Thursday, May 11, 2023

Continuing work on the Find My Past database

I finally made a decision on the pages that I have received from another researcher. I will enter them into an excel database so that I can sort them by date. It will be a short term project since I am a fast typist; it is my eyes that limit me these days just a little. Once entered then I can sort on any of the items. As it turns out I only need enter about five columns rather than the ten columns in the chart.

My decided search terms on Find My Past as I will just do perhaps an hour of day of data entry - Pencomb(e), Pincomb(e), Pinkham(e), Pyncomb(e), Pinckham(e), Pinkcomb(e). We will see how that goes in terms of number of hits from 1480 to 1560 and then from 1560 to 1640 (revised to 1600). Find My Past has much stricter protocols on their search engine so I will have to search these two entries as two different sets of data.

Surname    1480-1560    1560-1600

Pencomb          0                   7

Pencombe       13                 22        

Pincomb           2                 4

Pincombe        27                41

Pinkham          2                   4  

Pinkhame        1                   1              

Pyncomb         0                   0

Pyncombe      19                58

Pinckham        1                 1

Pinckhame      0                  0

Pinkcomb       0                 2

Pinkcombe      0                1 

My work for the day and reviewing the Pencomb entries there is a gift - Thomas Pencomb marrying Frances Farmer 3 Aug 1631 at Hereford St John in Herefordshire. There are two entries for the Will of Christopher Pencomb of South Molton (Devon Wills Index). There is also a will for Eme Pencomb  of North Molton (likely widow of John of South Molton) (Devon Wills Index). There is a baptism for a Josea Pencomb which I think is a mistranscription as a J higher on the page is the usual J of this era but the actual forename I will have to think about; his father was William Pencomb and baptized 9 Feb 1635 (old style) at Bideford. There are two entries for a Thomas Pencomb - a will from 1578 at Roborough and a will in 1601 at South Molton. Interesting in our generation with scanning and all the people working on their trees that so much material is now locked up in various databases around the world to save them for eternity. 

But, once again, the loss of the wills during the bombing of the Exeter Record Office in the Second world war has destroyed a set of interesting documents. One does note that Russia has many times targeted the historical record places in Ukraine; another barbaric act. Someone must tie their fingers so their destructiveness will end. Ukraine stops fighting and they are annihilated; Russia stops fighting and we have peace. Then we will smile politely at the Russians as they leave Ukraine and let them get on with their economy because that is the kind of people that we are. But the psychopathic Nazis in Russia like Putin and his enablers will be tried in the International Criminal Court if ever they leave Russia. I am sure the Russian people will be glad to be rid of them so that they too can live their lives once again. Russia has a great history; too bad that the Nazis Putin and his enablers are destroying it.

Back to work; I do try to avoid being distracted by the criminal Nazis in Russia (Putin and his enablers) but as I work away there are so many memories of what was done to the world by the last Nazis that got loose in the world. 

The next set of data is Pencombe and I have refined it to search only up to 1600. There are 13 hits for 1480 to 1560 (mostly from the Wills and Probates Indexes which have a time frame of 1300-1858). One interesting item for a John Pencombe, Herefordshire 1646 (naming his children as Thomas, Solomon, Elizabeth, Mary and Susan Pencombe) who has named a John Bowly as administrator for his children. The second, third, and fourth after the 1600s so not applicable. The fifth one is Joane Pencombe's will (East Buckland, already discussed). The sixth, to the thirteenth are not applicable.There are 22 hits for 1560 to 1600. The first three are for Joane Pencombe's will at East Buckland. The next two for John Pencombe in 1576 at North Molton (will). Philip Pencombe's will in 1564 at Tawstock. Richard Pencombe's will in 1588 at Chittlehampton and William Pencombe's will 1564 at North Molton. The marriage of William Pincombe and Temperance Pollarde 23 Jan 1597 King's Nympton (original parish register fiche). The remainder have already been viewed. 

The Pincomb spelling has two records in the first group. The first set has been viewed and are actually later. The four records include the marriage of Phillip Pincomb and Wilmote Bear at Bideford in 1583. A second record is the marriage of Walter Pincomb and Johan Pine at Bideford in 1587. The next two are a later time frame as above.

The eyes have had enough for today. I have been glancing at the spelling with which I am most familiar and there are some records that I have looked at and placed in my two different legacy files. The one name Pincombe file that I created from the original charts (of the earlier researchers) checking them  as I went along against Find My Past Records has not proven to be overly workable. But I did not complete this project back in 2010-2011 when I started it. So a new file starting with the furtherest back know Pencombe is a better process. The thousand or so images that I collected at Kew I have not yet reviewed in any detail. There is a lot of information on Pencombe etc in there. I think I am on the right path but mustn't overwhelm myself. 

I do need to think about the newsletter for 1st of June. What would I like to accomplish in this newsletter? Last newsletter I talked about the first three generations and I think I could do bits of the fourth generation. I could do the one that leads eventually to my line as there is a will for that which is still extant. I have material for land that belonged to the South Molton family which I can also include. I know that I need to work the land into the discussion as these records still exist. I wasn't really sure what I would work on. I will continue doing one or two of the images a day which I received entering them into the excel file I created. I should also be done that project and then I can do some sorting and see what I have in the 1500s there as well. I can place some of these early records but I do not actually know how much is there in the 16th century. Those two centuries 15th and 16th are hardest in Devon (and Somerset to a certain extent) so far. Other counties did not lose their stack of wills from those early days. The past tells us of human endeavour and freedom of spirit and is a warning to the future that when this is lost so is progress. 

Interesting to see these hints of a Progressive Conservative party emerging once again. It takes time to see the need for such a change but now in the light of world events one can see that the great error began with reducing the GST to 5%. The loss of that sum of money left the government vulnerable at a time when there was difficulty in the world markets (2008) and the methods used to attempt to reconcile the budget led to attempted destruction of our history. That is fateful for any party really; when you turn off a large portion of support. But I have to say if you have made your fortune with the help of Canadians then that fortune should benefit both yourself and Canada but the playing field must be even and the taxes must be a progressive way to keep Canada strong and the people who help to make it strong happy as well. I await the news on such a Progressive Conservative party emerging once again - the party of Brian Mulroney and back in time to so many other great Conservatives in our history. I give credit where it is due and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done a great job through COVID. Credit where credit is due; day after day he talked to Canadians about what the government was doing to help and that was well done. But now we do need the balance of fiscal conservatism to emerge once again - efficiency is needed. 

The day awaits and breakfast is soon. My yard needs work but I know that both of my daughters want me to wait until I have help with that and so I just enjoy the dandelions and the cultivated flowers in the garden. Soon it will be time to move that garden soil and grow grass and do our regenerative gardening. I think I can see the effects of that a little this year - the tulips are large and beautiful this year. The rain helps but not disturbing the soil seems to be working.

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