Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Work on Siderfin continues

I still have another few days in the month to work on Siderfin and I must remember to post the Kipp Newsletter to the Study group on the 1st of May. Yesterday I continued with the FreeBMD entries although all of them are in my database thus far. It would seem negligent though on my part not to check. I should accomplish this task by the end of the month. In May I will begin to work on the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter right away as I have a project to work on with the information given to me by another researcher. The Newsletter will likely look at the generation of Pencombe as it spreads out from North and South Molton in the 1500s. I have worked on the first three generations and so the fourth will be in the crosshairs of my research endeavours during the month of May. Perhaps this slow methodical look at the available material especially any land records will prove fruitful. My own line has used Pencombe then Pincomb and then Pincombe throughout their history but they were never far from North Molton. The movement for my line appears to be North Molton to East Buckland and Filleigh and then onto Bishops Nympton where they lived from the late 1500s until my 2x great grandfather John Pincomb moved from Bishops Nympton where he had married Elizabeth Rew to Molland where the farm that he was working had been in the family for several hundred years ( it appears to have always been farmed by a "John" of the Pincomb[e] family - Gatcombe (Lower in his case)). The presumption that he received this land in a different way does come from the will of his father where he is given just a small amount compared to his siblings as if to just mention that John was his son but had already received his inheritance. From Molland John Pincomb, his wife Elizabeth and their five children would emigrate to Westminster Township in Middlesex County in 1850/51 through the Port of New York. They stopped to visit with/stay with perhaps until spring his older brother Robert and his wife living at Genesee in New York State.  All of this was known to me from childhood from my mother although accurate details had become hidden by time in my memory banks revealed as I worked my way backwards in my family line. My mother did not likely know precisely where they lived before Bishops Nympton nor did she know they had not "always" lived in Devon but she was only eight when her father died and he would have been the one who told her much of her history along with her father's first cousin (they farmed side by side) Frank Pincombe. Frank was also her uncle by marriage as his wife was Ada Buller (sister to my maternal grandmother). Why I felt it was my job to get into the Pincombe material was a result of my 4th cousin George DeKay editing a History Book of Westminster and Delaware Townships in Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. He wanted me to write a Profile of the Pincombe family and my foray into surname studies was launched in 2003 with a due date of 2005 (summer). I met the deadline and the rest is history. I was sold on surname studies and have spent the last twenty years pursuing the Blake and Pincombe families of my parents Ernest Edward George Blake and Helen Louise Pincombe. 

Along the way I have met many wonderful cousins both in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom (mostly England), and the United States. It is a fascinating journey through time. Finding history quite interesting all of my life it constitutes part of my reading time although science predominated that reading time throughout most of my young life into my teen years and my time at university. It was always like I could not get enough of learning throughout my life; I find learning to be the best of all activities now in my widowhood. That I would have ever found myself doing genealogy continues to amaze me as I had watched my husband search out his ancestors from even before the days of our marriage in 1966 but avoided more than a polite listening to him and helping when he asked. But DNA sold me on genealogy for sure; one could actually prove these lines in a scientific way although not having purely phased results can make one consider very carefully the results that do arise but having four siblings tested has been very helpful in that regard. And so the quest continues and the ultimate goal is now in my mind as I did not really have a goal. That is to publish the Blake family of Andover, Hampshire, England (my line) and the Pencomb family of Devon with its large derivatives Pincomb(e) and Pinkham. But in the meantime I continue to correct the Siderfin book and once accomplished will set it aside for another to revise in the future. That is, I think, the aim of every genealogist that one would set down what one has learned in the hopes that in the future their work would also be carefully examined and corrected as more and more details are scanned and available to pursue around the world. 

The world is a story of families really and how those families have evolved through the ages. One hopes that that peaceful uplifted plain will eventually be there for all of Homo sapiens. We must be honest with each other and get rid of the aggressive tendencies that exist in our world. The commandments we were given were clear and simple - Love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbour as ourself. It is an eternal truth and we can achieve that peace we seek only by following the commandments. It is actually one of the things that I like about Justin Trudeau. Interesting he carries the traits of his Father's French Canadian family and his Mother's English Canadian family and wears them very well (his youth was just that he has matured well). I never voted for his father in actual fact. I do like to see variety in politics as we get the best job out of elected officials when they are not in power for long extended periods but at the moment I do not see a successor to him. Not being of the liberal persuasion but rather preferring fiscal conservatism which hasn't been seen since the days of Prime Minister Mulrooney (and yes I was working in one of the areas that were cut in the 80s by Prime Minister Mulrooney (for whom I had voted) but as mentioned yesterday I moved on and was actually better off!); I would like to see better use of the tax monies that are collected. I found the television "discussion" by parliamentarians and the CEOs of the large grocery chains to be the most disgusting treatment of these individuals who came to Ottawa to try to help. One does not verbally attack these individuals; it isn't the Canadian way. They had a story to tell and if you did not like the story that doesn't mean you get to attack them. We can do better than what I saw that day. We need people in parliament like these efficient CEOs to run the country so that money is not wasted. I do dislike this idea of attacking people personally; it is repugnant. One only has to shop in these grocery stores to see all that is offered for sale to realize the truth of what the CEOs were saying - a large part of their profits does come from "non-food" items. The food areas in these stores are shrinking compared to the "non-food" items. The food items have changed so much in my lifetime from mostly basic ingredients that were in my Uncle's grocery store to prepared meals that dominate the shelves (and sometimes I wonder if one can really call them food but rather a treat; basic ingredients are cheaper). I mostly buy basic ingredients (and yes my grocery bill has also increased but everything is more expensive). But enough said and I will not continue my tirade working on increasing our military expenditures as it is obvious that we should and just have to do it. But I have mulled around that televised "discussion" ever since.

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