2
Huxtable Thomas Delbridge Elizabeth 1849 Dec 2 1849 Dec 9 1849 Dec 16
Roberts William Thorne Elizabeth 1849 Dec 30 1850 Jan 6 1850 Jan 13
Thorne William Hutchings Elizabeth 1850 Jan 13 1850 Jan 20 1850 Jan 27
Holcombe Emanuel Ball Alice 1850 Feb 3 1850 Feb 10 1850 Feb 17 bride sojourner
Blackford Robert Locke Ann 1850 Feb 10 1850 Feb 17 1850 Feb 24
Hobbs John Hoyle Catherine 1850 Feb 17 1850 Feb 24 1850 Mar 3
Tucker William Tamlyn Ann 1850 Feb 24 1850 Mar 3 1850 Mar 10
Buckingham William Cockings Mary 1850 Feb 24 1850 Mar 3 1850 Mar 10
Treble William Lang Elizabeth 1850 Mar 10 1850 Mar 17 1850 Mar 24 groom sojourner
Karslake John Burgess Ann 1850 Mar 17 1850 Mar 24 1850 Mar 31
Hearn John Pugsley Ann 1850 Mar 24 1850 Mar 31 1850 Apr 7 groom sojourner
Lang John Gardner Eliza 1850 Mar 24 1850 Mar 31 1850 Apr 7
Nott William Frayne Sarah 1850 Apr 7 1850 Apr 14 1850 Apr 21 bride sojourner
Karslake William Gage Elizabeth 1850 May 5 1850 May 12 1850 May 19 bride of Winsford
Grimshaw William Pugsley Ann 1850 May 12 1850 May 19 1850 May 26
Crooke William Lang Ann 1850 May 26 1850 Jun 2 1850 Jun 9 groom sojourner
Wilkins James Lang Sarah 1850 Jun 16 1850 Jun 23 1850 Jun 30
Priest William Dunn Ann 1850 Jul 28 1850 Aug 4 1850 Aug 11
Slader John Slader Margaret 1850 Aug 25 1850 Sep 1 1850 Sep 8
Webber William Crocombe Elizabeth 1850 Sep 22 1850 Sep 29 1850 Oct 6

It does appear that Parish Register 2 for North Molton does have the 1634 records which is great. I shall begin on them this evening. Time for dinner!

BIFHSGO Family History Conference - Day 3 for me

The third day of the BIFHSGO Family History Conference and about ten people again talked to me about the Guild and membership in it. Not sure how many people will actually take on a membership in the Guild but I feel now that I have probably exposed the Guild to most people in the Genealogical areas that I am usually present at. Next year I shall probably only have a booth at the OGS Conference which is province wide although I must admit that BIFHSGO does seem like the right place for the Guild to be at with its British Isles focus. I shall have to contemplate that through the year.

My next task is to complete my talk for October 8 on the Guild of One-Name Studies and it is just 30 minutes in length for Before BIFHSGO. Since it is Thanksgiving weekend here in Ontario I do not anticipate a large audience. I am trying to decide if I should have 20 minutes of presentation and then a 10 minute question period or 30 minutes of presentation and people ask me questions if they want after. Certainly I would have 30 minutes worth of material. I shall have to make a decision on that.

Now to today's conference which was again quite excellent. I am sure that the lecture stream that I did not attend was equally excellent. The first lecture of the day was by Helen Osbourn and she was discussing London as a conglomerate of villages and although she only briefly referred to Bermondsey the short discussion was quite meaningful to me. My families were there from the early 1700s to the early 1800s and then they move to Covent Garden area where the next generation has a butcher shop. Seeing London develop was an interesting exercise and again a quite excellent talk.

The second lecture that I attended was on The London Gazette by Audrey Collins and she too gave an excellent talk.  The London Gazaette has not been a tool that I have used to any great extent through the years but as I collect more and more Blake data I rather think I should begin to mine it for Blake information. Her talk was most fascinating and does make one rather want to look at the items that might be available on some of my small villages and perhaps even learn about Grange Road, Bermondsey Street and Tooley Street in Bermondsey.

Another excellent lunch and it was so nice just to be able to pop off upstairs and sit down to a well catered meal.

The third lecture was again by Helen Osborn and I had actually planned not to attend this particular one. I do not have any ancestors in London after the mid 1800s and never had any in Lambeth. But I had enjoyed both of her earlier talks and I am contemplating taking the Pharos one name study course that is offered and she is the instructor for that particular course. I was very glad that I did go although it was somewhat heart wrenching to hear the stories of stark poverty that existed in even the not so desparately poor. How easily it was for a family to slip from middle class down into abject poverty was such a sad story.

When I look at the 1911 census for my father and his family, they are comfortably living in a row house in Eastleigh where my grandfather is well employed working as a blacksmith for the railway. They (my grandparents and father (he is an only child)) have their own row house - 3 rooms down and 3 rooms up (total of six rooms on the census) and live two doors down to my grandfather's brother who also has the same house with six rooms and there are only the parents, their two little girls, the youngest brother of my grandfather who is an apprentice at the railway works and another apprentice of the railway works living there. John has taken in his brother and the other individual is I think related to his wife probably to help them out during their apprenticeship as he is an Inspector for the Railroad. My father always said that they were not well to do but in comparison they were so much better off than people who lived in Lambeth. Listening to the talk gave me more understanding to why people who lived in Lambeth simply didn't move somewhere else. They didn't have the money to escape their poverty. One of my grandfather's sisters was married to a soldier and they lived at Shepherd's Bush and my father and his parents regularly visited with them and they in turn came back to Upper  Clatford (the home of my grandfather and where his parents lived). So it was a good experience for me to hear this lecture and understand more clearly the plight of the poor in England and why people came to Canada and why the groups that sent children to Canada felt they would have a better life. I am not sure that Helen realized the far reaching effects that her lecture would have at least in my experience but perhaps I shall get a chance to share that with her when I take the Pharos course on the one-name studies.

The final talk of the day was given by Sherry Irvine and again I had not intended to go to this talk. Sherry is a Canadian and I know that she is a very knowledgeable Genealogist but I felt that three talks a day was enough for me but I did finally decide at the last moment to attend. I was glad that I did because it again reinforced to me that there is a great need for me to revisit much of my earlier work with regard to redoing will transcriptions and rethinking some of the evidence which I have collected and may see more meaning now that I am further along in the field of Genealogy. Essex wasn't a county that interested me particularly. I do not have anyone from Essex although the Blake family is there and finally I decided that it would be interesting to hear the talk and so I was committed. Along the way I had the opportunity to thank Helen Osbourn for her excellent talks and to mention that I would be taking the Pharos course for one-namers. She said that we should talk and I expect we shall as I should like to take the course up this winter.

All in all an excellent conference and I highly recommend it. Who knows the next time BIFHSGO is delving into Scot or Irish ancestry I may have broken through my mitochondrial line and discovered Irish or Scot or both ancestors in my past. It is certainly an unsolved line at the moment although the rest are definitely English as far back as I have traced thus far.

BIFHSGO Family History Conference - Day two for me

My husband and I quickly set up our Guild of One Name Studies table with two computers for the day today. One was running the Surname Atlas and the Guild webpage and the other was running a presentation on the Guild. We had quite a bit of interest today with seven people expressing interest in joining the Guild.

I was in a rush today as I wanted to attend Audrey Collins lecture on the National Archives better known as Kew. We had such a terrific day there last year and I know we only lightly scratched the surface of what we could find there but we had been very tight with our time on purpose. Otherwise we would have spent our entire week there in London! I probably go into the National Archives at least once every day looking most at the records online and checking out the wills just for names and dates although I have downloaded many many wills over the past six years. Audrey's lecture was amazing and even though I use the website a lot I learned a number of new items that I hadn't fully explored or visited before. She had a very pleasant but action packed presentation which left you with lots of good ideas for further use of the site and an even greater desire to go sooner to Kew once again.

Back to the table again and we were quite busy during the break with lots of queries on the Guild. It is the first time at the BIFHSGO Conference for the Guild. I happened upon it by chance five years ago and did acquire the earlier Pincombe study that had been run by two people up until the late 1990s. I suspect that many many people are in possession of large studies on particular surnames and the Guild is a marvelous place to be if that is the case. Lots of sharing of information and other benefits of membership.

I then attended my next lecture which had quite caught my interest. It was on other archives/libraries in London. Again the presenter Helen Osborne was most interesting and her talk quite caught the imagination as she discussed the holdings of the various libraries/archives which she mentioned. My eyes quite lit up when she mentioned the House of Lords Archives as I would dearly love to visit that one. It would hold all the Protestation Returns and although a lot of them have been published some have not been and they are some of the ones that I would like to see.

Back to the table again and then lunch time which was again well catered on the top floor of Library and Archives Canada. It is pleasant to sit down to such a good lunch after such a busy day. Both my husband and I enjoyed the lunch.

Back to the table and I did not select a session in the next block. We both worked at the table and had a number of visitors.

I did attend the last session of the day on Fleet Marriages again by Audrey Collins. Her style is quite effervescent and the discussion quite quick which was good as there was a lot of material to cover and she did it very admirably. I was curious more than anything about Fleet Marriages. I have a few marriages in London but I am missing one of the most important ones - Christopher Buller and Mary Beard. I suspect they married at St Olave but a Fleet Marriage might also be a possibility. All three of the Beard girls married away from their home parish of St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey. I think they were all run away marriages actually. I have looked somewhat at Fleet Marriages but Audrey brought history to it that I had never heard before which helps to explain these marriages. I am most appreciate of her excellent lecture as I had not really meant to attend - it was a last minute decision.

Looking forward to tomorrow as the last day. It is tiring going to conferences although most interesting.

Carried on with the North Molton Parish Registers and completed to the end of 1631 with 2314 baptisms, 345 marriages and 857 burials.

BIFHSGO Family History Conference - 17th year

The opening of the BIFHSGO Family History Conference was a not to be missed event. Sylvie Tremblay of Library and Archives Canada revealed the upcoming additions to the website for the keenly interested genealogists. Having a nominal index for the images of Canadian census is a wonderful addition to the website and we can wait for that to come to fruition. Although I have found my few ancestors on all the census; it is still interesting to check on the siblings of my ancestors and their wives/husband's ancestors on the webpages. In my case every new immigrant to Canada in my line turned around and married another English immigrant and that continued with my first Canadian born ancestor (my great grandmother who married an English immigrant). Their son (my grandfather) in turn married a new immigrant and then my mother married yet another new immigrant from England. My father arrived in Canada in 1913 with his parents at the tender age of nine years. Hence my ongoing and strong interest in anything British! Thus far I do not have anyone who wasn't born a British Subject in my lines going back into the 1400s, 1500s, 1600s and some I have not yet achieved success before the 1700s and still working to get  back into the 1600s.

Thank you to John Reid for mentioning me in his blog - Anglo-Celtic Connections - and I will try to remember to tweet. At the beginning of my tweeting career I was doing so but have gotten away from it. It is an interesting way to do genealogy on the run though. 

Thank you as always to BIFHSGO for an outstanding Conference and selection of lectures. This year my husband and I have a table for the Guild of One Name Studies. Ed is my newest member in my Eastern Canada Group although he has been researching longer than me by a factor of seven times - I have been researching for six years and he has been researching for over 40 years. He has the largest collection of Kipp family data in the world. As the Guild become more worldwide members within the Guild are researching names other than UK origin. There is a Kipp family in England though and their origin there may prove to be quite interesting.

Conferences always pass so amazingly quickly. One must be prepared to absorb as much information as possible since you are being fast fed from the lecture stand. Although I have studied the English courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (Graduate of 2007), I always find that I pick up interesting tidbits that I have glossed over in my earlier lectures and not totally absorbed or the lecturer has a different way of looking at the material that didn't occur to me. I am looking forward to several lectures tomorrow and will run between lectures and the Guild Table so as to be there for questions.

I highly recommend the Guild to people researching a particular name. The other members of the Guild are extremely helpful and with my next newsletter to our Eastern Canada Group I want to invite everyone to join the forum where much is discussed; many new styles are formulated and an incredible source of different websites to mine for one name study information are often mentioned. There are other bonuses of membership but for me I find the forum to be great.

I continue with transcribing the North Molton Parish Registers. I have not totally solved the mystery of the mixed up pages but will work away at that. I am continuing with the transcription as I mull these thoughts about and have now as of the end of 1628 transcribed 2210 baptisms, 316 marriages and 790 burials. The burials are increasing rapidly and there must have been some very nasty viruses in some time periods. Although there were instances of plague and North Molton would not have been exempt from the plague having now read a rather interesting book on the Plague I wonder about anthrax. Perhaps the next century will give a better understanding of the plague as opposed to anthrax.

Microfiche for North Molton Parish Records

The microfiche for the Parish Records for North Molton have one problem area in the fourth row of the second fiche marked Register 1, 13 and page 26 on the right hand top corner. The first eight prints in the row are mixed up. I am slowly working my way through them and have been sorting them into 1624, 1625 and 1626. So far Print 1 and 2 are 1626, Print 5 is 1624 and 1625, Print 6 and 7 are 1625, and Print 8 is 1625 and the beginning of 1626. I still haven't looked at Print 3 and 4 to see how they fit in. Print 9 is 1627 and then it appears to continue along in the correct year order.

There is a Blake family at North Molton that I will collect and see what I can learn about them for my Blake one name Study.

Baptisms:
Blake    Johane    daughter    Blake    Mychell            1560    Sep    1
Blake    John    son    Blake    Mighell            1564    Dec    10
Blake    John    son    Blake    Mighell            1565    Dec    6
Blake    Mote    daughter    Blake    Mighell            1565    Dec    6
Blake    Anne    daughter    Blake    Mighell            1568    May    16
Blake    Chrystine    daughter    Blake    Richard            1573    Oct    23
Blake    Drues    daughter    Blake    Richard            1576    Nov    18
Blake    William    son    Blake    Richard        Margarett    1586    Oct    12
Blake    Dorothie    daughter    Blake    John        Johane    1589    Feb    2
Blake    Elizabeth    daughter    Blake    John        Fayth    1593    Apr    2
Blake    John    son    Blake    John        Elizabeth    1598    Jan    20
Blake    Wilmott    daughter    Blake    William            1611    Jun    15
Blake    Richarde    son    Blake    William            1614    Jan    15
Blake    Agnis    daughter    Blake    William            1615    Dec    27
Blake    Christopher    son    Blake    William            1618    Dec    17
Blake    Siblye    daughter    Blake    John        Syblie    1619    Dec    10
Blake    An    daughter    Blake    William        Agnis    1625    Mar    5

Marriages
Blake    Mighell    Squire    Agnes    1558    Dec    2       
Blake    Richard    Viccarie    Johane    1563    Oct    11    daughter of John Viccarie   
Blake    John    Thorne    Joahn    1612    Jul    13       
Blake    Jonathan    Saunders    Siblye    1618    Nov    25       
Blake    William    Luckis    Agnis    1625    Jun    13   

Bowd    William    Blake    Agnes    1548    Jul    1
Mole    William    Blake    Wilmot    1609    Jan    8

Burials
Blake    Thomas                        1542    May    8   
Blake    John                        1546    Dec    5   
Blake    John    son    Blake    Mighell            1565    Dec    6   
Blake    Mante    daughter    Blake    Mighell            1565    Dec    7   
Blake    Ann    daughter    Blake    Mighell            1568    Jun    17   
Blake    Margarett    daughter    Blake    John            1611    May    8   
Blake    Andrew    son    Blake    William            1614    Apr    6   
Blake    Richarde    son    Blake    William            1614    Jan    17   
Blake    Elizabeth    wife    Blake    John            1617    Aug    30    the younger John
Blake    John                        1618    Sep    10    In Towne
Blake    Margaret                        1619    June    16   
Blake    Siblye    wife    Blake    John            1621    Dec    14   
Blake    A___    wife    Blake    William            1624    Feb    8   
Blake    Wilmott    daughter    Blake    William            1624    Feb    25 

I am not sure when the Blake family first arrives in Devon. I do not think that they were there much before the 1500s but time will tell as I research the Blake family of Somerset which may have been the ancestors of this line or possibly the Hampshire Blake family.

I want to continue transcribing the North Molton Parish Registers until I complete all that I have. I have Registers 2 and 3 still to work on, Registers 1 and 13 I am now half way through. It is difficult transcription though and it is unfortunate that the 30 years of marriages and burials are missing thus far. I am still hopeful they are just out of order and hidden in the pages yet to come.

Thomas Pincombe at North Molton

A lovely find as I am transcribing the parish registers for North Molton was the baptism of Thomas Pincombe son of Thomas Pincombe 30 Mar 1616. Thomas is a brother to Bartholomew whose will I transcribed earlier in my blog as well as the will of their father. Thomas is a son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snowe just to keep all the lines more or less in order. In the will of William Pincombe he leaves to Thomas:


William Pincombe of East Buckland and Filleighe in his will dated 20 Dec 1602 (see my blog 30 Jul 2011) left the property known as Over Mollande Sarazin to his three sons Symon, Richard and Thomas.

.....  if Symon Pyncombe, Richard Pyncombe and Thomas Pyncombe my sonnes
so longe lyve, or anie of them so longe lyve, all that the hall of the Tenement and Barton commonlie
called Over Mollande Sarazin, the entire, and house adioyning to the northe part of the said halle
the chambers over the saide halle and the house within the said halle, one chamber over the said house
and the shippinge in the easte part of the saide house. And all that parte or portion of the Towne
place there which is lymitted and appointed by meerts and bonds, the garden by southe the yokinge
house. One close of lands called the Southedowne, one other close of lande called the bottoms close
and dyvers other closes platts and quilletts of lande, meadowe, woods, wayes and other hereditam[en]ts
within the appurtennces in Northmolton in the countie before said, ...

Further to this Thomas in his will (see blog 21 Aug 2011):

.......Item I give unto Thomas Pincombe my sonne
one peece or parcell of grounde commonly called or knowne by the name of
Dobs Downe beinge parte of the Bartine of Molland Sarizine ......

Thus linking together the three generations of family and placing the father Thomas into William Pincombe/Emotte Snow's family and hence a brother to my ancestor Richard Pincombe at Bishops Nympton.

The loss of all the wills has to be greatly lamented although at least having names and dates does help a little. I still wonder why such a long period between the death of George Pincombe and the probate of his will. Also why the name George. It is still another century before there is a George King of England. What is the source of this forename in the Pincombe family? Perhaps it is a clue to the name of Margaret Gregoire's father? Her baptism though was not at North Molton at least not as the surname Gregoire.

In total there are now at the end of 1618 a total of 1896 baptisms, 219 marriages and 547 burials. With 30 years of marriages and burials missing, this parish register does not assist one quite so much although in the time period lacking marriages the priest did for some of the years record the forename of the mother.

Burials and Marriages have returned to the North Molton Parish Registers

Once again the marriages and burials are listed in the North Molton Parish Registers commencing for the most part by 1605. However, a slight change in the records as there is now a new priest and he is entering all the records in Latin. A good challenge for me as I am keen to learn Latin in order to transcribe some other records that I have acquired. Fortunately though this has only lasted until 1610. The practice was good though.

The burials of George and Dorothie Pincombe in 1610 were rather a surprise since I had a will probate in 1624. There isn't a son George and one wonders why it took 14 years to probate the will unless it was waiting for the youngest child to be 21 years of age. Henry was youngest and he would have been 22 in 1624. There were three sons Philip, William and Henrye (and two daughters Emott and Johane). I will hopefully learn more about the children of George and Dorothy Pincombe.

On the subject of the Devon/Somerset wills I always find that my annoyance level zooms whenever access to those original wills would solve a mystery. The bombing of the Record Office in Exeter in World War II has certainly proven to be an enormous problem for researching family lines in Devon although the Manor Records should also be useful where they exist. 

I shall continue working on the North Molton Parish Registers to complete them and then back to Abbotts Ann Parish Registers.

Still thinking about our motor trip in England. We are of two minds - one to do all the driving and two to take the train to specific locations and rent a car for short periods. There is a tour bus from London to Canterbury and Dover which might just be a really nice trip, then take the train to Exeter and there rent a car go to Land's End and work our way back across the south of England. Then take the train to Birmingham where I would dearly like to spend several days in the library there looking up my Buller/Welch families to see if I can discover more about my great grandparents Edwin Denner Buller and Ellen Taylor. I have a lot of details on them but have not yet found their marriage and so can not be absolutely sure that Thomas Taylor and Ellen Roberts are Ellen's parents. Edwin Denner Buller I am in no doubt about at all as I had all of his details from my grandmother and indeed I do have details from my grandmother on her mother but without the marriage registration I can not be absolutely sure since Taylor is a fairly common surname.

Then we can rent a car in Leicester and move about the Midlands and probably drive from there to Cumberland and into Yorkshire. It sounds like a good plan now that I see it written down. Although the book I read on touring England was most interesting it was written 40 years ago and the author had four months to work his way from Land's End to John o' Groats. They had never been before so that everything was new to them. We have been three times now and some areas have been explored and we have toured the entire country albeit on the main roads for the most part.

The Lake District is most beautiful and we spent several days there so that the need to repeat that portion does not come to me at the moment. We spent little time in the Midlands so would like to do more there. Our trip to Bewcastle will be quick and a day at Carlisle Record Office mostly because Thomas Routledge my cousin is doing so much there on the Routledge line and 80% or more of my lines in Bewcastle/Lanercost Cumberland are Routledge since both of my 3x great grandparents were Routledge (married second cousins) and three of their four parents were Routledge and six of their eight parents were Routledge and so it continues back. But Yorkshire both of us would like to investigate - my husband West Yorkshire and me East Yorkshire and both of us North Yorkshire and that because of the James Herriot series!

Shall do more mapping and see how this thought will work out.

Who is George Pincombe at North Molton in the 1500s

Ever since I first read the North Molton Parish Registers I have wondered who George Pincombe was. The baptisms recorded that list George as the father and Dorothy as his wife are as follows:

Phillip baptized 28 May 1592
Emott baptized 9 Dec 1594
William baptized 15 Dec 1597
Johane baptized 9 Nov 1599
Henrye baptized 19 Dec 1602

George, if this was his first marriage, would have been born between 1560 and 1570 and married early in the 1590s since the first child baptized at North Molton was in 1592. George himself does not appear to have been baptized at North Molton since the parish registers go back to 1539. Of interest there is a William Pincombe married to Margaret Gregoire 26 Nov 1564 at North Molton. There was a William Pincombe buried 25 Mar 1565 (end of 1565 so Lady's Day must have been the 26th Mar 1566) (and 13 Sep 1564 but this is prior to the wedding date) and at North Molton. There was an Elizabeth Pincombe wife of William Pincombe buried 18 Feb 1563. William Pincombe was either married twice and Margaret was his second marriage or this William is perhaps a son of William and Elizabeth although his baptism does not occur at North Molton along with his, in this case, likely sisters baptized in the 1540s. He could have been baptized before 1539 when the registers begin. (The other possibility is that the son of William and Elizabeth died (William) and William married initially to Elizabeth now sought to replace his son and heir by remarrying.) The marriage lines do not indicate that he was a widower. From the Visitation we have Thomas Pincombe and John Pincombe as brothers and one unnamed Pincombe sibling. Thomas and John were likely married by the mid 1530s or earlier (Thomas Pencombe's will was dated 1544 at North Molton). William was married by 1543 as these two baptisms are recorded in the North Molton Parish Register:

Pyncombe    Agnes    daughter    Pyncombe    William            1543    June    6
Pyncombe    Mary    daughter    Pyncombe    William            1547    Dec    8

The earlier Pincombe one name study does have George as a son of William Pincombe and Margaret Gregoire. Just as they have the brother of George as William Pincombe married to Temperance Pollard. With the earlier study having William Pincombe married to Margaret Gregoire named as a son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snowe. The Will of William Pincombe dated 20 Dec 1602  (which fortunately exists and entered into my blog 30 Jul 2011 ) does mention his son William but does not mention any children and he is still living. William (the testator) does mention the children of his son John and his son Richard. It would just seem peculiar to mention William and not his children if indeed George was his child and then who were the William Pincombes buried in 1564 and 1565 at North Molton since the William Pincombe mentioned in his father's will is still alive.

One of the many reasons that I decided to transcribe the Parish Registers for this area was to try to solve the differences between the wills and the personal memories of Pincombe families which are recorded on these earlier charts from the one name Pincombe study. Family lore is always interesting because it is passed down by word of mouth - certainly my mother knew her line back to John Pincombe and Grace Manning who married at Bishops Nympton in 1725 and I retain that family lore as I work through the results. I decided to pull out all the Freeholder data on the Pincombe family trying to ignore any preconceived ideas and the flow from John Pincombe/Grace Manning and their two sons and one daughter to the next generation worked beautifully without my assuming anything. Their eldest son William and his heir died leaving no subsequent heirs. Their second son John married to Mary Charlie/Charley had three sons and two daughters and the Pincombe families found at Bishops Nympton from the late 1700s into the 1800s were descendants of this couple or they traced back to the much earlier family of John Pincombe and Johane Blackmore (which I refer to as the Thomas Pincombe line).

That being said I am confident of my mother's memory and somewhat inhibited by the collective memories of those who contributed to the earlier study. In the case of the Bishops Nympton lines no one contributed to that particular study page and it does appear to have been collected from the IGI for the most part and is simply in error. Since the will of William Pincombe is available and the children given to him on the study page do not match then I have concluded that this part of the study is somewhat in error in that regard but there is still likely some truth in it since the collective memory of people can be most helpful in looking at family lines. It is possible that the collective memory combined with the IGI was used to create the chart without the final input from the collective memory so that errors arose in interpretation of the collective memory. A danger in genealogy I expect. Combine that with the loss of wills in WWII at Exeter and it may be very very difficult to put the Pincombe family together without a yDNA study being undertaken to resolve the inter-relatedness of the many Pincombe branches in North Devon and finally elsewhere as they moved out from this area.

So the thought remains - who is William Pincombe who married Margaret Gregoire at North Molton in 1564? Is he the father of George Pincombe who married Dorothy (surname unknown) by 1592 and was baptizing children as shown above in the 1590s and early 1600s?

The tax rolls once again at North Molton:

Surname    Forename    Parish    Year    Property
Pencombe    Alice (wid)  North Molton      1545 Subsidy    5
Pencombe    John           North Molton       1545 Subsidy    4
Pencombe    William      North Molton        1545 Subsidy    6

Pyncombe    Emma wid    North Molton    1581 Subsidy    G 3


The 36 years between subsidy rolls sees only one family left at North Molton paying taxes and Emma is likely the wife of John Pencombe. William is there in 1545 but gone in 1581 (is he the William buried at North Molton in 1564 or 1565?). Who is Alice Pencombe? Of note there was a will probated in 1567 that belonged to William Pincombe at North Molton.

A number of wills are probated at Barnstaple showing North Molton as the location for the testator:

Surname       Forename   Place            County        Date
Pyncombe     William     North Molton     DEV           1567  
Pyncombe     Peternell     North Molton     DEV           1591  
Pinckomb               North Molton     DEV           1610  
Pinckombe               North Molton     DEV           1610  
Pynckomb               North Molton     DEV           1615  
Pyncombe     George         North Molton     DEV           1624  

The wills help to tell the story but would tell it so much better if they still existed as other than a list. George is listed at North Molton in 1624 as having left a will. Margaret Gregoire Pincombe did marry again after the death of William and she was married to William Squire according to the earlier researchers and the parish register for North Molton records this marriage as William Squire and Margerett Pyncombe marrying 26 May 1567. Unfortunately there isn't a note to say whether Margerett was a widow. In 1581 when the subsidy was taken, George would have only been 17 years old and if he was the son of William and Margaret born in 1564 was probably still living with his step father William Squire.

I am continuing with the transcription of the Parish Registers and there are still only baptisms recorded as I move forward logically through the microfiche. By the end of 1601 there are  1472 baptisms with a number of new families now baptizing children at North Molton. With the children of George and Dorothy Pincombe being baptized, the Pincombe family is again in the Parish Registers at the end of the 1500s. It would appear that the earlier researchers are in error with regard to William Pincombe married to Margaret Gregoire being a son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snowe. Looking at the date of the marriage 26 Nov 1564 it is remotely possible that William and Margaret had more than one child between the date of their marriage and up to nine months after the date of William's death 25 Mar 1565. He lived one year and five months after his marriage so George could have been born posthumously and I have not yet found his baptism nor do I know where Margaret Gregoire was baptized or where her family lived.

I am still curious about who Alice Pincombe widow is? Was she the wife of the first Pincombe at North Molton and the mother of John, Thomas and unknown Pincombe listed in the visitation of Devon 1620? Was there also a daughter Margaret who married Philip Kingdon 15 Nov 1539 at North Molton. Certainly the time frame is good for her to be a sister to John, Thomas and unknown. I will continue to search her line forward from the two daughters Johane and Wilmote. Johane married William Hobb 28 Jan 1564 at North Molton and thus far there is Philip (daughter) baptized 16 Apr 1568, Margarett baptized 11 Jan 1572, Mathewe baptized 30 Mar 1575, Philip (son) baptized 4 Aug 1577, Agnes baptized 24 Apr 1580 and Richard baptized 3 Dec 1583. No marriage found for Wilmote.

Is the unknown sibling William Pincombe  married to Elizabeth (surname unknown)? The time frame again works for he would have been born in that first twenty years of the 1500s and baptizing children in the 1540s and possibly earlier. Now that I have the list of properties which were held by John Pincombe Senior of South Molton I hope to be able to discover the unique history of some of these particular holdings to see if I can do a family search on the property and perhaps discover more details on the Pincombe family that are elusive at the moment. John Pincombe was most certainly the eldest of the possible four siblings - he has more property than any of his siblings. Some of that property was entailed and ended up in the Tuckfield family which was the last remaining heir of John Pincombe. Was it because the wife of John Pincombe (son of the unknown Pincombe who first arrived at North Molton around 1485) was a member of this family or related to it? From another source I suspect that his wife was of the Dodderidge family. Another well known family in North Devon into which the grandson of John married (Amy Dodderidge married John Pincombe 15 Nov 1578 at Barnstaple) and I have yet to delve into this family at all. 

What property came to the first Pincombe from Lord Zouch? Discovering the answer to that question probably means reading the Manor Book for North Molton. Searching the National Archives (UK) website reveals:

Context
C  Records created, acquired, and inherited by Chancery, and also of the Wardrobe, Royal Household, Exchequer and various commissions
      top of page Division within C  Records of Equity Side: the Six Clerks
            top of page C 1  Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Proceedings, Richard II to Philip and Mary
                  top of page C 1/599  Chancery pleadings addressed to Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, Cardinal and Papal Legate as Lord Chancellor. Detailed descriptions at item level
Top of page
Record Summary
Scope and content    
John, Lord Zouche, great-grandson of Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard de Sancto Mauro the elder, Lord Seymour. v. Thomas Parker.: Detention of deeds relating to the manor of North Molton and messuages, land, mills, and rent there.: Devon.
Covering dates     1518-1529
Held by    
The National Archives, Kew
Legal status     Public Record(s)

Certainly these documents could prove to be quite interesting. As well as the one below which refers to the property that eventually is mentioned in the will of William Pincombe (1602, see Blog 31 Jul 2011).

C  Records created, acquired, and inherited by Chancery, and also of the Wardrobe, Royal Household, Exchequer and various commissions
      top of page Division within C  Records of Equity Side: the Six Clerks
            top of page C 1  Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Proceedings, Richard II to Philip and Mary
                  top of page C 1/1115  Chancery pleadings addressed to Thomas Wriotheseley, Lord Wriotheseley as Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor. Detailed descriptions at item level.
Top of page
Record Summary
Scope and content    
Robert DAVY of Crediton (Kyrton) v. William COTHAY and others.: Rent of a farm called Over Molland Sarazyn and Nether Molland Sarazyn in North Molton, formerly of Thomas Chalocombe, gentleman.: DEVON.
Covering dates     1544 April 22 - 1547 Feb 15
Note     Mutilated.
Held by    
The National Archives, Kew
Legal status     Public Record(s)

Pincombe images from John Rylands University Library at the University of Lancashire

My two images have come quickly from the John Rylands University in Lancashire UK and I am very pleased with the result. I looked up John Rylands on wikipedia with the following resultant information gleaned:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rylands

"John Rylands (7 February 1801 – 11 December 1888) was an English entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He was the owner of the largest textile manufacturing concern in the United Kingdom, and Manchester's first multi-millionaire.

"After having learned to weave Rylands became a small-scale manufacturer of hand-looms, while also working in the draper's shop his father had opened in St Helens. He displayed a "precocious shrewdness" for retailing,[1] and in partnership with his two older brothers expanded into the wholesale trade. So successful were they that in 1819 Rylands' father merged his retail business with theirs, creating the firm of Rylands & Sons.[1] At its peak, the company employed a workforce of 15,000 in 17 mills and factories, producing 35 tons of cloth a day."

There is a much longer writeup on John Rylands in the article, I have quoted the lead paragraphs only.

The two images were of the Pincombe family at South Molton:

Formerly Phillipps MS. 31843, being lot 303 in the 1911 sale  RYCH/2890  April 3, 1605

Archival history:
[R. 77719]

Contents:
Co. DEVON.
An extent of all the manors, etc. of the late John Pincombe, gentleman,
inherited by his son and heir, John Pincombe the younger; taken at South
Molton, co. Devon, Parchment roll. Seal missing.

I have been trying to place the lines of this family in a correct historical timeline. There are four John Pincombe's in this line with the first being the son of the first Pincombe member at North Molton who arrived with Lord Zouch in 1485 according to the Visitation of Devon 1620 (original). This John Pincombe was likely born in the early 1500s and had died by 1571 at South Molton. According to the original Visitation of Devon 1620 he had two sons John and Christopher who both lived at South Molton. It is possible that the wife of this first John Pincombe was of the Dodderidge family. Her brother John was the father of Richard Dodderidge and his daughter Amy married the grandson of the first John Pincombe. However, I am still proving that line.

The document has a preamble which states that John Pincombe senior (this is the son of the first John Pincombe) died 18 Dec 1604 at South Molton at which time his son John was still alive. However in the time between death and probate John Pincombe junior also living at South Molton and married to Amy Dodderidge 17 Nov 1578 at Barnstaple has died with probate 13 Apr 1605. Hence the heir at law became the son of John Pincombe and Amy Dodderidge and this was again John Pincombe (a minor by the terms of the will) who was born 11 Feb 1584 at Barnstaple and he married Mary Carew. These two are the parents of Gertrude Pincombe who left the Pincombe Trust which included the properties listed on this "Extent of Manors" which was prepared to be attached to the Probate.

This now clarifies the descent of the Pincombe family in this line and with the son of John Pincombe and Mary Carew dying without heirs, the line became extinct in the Pincombe family. This was the armigerous line of the Pincombe family. Since the Coat of Arms was awarded in 1616 it must have been to John Pincombe married to Mary Carew but there does appear to be a discrepancy in that regard as the Coat of Arms appears to have been awarded in 1598 as well. Perhaps the original awarding was to John Pincombe as High Sheriff of South Molton (John Pincombe senior) and then in 1616 his grandson John applied to renew the Coat of Arms to himself and as the eldest and heir apparent of his grandfather he would inherit the right to bear the Coat of Arms bourne by his grandfather.

I shall transcribe the information at a later date but I am now satisfied that this line is correct although there is no mention of Christopher's line which was shown to be extinct on the charts of the earlier Pincombe study. Christopher himself had died by 1585 at South Molton but he appears to have left two sons John and William. William does appear to have an extended family which appears to be later found at Bideford. Only yDNA can really answer the lines of the Pincombe family found around the North Devon area and later much further afield.

Transcribing Parish Registers for North Molton continuing

The Parish Registers continuing into the 1580s contain only the baptisms thus far. I am hopeful that marriages and burials may be hidden somewhere further along. Occasionally I have been lucky to have that happen. No more Pincombe entries at North Molton in the past few years. At the end of 1585 there are now 1123 baptisms, marriages are 144 at the end of 1571 and burials 325 also at the end of 1571. There will be a generation of missing marriages and burials although the priest has, beginning in 1577, entered in the mother's forename which might be helpful in some cases with sorting families. The current priest does not enter the abode of the parents very often and that was helpful with the earlier record keeping.

More new surnames are entering into the parish and some are disappearing (like Pincombe unfortunately). However, the Pincombe family is known to be at North Molton in this time period but they may have attended churches closer to their farms. This would have been the case with the Pincombe family at Filleigh and East Buckland as there were Churches at both of these villages.

I was most pleased that I managed to download all the Indenture/Masters records from the National Archives (79 files in all - most greater than 400 pages) and I am contemplating taking on the preparation of an index for this information (it will be freely available and if I can not give it away then it will be on my website). It will be a long project (probably a couple of years). I shall soon construct the file for entry. It is something I can carry with me if ever we travel. The images that I have glanced at thus far are very good.

I also downloaded the Chelsea Pensions (5 files) but I believe that these are already on the FindMyPast site. I thought they would make interesting reading over time. I am a subscriber to both Ancestry and FindMyPast so will check out their databases and see what they have entered from these files.

I also want to return to transcribing Abbotts Ann now that the days are shortening and somewhat dull by afternoon letting me read readily from the microfiche reader. Now that I have started North Molton though I will complete it first.

I had sent Penton Mewsey and Upper Clatford transcriptions to the OPC Hampshire site earlier in the year but have not yet seen them online.  I did add them to my website though and hopefully they will soon be up on the OPC site.

Reading - Springtime in Britain by Edwin Way Teale

Our 45th anniversary was just the other day and one of the books that my husband gave to me was entitled "Springtime in Britain" by Edwin Way Teale. I haven't read anything by him previously since I never was prone to reading travel books but we are planning a driving tour of parts of the British Isles and this book has quite captured my thoughts in that regard. Basically he and his wife went by boat landing at Southampton, rented a car and headed for southwest England - Land's End to be exact and they intended to then zigzag across country traveling the width and breadth of Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to John o' Groats in the north of Scotland. Part way through the book you do discover what prompted them to do so aside from their incredible interest in traveling, ornithology, flora, fauna and geology as their son David was stationed in England during the Second World War and he died in France. His letters home told of the rich fauna and flora of the country in which he was residing although he could not reveal details of where he actually was stationed. Using various guide books and writings by noted naturalists, they traveled daily about England in a more or less organized zigzag pattern that took them 11,000 miles from Land's End to John o' Groats.

The book was written in 1970 and so England is much changed in the fourty one years that have passed since the writing but surprisingly as he talked about the mists of Dorset and the windswept shores of North Devon I could see once again our own trips to these areas. He captures Grasmere in the Lakes District beautifully and many many other parts of England.

We have decided to do our own car trip in England although the exact dates are unknown at this time. I think it will be at least one year in the planning. We planned our four days in London last year over a two week interval. The better the planning; the more you can revise it to suit you but still not miss what you really wanted to see/do whilst traveling is the thought.

Probably the most practical way to begin would be to fly once again to London Heathrow but this time rent a car and head for Canterbury. My cousins live in Sutton (18.2 miles from Heathrow) so we could book a hotel there and visit with them for a short time. The next day we would be at Canterbury which is another 70 miles further along. Then we would begin our swing around the south eastern coast past Dover, Battle and Hastings and on to Brighton. My fingers itch to spend a couple of days in Winchester Record Office and we will see if we can manage that as well. I think two or three days of driving and then a break at Record Offices will probably work very well.

I was having trouble seeing the trip in my mind as a doable item but this book demonstrates the possibility of doing such a trip. For the most part they followed their plan but did deviate as the need arose. They began at the end of March which I rather think could be quite formidable even in southern England. There is still the possibility of snow (and they did experience a heavy snowfall near Salisbury) and the rain can be quite heavy in April. I think we might try to begin in mid May and return home end of June. No more than 40 days but we have some sections that we would not repeat - we would not go to Wales although we really enjoyed Wales our trip with Trafalgar gave us such a good study of Wales. We do not, either of us, have any ancestors who were Welsh (at least not after the mid 1500s). We also spent quite a bit of time in the Lake District and would not repeat our trip to Grasmere or Lake Windermere. Again we traveled through Northumberland and Durham and do not feel a strong call to repeat those areas. Leaving out those rather large sections does make one feel that we can see everything that we want to see and do everything that we want to do in 40 days.

It would also be tempting to go in July and August but they are vacation time in England and we might find it more difficult with the increased traffic on the roads to manage. We will have a reunion of our Routledge Clan in 2014 and then we can see more of Scotland at that time.

Planning fourty days should be rather fun. We have somewhat of an idea of distances and how long secondary roads can take to travel upon in England. For instance we traveled from Bridport to Northam a distance of 80 miles and it took the better part of two hours with no stops. I think if we think of 40 miles being a maximum distance to travel in one hour we are probably going to be fairly close. We have a tendency to stop so will have to build that in. For some parts of England we would just like to drive along and experience the countryside without stopping a lot. In the southeast we, neither of us, have a lot of ancestral interest although my husband's Mead family is from Kent but they came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s. There are others doing an in-house search for Mead ancestry and we will content ourselves with just enjoying Kent - the garden of England as my grandmother used to refer to it as.

But Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset all have areas that interest both of us and we will look at them differently although I think I might find it somewhat sad to travel to the parts of Dorset that we visited with my cousins. Ivan passed away this past year and I still feel the loss. We corresponded for over 25 years and met only the one time but it was a marvelous meeting and I learned a great deal about him in that short time. So we will do the bottom of England at our pace and then skirt back to Oxford and see Windsor before heading into the Midlands.

Missing items in North Molton Parish Registers and Open Files at The National Archives

Still working on the North Molton Parish Registers and up until 1571 baptisms, marriages and burials were all recorded. However, beginning in 1572 only baptisms are recorded and that has continued to the end of 1578 where I now am. There are now 900 baptisms, 144 marriages and 325 burials. One is left to ponder whether North Molton is that very exceptional parish where there are 50% fewer burials than anywhere else. Up to 1571 the baptisms outnumbered the burials 2:1 approximately. A very healthy sign but unusual for the time period.

A few new names in the parish but the names there in the late 1530s continue also in the parish. There is an increase in baptisms from the early register.

The National Archives is offering for the moment downloads of particular microfilm sets (with a suggestion that transcriptions of these items would be welcomed and could be placed on the "Your Archives" website) and this information can be found

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/digital-microfilm.asp

Quoted from the above mentioned website:  "Digital Microfilm allows you to search and download some of The National Archives' most popular records, which were previously available on microfilm. The National Archives has a large collection of microfilmed records, and we hope that making these available online will increase their accessibility. This will ultimately allow the microfilm readers used at The National Archives, Kew to be retired. Many of the records are indexes and we hope that these will be helpful in locating other relevant records.

The Digital Microfilm method of delivery is by using very large pdfs. Each download contains a whole piece, which could be up to 800 pages long. This means that Digital Microfilm is only available to online users with a broadband connection, and to users in the Research and Enquiries Room at The National Archives.

These records have not been indexed and so you will need to scroll through the pdfs, much as you would when using a microfilm. However, we would be more than happy for users to transcribe any of the Digital Microfilm content and post it on Your Archives, The National Archives' online community of records users.

These documents are currently free of charge to download."

The list of items available is fairly lengthy and I was very pleased to find the Wills from the pre Commonwealth period online:

"PROB 10 Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Other Probate Jurisdictions: Bundles of Original Wills and Sentences -These are the Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills for 1643-6 proved at Oxford, for which there are no copies in PROB 11. The wills are pieces PROB 10/639-642."

The four files found there are huge as a warning but should prove to be very interesting in looking at my husband's Royalist ancestors who came to America in the 1630s, 1640s and 1650s. Each file is around 800 pages.

I also downloaded a couple of Indenture files to see if I can discover anything about my London families - Buller, Beard, Hemsley, Roland, Cole.

I have so much transcription and reading to do that purchasing more documents almost seems strange. Nevertheless I have now ordered the Pincombe document that pertains to the lands that were transferred from John Pincombe Merchant South Molton to his son John Pincombe Merchant South Molton in 1605. This father and son died within half of a year or so of each other with the son dying after the father. I am hoping that by the land I might be able to look more closely at this early Pincombe family and separate out lines that do not easily separate out any other way. I was able to purchase the document from the John Rylands University Library at the University of Manchester as two *.tif although must wait until they have time to do the two files for me. I am of course most anxious to see it but I imagine they are busy this time of year with student affairs as the new school year advances.