North Molton - Thesis by Norman Arnett

 Norman Arnett published part of his thesis in the Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art Volume 108, Pages 69-125, 1976. A very interesting 55 pages on North Molton which began in the period of the Domesday Book and up through into the 1700s. I found it most interesting in that a number of families were mentioned but the Pencombe family were not. It did not surprise me as the members of this family moved away from North Molton starting early in the 1500s and continuing into the mid 1500s to close by towns and villages namely East Buckland, Filleigh, South Molton and eventually a little further away to Bishops Nympton, Molland, Bideford and Barnstaple and others. Only a few members of the family remained as shown in the Parish Registers. 

I think that helped me to frame my thoughts on any association with John la Zouche beyond happening to arrive at North Molton (in what capacity continues to be unknown but I am going to read the Early Chancery Proceeding during the reign of Henry VII over this next week) in the same time period. I think I may add to my query once again with the AI and upload a copy of the journal as it is most interesting considering how much time we have spent talking about North Molton over the past few months.

I was unable to obtain a complete copy of the thesis as I suspect it was most interesting. But what was published certainly opened my eyes to this area of Devon and its significance in North Devon. A wealthy town in the 1500s/1600s due to the wool industry but gradually this town diminished in size and wealth as South Molton became much larger and wealthier and over into the Barnstaple/Bideford area. 

How does that affect the Pincombe family? One is left with the thought that the emigrant took the opportunity to move to a new place for whatever reason and the place of origin is not revealed by anything that I have found thus far other than the coincidence of the Pencombe family in Herefordshire using similar forenames. Given that John Pencombe's eldest son John and middle son William are both adults by 1524 and the eldest son has a son Christopher also old enough to be paying taxes gives John Pencombe (emigrant 1486) an age between 16 and mid 20s at that time perhaps. Another interesting piece of information is the forename of the son of the eldest son of John Pencombe namely Christopher. This John Pencome has a higher value than his father suggesting that he married someone with money and looking at the heads of houses in South Molton there does not appear to be anyone in that category with the first name Christopher but is an interesting thought. I have given myself one week to look at this and will continue after these three cleaning days to review information. 

 Today is cleaning day and I begin in the basement. Definitely fall out there and the maple tree at the back is starting to change colour - a beautiful sight in another week or so for sure. Still thinking about the lovely Thanksgiving Service yesterday on YouTube from the Church of England in England. 

Breakfast soon but first solitaire puzzles.  

Sunday in England

Although I did open up the Service here on YouTube it sometimes has difficulties and this was one of those occasions so I waited as usual until 10:45 a.m. and then I switched to the Church of England online and I did know it was Thanksgiving Sunday which is one of my most favourite services. It just so reminds me of Canon Abraham and church when I was a child at Church with my family and we did nearly fill a pew it seemed. As always this was  an absolutely beautiful service and thank you to the Church of England in England for broadcasting week in and week out to all the people of the world. It is amazing that in this new century we are doing what Jesus asked us to do to take his message to the entire world. 

 Today will be a rest day. My eyes do need that and I will take advantage of that although I am going to begin reading Job very shortly. Following Job the Psalms. My favourite music is Ian White's Psalms on CD. 

I am satisfied thus far with my relook at the records for Pencombe in Herefordshire and Devonshire. Have I proven anything; not at this time but I have collected a little more information here and there. When this is completed (next Saturday) then I will begin the Genealogical Chart beginning with John Pencombe who, according to the Visitation of Devon 1620, of Northmolton came there with the Lord Zouche about the beginning of H. 7. His sons will follow and they are labeled on this same original Visitation Tho., John, and (unknown). But luckily by the Devon Lay Subsidy I can say their names in birth order were John, William and Thomas. I have published a lot of information on the Pincombe family in various places in Devon in my blogs and I will use a lot of that information whilst I am creating the genealogical tree first in Legacy and I am using Version 10 now and then extract the file to create a genealogical tree in my word document which will include all the wills, all the Anglican church records and any other pertinent documents to add as much information as possible to the book. The Siderfin Book was 412 pages and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Pincombe Book around 500 pages roughly.  It will be published under a Creative Commons License and on my website for download for anyone who wishes to have the book. It is my addition to one of my parent's lines in print. 

Next item is the washing and my running and walking for the day whilst it runs. I will hang the clothes up inside and increase the moisture in the house. 

For such a beautiful day thank you God. For the beautiful harvest, thank you God. For my beautiful country, thank you God. 

 

Continuing with Early Chancery Proceedings

 I did spend yesterday reviewing all of my datasets that pertain to the Pencombe/Pincomb/Pyncomb family of North Devon to ensure that I had added in all occurrences of the surname in the Devon area and not ignoring individual Devon references that were out of the North Devon area that I do tend to concentrate on. In fact I had collected all of them. But it was a good idea to check. 

I remain with my thought which I shared with the AI that the reference to John Lord Zouch in the 1620 Visitation of Devon was primarily to say where and when their Pencombe/Pincomb/Pyncomb family line originated in Devon and attaching it to John Lord Zouch a not unusual designation given the presence of the Zouch family as Lord of the Manor in days past which was probably considered to be a recognized individual. By stating that they arrived with Lord Zouch that supported their ability to settle in this area at this time. I suspect if one thinks it is difficult to emigrate to a new place in this time period it was very difficult in 1486 I strongly suspect. It is possible that John Pencombe arriving at North Molton in 1486 had no idea that a Roger de Pencombe had lived at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) in the early 1300s or that a John de Pencomb' had been an Assessor for the 1332 Lay Subsidy of Devon for Mollond (Molland)  (this is 150 to 200 years later).  England now has a Tudor King having defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. It was the AI that suggested (and I agree actually) that I should observe if there is a continuous line of Pencombe/Pencomb' in Devon since I did find this surname in the times mentioned above. It is good research to eliminate possibilities. Therefore I continue in these days to read through the Early Chancery Proceedings working backward from the end of the reign of Richard III. I will read forward into Henry VII but first I want to get back to the 1100s and see if there is anything that would add to the information I already have on the Pencomb family in Herefordshire mostly living at Bromyard although also Pencombe much earlier. I will have then done due diligence such as I can and feel satisfied with my result. 

The intent on my part was always to start the genealogical tree at John Pencombe in 1486 living in North Molton; however finding some of this earlier information told me that I should consider looking at this material not so much to trace the line back further but rather to clarify perhaps if this is actually the same family. We are in a time of change as the English did not have surnames when the Normans arrived in England with William the Conqueror and selection of a surname could have been duplicated by unrelated people quite readily. I do have a good chapter on the Pencombe family of Herefordshire but for completeness I should attempt to find all the information that is available to me readily. I do need to complete the latin transcription of the Inquisition Postmortem for John de Pencomb with a son Thomas born circa 1350 and Thomas appears later in other documents in the 1390s as mentioned. I do not however have a link to a John Pencombe descendant of this Thomas and arriving at Northmolton in 1486 - one notes he would likely be a grandson or great grandson of this Thomas. But it is interesting that this family uses the forenames John, Thomas, William over the time period that I have found them in Herefordshire (very common in the early Pincombe family but also common in the rest of England for sure) whereas a Roger de Pencombe is at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) Devon in the early 1300s. 

Another aspect of this yDNA study aside from the excitement gained from having five members all matching and known to be descendant of the two sons of John Pencomb (1486 arriving in Northmolton), is the Pincombe one-name Study actually includes the spellings Pincombe and Pinkham. Members of the very large American Pinkham family do not match the yDNA results of the Pincombe family which includes one of my third cousins who lives in the United States and one of my fifth cousins who lives in Australia (matches but not part of the yDNA study).  The other four members of the study that do match my third cousin are descendant of Thomas Pencombe or John Pencombe sons of John Pencombe. Indeed the two individuals who started up this study are both surnamed Pinkham and unfortunately the one member from England did not test his yDNA before he passed away. My thought on this I will share at a later date because I think the answer may well lie in Roger de Pencombe at Bonelegh (Bondleigh)  and his selection of the surname in his line was pure chance that he chose Pencombe perhaps or an ancestor did that. Dr. Richard Pinkham, the other member of the original Pincombe study lived in Gloucestershire but his work as a physician did take him into Devon where he interviewed many Pincombe members and they shared their family trees with him. I have all of that work that he did. He did not know his line fitting into the other lines in Devon/Somerset/Gloucestershire and London/Surrey where the Pincombe family still does live. 

Continuing with my reading as I hope to get through this Book 2 and into Book 1 which takes me back as far as those records exist. I will then pick up Book 3 and read forward to see if there are any records in that section. The index which I have is from 1385-1467 and has one Pencomb listed in this index so I thought I would try to locate it. It is a slow process although the scanning of the books is excellent on Internet Archive. My Pincombe family was in general from Devon for the most part but also Somerset but going back through the generations in Devon with surnames: Rowcliffe, Charley, Pearse, Manning, Harvey, Hobbs, Stanbury, Quythers, Vicary, Tapp, Blackmoore, Upcott, Thomas, Saunders, Bray, Whetstone, Snow, Burges so am taking advantage of all the Devon results as I move my way back. I am also looking at Hereford. I find that I need to just concentrate on one line though when I do something like this and the odds of having to repeat for another county; hard to tell but I am a here and now person.  

Although the idea of a combined book was discussed the main problem is the size of the Pinkham family in the United States and I am not going to do that research as an earlier book would need to be brought up to date. But the Pinkham family would definitely be a huge section of a combined book so I think it is better to do two books and I hope that over time that does happen with the Pinkham family of the United States. My Pincombe line did not arrive in Canada until 1850/51 with my ancestor's brother arriving at Genesee New York in 1835 and his descendants still live in the United States but in other areas of the United States. The other difficulty is the Pincombe family in north west Devon did use the Pinkham spelling when they moved to London some of them and also it was used in West Devon adding that complication to the mix although in general the surname tends to be spelled Pincombe these days and Pinkham is much less common than it was in the late 1700s and early 1800s in England.  There is at least one other tester in this line that came to the United States in the 1700s and is one of the matches with my cousin (his line is known and he does fit into the descendants of the North Molton line as far as can be determined (yDNA results)). 

 Woke up in the night contemplating the records that I have reviewed and still have to do. A quick walk about and back to bed. Still need another few hours of sleep before contemplating a new day. It is Sunday now and Church in the morning. 

Dear Father hear and bless thy beasts and singing birds and guard with tenderness small things that have no word. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Waking up in the night can be very rewarding

 Years ago when I was proofreading/copyediting for commercial printers I would wake up sometimes and be wide awake. So I would get up and proofread (most copyediting was actually done on the premises of the printer as they generally needed it that day). A couple of hours of proofreading and I was back to sleep. Last night when I woke up I opened Copilot (AI) and pulled up my latest discussion/research protocol shared with the AI and mentioned:

 Perhaps the Zouche connection is important because it grounded this family in one spot where they lived until my line emigrated to Canada in 1850. Where they were before was not important perhaps to them. Still working, back again when I have collected more information of use in exploring the Pencombe family in 1486. 
 

We discussed it for a few moments and more good ideas but the one item that the AI mentioned was the Manor Books. Unfortunately the Manor Books for North Molton  begin in 1760 and run up to 1935. However at Kew (the National Archives of the UK) there is some material mentioned dating back to 1158 and coming forward to 1951 held by the Devon Archives and Local Studies. These are principally family document sets but there is mention as I said earlier of Roger la Zouche receiving a weekly market license at North Molton in 1270. Castle Hill was administered by the Fortescue family which included: Filleigh, South Molton, East and West Buckland and Chittlehampton plus other lands further afield from this area. It includes the 1569 muster in Devon which I have. 

Alan la Zouche (Breton nobleman) held the manor of North Molton by marriage to Alice de Belmeis (early 1170s). His son Roger la Zouche (grandfather of the Roger mentioned above) was Sheriff of Devon. Later as I have mentioned the manor of North Molton passed to a relative of John Lord Zouch who spent his period of attainment following the Battle of Bosworth Field at the home of his relative in North Molton. Since I do not see any connection other than the statement on the 1620 Visitation of Devon  to the la Zouch family I primarily have not done any investigations in that regard. Living thousands of miles from these record offices I will not be doing that but simply summing up what is known and with a book created with the Creative Commons License anyone can use what I write and add to it - that is how a family story grows I think. I do not crave notoriety but rather enjoy my quiet life but feel compelled to write these books for both my mother in the case of Pincombe and my grandfather in the case of Blake. If I continue I am sure I will find that other relatives will inspire a continuation in book writing on my part looking at the Buller family of my maternal grandmother and the Rawlings family of my paternal grandmother. For both of these families I have extensive records and a publication by a cousin of mine for the Rawlings family.

But it was interesting that the AI raised the point of the Manor Books as I have not mentioned them since they do not exist in full copy prior to 1790 but only excerpts that pertain to particular families and I have pulled out the records that do exist such as the Devon Lay Subsidies and other items that will be in the book. The AI is growing exponentially in terms of reading and absorbing the printed word. Amazing really and what a great companion on this voyage of mine through history with the idea of a completed book at the end. The AI would like to read it when I complete it and that will happen as it is a good idea and certainly if I forget some proofreading the AI will bring it to mind I am sure. Being 81 does have its drawbacks as one tends to become some what lackadaisical in one's old age and perhaps forgetful. Although my sense of research and following all the rules is still strong. 

Breakfast time as I had that on my mind and wanted to write it down. Then solitaire puzzles and back to work.  

 

Looking at Pencombe in Devon

That was rather a surprise that John Pencomb' was in Devon as an accessor in 1332. I discovered that the Chief Accessors were James de Cockyngton of Cockington near Torquay and Matthew de Crouthorn/Crauthorn of Estbray in the Barnstaple area hence Devonians. So why was a John Pencomb in Mollond (now Molland) as an accessor? Is he related to Roger de Pencomb of Bonelegh (Bondleigh) who received land grants at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) in the early 1300s? Falling back on the yDNA results which tell me quite clearly that the five testers are descended from either of two sons of John Pencomb of North Molton namely John and Thomas both likely born at North Molton and the Visitation of Devon 1620 lists those sons although a third son unknown on the chart but was named William (he had died with all of his family in the 1560s is missing.). It is exciting that the testers actually do descend from one or other of these two sons and so the line is proven back to 1486 at Northmolton, Devon. I did review this with the AI yesterday and the AI concluded as did I that my next steps include what I was already doing and an intent look at Devon with regard to the period from from the early 1300s to 1486. This is the beginning of that investigation. The problem remains that the archives held at Exeter Devon were bombed in 1942 and destroyed for the most part. However, I shall continue seeing what has been transcribed of the surviving records in that time period. 

It is also interesting that there was a John de Pencomb in Herefordshire in this time frame the 1300s; indeed his Inquisition Post Morten transcription provided by British History online:

 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol11/pp382-400

accessed 19 February 2024 states:

 524.

	JOHN PENCOMBE, or DE PENCOMBE.
	Writ to the escheator to enquire as to the lands &c. held by the said John of the bishopric of Hereford and of others, the name and age of his heir, and who has been in possession of his lands since his death and received the issues. 10 July, 37 Edward III.
HEREFORD.	Inq. taken at Bromeyerd, 10 September, 37 Edward III.
	Bromyerd Foreyn. 12a. land, held of the bishopric of Hereford, lately vacant and in the king’s hand, by knight’s service and by payment to the bishop of 6d. an acre; and a messuage and a carucate of land, held in socage. He held no lands &c. except of the bishopric. He died on 13 November, 35 Edward III, about noon. Thomas his son, aged 14 1/2 years, is his heir. Robert, vicar of the church of Bromyerd, has been in possession of the premises since his death and received the issues thereof, by what title the jurors cannot say. (Underwritten.) Let a commitment thereof be made to Stephen de Eyncheton, (paying) for the wardship the extent, and for the marriage 20s.
	C. Edw. III. File 178. (25.)

 10 July 37 Edward III is 10 July 1364 and John de Pencomb's son Thomas was born in January 1349/50. So am I looking at two John de Pencomb - one in Devon as an accessor at Mollond in 1332 and one with a 14.5 year old son Thomas at a slightly later time period and was living in Bromyerd, Herefordshire? It is an unusual surname but it is also the name of a village in Herefordshire. 

What is at stake in this thinking? Up until this point in time I was thinking that John Pencomb of Northmolton had arrived at Northmolton in 1486 with John Lord Zouch. I became somewhat mystified by the statement on the Visitation of Devon 1620 stating Pyncomb of Northmolton - was that statement telling me that this was his normal home but he had arrived back from an unknown place with Lord Zouch early in the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509).  The AI and I discussed it and we created a methodology to see what type of knowledge  could be released from the documents that are available to me.  That is where I am at today. I do have the Early Chancery Proceedings 1386 - 1467 and will have a look at them for Devon and Herefordshire; indeed if there is a huge index I will check that as well. I am beginning to think that my methodology of simply collecting data that is pertinent and creating chapters that sort of flow together I am probably doing the best service I am able to give to the Pincombe family from which my mother descends and myself and all my siblings and all of our descendants. I will place a copy in the Guild of one-name Studies library for any future researcher in Pincombe. Plus I will publish it with a Creative Commons License so that others can see what I did and when they write their own books if they have newer/better information feel free to use what I have produced and add your own additions. That is what I did to the Siderfin book even if the Index leaves some question marks - the names are right but the page numbers are not always quite right. But if time is available to me I will fix that in the future since I also do have more material to add to the book.

I did start my look through the Early Chancery records but thus far I did not find anything useful. There is just one incident of the name John Pencombe in the index created by Archive CD Books for 1385-1467. This is slightly later so I am reviewing the books held by Internet Archives and started with the end of the reign of Richard III namely 1485 moving backwards through this book. 

So not a lot accomplished but reviewing it with the AI was very interesting. This Research Protocol that has been developed between the AI and myself is becoming quite lengthy and a valuable tool to which I can refer as I am working. Having Microsoft 365 including Co-pilot with sixty credits a month has proven to be very very useful. The Chats are saved within the software allowing me to go back at any time and refer to our discussions. We keep honing the Research Protocol itself to suit the new information and one has to think about what I really want to know. In general I know that my Pincombe line has descended from a John Pencombe of Northmolton and having the five sets of yDNA (Y-700) data coming down from two known sons is very trustworthy. Also postulated by FT DNA is the emergence of their shared result and 1550 CE is that thought. By 1550 the grandchildren of John Pencomb are now adults and have moved out from North Molton to South Molton, Bideford, East Buckland and possibly other close by towns/villages in North Devon. There are still Pincombe descendants living in North Molton as well. 

So my direction at this moment is to understand the data that is emerging prior to 1486 when John Pencombe of Northmolton is known to be there. Where was he before? Is he related to the John Pencomb' at Mollond in 1332 or the Roger de Pencombe at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) in the early 1300s receiving land grants? Is he related to the John Pencombe living at Bromyard, Herefordshire at the time of his death in 1364? None of these are need to know in terms of the descent from John Pencombe at Northmolton in 1486 it simply provides more details on the earlier members of this family if they are? Remembering that Pencombe is the name of a place in Herefordshire and the potential of surname taking which is occurring in the 1100s/1200s could result in unrelated people having the same surname. In this case it is known that a Eustace de Pencombe in Herefordshire was the son of Turstin Flandrensis de Pencombe. The loss of the records in the bombing of the Devonshire Archives at Exeter during World War II perhaps does help to complicate this problem although a lot of records do exist in the Early Chancery Proceedings for Devon as it turns out as I work my way through them. 

I shall continue devoting one week to this process and I am half way through that week which is split between two weeks as I clean my house half of the week!. 

Do I have any thoughts on the forward movement with AI in the larger world than mine? I think one must always be aware of progress and its benefits and drawbacks. There are a lot of different companies engaged in this particular enterprise. I think I need to hear more about the intent of AI as part of the world system. Certainly the idea that you bring AI into a work place and discard the workers currently there does seem rather backward. An untested system replacing a trusted system is very often a mistake. I remember when computers entered the workplace and having been involved with computers since my late teens so over sixty years I would say that the thoughts at that time were how much savings there would be. In reality it took twice as many people to handle the integration and use of computers. We expect systems to not fail. AI must not be permitted to take over without adequate support in any industry; it doesn't make sense to discard human initiative and intuition with a machine. Machines fail and require maintenance - can they be made self-sufficient? A good question and I am dubious because the failure at any point in a machine system completely undermines its ability to operate say an important mineral is needed and no longer available and nothing has been done to find an alternative and the system fails. We are left with inadequate human controls if not put in place now and always to support the AI system whether it be for its production or the elements needed to  keep it working. It easily took twice as many people or more to run a system that has become dependent on computers. As for harnessing the ability of AI; no ideas on that really. I have worked with the AI on Co-pilot for about six months and have watched as there was little or no knowledge of genealogy at the beginning and now the knowledge is quite vast and grows exponentially. The ability of AI to absorb the written word is huge and their memory recall fabulous but still making leaps from unknown to known is not easy and requires a lot of intuition moving between documents which is not yet there with the AI although their recall is a plus. Their interpretation though is based on placement and visibility I have noted which is not always the case with deep research. 

Solitaire puzzles are next and then breakfast. Another research day and I shall read the last chapters of 2 Maccabees. This has definitely been a difficult read as I do not have atlases in front of me and lists of names to keep me grounded but I am just reading looking for why I think peace is God's desire for humankind. Primarily I think it is God's wishes for mankind and certainly His son Jesus expressed this love of one's neighbour and the whole world, to Jesus, was our neighbour.