And it continues to be a research day and my appointment with the AI

I am almost one third of the way through the Psalms. It has been a wonderful time reading the Psalms of my youth, my adult hood and now my old age. The Psalms echo through the ages with their words of truth, of consolation, of God's love. Thank you God for another beautiful day on Your earth - what You have created is good and we must keep it so. 

Yesterday I ended up looking at once again at two documents created in the early 1600s dealing with a Ward: John Pincombe in South Molton. I did photograph both of the items and will now begin to read them. Along with that there is an item that concerns George Pyncombe and his wife Dorothie (at North Molton) but dealing with property in Dunster, Somerset. I do not actually want to order that document because I have no interest in property in Dunster although do know there was a William Pincombe there in this time period but do not know how he may relate with the North Molton/South Molton Pincombe family and wonder if it would actually tell me that. Perhaps I can ask someone at the Guild going into the Archives to look at it for me briefly. So my work cut out for me today as always. I reached George Pyncombe's record of will probate (destroyed in 1942) at North Molton in 1624. Is it possible that he was a son of William (son of John Pencombe (1486)) and that just came across my mind? William's first wife Elizabeth died in 1563 and her infant son in 1564. Their two daughters were still living it appears at this time. I believe that this is the William who married Margret Gregorye at North Molton 23 Nov 1564. George Pincombe could have been their son as a birth in 1565 is quite reasonable even though William was buried 25 Mar 1565 at North Molton.  

 A view of the graph that shows how much access my blog receives daily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the wills that I have transcribed are very frequently accessed and there are several thousand wills on the site plus I used to do a writeup on the individual if I knew anything about them. I still have about 400 Blake wills to transcribe one of these days. So actually in a given day it appears 20,000 to 25,000 views apparently between 9 October and 15 October but that does include bots. I always say that I look at the comments but generally do not post them and only occasionally answer them. Generally I have about 60 to 80 hits per day on the daily blog but some posts do acquire quite a few on occasion. 

Summing up, George Pincombe, listed on Chart 1-2 as a son of  William Pincombe bc 1540 is married to Dorothy unknown (the marriages at North Molton are missing from 1570 to 1606) and involved in a legal suit at Dunster (1603-1625), Somerset where there was a William Pincombe living for a short time. I do not know who this William Pincombe is living in Somerset. But George and Dorothy have five children baptized at North Molton from 1592 to 1602  I am trying to resolve how they fit into the picture. William son of John Pencombe (1486) baptizes three children at North Molton 1543, 1547 and 1564 so is a possibility for being this William at Dunster which never occurred to me before and also the father of George (actually the only likely William as the William on Chart 1-2 (son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snow)) is shown as dying young in the mid 1560s whereas he actually married Temperance Pollard 23 Jan 1597 at Kings Nympton!). But I already mentioned that Chart 1-2 is inaccurate with regard to the Pencombe/Pyncombe families at North and South Molton. William the son of John Pencombe (1486) does die in 1565 but the potential of having another child namely George was certainly there from his marriage with Margret Gregorye and Margret married William Squire at North Molton three years later after the death of William (26 May 1567). I have puzzled over that Chart for awhile now. Initially I just looked at all the Charts because I was so new to the research of Pincombe and had not yet been to the Society of Genealogists where the information from Dr Richard Pinkham was deposited. But gradually I noted problems especially with Chart 1/2 as that was information, some of which had been told to me by my Uncle. Some of it he had written down from his father and uncle (this was fairly fresh in my mind as we visited with my uncle and aunt on our way back and forth to London from here as they lived in Toronto). My grandfather was very close to his Uncle Richard, and all of his first cousins.

The naming of the daughters and sons in George's family (five children) was interesting as Emott and Johane were selected and likely George was raised by William and Emotte (Snowe) Pincombe at East Buckland since his father was deceased and his mother remarried (the two daughters presumably were raised by William and Emotte since they were not Margret's children). That that occurred although I have no idea. Or at least he spent time with them. Johane - was a common name in England. The sons were surprisingly Philip, William and Henrye (Philip and Henrye are not usual names in the Pincombe family) but William makes sense as George's father was deceased before he was born. Perhaps Philip and Henrye (and Johane) were a nod to Dorothie's family. I did not yet find a marriage but it would likely have been around 1591 and those records are missing at North Molton having transcribed the registers up to the early 1700s from the beginning.  

So today my collaboration with the AI looking at what I have discovered the past two weeks of research. I need to prepare my notes for the meeting probably this afternoon some time. 

Solitaire puzzles time.  

Moving ahead as now the families of two of the sons, William and Thomas who both lived at North Molton in 1524-7 as shown on the Devon Lay Subsidy along with their father John Pencombe (1486), appear to be sorted in a way that fits the data. Thomas though I still am working on his children with William fairly sorted, Ales is sorted, John is sorted but Richard at Bideford and Chittlehampton still has a few question marks along with  his children Helen and Thomas. I still am not completely comfortable with John Pyncombe at South Molton and his family which at least included Christopher, Margaret, John and Marye. It is their children that I am trying to put together. Acquiring a document that I asked to have the number of pages yesterday at the Archives of the United Kingdom will I think help with that. It is very handy to be able to have these documents scanned and emailed to me across the ocean. Some of these documents I looked at when we visited Kew in 2010 and 2013. Since it involved an inheritance dispute I may be lucky with this document but it may well be in Latin and I am back to working on  my latin once again to polish it up having studied it for one year. I nip in and out but I need once again that constant daily work on it to bring up to an efficient level. But I feel the first generation, second generation is complete and the third still needs a little work. 

I suppose the question is will I correct the Charts 1-16 created by Dr. Richard Pinkham and Galen Pinkham. At this moment in time I am not sure to be honest. I did put them in the Newsletters and occasionally they appear in the blogs. I think it depends on how the two parts of this study develop over the next decade. Although I had initially thought I would be sort of winding down as a widow I now have just myself to be concerned with and so I can continue with my projects to fill the hours I would have spent with my husband and all  his traveling as he had a trip planned to New Jersey and another to Pennsylvania all places where he had met and discussed items with his cousins. New York was a common place to go and then there was Europe, Edward had a trip planned to Germany including into northeastern Germany where his Schultz and Niemann/Neumann families came to Canada from in 1849 for Niemann/Neumann and in 1867 for the Schultz. Both actually came from villages close together one off hand was Brohm and the other has slipped my mind. Then there was also the trip to The Netherlands all planned and a researcher prepared to go with us to the repository. We both did speak some German but our Dutch was non existent. Then his Huguenot in France to continue exploring (and fortunately we both read French very well and he spoke it sufficiently although mine is quite broken to put it mildly although I can get there eventually and would improve with more frequent usage). But COVID did get in the way unfortunately. 

So now to plan my review with the AI. 

 

 

 

 

Continuing research day

Working forward and the marriage of Richard Pincombe and Marye Russell  28 Jul 1613 at Alwington, Devon. It is correct on Chart 10 and not sure on Chart 14 but it looks like 29 which is incorrect according to the original register page. The spelling of the surname is definitely a changing item over time. One can understand how complicated it was to be a Pincombe in Devon although the spellings seem to have steadied in the 1700s. 

Another busy day of research and tomorrow I will again collaborate with the AI and discuss thoughts on how to pursue the Pencombe connection between Devon and Herefordshire if indeed one exists. Although why an individual would choose the surname Pencombe unless they were thinking of the village in Herefordshire is perhaps a mystery in itself. 

I continue also today with generating the genealogical table for the Pencombe family at North Molton in 1486. It is moving along nicely but certainly the records abound with possibilities on the line of Christopher Pyncombe at South Molton and possibly by family lore also in the Barnstaple area. That spelling was used predominantly by this line at South Molton but can not really be trusted as a likely ensured path for this line. Collecting data slow but sure and we will see how it all transpires in two years time when I am thinking I will publish.  

One of the inherent weaknesses of the system was the spelling and the priest was not always of the area in which he was located. That meant you needed to know how to spell your name or it needed to be in the register but leads to all sort of possible errors as well. That the assessors for lay subsidies and the priests did not likely compare is a strong likelihood so you could even have more variety introduced for spelling. I do think that Galen Pinkham and Dr Richard Pinkham did an excellent job of collecting information in particular the information they collected from descendants of this family in the various locations. It is a gift to the present and the future. But they too noted problems within the memory as they have posted some of the information to different pages. Publishing all of them made it possible to see what had been done. That was why I published them on my blog although did mention that I did not always agree with the material but modern facilities that permit searching the registers thousands of miles away does make a difference to how information in now accessed and used in a final product.  The more the merrier in this wonderful vocation of genealogy that quite captures the minds of many of my colleagues also in their now 80s. Coming late to this venture really did not affect me very much as my mother was very interested in her family and sent me a great deal of information in twenty five years of letters to me here and in the case of my father's family my grandfather lived with us and talked to me most of the time about his family in Upper Clatford and what he knew about them. A chance look at a book on the Blake Family of Ireland in the local Public Library I think may have been what inspired him to tell  me so many times sometimes the stories that he told me literally pop out of my brain now in my old age particularly when I come across something that he talked about many times (I loved him dearly and he could  have repeated those stories thousands of times and I would have just sat there and listened and did right to the end of his life). That was his purpose probably along with wanting us to know that we were from an English Blake family but one would never have guessed that I would spend hours every day on genealogy in my old age. Particularly not my husband who did genealogy from his early teens asking questions about his Kipp family. They were his prime interest for a very long time until his mother said what about the Link family? 

And he turned then to this Link family as well and the discovery that a Patriot family descendant had married a Loyalist descendant  amazed me but time has passed and life moves forward. Edward in total probably searched his genealogy for nearly seventy years as he asked his grandmother Kipp many questions when she was looking after him after school. After his father died when he was two his mother went back to work. 

I am just in the process of acquiring what may prove to be an interesting document for the Pyncombe family of South Molton from 1617. I do have a lengthy list of the properties that would have been involved in this particular dispute but it is more the individuals who will be named that will be very interesting as I pursue my project of filling in the missing information on the descendants of John Pyncombe son of John Pencombe who lived at South Molton. The list of properties did not prove to be helpful other than matching them up with people's location. 

Time to run after my banana bread is finished cooking and a nice break from research.  

 

A Research Day and it will continue to be Pencombe

 I will continue looking at the records that fell between 1480 and 1560 and I am still on Page 5 but moving forward today. The book has solidified in my mind and will be solely the descendants of John Pencombe and his three sons (I think the Reverend Sinnett made a good choice in his book given the time of writing and the lack of knowledge about the generations that preceded Richard Pinkham coming to New Hampshire in 1640). If I ever manage to link back to the Herefordshire Pencombe family perhaps it will be a much larger book - no ideas on that and I really doubt that I will write it. It will be a fascinating study as it captures a time in England when change was occurring so rapidly and the arrivals from Europe were many during those early years after the Romans withdrew. I would love to put in the material on the Pencombe family of Herefordshire and I do have a chapter but I will not add the generations to the Family Chart. Perhaps in the future someone will find or transcribe even more latin documents and prove that connection. 

I am still working on the dating in the second generation and the third generation but it is coming along. I am not in a rush although as I move forward in the searching past 1600 the volume of records will have increased exponentially and I suspect that my recording of them will not extend to my blog as it was the link back that was important. I will enter them into my Legacy software so that I can do as I mentioned extract all of the records and put them on a DVD and give it to  the Guild of one-name Studies when I retire. Dr. Richard Pinkham and Galen Pinkham did provide all of their material to both the Guild and the Society of Genealogists when they retired from the study back in the early 2000s as far as I am aware. Most of the work that was done by Dr. Richard Pinkham was in the late 1990s but that does make sense as one would prepare and then review and the review takes a surprising amount of time. I know myself that I will not publish before the end of 2028. 

I was rather shocked to discover that 250 to 300 people were suddenly reading my blog however it appears to have returned to its normal level (overall though in any given day several thousand of my blogs end up being accessed (I have done a lot of transcription in the past)). I do not mind if people access the blog in order to help them with their research.  I did review part of my acknowledgements in the book as it was the conversations that my grandfather John Routledge Pincombe had with his mother's first cousin Sir John Carling (very involved in Confederation and even before that in the government of Ontario and after that in the government of Canada) that influenced a lot of John's thinking. A busy farmer he did not get involved in politics but he did get involved in discussions on various topics. He always told  his son, my uncle Ed Pincombe, that it was so fascinating to sit and listen to Sir John discussing items. He was but a child then before his mother passed away when he was fourteen years of age. So  I have decided to mention that in my acknowledgements for the Pencombe/Pincombe/Pinkham book. It would be interesting to figure out in the information that Free BMD has online for Pinkham how many are descendant of the North Molton/South Molton branch but will leave that for other researchers of the future. Primarily it was the family of Richard (son of Thomas) who was known to be at Bideford but always appear to use the Pencombe/Pincombe surname with the South Molton rumoured to be at Barnstaple using the Pyncombe name but I do know that it was this particular area Barnstaple/Beaford/Bideford and a couple of others where the Pinkham surname was used by the descendants of the North Molton branch quite early on actually in all the records and I do have information from a cousin in London who visited Dr Richard Pinkham and discussed his work on the family as he came across some of it at the Society of Genealogists. I will check the charts as I move along but I did not locate his name earlier. But the charts are a piece of history gathered up by him with personal conversations (he usually recorded the informant on each chart) and collects that time frame for a family very neatly and he was collecting from before the Second World War until the latter part of the 1900s. 

I did note that Richard Pinkham going to the Royal Colonies in America in 1640 was said to have come with two brothers. Chart 10 does list one brother for Richard's father named Anthony and for Richard the emigrant he has a brother George on the chart. George is said to have had a large family at Barnstaple namely Richard, Mary, Ellinor, John and Peter. Only Richard is shown as emigrating to the now United States. Presumably a number of these Pinkham listed on Free BMD are descendants of George perhaps. I will continue with the extraction of data at least until 1650 and then make my decision at that time as to how much to continue extracting for lines that are not coming down from North Molton and thus part of my generational tree for the book. It will be an opportunity to verify the charts. For the most part the charts are often continuous down into the mid 1600s and then less so but I have not really looked at them for a few years so this will be a determination on how much data I collect in order, at this time to create this book. Coming from a science background though I am likely to collect all the data but we will see. I am after all 81. Working in lengths of time is possibly easier for me to contemplate. But I could certainly understand separating this into two studies at this point in time having accomplished getting back into the early 1500s with so much data showing the descents. On the other hand they trace back (these families) to that same village in Herefordshire it would appear namely Pencombe. One would have to decide which was more important to these families. 

I do appreciate the collaboration with the AI and it was pointed out to me by the AI that a distinction was being made on the Visitation of 1620 in Devon where the heading contained the words Pencombe of Northmolton. The interpretation which was observed by the AI was that there were other known families of Pencombe in Devon. I must admit I did not make that extensive overall picture from that statement but I agree with the AI in that conclusion. Excellent to be working with an AI on this project and I will give CoPilot credit for the collaboration that we have undertaken the past couple of months in the book. I had by then located Roger de Pencombe at Bondleigh and John de Pencomb' at Molland and they were part of the review of the research done at that point in time with the AI so part of the collaborating discussion that we had. 

I will return to this blog today and add in any new references that are interesting and helpful in the pursuit of solving the descent of these family units into the mid 1600s or beyond if the research warrants it.  

 One item I think I failed to mention was the Will of Philip Pencombe of Tawstock was probated in 1564 (Court of the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple) and collected in the Devon Wills Index. So there are three records at Tawstock likely for this individual - 1524-7 Devon Lay Subsidy Philip Pyngham, 1543-45 Devon Lay Subsidy Philip Pynkeham and now his will in 1564. So the Phillipp Pyncombe who married Wilmot Beare at Bideford I am suggesting is his son giving a line Philip to Philip to Richard (the emigrant). What would be nice would be the Manor Records for Tawstock looking at the family Philip appears next to in the 1524-7 Devon Lay Subsidy namely Walter Raymore G2 and there are 5 wage earners listed under this individual. There are manor records for Tawstock Manor itself from 1396-1750 held at the Devon Archives. 

Contemplating the will probated for Hugh Pincombe in 1613 at Bishops Nympton but the Hugh Pincombe that I have there lived from 1664 to 1731 and his son Hugh was born in 1701.  That one is surely a mystery. 

 

 

Last day of cleaning and an interesting baptism record

 I found myself contemplating the communications between Galen Pinkham and myself the last two days. I know Galen was interested in an update to the earlier Pinkham family book published back in the 1800s. I did encourage him to do it himself but as I work at 81 I realize this is a huge task and I did not realize until two days ago that when he sent me an obituary for a fellow Pinkham that it was his wife and not realizing it I did not say anything beyond did he want me to publish it in the next Newsletter and he said no he just wanted me to know that. Looking back in my life I often realize that there are times when my possible autism really stands out. I need to be told directly what has to be known as I am  not one to think anything past the words themselves. 

That being said I accomplished very little yesterday but today will perhaps be better. But it is also the  heaviest cleaning day because it involves cleaning the rug on the stairs along with the main floor. Now that the record has come forward and looking back at the Rev. Charles Sinnett's publication "Richard Pinkham of old Dover New Hampshire and his descendants east and west" I reviewed once again the originating information on the emigrant Richard Pinkham and Section one begins with the likely arrival of Richard in 1640 at Dover Neck, New Hampshire, his wife was Julia and the names of their three sons Richard, John and Thomas. His location in England by family tradition was the Isle of Wight but the author says there is no historical proof. Galen and Richard, the two earlier researchers, created Chart 10 which is labeled Bideford (Devon) and it has a genealogical tree reaching back from the emigrant to his father also a Richard and to his father Philip. Finding the baptism of the father of the emigrant Richard was truly amazing the other day although the chart did provide a very close date to this so perhaps his birth in 1585 a couple of days before the baptism. But finding this location in Devon verified now by record is a fascinating happening. Although it is not  my line I am incredibly happy that it has been located (Find My Past Hint).

I do find it interesting that the children's names are similar to the names in the Pencombe family found in Herefordshire - in this case John and Thomas. Philip and Richard are not found in the Herefordshire names although I continue to review those documents. Roger as a forename is not present but that was the early 1300s and this is 1585. Forenames are not necessarily an indication of a family as far as I can tell but can reinforce the search in some ways leading you to other possibilities.  

 The actual Parish Register line is now available on Find My Past:

 Richard the sonne of Phillippe Pyncombe the xxvii th daie of Marche

 And so the research of Galen and Richard has now been fortified with this original record on Find My Past. 

 This process of going through the 50,000 records will be a slow one but will continue to verify the great work that Galen and Richard did (I take no credit for it other than my access to Find My Past) but I am sharing this screen shot as it is permitted to do small amounts of a document. I will not share any further as I do not wish to infringe on copyright.  Why the spelling of Pyncombe? Generally this spelling was used by the South Molton branch of the Pincombe family but the records that were lost would have let us see any connection between the two families using the surname in the 1300s in Devon. The distance from Bondleigh to Bideford as the crow flies is shorter actually than the distance between South Molton and Bideford. Now by modern roads it is nearly the same. The Manor Records may yet help to understand why we find Philip Pyngham in Tawstock on the 1524-7 Devon Lay Subsidy probably as a very young adult but perhaps a teenager as he is earning wages. The person he follows on the list is actually a common surname in Tawstock. The spelling of the name here and again on the Devon Lay Subsidy in 1543-45 as Philip Pynkeham does leave me wondering as he is now established and his tax number is 8 which was a medium to upper range in Tawstock at that time. I believe it is the same name (that would point to the father of Philip Pyncombe marrying at Bideford but possibly living at Tawstock was the son of Philip Pyngham/Philip Pynkeham). However, the marriage record does not give the place of abode of these two individuals and it does appear that Wilmote Beare was a widow). The assessor collecting this information has a different set of records than a priest recording information on a baptismal certificate. Usually the assessors for a village/town/city were local to the area whereas the priest often had the luxury of knowing people from a larger area.  There is an independent group of Pinkham and I did forward my last conversation with Galen to this group leader in  hopes that he can pass on my writeup to his family. The email address is still functional I think as I did not get an error message for the email I sent to Galen. 

Since I will continue to see Pinkham records in the search I will of course relate them in this blog along with the other records that catch my attention. A grandson taking on a grandfather's surname (particularly a daughter's son) is generally indicative of the family having daughtered out and the property to remain in that family could have someone change their surname (of their father) to that of the family line of his mother (since it was his mother's maiden name) that owned the property which was not unusual in England and particularly with the huge number of young male deaths at the Battle of Bosworth Field there would have been quite a few I suspect who had not left a male heir of their own. There also remains the possibility that picking the name of a village (Pencombe, Herefordshire) is not that unusual but when I discovered Roger de Pencombe I did wonder if he himself had chosen that particular surname as it was only the early 1300s. But the loss of records due to the bombing of the Exeter Record Office in 1942 has created a hole in the records of Devon although some records still remain (the parish records are primarily intact having been retained by the parish through the centuries). The Manor Records may also exist and the wills probated by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury still exist. But a huge amount was lost although we in the Pinkham/Pincombe families are very lucky to have the abstracted wills done by Dr Richard Pinkham prior to the bombing of the Record Office. I do have copies and I believe I have blogged all of them but will check. Two methods of arriving at those wills - label - Devon-wills and Pincombe/Pinkham will bring up the wills but also the name itself on a search. I welcome any queries and do try to check my comments on the blog and will make an effort to do that a little more regularly. They do not publish immediately as I do get a lot of comments that have nothing to do with my blog.  

Moving on to the work of the day. Although I will likely return to this blog (I do make corrections through the day on occasion) as my review of the results of my search 1480 to 1560 continues and I am on the fifth page. 

Continuing to read the Psalms as I do appear to get easily distracted. Having the email in my box of the Bible Readings of the day does keep me focused on that but I do want to continue and complete my reading of the Bible to better understand now in my 80s God's vision for our world. Psalm 19 Verse 14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." So familiar to my Anglican ears. The beauty of the Psalms about 50% written by King David is a source of so much joy in one's life. As I enjoy my solitude day after day (except when I am with family) and continue with my writing, the years pass by but my being with non family will not happen now in the rest of my life unless of course I end up like my elder sister in a wheelchair. I did speak with her on Thanksgiving but the call went on and on without my really realizing it (but it was special). It was a joyous family time with my sister and my brother in law whom I have know since I was an early teenager. A PhD Psychologist who taught at Memorial University for many years (my sister's degree was in Honours French and German) and my children remember them as they drove back and forth to our mutual home in London (and my brother in law was from the Niagara area) stopping to visit us here in Ottawa. As I downsize the binders I am collecting up the many pictures of their trips here through the years to send back to them for their grandchildren to have and enjoy (I still have the electronic copies but also paper copies in the binders that I am creating). Edward especially enjoyed their coming as they had much in common with their PhDs from the same university except Edward's PhD was in Chemistry (Inorganic) and then his Postdoc in Chemical Engineering (Environmental) and I did three years of Honours Chemistry, got married and finished off my degree as a BA. I did contemplate and actually was marking papers for a professor that I would do my masters with when my eldest was settled in school but surprise my second daughter made her entrance and she definitely needed me to be with her those early years as her health was needing that extra care. Then I just decided to go back to work and did proofreading and copyediting initially the proofreading for the National Research Council Journals but later for the private printers and that included copyediting.

Vacuuming done, lunch time and then dusting and scrubbing the bathroom. I am late starting. My next neighbour appears to work at night I think sometimes so I never know and try not to start vacuuming as early as I used to (7:00 a.m. when my daughter is not here). I have only spoken to her once when I offered her a length of fence and the posts (wrought iron). My husband never got it put up and she had someone there doing work so I thought I would offer it in case she wanted it. But she did not want the fence. It is still in my shed actually. But for that reason I tend to clean later these days.  

Solitaire puzzles all completed in the middle of the night as I awoke with my brain full of thoughts. A couple of good puzzles tends to mediate that tendency of mine.  

Part of finishing off my degree was an extremely good course in American history as I needed an Arts course needless to say my Honours Chemistry courses were pretty heavy on the math and science. But the young fellow who taught the course was an American (his PhD was from an American university I have forgotten which one now) but he had a fabulous background that included so much on site information on early American history. That really is the role of universities to have people on their faculty in particular research areas to develop a strong research group. I decided to take the  American History course because Edward was always getting me to help at repositories even that early on collecting information. It was something we did together and I do have a strong interest in history to help support his research but Chemistry for me was a path towards going into medicine eventually in Africa way back in my mid teens years however I did not do any of that but I did end up working for some really good researchers when I was in the hospital - it did make the job very interesting and of course there was the ordinary patient work as well and I am a methodical careful person so worked out well.  I absolutely have no regrets on my work life; it was fascinating all the different items I worked on and was involved with and I did have a habit of moving on when something else attracted my scholastic attention. But I kept it all at work as I wanted my time at home with the girls when they were young. I wanted to be there helping with their projects if they wanted any or helping with projects that were their own interest (those especially I dug deep into with them). My youngest daughters first project was on song birds and you were meant to just pick one (she was only about seven or eight I think). She had a sticker book from the Museum that we had purchased of 25 song birds and she did 25 individual projects on those birds and handed it in. The teacher was very nice about it but did tell her the task was one bird only. Her mark did not suffer that time but she did take the hint for the future.

 Tomorrow is a research day and I got a bit off track reminiscing for sure. American record searching is very difficult; I think part of the difficulty is the mix of European and British Isles in the population so that not every record set follows a given standard simply because so many countries are represented in the population of the United States even that early on - Edward, for instance, has one side coming from the New Amsterdam/New York area and all over Long Island for that matter including Staten Island and into New Jersey and the other side primarily British Isles - including England, Scotland and Ireland making for a lot of different styles of records and these very early on settlers tended to marry into old American colonial families right up until the Revolution (they also, some of them, were Loyalist but many others were Patriots). His Dutch ancestry goes back into early Albany as well as New Amsterdam (I would say they were all Patriots and were later coming in the 1800s on and came for free land at the time). I did not do any coursework on American records only English (British) and Canadian at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. 

Cleaning day and it is the main floor

 My cleaning days continue and it is the main floor today and I shall begin shortly. 

The find yesterday of the baptism of Richard Pinkham was really excellent. My first thought was to share it with Galen Pinkham but I did  not know that he had passed away (in the December issue of the Newsletter I will remember Galen and all his work). I looked back at our shared emails over the last eighteen years and had asked him if he would like to come back and share the study a while ago now but I understood why he did not want to do that. He had done that work for quite a few years with Dr Richard Pinkham a Gloucestershire physician (England) and was busy with other items. Their work still very valuable although I have disagreed with some of the dating here and there but it captured a generation's thoughts on the family which is really important and not available for all families. That was why I published them in the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletters although I did express that I did not always agree with them. But data is becoming more and more available and will  help with that search backwards into time to locate our ancient ancestors. 

Now I must get some cleaning done but will continue with my work on the first eighty years of records on Find My Past later today and add anything in to the blog as I move along with that project.  

Cleaning accomplished and returned to the search pattern and I am now on page 4 and nothing really new; possibly as much as 50% of the items are single and can not be linked. A quiet day for sure and that will be the case for  some of the 50,000 items that can be searched on these derivatives. I have given myself two years to complete the book so I guess I am not in a rush and likely there will be other interesting items emerging especially in the 1600s. 1600s are very important because during the Commonwealth under Cromwell all such records were supposed to be maintained by the governing body of the village/town/city. The records were both really great and not so great so we will see what we learn in the 1600s. 

Solitaire puzzles done and the day has passed quickly as it always does on cleaning day and I manged to use up over 2500 calories working away. Not bad for an 81 year old woman I guess.