Investigation of the Somerset Protestation Returns and Lay Subsidy 1641-42 revealed the surnames Chorley, Charley and Churley and that they appear to be interchangeable. There are far more Chorley entries in Somerset than any other but Charley is the usual spelling in Devon. There aren't any Charley family members in Devon on the 1641-42 Protestation Returns that I collected but I didn't do all of Devon. I do have the Subsidy Rolls for the 1500s and 1600s in Devon and no Charley families are listed but there is a Robert Chorley and a Joan Chorley at Tiverton in the 1581 Subsidy. In the 1545 Subsidy they are nine members of the Churley family listed (including a widow Joan, John, Edward and William and all are in the Bampton or Tiverton Hundred. This does tend to add credence to the theory that the Charley, Churley and Chorley family are one in the same with the spelling being inconsistent between years. There is a Charley family found at Bampton (descendants of the family at Tiverton perhaps) in the early 1700s in the Freeholder records. The earliest Parish Record at Kentisbury is the baptism of Hugh Charley 25 Jan 1676. Mary Charley baptized 21 Sep 1735 and the daughter of Hugh and Mary Charley is my ancestor. The father of Hugh was John Charley who is a freeholder at Kentisbury Devon (or perhaps a son of John Charley as there is a John Charley baptized at Kentisbury 26 Feb 1680).
Another part of my day yesterday was spent transcribing the Bishops Nympton marriages from 1795 to 1797. Although this is cut and paste for the most part I do not appear to be going quickly! I am finding a number of interesting marriages and so I am into my Legacy files fitting them into their family lines. The witnesses are often very interesting (I could have wished that for John Pincombe and Mary Charlie's marriage but it just wasn't so) for some of these marriages helping me to connect loose ends in some cases. I did have a query about George Spencer a few years back that I could add more details to the answer. Perhaps they will write again to query George Spencer.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Rowcliffe and Charley families
I decided to create a database of the Brief for the rebuilding of St Pauls Cathedral, London, England in 1678. This is available online at the Genuki Devon site. I contributed about ten of the transcriptions. I pulled all of the parishes that are applicable to my research and discovered the four "Routly" members at Merton (these are definitely Rowcliffe). Only one Charley entry though, John Charley at Kentisbury and this is my possible ancestor (Hugh is his son and Mary Charley was one of his daughters). This does not appear to be a large family in the 1600s but today I will look at the subsidy rolls for the 1500s to examine this family in more detail as well as other records from the 1600s. I do not have the protestation returns and will collect those on our next visit to Salt Lake City.
We went shopping and this was my first big trek out since I took ill six weeks ago. It was a pleasant couple of hours actually and I managed very well. I found my favourite socks for the winter-time (work socks made of 50% wool) as it isn't always easy to find them in my size.
I worked on the Bishops Nympton marriage records and have about 100 left to enter to bring me up to 1812. I was realizing that I looked at some of my records several years ago and in light of all my advances I need to revisit many of those records with a roving eye to pick up all my new family lines acquired with this deeper research. Making the decision to only work my way back now generation by generation as I am able will enhance my tree. I have proven back to the 3x great grandparents on all lines. I am working on the 4x great grandparents and will have to purchase two more sets of records (fiche from Hampshire for St Mary Bourne, early Kimpton and a couple of other parishes; fiche from Wiltshire for Collingbourne Kingston, Woodborough and a couple of other places). Any of the 4xs that I cannot prove during this next year, I will set aside and begin work on the 5x for those ancestors for whom I have records for proving. That way my time at Salt Lake City next year will be allocated in advance and my productivity level should again be quite high.
There are drawbacks in being able to find all of your lines back but it is very rewarding also. I still have my one weak link with my maternal maternal great grandmother's line as it is based partially on family lore.
We went shopping and this was my first big trek out since I took ill six weeks ago. It was a pleasant couple of hours actually and I managed very well. I found my favourite socks for the winter-time (work socks made of 50% wool) as it isn't always easy to find them in my size.
I worked on the Bishops Nympton marriage records and have about 100 left to enter to bring me up to 1812. I was realizing that I looked at some of my records several years ago and in light of all my advances I need to revisit many of those records with a roving eye to pick up all my new family lines acquired with this deeper research. Making the decision to only work my way back now generation by generation as I am able will enhance my tree. I have proven back to the 3x great grandparents on all lines. I am working on the 4x great grandparents and will have to purchase two more sets of records (fiche from Hampshire for St Mary Bourne, early Kimpton and a couple of other parishes; fiche from Wiltshire for Collingbourne Kingston, Woodborough and a couple of other places). Any of the 4xs that I cannot prove during this next year, I will set aside and begin work on the 5x for those ancestors for whom I have records for proving. That way my time at Salt Lake City next year will be allocated in advance and my productivity level should again be quite high.
There are drawbacks in being able to find all of your lines back but it is very rewarding also. I still have my one weak link with my maternal maternal great grandmother's line as it is based partially on family lore.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Rowcliffe, Harvey, Stanbury Families
My fingers have been itching to begin looking at the fiche that I received as Christmas presents - Landkey, Merton and Molland. I did have a look at Rose Ash but not a long one yet!
The published information on the Rowcliffe Harvey marriage has always claimed that Joan Harvey was the daughter of Edward and that she was baptized at Merton. However, the parish register for Merton shows that Joan Harvey was "of Dolton" and checking the IGI (does need to be checked against the original documents) I found a baptism for a Joan Harvey, daughter of Christopher Harvey and Mary Stanbury, 1 March 1690. Checking through the Merton register I found that her burial date was 9 Mar 1760 not 9 Mar 1730 which has been published in various sources. Joan Harvey married Andrew Rowcliffe 8 Jun 1720 at Merton, Devon.
There isn't a baptism for Andrew Rowcliffe at Merton but the parish registers do not commence until 1687 although it is Parish Register 2. Perhaps Parish Register 1 does not exist or the Meeth Devon Register covers Merton. I still need to determine that. According to the brief collected for the rebuilding of St Pauls Cathedral in London in 1678, Andrew Routly, Priscilla Routly, Jane Routly and Samuel Routlife were living at Merton. Samuel Rowcliff was buried the 2nd day of February and Andrew Rowcliff was buried the 3rd day of February, both in 1687. William Rowcliff was baptized as the posthumous son of Andrew Rowcliff and his wife Mary on the 18th day of March 1687. These are, unfortunately, on the first page of the entries for this parish. I will check the Meeth register though to see if there are Rowcliff entries there. Interestingly, at Dolton a Lewes, a Richard and a Charles Rowcliff are baptizing children between 1695 and 1725. Andrew and Joan his wife are baptizing children at Merton between 1721 and 1732 including Philip (my 4x great grandfather) baptized 4 Apr 1721. On the 1678 brief for St Pauls Cathedral at Dolton there aren't any members of the Rowcliff family listed.
That was my yesterday's work on the family tree as well as writing to my siblings to bring them up to date on a few items and Legacy has added a new feature to their picture family tree. The names of the great grandparents now appear on the tree with their picture. I prepared a four generation chart for my father and mother to send off to my siblings. My father's chart has himself, his parents, three of his four grandparents and two of his great grandparents. There is a possibility that I will be able to obtain his Knight great grandparents and his Blake great grandmother in the future. There are rumours that a picture of Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt exists and Ann Blake lived into the 1890s so always a possibility that one might appear. My mother's picture tree though is pretty empty, there is herself, her parents, her paternal grandfather and his parents (one set of great grandparents). The chances of obtaining any more are quite remote as the wife of her paternal grandfather died in the 1880s and the one picture of her that I remember as a child is missing. Any pictures of her parents appear to have gone missing. On her mother's side there aren't any known pictures of her parents or her grandparents. There may be some that exist as some of them lived into the late 1890s and even into the early 1900s but I need to find a descendant of that line and that hasn't happened yet. That means that for myself, I have my picture, my parents, all my grandparents but only four of my great grandparents.
The published information on the Rowcliffe Harvey marriage has always claimed that Joan Harvey was the daughter of Edward and that she was baptized at Merton. However, the parish register for Merton shows that Joan Harvey was "of Dolton" and checking the IGI (does need to be checked against the original documents) I found a baptism for a Joan Harvey, daughter of Christopher Harvey and Mary Stanbury, 1 March 1690. Checking through the Merton register I found that her burial date was 9 Mar 1760 not 9 Mar 1730 which has been published in various sources. Joan Harvey married Andrew Rowcliffe 8 Jun 1720 at Merton, Devon.
There isn't a baptism for Andrew Rowcliffe at Merton but the parish registers do not commence until 1687 although it is Parish Register 2. Perhaps Parish Register 1 does not exist or the Meeth Devon Register covers Merton. I still need to determine that. According to the brief collected for the rebuilding of St Pauls Cathedral in London in 1678, Andrew Routly, Priscilla Routly, Jane Routly and Samuel Routlife were living at Merton. Samuel Rowcliff was buried the 2nd day of February and Andrew Rowcliff was buried the 3rd day of February, both in 1687. William Rowcliff was baptized as the posthumous son of Andrew Rowcliff and his wife Mary on the 18th day of March 1687. These are, unfortunately, on the first page of the entries for this parish. I will check the Meeth register though to see if there are Rowcliff entries there. Interestingly, at Dolton a Lewes, a Richard and a Charles Rowcliff are baptizing children between 1695 and 1725. Andrew and Joan his wife are baptizing children at Merton between 1721 and 1732 including Philip (my 4x great grandfather) baptized 4 Apr 1721. On the 1678 brief for St Pauls Cathedral at Dolton there aren't any members of the Rowcliff family listed.
That was my yesterday's work on the family tree as well as writing to my siblings to bring them up to date on a few items and Legacy has added a new feature to their picture family tree. The names of the great grandparents now appear on the tree with their picture. I prepared a four generation chart for my father and mother to send off to my siblings. My father's chart has himself, his parents, three of his four grandparents and two of his great grandparents. There is a possibility that I will be able to obtain his Knight great grandparents and his Blake great grandmother in the future. There are rumours that a picture of Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt exists and Ann Blake lived into the 1890s so always a possibility that one might appear. My mother's picture tree though is pretty empty, there is herself, her parents, her paternal grandfather and his parents (one set of great grandparents). The chances of obtaining any more are quite remote as the wife of her paternal grandfather died in the 1880s and the one picture of her that I remember as a child is missing. Any pictures of her parents appear to have gone missing. On her mother's side there aren't any known pictures of her parents or her grandparents. There may be some that exist as some of them lived into the late 1890s and even into the early 1900s but I need to find a descendant of that line and that hasn't happened yet. That means that for myself, I have my picture, my parents, all my grandparents but only four of my great grandparents.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Magewike (Magwyck, Madgwick) and Charley Families
I continued pulling information out of available sources on the Magewike family. The Hampshire Lay Subsidy 1586 revealed four individuals with this surname: Alice at Dummer is a widow, Walter also at Dummer. John is at Overtonn and some think this is the father of my Dorothy (b c 1589 Overtonn) and married to William Blake 6 Feb 1606 at Andover. Nicholas (son of John and Mary Magewick) is mentioned at Winchester under landes and it is "the heirs of Nicholas Magewike" (he died in 1564). Robert Magewick is at Alton.
The wills of John (died 1538) and Mary (died 1546) are transcribed on the Strudwicke one name study webpages. Mary Magewick of Totford within the parish of Micheldever in her will of 1546 (probate 9 Apr 1546) mentions her sons Gregory and Nicholas and a daughter Margaret who is married. Wife of Gregory is Marjorye and they have children - one eldest son is mentioned. Both Margaret and Nicholas have children as well. A Raffe Magewick is mentioned. John Madgwick of Northington, Hants in his will of 1538 (probate 6 June 1538) mentions his son Gregory, his daughter Margaret Strodwick (Strudwicke) and his son Nicholas. Also mentioned John Maghwyk and his siblings (no relationship stated).
I also worked on the Charley family of Devon as my John Pincombe married Mary Charlie at Bishops Nympton 8 Nov 1767 and she is one of my brickwalls. The priest has listed both as of this parish. She was not baptized at Bishops Nympton. I extracted all the Charley family records from the Freeholder Books and put them together into families. As I worked away at this and extracted the parish records from the IGI I realized that I had one large family grouping centered at Braunton Hundred (mostly at Kentisbury near Barnstaple) and using the IGI I could relate them father to son.
It is possible that Richard is the father of Mary although no baptism has been found that would fit the dates. Richard is the son of John Charley and Elizabeth Richards (married circa 1694). But also there is a Mary daughter of Hugh Charley and Mary baptized 21 Sep 1735 at Arlington, Devon which would make her 32 when she was married (John was 39) and her last child was born in 1778 when she would have been 43 which is within probability. However, no son in this family was named Hugh - children of John Pincombe and Mary Charley were: John b 1768, William b 1769, Mary b 1771, Grace b 1773, Robert b 1775 (my 3x great grandfather), and Thomas b 1778. Nor was a son called Richard although Robert named his 6th son Richard.
Mary is a late birth for Hugh and Mary (it would appear that Hugh died in 1739 (baptized 1676 so 63 when he died as his son John takes over the freehold) as their other children were baptized in 1710, 1712, and 1714 with a daughter Mary being baptized in 1712. Checking the parish records for Kentisbury would be a good next step as they begin in 1674. There is a Mary Charley married to an unknown Charley 8 Apr 1733 at Trentishoe Devon. John Charley and Elizabeth Richards also had a daughter Mary baptized in 1719 but she would have been 48 in 1767 when John Pincombe and Mary Charlie married so unlikely as the last child of that marriage was baptized in 1778 when she would have been 59.
I think I will purchase Kentisbury and Trentishoe PRs to have a look at them. Hugh Charley and John Charley are brothers and sons of John Charley and Charity and both were baptized at Kentisbury. This Charley family also had freeholds at Coombe Martin which is close to Trentishoe. There is one baptism for a Nancy Charley (daughter of William and Mary Charley) 17 Sep 1744 at Trentishoe. There is a patron entry on the IGI of a marriage about 1834 at Trentishoe between William Charley and Maria Jule. Perhaps the first Mary Charley died in childbirth which may have resulted in Hugh Charley and Charity his wife choosing to name this late child Mary especially as she was baptized in 1735 (after their daughter had died since her husband remarried).
The wills of John (died 1538) and Mary (died 1546) are transcribed on the Strudwicke one name study webpages. Mary Magewick of Totford within the parish of Micheldever in her will of 1546 (probate 9 Apr 1546) mentions her sons Gregory and Nicholas and a daughter Margaret who is married. Wife of Gregory is Marjorye and they have children - one eldest son is mentioned. Both Margaret and Nicholas have children as well. A Raffe Magewick is mentioned. John Madgwick of Northington, Hants in his will of 1538 (probate 6 June 1538) mentions his son Gregory, his daughter Margaret Strodwick (Strudwicke) and his son Nicholas. Also mentioned John Maghwyk and his siblings (no relationship stated).
I also worked on the Charley family of Devon as my John Pincombe married Mary Charlie at Bishops Nympton 8 Nov 1767 and she is one of my brickwalls. The priest has listed both as of this parish. She was not baptized at Bishops Nympton. I extracted all the Charley family records from the Freeholder Books and put them together into families. As I worked away at this and extracted the parish records from the IGI I realized that I had one large family grouping centered at Braunton Hundred (mostly at Kentisbury near Barnstaple) and using the IGI I could relate them father to son.
It is possible that Richard is the father of Mary although no baptism has been found that would fit the dates. Richard is the son of John Charley and Elizabeth Richards (married circa 1694). But also there is a Mary daughter of Hugh Charley and Mary baptized 21 Sep 1735 at Arlington, Devon which would make her 32 when she was married (John was 39) and her last child was born in 1778 when she would have been 43 which is within probability. However, no son in this family was named Hugh - children of John Pincombe and Mary Charley were: John b 1768, William b 1769, Mary b 1771, Grace b 1773, Robert b 1775 (my 3x great grandfather), and Thomas b 1778. Nor was a son called Richard although Robert named his 6th son Richard.
Mary is a late birth for Hugh and Mary (it would appear that Hugh died in 1739 (baptized 1676 so 63 when he died as his son John takes over the freehold) as their other children were baptized in 1710, 1712, and 1714 with a daughter Mary being baptized in 1712. Checking the parish records for Kentisbury would be a good next step as they begin in 1674. There is a Mary Charley married to an unknown Charley 8 Apr 1733 at Trentishoe Devon. John Charley and Elizabeth Richards also had a daughter Mary baptized in 1719 but she would have been 48 in 1767 when John Pincombe and Mary Charlie married so unlikely as the last child of that marriage was baptized in 1778 when she would have been 59.
I think I will purchase Kentisbury and Trentishoe PRs to have a look at them. Hugh Charley and John Charley are brothers and sons of John Charley and Charity
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Hampshire Lay Subsidy Rolls - 1586
This was one of my Christmas presents - Hampshire Lay Subsidy Rolls 1586. It can be purchased from the Hampshire Record Office and I received it just one week later so doesn't take too long to be shipped from England to Canada. I wanted it to go along with all the other records I am slowly collecting for the 1500s and 1600s just to provide more details on the Blake families in the Andover area (since mine stayed there for about 500 years and all within 2 miles of Andover (or within Andover itself)).
My grandfather was most knowledgeable on his family and I wish I had actually written down all that he told me but I can remember some of it even yet although I was only eight years old when he died. He repeated some of the items many many times. I think now he was wanting to make sure that I would remember and indeed my memory is quite clear back to my 4x great grandfather with somewhat of a jumble of the names back to my 12 x great grandfather although the names fit into the ones that I remember.
Fortunately the parish registers for Andover and Upper Clatford are quite readable and it is possible to continue working one's way back. Especially I remember that one of my ?X great grandfathers died at Old House and this proved to be a good memory to hold. My father could still remember when Old House was a ruins but it isn't there now as we drove by where it should have been when we visited in the spring.
I am trying to figure out who Peter Blake is at the moment - I think he was the third son of my 11x great grandfather William. I also think he never married and the property which he lived on ended up being the one with the highest taxes compared to his two older siblings. However, the oldest sibling was heavily in debt and eventually moved to Essington (sp) Hampshire. It was his daughter that is the 10x great grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. My ancestor received only 50 pounds British currency in the will (he was the youngest son) but he bought a Draper Shop in Andover and that would appear to be the occupation of the next two generations of my family with the great grandson Thomas dying young and leaving a widow to raise his five year old son.
At this point my family line appears to become dependent living in a small cottage (1714-1767) belonging to the Hinxman family (Thomas' great grandfather's sister married Joseph Hinxman) where Thomas died in 1767. His only surviving son Joseph is found in Upper Clatford married to Thomas King's only surviving daughter Joanna. An interesting item is that Thomas King mentions the daughter of John Blake malster at Abbots Ann in his will. The will for John Blake can be found on my webpage under Blake. The relationship between these families is unknown at the moment.
Thomas King was a farmer (leaseholder) at Upper Clatford. Joseph died in 1767 leaving Joanna with three small children to raise (one born posthumously) and Joanna continued on the farm eventually marrying Thomas Collins when he was widowed (1781). The land she farmed was leased from Thomas Collins.
My ancestor Thomas (born posthumously) lived at Upper Clatford but I have no idea what he did there. His grandson Edward (my great grandfather) was an agricultural labourer on the old Collins farm.
I made one really excellent discovery in that my William Blake (9x great grandfather) married Dorothy Madgwick but the name should actually be spelled Magewicke and so I have solved the mystery of who Dorothy is possibly as there is only one Magewicke listed. I need to find more proof for that - hopefully a will.
My grandfather was most knowledgeable on his family and I wish I had actually written down all that he told me but I can remember some of it even yet although I was only eight years old when he died. He repeated some of the items many many times. I think now he was wanting to make sure that I would remember and indeed my memory is quite clear back to my 4x great grandfather with somewhat of a jumble of the names back to my 12 x great grandfather although the names fit into the ones that I remember.
Fortunately the parish registers for Andover and Upper Clatford are quite readable and it is possible to continue working one's way back. Especially I remember that one of my ?X great grandfathers died at Old House and this proved to be a good memory to hold. My father could still remember when Old House was a ruins but it isn't there now as we drove by where it should have been when we visited in the spring.
I am trying to figure out who Peter Blake is at the moment - I think he was the third son of my 11x great grandfather William. I also think he never married and the property which he lived on ended up being the one with the highest taxes compared to his two older siblings. However, the oldest sibling was heavily in debt and eventually moved to Essington (sp) Hampshire. It was his daughter that is the 10x great grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. My ancestor received only 50 pounds British currency in the will (he was the youngest son) but he bought a Draper Shop in Andover and that would appear to be the occupation of the next two generations of my family with the great grandson Thomas dying young and leaving a widow to raise his five year old son.
At this point my family line appears to become dependent living in a small cottage (1714-1767) belonging to the Hinxman family (Thomas' great grandfather's sister married Joseph Hinxman) where Thomas died in 1767. His only surviving son Joseph is found in Upper Clatford married to Thomas King's only surviving daughter Joanna. An interesting item is that Thomas King mentions the daughter of John Blake malster at Abbots Ann in his will. The will for John Blake can be found on my webpage under Blake. The relationship between these families is unknown at the moment.
Thomas King was a farmer (leaseholder) at Upper Clatford. Joseph died in 1767 leaving Joanna with three small children to raise (one born posthumously) and Joanna continued on the farm eventually marrying Thomas Collins when he was widowed (1781). The land she farmed was leased from Thomas Collins.
My ancestor Thomas (born posthumously) lived at Upper Clatford but I have no idea what he did there. His grandson Edward (my great grandfather) was an agricultural labourer on the old Collins farm.
I made one really excellent discovery in that my William Blake (9x great grandfather) married Dorothy Madgwick but the name should actually be spelled Magewicke and so I have solved the mystery of who Dorothy is possibly as there is only one Magewicke listed. I need to find more proof for that - hopefully a will.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Christmas Day
Yesterday was busy with all the festivities of Christmas. We didn't make it to Church after all but will go on Sunday. From going every week of my life, I have been for the last two years only going occasionally. I watch Church on TV. Jesus would want us to do the best that we can do in this world and I need to find a niche where I can fit in and do that.
I finally get to look at all of my records which my family were giving me for Christmas. I have the fiche for Landkey, Merton, Molland and Rose Ash to enjoy and find my people in. Plus the 1586 Subsidy for Hampshire to help me to straighten out my Blake family there plus an added bonus was finding Dorothy Madgwick's father John except the name is actually spelled Magewicke which explains why I could never find it. Still Hugh Hellyer doesn't show up amongst the Hellyer families and that is the father of Ann Hellier who married William Blake. With all the tax records I can see a pattern emerging for my Blake family in the 1500s and 1600s and I am able to trace them down from the late 1600s to the present.
My other books are about DNA, Latin for Local and Family Historians (from the National Archives webpages) and an interesting one on the Little Ice Age.
I finally get to look at all of my records which my family were giving me for Christmas. I have the fiche for Landkey, Merton, Molland and Rose Ash to enjoy and find my people in. Plus the 1586 Subsidy for Hampshire to help me to straighten out my Blake family there plus an added bonus was finding Dorothy Madgwick's father John except the name is actually spelled Magewicke which explains why I could never find it. Still Hugh Hellyer doesn't show up amongst the Hellyer families and that is the father of Ann Hellier who married William Blake. With all the tax records I can see a pattern emerging for my Blake family in the 1500s and 1600s and I am able to trace them down from the late 1600s to the present.
My other books are about DNA, Latin for Local and Family Historians (from the National Archives webpages) and an interesting one on the Little Ice Age.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
1911 Census England/Scotland/Ireland/Wales
A few posts have reminded me that the 1911 Census is actually of England/Scotland/Ireland/Wales but I will only find my people on the English portion. Just to clarify that from yesterday. I continued looking at the Beta site yesterday and finding the correct marriage partner for some of my cousins' lines. I had located them on Free BMD but I was unable to sort out which partner. Still waiting for Somerset to come up to see if there are many Siderfins still living there in 1911.
Heard back from the person querying Charles Blake and sent him off a copy of my transcription of John Blake, malster at Abbots Ann,'s will from 1797. It is an interesting will and I think I will put the transcription up on my website. Most people that write to me about Blake as I mentioned earlier are looking for Charles Blake's ancestors. I am still trying to interest one of them in doing their DNA as that would be a very definitive test of closeness of relationship since I have my brother's y-DNA done.
Made Stollen last evening and Kulich today, my youngest daughter brought over a plate of goodies so probably I am finished for Christmas baking other than perhaps a pumpkin pie. Christmas dinner though is in the planning stages with a fresh grain fed turkey bought from a local producer. It will have a bread/apple stuffing in the cavity and a sausage stuffing in the neck. Then all the rest of the condiments to go with it. We will go to Church at 11:00 a.m. on Christmas day and open presents in the afternoon. The plans are to do some hot hors d'oeuvres whilst we open them. Christmas Eve dinner will be ham and just the three of us.
I did finish off paying for all my memberships - Devon, Somerset-Dorset, Hampshire, Midlands, and Cumbria Family History Societies. I also belong to the Guild of One Name Studies. I am thinking about joining Wiltshire and Yorkshire and will do that in January.
Heard back from the person querying Charles Blake and sent him off a copy of my transcription of John Blake, malster at Abbots Ann,'s will from 1797. It is an interesting will and I think I will put the transcription up on my website. Most people that write to me about Blake as I mentioned earlier are looking for Charles Blake's ancestors. I am still trying to interest one of them in doing their DNA as that would be a very definitive test of closeness of relationship since I have my brother's y-DNA done.
Made Stollen last evening and Kulich today, my youngest daughter brought over a plate of goodies so probably I am finished for Christmas baking other than perhaps a pumpkin pie. Christmas dinner though is in the planning stages with a fresh grain fed turkey bought from a local producer. It will have a bread/apple stuffing in the cavity and a sausage stuffing in the neck. Then all the rest of the condiments to go with it. We will go to Church at 11:00 a.m. on Christmas day and open presents in the afternoon. The plans are to do some hot hors d'oeuvres whilst we open them. Christmas Eve dinner will be ham and just the three of us.
I did finish off paying for all my memberships - Devon, Somerset-Dorset, Hampshire, Midlands, and Cumbria Family History Societies. I also belong to the Guild of One Name Studies. I am thinking about joining Wiltshire and Yorkshire and will do that in January.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
1911 English Census
Spent yesterday and today beta testing the 1911 English Census on Find My Past. It is quick and easy to use and once Hampshire was available I found my father and his parents and downloaded the original image (very good quality). I also opened the transcription of his Uncle Jack and family who lived next door to them and included my father's youngest uncle who was boarding with them. Downloaded all the Pincombe and Siderfin entries to a database for my one name studies. Worked my way through the Siderfin and only two of the eighteen have me still thinking. There are only 18 members of the Siderfin family on the census thus far but there are still a couple of counties to come (Somerset in particular although they were mostly gone from Selworthy by 1900). I was hoping to find the place of birth in the index and it will be missed although year of birth is there. The place was handy on the 1901 census when it first came up. I also sorted through some of the marriages for the Rew family that I couldn't determine before from Free BMD. I found three new children for my grandfather's oldest sister. My great grandparents Blake though are a bit confusing and I shall wait until later to open those entries. I know that he died at Goodworth Clatford in 1916 but do not have a death date for Maria Jane yet. I found Samuel Knight (my 2 x great grandfather at Turnworth) and he is the last of my father's great grandparents to be alive after 1911. All of his grandparents are alive on the 1911 census.
The stollen didn't get started yesterday so will be a today event once my husband and eldest daughter return from skiing. I am still a little under the weather and on medicine now so should soon be out there skiing with them! Present are all wrapped now and under the tree. There will be five of us plus the dogs and rabbit making eight. The turkey is thawing and we will have sausage and bread stuffing.
I bought fiche for myself and then when people asked what to give me I let them give me my fiche so haven't seen Molland, Merton or Landkey yet. I have had a look at Rose Ash though and quickly discovered that my Alexander Vicary was Alexander Vicary junior and his baptism was too early for the beginning of the register. His father was not John though since John married too late to be his father after all. His father must have been Alexander Vicary senior and I have his burial date and he was churchwarden at the time that Alexander junior was likely born. They were landowners though so can now go to the land records to learn more about the Vicary family. Finding their marriages though is not easy although have found that Mary was the wife of my Christopher Vicary from the burial records. His mother was Mary Bray but I am not sure if she was one of the Bray families at Rose Ash (there are two) or at North Molton where there are ten. Reading the register more closely might help with that.
The stollen didn't get started yesterday so will be a today event once my husband and eldest daughter return from skiing. I am still a little under the weather and on medicine now so should soon be out there skiing with them! Present are all wrapped now and under the tree. There will be five of us plus the dogs and rabbit making eight. The turkey is thawing and we will have sausage and bread stuffing.
I bought fiche for myself and then when people asked what to give me I let them give me my fiche so haven't seen Molland, Merton or Landkey yet. I have had a look at Rose Ash though and quickly discovered that my Alexander Vicary was Alexander Vicary junior and his baptism was too early for the beginning of the register. His father was not John though since John married too late to be his father after all. His father must have been Alexander Vicary senior and I have his burial date and he was churchwarden at the time that Alexander junior was likely born. They were landowners though so can now go to the land records to learn more about the Vicary family. Finding their marriages though is not easy although have found that Mary was the wife of my Christopher Vicary from the burial records. His mother was Mary Bray but I am not sure if she was one of the Bray families at Rose Ash (there are two) or at North Molton where there are ten. Reading the register more closely might help with that.
Monday, December 22, 2008
New Sheltie puppy
A new sheltie puppy is our daughter and son in law to be's new dog. He is about 2 and one half months old. Beautiful colouring and already on his way to becoming the grown up dog he will eventually be. He is very quick and already responds to a number of commands. They are busy training him to be part of their already large family which includes a 12 year old chihuahua and a one year old Norwegian Lap Rabbit. I am sure that they will perform the final training for this energetic puppy. At the moment they regard his high jinks with boredom from their lofty elderly ages!
Very busy with Christmas so that I really haven't accomplished very much in genealogy. I did a few entries for Bishops Nympton records and carried on a short email conversation with regard to the records for North Molton. I have a keen interest in North Molton as well because my Tapp, Burges and other families were there. I gave my transcription of the Protestation Returns for North and South Molton to the OPC there. Although I originally wanted them for my Pincombe one name study they have since proved to be very valuable looking at all of my lines in Witheridge. I shall be very glad that I took the several days to put that together as a tool for my family research.
Today I shall make the Christmas Stollen. We will cut it Christmas Eve after Church and enjoy it with a glass of wine to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child into our lives. As I age, I find that I think more about the religious side of Christmas than the commercial side. Usually we just buy whatever presents our children want and take them with us to make sure they are the right size, right colour, etc. It is just so much easier than taking anything back. This year my husband and I treated each other to a 37 inch flat screen television. We are enjoying it already and will spend many many hours watching our favourite movies on it. I used to buy several videos and later DVDs a week (usually on special) of all the movies that we enjoy. As a result we have about 1000 VCRs and about 200 DVDs. We purchased several VCRs so that we would have a machine to watch them with after DVDs became so popular! Amazing that such a new technology is already obsolete.
Under our tree thus far we have the goodies that we usually purchase - tins of cookies, nuts and candies that we all enjoy. We usually open one a day through the holiday season although they tend to last longer than one day. It is the only time of year that we purchase such rich foods but there are usually a sufficient number of people to help us eat them up. On to the Stollen making......
Very busy with Christmas so that I really haven't accomplished very much in genealogy. I did a few entries for Bishops Nympton records and carried on a short email conversation with regard to the records for North Molton. I have a keen interest in North Molton as well because my Tapp, Burges and other families were there. I gave my transcription of the Protestation Returns for North and South Molton to the OPC there. Although I originally wanted them for my Pincombe one name study they have since proved to be very valuable looking at all of my lines in Witheridge. I shall be very glad that I took the several days to put that together as a tool for my family research.
Today I shall make the Christmas Stollen. We will cut it Christmas Eve after Church and enjoy it with a glass of wine to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child into our lives. As I age, I find that I think more about the religious side of Christmas than the commercial side. Usually we just buy whatever presents our children want and take them with us to make sure they are the right size, right colour, etc. It is just so much easier than taking anything back. This year my husband and I treated each other to a 37 inch flat screen television. We are enjoying it already and will spend many many hours watching our favourite movies on it. I used to buy several videos and later DVDs a week (usually on special) of all the movies that we enjoy. As a result we have about 1000 VCRs and about 200 DVDs. We purchased several VCRs so that we would have a machine to watch them with after DVDs became so popular! Amazing that such a new technology is already obsolete.
Under our tree thus far we have the goodies that we usually purchase - tins of cookies, nuts and candies that we all enjoy. We usually open one a day through the holiday season although they tend to last longer than one day. It is the only time of year that we purchase such rich foods but there are usually a sufficient number of people to help us eat them up. On to the Stollen making......
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Thais Opera
My husband and I like to attend the Opera and yesterday the MET production in digital format at SilverCity of Thais was exceptional. Since it started at 12 noon and we were there at 11:30 a.m. to get good seats, a good part of the day was spent "at the opera." We treated ourselves to a bag of popcorn which we haven't done for a long time and munched away quietly during the opera.
In terms of genealogy I didn't really accomplish a lot. I answered some queries online from my ancestry subscription - the query re Blake generated another email and Charles Blake has proven to be an elusive but popular ancestor. I think most of my queries about Blake have dealt with Charles. His marriage at Abbots Ann to Mary Prince in 1737 is the first entry for him at Abbots Ann. The Prince family are farmers (freehold) so a fairly substantial family for the time. Their only son Charles as well married into the Gilbert family which is also a substantial family in the area. But who is this Charles? He is mentioned in the will of John Blake malster at Abbots Ann in 1797 (along with my ancestor Thomas Blake (3x great grandfather)). I can trace my Blake line back through Upper Clatford to Andover and to the beginning of the Register where the first baptism for this family (thus far I am still transcribing the earliest register) is William (b 9 Aug 1615) and son of Richard. I suspect the earliest baptisms were kept in a register now long lost which was probably in a chapel at Eastontown where this family lived. Richard is the son of William who is the son of Nicholas (all this by wills). But there is never a Charles in this family. There is a Robert Blake family at Andover as well and I am still working on this line. They appear to be descended from the Blake family at Knights Enham (Robert is a popular name in that line) and there is a marriage of a Charles Blake and Jane Framtan at Andover 2 Oct 1687 (who is this Charles?). No baptisms for this couple thus far in my looking. Then there is the marriage in 1737 at Abbots Ann of Charles Blake and Mary Prince. One would suspect that Charles is from the established Blake family in the area to have been accepted into the Prince family. Charles Blake and Jane Framtan would have been the right age to be parents of this Charles. But on top of all that John Blake at Abbots Ann, the malster, making the interesting will wasn't baptized at Abbots Ann and no idea where he was baptized (likely in 1714 by his gravestone). My 5x great grandfather Thomas was baptized in 1709, Charles was likely baptized around 1710-15, and John in 1714. Could they be brothers and all sons of Thomas Blake (b 21 Feb 1685) who married Mary Spring 6 Nov 1708 at Andover? Thomas was buried 29 Jan 1714. His widow Mary did not remarry. She was buried 2 Apr 1734 at Andover. Why are they not in the Andover Parish Register although I haven't transcribed line by line yet so can not really say they are not there yet but they do not appear in the IGI as Thomas b 1709 does. As I read the will John makes the same legacy to all of the grandchildren of Thomas and Charles (he doesn't have any grandchildren as his only daughter to survive infancy died at 24). He remembers his sister's children (Elizabeth married a Russel, another unknown married a Marshman possibly and sister Mary married a Gilbert. He leaves his personal belongings to just the children of Charles' Blake first marriage (he does not list the children of Charles' second marriage). I suspect that is because this family has lost their lease on what was a Gilbert farm. Lovely will with so many interesting names but it leads to so many new questions as wills often do!
The other big question that stays in my mind is that Thomas (b 1685) had 10 siblings - John b 1684; d 1684, Thomas is next, Margaret b 1689, John b 1689; d 1729, Richard b 1691; d 1694, Elizabeth b 1693; d 1693, Elizabeth b 1695, William b 1698, Anne b 1701; d 1705, Joseph b 1702; d 1784, Anne b 1705; d 1711. I have the will for Joseph, and his sisters Margaret and Elizabeth (they do not marry) and Joseph's only son Joseph is buried in 1746 as a child. But interestingly he lives at Penton Mewsey which is where my Thomas (b 1709) married Ann Carter. These wills do not mention Thomas' great grandchildren. Who is the John? Is he the father of John at Abbots Ann? That is one of my thoughts actually other than his being descended from Robert Blake's line at Knights Enham. Anyone reading this blog who is interested in Charles Blake might like to pursue the Blake family at Penton Mewsey; I am slowly working through the Registers. I think I know who the earliest Blake is there but still really working on that.
A few queries on Bishops Nympton as well to answer. I still have a large query to deal with but will leave it to the New Year. I appear to be almost fully recovered from my bout of illness - just my bruised ribs to finish recovering. My energy level is coming back as well. Soon we will be out skiing and snowshoeing plus if the cold snap continues the canal will freeze and we will be ice skating on our 8 km skating rink.
In terms of genealogy I didn't really accomplish a lot. I answered some queries online from my ancestry subscription - the query re Blake generated another email and Charles Blake has proven to be an elusive but popular ancestor. I think most of my queries about Blake have dealt with Charles. His marriage at Abbots Ann to Mary Prince in 1737 is the first entry for him at Abbots Ann. The Prince family are farmers (freehold) so a fairly substantial family for the time. Their only son Charles as well married into the Gilbert family which is also a substantial family in the area. But who is this Charles? He is mentioned in the will of John Blake malster at Abbots Ann in 1797 (along with my ancestor Thomas Blake (3x great grandfather)). I can trace my Blake line back through Upper Clatford to Andover and to the beginning of the Register where the first baptism for this family (thus far I am still transcribing the earliest register) is William (b 9 Aug 1615) and son of Richard. I suspect the earliest baptisms were kept in a register now long lost which was probably in a chapel at Eastontown where this family lived. Richard is the son of William who is the son of Nicholas (all this by wills). But there is never a Charles in this family. There is a Robert Blake family at Andover as well and I am still working on this line. They appear to be descended from the Blake family at Knights Enham (Robert is a popular name in that line) and there is a marriage of a Charles Blake and Jane Framtan at Andover 2 Oct 1687 (who is this Charles?). No baptisms for this couple thus far in my looking. Then there is the marriage in 1737 at Abbots Ann of Charles Blake and Mary Prince. One would suspect that Charles is from the established Blake family in the area to have been accepted into the Prince family. Charles Blake and Jane Framtan would have been the right age to be parents of this Charles. But on top of all that John Blake at Abbots Ann, the malster, making the interesting will wasn't baptized at Abbots Ann and no idea where he was baptized (likely in 1714 by his gravestone). My 5x great grandfather Thomas was baptized in 1709, Charles was likely baptized around 1710-15, and John in 1714. Could they be brothers and all sons of Thomas Blake (b 21 Feb 1685) who married Mary Spring 6 Nov 1708 at Andover? Thomas was buried 29 Jan 1714. His widow Mary did not remarry. She was buried 2 Apr 1734 at Andover. Why are they not in the Andover Parish Register although I haven't transcribed line by line yet so can not really say they are not there yet but they do not appear in the IGI as Thomas b 1709 does. As I read the will John makes the same legacy to all of the grandchildren of Thomas and Charles (he doesn't have any grandchildren as his only daughter to survive infancy died at 24). He remembers his sister's children (Elizabeth married a Russel, another unknown married a Marshman possibly and sister Mary married a Gilbert. He leaves his personal belongings to just the children of Charles' Blake first marriage (he does not list the children of Charles' second marriage). I suspect that is because this family has lost their lease on what was a Gilbert farm. Lovely will with so many interesting names but it leads to so many new questions as wills often do!
The other big question that stays in my mind is that Thomas (b 1685) had 10 siblings - John b 1684; d 1684, Thomas is next, Margaret b 1689, John b 1689; d 1729, Richard b 1691; d 1694, Elizabeth b 1693; d 1693, Elizabeth b 1695, William b 1698, Anne b 1701; d 1705, Joseph b 1702; d 1784, Anne b 1705; d 1711. I have the will for Joseph, and his sisters Margaret and Elizabeth (they do not marry) and Joseph's only son Joseph is buried in 1746 as a child. But interestingly he lives at Penton Mewsey which is where my Thomas (b 1709) married Ann Carter. These wills do not mention Thomas' great grandchildren. Who is the John? Is he the father of John at Abbots Ann? That is one of my thoughts actually other than his being descended from Robert Blake's line at Knights Enham. Anyone reading this blog who is interested in Charles Blake might like to pursue the Blake family at Penton Mewsey; I am slowly working through the Registers. I think I know who the earliest Blake is there but still really working on that.
A few queries on Bishops Nympton as well to answer. I still have a large query to deal with but will leave it to the New Year. I appear to be almost fully recovered from my bout of illness - just my bruised ribs to finish recovering. My energy level is coming back as well. Soon we will be out skiing and snowshoeing plus if the cold snap continues the canal will freeze and we will be ice skating on our 8 km skating rink.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Moving Day
We spent yesterday evening and all day today helping our youngest daughter and her fiance set up their new home - a lovely Terrace Home. Along with them are their dog and rabbit and a brand new dog just coming home tonight. I spent the day cleaning and then putting together small tables, shelves and the like. Amazingly by this evening my husband and son in law to be had all the curtains up and the main floor was in really good shape. The upstairs too is coming along nicely. Another week and they will be settled right in.
Work on genealogy was on the back burner for the most part but made one amazing discovery. I had a query from one of the ancestry subscribers about Henry May (husband of my 2x great grandmother's sister)'s wife Sarah. They were looking for a maiden name. I provided that and just chanced to check the International Genealogical Index probably for the 30th time or more and there it was online finally - their marriage registration in the parish records for St Nicholas, Bristol, Gloucester, England. Possibly I simply hadn't looked at the Bristol entry thinking it was too far away but having traveled those roads now last spring I have a better feel for how far people might travel from their native location even just for a wedding. Consequently I was able to supply that extra interesting detail as well to assist them in their search backwards in their own family line.
A second query from ancestry was most interesting as it is about my tenth query about a Charles Blake. Some give his father as Thomas Blake (b 1685, Andover Hampshire) but I have the parish registers for his marriage and the baptism of his only child listed at Andover who happens to be my 5x great grandfather. Thomas was buried in 1714 (married in 1708, only son in 1709) and the possible births for this Charles are around 1710 to 1715. I do have an interesting will that lists all of these people which I generally tell people about and give them the section that is pertinent to them. I suggested that it would be great if they had a Blake descendant if they would test their y-DNA since I have the results for my brothers.
Work on genealogy was on the back burner for the most part but made one amazing discovery. I had a query from one of the ancestry subscribers about Henry May (husband of my 2x great grandmother's sister)'s wife Sarah. They were looking for a maiden name. I provided that and just chanced to check the International Genealogical Index probably for the 30th time or more and there it was online finally - their marriage registration in the parish records for St Nicholas, Bristol, Gloucester, England. Possibly I simply hadn't looked at the Bristol entry thinking it was too far away but having traveled those roads now last spring I have a better feel for how far people might travel from their native location even just for a wedding. Consequently I was able to supply that extra interesting detail as well to assist them in their search backwards in their own family line.
A second query from ancestry was most interesting as it is about my tenth query about a Charles Blake. Some give his father as Thomas Blake (b 1685, Andover Hampshire) but I have the parish registers for his marriage and the baptism of his only child listed at Andover who happens to be my 5x great grandfather. Thomas was buried in 1714 (married in 1708, only son in 1709) and the possible births for this Charles are around 1710 to 1715. I do have an interesting will that lists all of these people which I generally tell people about and give them the section that is pertinent to them. I suggested that it would be great if they had a Blake descendant if they would test their y-DNA since I have the results for my brothers.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bishop Nympton Parish Register continued
Another few years of marriages completed for Bishops Nympton to 1790. My word file is now 430 pages long for this entire register. I am slowly converting it to Excel but expect that that task will take me another year. However, I can search on the word file for any queries. It will be next week before I get back to my images from Salt Lake City. Much too busy at the moment.
Submitting my mtDNA to GenBank - I completed it last year but time has slipped by and I am only just now getting it ready to submit. My results have had a profound impact on my entire thinking process with regard to evolution. My matches (coding region since changes occur more rapidly in the control region) are with individuals who currently live in Ossetia. I have two mutations in the control region that they do not have. Given that these same mutations occur in others in the grouping (in several areas in Europe) I am tempted to think that they reverted back. My subgrouping, however, lacks one mutation that is quite common to the group and I wonder if my ancestor left the refuge in Ukraina early on heading for the British Isles via the Scandinavian route since the control region mutations are found in Sweden. Interesting and fascinating as I continue to collect results for my haplogroup.
I started my submission for my Certified Genealogist (CG) to the Board of Certified Genealogists in the United States. I prepared my four generation chart and decided to start with my maternal grandfather as I have collected the most information on this line and it makes for an interesting story. I could do my own four generation chart but I still am lacking sufficient paperwork identification (other than family hearsay) between my maternal maternal great grandmother and her parents. I decided to wait on my application because I am relatively new to the field of Genealogy having just started in 2003 when I decided to take 42 courses from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies in English and Canadian Studies including Methodology. I graduated in English Studies in May 2007 and in Canadian Studies in August 2007. I felt that I needed to visit a few more repositories and do some more case studies before I could go ahead and apply for my CG.
Submitting my mtDNA to GenBank - I completed it last year but time has slipped by and I am only just now getting it ready to submit. My results have had a profound impact on my entire thinking process with regard to evolution. My matches (coding region since changes occur more rapidly in the control region) are with individuals who currently live in Ossetia. I have two mutations in the control region that they do not have. Given that these same mutations occur in others in the grouping (in several areas in Europe) I am tempted to think that they reverted back. My subgrouping, however, lacks one mutation that is quite common to the group and I wonder if my ancestor left the refuge in Ukraina early on heading for the British Isles via the Scandinavian route since the control region mutations are found in Sweden. Interesting and fascinating as I continue to collect results for my haplogroup.
I started my submission for my Certified Genealogist (CG) to the Board of Certified Genealogists in the United States. I prepared my four generation chart and decided to start with my maternal grandfather as I have collected the most information on this line and it makes for an interesting story. I could do my own four generation chart but I still am lacking sufficient paperwork identification (other than family hearsay) between my maternal maternal great grandmother and her parents. I decided to wait on my application because I am relatively new to the field of Genealogy having just started in 2003 when I decided to take 42 courses from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies in English and Canadian Studies including Methodology. I graduated in English Studies in May 2007 and in Canadian Studies in August 2007. I felt that I needed to visit a few more repositories and do some more case studies before I could go ahead and apply for my CG.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Bishop Nympton Parish Register continued
I continued transcribing the parish registers for Bishops Nympton and now up to 1782 marriages. I will try to complete to 1812 this week and then I will have all of the entries from the beginning of the register to 1812 for baptisms, marriages and burials. Discovered that two pages are missing from the microfiche so a total of eight marriages have gone missing. I will write the Record Office to see if the pages were missed when they were microfilmed. Perhaps I can obtain the information for inclusion in my records although I do not think that any of my families marriages are missing.
Christmas shopping today and with the bus strike the traffic is horrendous. I was up at 7:00 a.m. and already the traffic was bumper to bumper and moving very slowly on the street behind us. Fortunately none of us has to make the great trek in today. A fresh snowfall is also part of the problem as well as the bus strike. Hopefully they will resolve the strike soon.
Looking very like Christmas out the window - a beautiful sight with fresh white snow on all the trees and buildings. It is lovely living in the snow in the winter but a lot of work. We will soon have our snowshoes and skies out for a good run. Skating on the canal by January possibly if the cold weather keeps us. We need about three weeks of minus 20 to make a really good ice rink on the canal (8 kilometres of skating).
Christmas shopping today and with the bus strike the traffic is horrendous. I was up at 7:00 a.m. and already the traffic was bumper to bumper and moving very slowly on the street behind us. Fortunately none of us has to make the great trek in today. A fresh snowfall is also part of the problem as well as the bus strike. Hopefully they will resolve the strike soon.
Looking very like Christmas out the window - a beautiful sight with fresh white snow on all the trees and buildings. It is lovely living in the snow in the winter but a lot of work. We will soon have our snowshoes and skies out for a good run. Skating on the canal by January possibly if the cold weather keeps us. We need about three weeks of minus 20 to make a really good ice rink on the canal (8 kilometres of skating).
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Bishops Nympton Parish Register
Completed another three years of marriages in Bishops Nympton bringing me up to 1773. There are 33 more images on the microfiche to transcribe to 1812. Then I will have completed all the records from the earliest (mid 1500s) to 1812 for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials. I have done a word for word transcription and I am also converting that to an excel file for easy sorting and searching. I am the on line parish clerk for Bishops Nympton and use the file at least two or three times a week for individuals asking questions about the parish. For myself, I have a number of ancestors who lived in Bishops Nympton some for several hundred years and more - Pincombe, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Thomas, Manning, Snow, Charlie, Tapp, Vicary, and Blackmoore. Having an excel file would permit me to sort on these families and separate out the lines a little easier than straight reading of the text! Eventually I would like to do a one name study of the Village of Bishops Nympton beginning with the families that are found there in the 1500s and their descendants as they trace down in the village using tax rolls, oaths, freeman's lists, etc.
Getting ready for Christmas and must try and make my stollen today. Still shopping to do as well. I bought four sets of fiche that I wanted, a book on transcribing early latin from the National Archives, another couple of books on DNA and a book on Hampshire subsidies from the 1500s for people to give me for Christmas. I didn't look at them when they arrived although it was very very tempting. I shall be busy with all of that material after Christmas as well. I have also ordered another set of two parish registers from Leicestershire and have an order for Wiltshire and Hampshire ready to go after Christmas. My family used to ask me what I wanted for Christmas in the past and I could never think of anything - genealogy has certainly given me new sources for Christmas presents to myself!
Getting ready for Christmas and must try and make my stollen today. Still shopping to do as well. I bought four sets of fiche that I wanted, a book on transcribing early latin from the National Archives, another couple of books on DNA and a book on Hampshire subsidies from the 1500s for people to give me for Christmas. I didn't look at them when they arrived although it was very very tempting. I shall be busy with all of that material after Christmas as well. I have also ordered another set of two parish registers from Leicestershire and have an order for Wiltshire and Hampshire ready to go after Christmas. My family used to ask me what I wanted for Christmas in the past and I could never think of anything - genealogy has certainly given me new sources for Christmas presents to myself!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 15 Dec 2008
Low accomplishment day for transcribing records yesterday. I need to complete preparations for making Christmas Stollen - I usually make two batches (4 large loaves). I have a feeling that my genealogy work is going to take a back burner for a couple of weeks. We are all decorated for Christmas and the creche (now more than 30 years old) is on the piano awaiting the birth of the Christ child. The weather outside has been most obliging towards Christmastide with lots of snow decorating the trees and rooftops. Today is meant to be a milder day before we crash down into real winter. This is only the prelude to what may well be a long and heavy winter like last year where our snow levels were up to the second story along the front of the house. We decided to buy a snow blower at the beginning of the season last year and my was that lucky as we simply couldn't have picked up the snow and thrown it any higher by mid winter last year but the snow blower obligingly threw it up higher and higher.
Yesterday I added an *.pdf document to my webpage for my one name Siderfin study. This document traces the family line down (10 generations) from the earliest known member that can be traced back to in the early 1500s - John Siderfin. This family is recorded back to the 1100s in legal documents but the period from 1200 to the early 1500s is broken in terms of accurate record keeping. I will continue to push away at the early records but mostly I concentrate on keeping my files up to date for the family lines in the 1800s and 1900s (my cut off for this document is around the 1880s). I do have information on the families coming down further and anyone can write me to check on their family line. This is a very small family usually about 50 members on any census. My 3x great grandmother was Elizabeth Siderfin and she married John Rew at Selworthy Somerset in 1792. Elizabeth signed the marriage registration, unusual for the time, but this was a family that appears to have been well educated and many of the Siderfin descendants were school teachers including my 2x great grandmother.
I have a similar document for the Pincombe family but it still has only four of the 12 charts included in it. With the DNA study showing that the family at Bideford/Barnstaple is likely related to the South Molton/Bishops Nympton family I have put together a link that appears to fit the historical records with one individual accompanying Lord de La Zouch to North Molton in 1485 - this individual would have had at least two sons as per the visitation to Devon of 1540 where the children of Pencombe were listed as John, John, and Thomas. I suspect this is missing one generation where there would have been two sons - one having the son John and a second having the sons John and Thomas (these two families remained in closer association accounting for this thought). There was a Thomas Pencombe at Pencombe Herefordshire in the early 1400s and it is known that the Pincombe family came to Devon in 1485. I will eventually publish this legacy file but would like to add more information first.
Yesterday I added an *.pdf document to my webpage for my one name Siderfin study. This document traces the family line down (10 generations) from the earliest known member that can be traced back to in the early 1500s - John Siderfin. This family is recorded back to the 1100s in legal documents but the period from 1200 to the early 1500s is broken in terms of accurate record keeping. I will continue to push away at the early records but mostly I concentrate on keeping my files up to date for the family lines in the 1800s and 1900s (my cut off for this document is around the 1880s). I do have information on the families coming down further and anyone can write me to check on their family line. This is a very small family usually about 50 members on any census. My 3x great grandmother was Elizabeth Siderfin and she married John Rew at Selworthy Somerset in 1792. Elizabeth signed the marriage registration, unusual for the time, but this was a family that appears to have been well educated and many of the Siderfin descendants were school teachers including my 2x great grandmother.
I have a similar document for the Pincombe family but it still has only four of the 12 charts included in it. With the DNA study showing that the family at Bideford/Barnstaple is likely related to the South Molton/Bishops Nympton family I have put together a link that appears to fit the historical records with one individual accompanying Lord de La Zouch to North Molton in 1485 - this individual would have had at least two sons as per the visitation to Devon of 1540 where the children of Pencombe were listed as John, John, and Thomas. I suspect this is missing one generation where there would have been two sons - one having the son John and a second having the sons John and Thomas (these two families remained in closer association accounting for this thought). There was a Thomas Pencombe at Pencombe Herefordshire in the early 1400s and it is known that the Pincombe family came to Devon in 1485. I will eventually publish this legacy file but would like to add more information first.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 14 Dec 2008
Yesterday I completed the Protestation Returns for West Harnham, Britford and East Harnham and partial for Foffant. I thought I might find my Lywood family at Foffant along with the Baylie and Deart family but I am still transcribing these records. I also have the Enford, Milston and other returns in the area of these two to transcribe. Likely it will take me about a week to transcribe all of the Wiltshire Protestation Returns that I photographed. I know that my Rawlings family were at Enford from 1742 on but do not know where they were located prior to that although I am going to order the Enford Parish Register fiche just to be sure that they were not at Enford back in the 1600s. Since Jeremiah went all the way to Tilshead to marry it is certainly reasonable that his father William may well have married at Wylye and the marriage to Mary Ford is the correct one for this line.
I am starting to sort through the parish register fiche for the parishes of Enford, Milston, Netheravon, Woodford and Little Cheverell to select the copies that I want to purchase. As well I want to purchase some from Hampshire so am looking at Kimpton (I photographed the bishops transcripts but they are quite sparse so will purchase the actual parish register fiche for the years that I do not currently have). I also have the list for Fyfield where my Rawlings also lived, for St Mary Bourne where I want to look at Lambden, Longparish which is just a pursuit of Blake entries and I may leave this one for a bit, Weyhill and Wherwell are the same as Longparish. That leaves Hurstbourne Tarrant and Hurstborne Priors where I want to look at the Pearce family although I think that mine is from Abbots Ann and Collingbourne Kingston and may look at Collingbourne Kingston first so need to get the specs for this parish from the Wiltshire Record Office.
One of my projects though for this week is to complete my list of my records - I have listed all my CDs so just need to list all my fiche to give to Christ Church Anglican Archives. I will eventually donate them all there as I do not think that Library and Archives Canada would want such a selective set of records. I will look at both though so that they will have the maximum possible use. I also want to get back at my listing of the Bishops Nympton Parish Records. I just have the easier section to do now although it involves most of the fiche - the first four fiche produced over 250 pages of text (single spaced) but the next 25 will not produce nearly as much in comparison as they are all forms now for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials.
I am starting to sort through the parish register fiche for the parishes of Enford, Milston, Netheravon, Woodford and Little Cheverell to select the copies that I want to purchase. As well I want to purchase some from Hampshire so am looking at Kimpton (I photographed the bishops transcripts but they are quite sparse so will purchase the actual parish register fiche for the years that I do not currently have). I also have the list for Fyfield where my Rawlings also lived, for St Mary Bourne where I want to look at Lambden, Longparish which is just a pursuit of Blake entries and I may leave this one for a bit, Weyhill and Wherwell are the same as Longparish. That leaves Hurstbourne Tarrant and Hurstborne Priors where I want to look at the Pearce family although I think that mine is from Abbots Ann and Collingbourne Kingston and may look at Collingbourne Kingston first so need to get the specs for this parish from the Wiltshire Record Office.
One of my projects though for this week is to complete my list of my records - I have listed all my CDs so just need to list all my fiche to give to Christ Church Anglican Archives. I will eventually donate them all there as I do not think that Library and Archives Canada would want such a selective set of records. I will look at both though so that they will have the maximum possible use. I also want to get back at my listing of the Bishops Nympton Parish Records. I just have the easier section to do now although it involves most of the fiche - the first four fiche produced over 250 pages of text (single spaced) but the next 25 will not produce nearly as much in comparison as they are all forms now for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 13 Dec 2008
Completed Chittlehampton images for the bishop's transcripts. About 1400 entries with 30 entries for Pincombe extending from an entry in 1577 (Helen daughter of Richard Pincombe)to the mid 1700s with the deaths of the older Pincombe members living at Chittlehampton which is rather interesting. My Richard Pincombe is at Bishops Nympton in 1599 baptizing his son William (my 8x great grandfather), his daughter Ann died in 1598, his wife Ann died in 1601 and he remarried in 1603 (Francis Gill). There are two Richard Pincombes of whom I am aware - both born at or near North Molton (1545 and 1570 - the first is the son of Thomas Pencombe and Johane and is an Uncle to the second one who is the son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snow (at East Buckland)).
Started work on the Dunster Somerset Poor Law Records and will set that aside in favour of the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire. I want to order the parish register fiche for Wiltshire next and now have the itemized sheets back for Enford, Little Cheverell, Milston, Netheravon and Woodford. I want to ask them for itemized sheets for Collingbourne Kingston, Langford and Ludgershall next. I will likely order the complete sets for the earlier registers for the five parishes. This has proven to be the easiest way to look at my families there and, in some cases, the Family History Library only has the Bishop's Transcripts (Devon is one example and Dorset) which tend to be incomplete although they do have the Poor Law Records which are most complete and very interesting reading.
I had thought to begin on Upper Clatford Manorial Records but I am keen to see the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire so will turn to those images next.
Getting ready for Christmas, the Christmas tree is now up and the Creche. We look very decorated and our eldest will soon be home for Christmas. Her train was canceled yesterday due to an ice storm but it should come today although it is delayed which means a late arrival at Montreal and even later coming here.
Started work on the Dunster Somerset Poor Law Records and will set that aside in favour of the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire. I want to order the parish register fiche for Wiltshire next and now have the itemized sheets back for Enford, Little Cheverell, Milston, Netheravon and Woodford. I want to ask them for itemized sheets for Collingbourne Kingston, Langford and Ludgershall next. I will likely order the complete sets for the earlier registers for the five parishes. This has proven to be the easiest way to look at my families there and, in some cases, the Family History Library only has the Bishop's Transcripts (Devon is one example and Dorset) which tend to be incomplete although they do have the Poor Law Records which are most complete and very interesting reading.
I had thought to begin on Upper Clatford Manorial Records but I am keen to see the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire so will turn to those images next.
Getting ready for Christmas, the Christmas tree is now up and the Creche. We look very decorated and our eldest will soon be home for Christmas. Her train was canceled yesterday due to an ice storm but it should come today although it is delayed which means a late arrival at Montreal and even later coming here.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 12 Dec 2008
Three images of the 40 for Chittlehampton left to complete today. Over 1100 entries to give me a birds eye view of Chittlehampton in the 17th century with respect to the Pincombe family. Their occupation was woolcomber which was unexpected from the charts that I was given which implied that this family was yeoman class in this time period at Chittlehampton (similar to members at South Molton/North Molton and Bishops Nympton). I had hoped to learn more about the Pincombe family when I was in Salt Lake City and did find a number of films and books that gave me a visual of this family's spread during the 1500s and 1600s since they are known to have arrived in the North Molton area in 1485. DNA testing on two samples now shows the line at Bishops Nympton may be related to the line at Barnstaple but further testing and more testers is needed to really make any conclusions in that regard. However, the line is the anticipated R1b1b12a which marks them as West Atlantic Modal Group. Early records appear to indicate that this family had lived at Pencombe Herefordshire prior to 1485. Why they moved to the North Molton area with Lord de la Zouch could perhaps be explained by historical events. Richard III was defeated at Bosworth Field and Henry VII became King of England. In 1598, John Pincombe became Sheriff of South Molton (appointed by Queen Elizabeth I).
The next set of documents to look at transcribing will be the Manor Books for Upper Clatford. These are in Secretary hand and may yet wait until later but I will spend a little time on them today as I am keen on having them transcribed. I would also like to do the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire that I photographed as they will be quite helpful in tracing back on the Rawlings and perhaps even Blake line.
Watched the movie "The Black Knight" and it is quite a change from the Batman movies of the 1950s. It is the first modern Batman movie that I have seen. We rented four movies in total for this weekend. We are movie watchers having purchased about 1000 VCRs when they were so popular (and fortunately we still have machines to play them on!). We have purchased DVDs but not in nearly so great a quantity. I had planned to watch a movie a day when I retired which was why I purchased so many. I was watching a movie a day but this last year I have been totally distracted by genealogy. I think though that I will start to set aside a couple of hours every afternoon for a movie.
The next set of documents to look at transcribing will be the Manor Books for Upper Clatford. These are in Secretary hand and may yet wait until later but I will spend a little time on them today as I am keen on having them transcribed. I would also like to do the Protestation Returns for Wiltshire that I photographed as they will be quite helpful in tracing back on the Rawlings and perhaps even Blake line.
Watched the movie "The Black Knight" and it is quite a change from the Batman movies of the 1950s. It is the first modern Batman movie that I have seen. We rented four movies in total for this weekend. We are movie watchers having purchased about 1000 VCRs when they were so popular (and fortunately we still have machines to play them on!). We have purchased DVDs but not in nearly so great a quantity. I had planned to watch a movie a day when I retired which was why I purchased so many. I was watching a movie a day but this last year I have been totally distracted by genealogy. I think though that I will start to set aside a couple of hours every afternoon for a movie.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 11 Dec 2008
I have 40 images of the Chittlehampton Bishop's Transcripts (full pages) and have now completed over half of them for a total of 500 line entries in my Excel file. I hadn't photographed the pages with that in mind actually as my intent was simply to collect all the Pincombe entries for my one-name study. However, it will be interesting to have this overview of Chittlehampton in the 1600s. A few Somerset records are next and then the Manor Books for Upper Clatford. I needed to get back into reading Secretary hand to work on those records and as I glance at them occasionally I am finding them easier to read. That will be at least two weeks of transcription to transcribe those records but will provide me with a very close birds eye view of Upper Clatford. The Blake family were there at various times between the early 1500s and the mid 1700s when my Joseph Blake moved there from Andover.
I completed Bryan Sykes's book Adam's Curse. An excellent read for the budding DNA enthusiast looking at UK families. He does tend to concentrate on his own blood lines but still the author feels drawn into his discussions as they give an interesting picture of possible scenarios on life in Neolithic British Isles. I want to write a Review of his three books - The Seven Daughters of Eve, Adam's Curse and Saxons, Vikings, and Celts for the Ottawa Branch Newsletter next edition in 2009.
Today I will continue with Chittlehampton Parish Register Bishop's Transcripts and also do a little work on the Abbots Ann fiche. Still pursuing the Pearce family of Abbots Ann and their relationship with the Coleman family there plus the newfound relationship between the Farmer family and the Hapgood families of Collingbourne Kingston. Still working on the Farmer family there as it appears to be a good possibility for my Isaac Farmer line.
I completed Bryan Sykes's book Adam's Curse. An excellent read for the budding DNA enthusiast looking at UK families. He does tend to concentrate on his own blood lines but still the author feels drawn into his discussions as they give an interesting picture of possible scenarios on life in Neolithic British Isles. I want to write a Review of his three books - The Seven Daughters of Eve, Adam's Curse and Saxons, Vikings, and Celts for the Ottawa Branch Newsletter next edition in 2009.
Today I will continue with Chittlehampton Parish Register Bishop's Transcripts and also do a little work on the Abbots Ann fiche. Still pursuing the Pearce family of Abbots Ann and their relationship with the Coleman family there plus the newfound relationship between the Farmer family and the Hapgood families of Collingbourne Kingston. Still working on the Farmer family there as it appears to be a good possibility for my Isaac Farmer line.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 10 Dec 2008
Working on day two of my images from Salt Lake City and transcribing the particular parish register pages that I photographed for Chittlehampton. These are actually the Bishop's Transcripts and I had photographed them for the Pincombe entries but decided to transcribe the 35 images just to give me an overview in different time periods of the population of Chittlehampton as I have the baptisms, marriages and burials. I do not have any direct ancestors at Chittlehampton so this is for my one name study on the Pincombe family. The Chittlehampton Pincombe family moved there from South Molton in the 1600s but the notes that I have for the family do not agree with the parish records - more investigation needed here. The family line disappears from Chittlehampton in the 1700s. The notes from the earlier researchers were obtained from family descendants for the most part matched up (where they did) with records from the IGI. I have made some corrections to the Bishops Nympton records using the original parish records, subsidy records, protestation returns, oaths, and wills. My own line was completely incorrect with my John (2x great grandfather) being listed as a son of William instead of Robert Pincombe. But that was my uncle refusing to speak with Gavin Pinkham apparently. My family doesn't have a history of sharing genealogical information - I appear to be the first!
Continued reading Adam's Curse by Bryan Sykes. It is certainly an interesting read and I always find reading books by English authors to be so. They tend to write in if they are 100% British and that it slants their opinion; I enjoy that comment as I feel it probably applies to me as well. Although Canadian born, all of my ancestors were born in England as far back as I can research thus far except for my mother, her father and his mother - my only Canadian born ancestors. His comments on "Tara" one of the English clan mothers are also quite fascinating as my husband's mtDNA is T2b. We only have daughters; his brother only had daughters. Definitely as I work my way back through his mtDNA family line there are mostly always more girls than boys born to the carrier of T2b. I will do a book review of his book and probably all three since I have never done them before. A trilogy of Bryan Sykes books and all are an interesting read (sitting there on the fiction/non-fiction fence but with some good science in them).
Continued reading Adam's Curse by Bryan Sykes. It is certainly an interesting read and I always find reading books by English authors to be so. They tend to write in if they are 100% British and that it slants their opinion; I enjoy that comment as I feel it probably applies to me as well. Although Canadian born, all of my ancestors were born in England as far back as I can research thus far except for my mother, her father and his mother - my only Canadian born ancestors. His comments on "Tara" one of the English clan mothers are also quite fascinating as my husband's mtDNA is T2b. We only have daughters; his brother only had daughters. Definitely as I work my way back through his mtDNA family line there are mostly always more girls than boys born to the carrier of T2b. I will do a book review of his book and probably all three since I have never done them before. A trilogy of Bryan Sykes books and all are an interesting read (sitting there on the fiction/non-fiction fence but with some good science in them).
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 9 Dec 2008
Reading Adam's Curse by Bryan Sykes proved to most interesting and I have completed almost half of the book now. Little summaries of the Seven Daughters of Eve and Saxons, Vikings and Celts appear throughout the book and are most helpful otherwise I would have had to sit there with all three books since he does refer back to his earlier research whilst bringing in later research work. I have the good fortune to have two perfect matches at the HVRI level on his Blood of the Isles Database and these two individuals are located in Argyll Scotland. On the Oxford Ancestors Database I have three similar matches and these individuals (2 female, 1 male) are all located in Ireland. Matching me at both the HVRI and HVRII level I have four individuals who all trace their ancestry back to the Scot-Irish migration to the Carolinas in 1772 from County Antrim Ireland. The one ancestress was Rebecca Martin who married Alexander Pedan and so her ancestry from that point downward is well recorded. The Pedan family were Scot Irish but the Martin family appears in Ireland and Scotland. The leader of the trip was the Reverend William Martin but any association between these two people is unknown at this point in time. Another match that I have interestingly enough is with an individual known to have been in Sweden for centuries. Then with my Full Genetic Scan I have two individuals who match me (except for two in the Control Region) perfectly and they are in Ossetia. Not matching in the Control Region is interesting because this is where change occurs and one wonders if my group left before a particular mutation occurred which, if provable, would give one a peak into the past with regard to the migration of their ancestor to Neolithic Britain. I co-administer the H11 project at FT-DNA and we have over 1/3rd of our people with completed FGS - no matches for me yet but interesting results for others.
Today I continue with transcribing the Chittlehampton Parish Registers that I photographed at Salt Lake City. The Pincombe information is most interesting to me but I decided to build an excel file of all the pages that I photographed although it is not complete. It will give me a birds eye view of the parish in several time periods and, at a later date, I can purchase the parish registers for Chittlehampton if I feel it is warranted.
Today I continue with transcribing the Chittlehampton Parish Registers that I photographed at Salt Lake City. The Pincombe information is most interesting to me but I decided to build an excel file of all the pages that I photographed although it is not complete. It will give me a birds eye view of the parish in several time periods and, at a later date, I can purchase the parish registers for Chittlehampton if I feel it is warranted.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Routledge Wills
I spent my computer time on the 7th December looking at the Routledge Wills that I had received from the Routledge Research Group. This is a set of five wills from the late 1500s - early 1600s for five members of the Routledge family living in Bewcastle Parish. None of the wills were for the Oakshaw family from which both of my 3x great grandparents Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Routledge were descended. However, Elizabeth has two lines of descent with her mother being descended from the Oakshaw family and her father from the Todholes Routledge family. One of these wills was for the Todholes family. Interestingly, William Routledge of Todholes is leaving behind an unborn child and a daughter Elizabeth Routledge. William has asked that if this is an unborn son that he receive his sword and otherwise it should pass to his sister's son Edward Routledge.
I extracted all the Routledge names and using the Protestation Returns for Bewcastle (1641-42) I went in and placed father's/uncle's names opposite the listed names since these children would then be adults in this time period (or would be deceased). There are 23 Routledge names on the Bewcastle return. Having now extracted all of the Eskdale Ward, I now know that almost all Routledge families are listed at Bewcastle with only a few in total in other parishes of this ward. One of the individuals, James Routledge of Baileyhead, writing his will has six sons in total and four of these names appear on the list (James, Richard, Rowland and Thomas). James Routledge of the Ash mentions his sons Francis and George. William Routledge mentions his nephew Edward Routledge. Rowland Routledge of the Nook includes his sons Adam and Thomas. John Routledge of Black dubs mentions his son Thomas. Also mentioned is Edward Routledge of Ash. Half of the names on the list appear to be these men who were mentioned in their father's wills between 20 and 40 years earlier. It allowed me to look at the list differently as I already know that some of the names are the men who were at Oakshaw (Cuthbert and William). I need to now purchase these Oakshaw Routledge wills to see if I can separate out more of the people in the list.
I have now removed the link between my Todholes and Oakshaw families (other than that Grace Routledge of Oakshaw married George Routledge of Todholes/Raw) showing two James Routledge now at the 8x great grandparent level. These wills have made it obvious that we also need to transcribe the manor records from this time period from the original latin to really have a clear understanding of these Routledge families. The first appearance of the Routledge families may be in Morayshire at a place called Redlatches. Tom Routledge (http://everymansprey.com/) has been researching our family lines (we are related on the Routledge and the Tweddle lines) in England and come up with some very interesting history.
I will set this aside for awhile to let it gel a bit as I did collect some interesting material on Bewcastle at Salt Lake City other than the protestation returns.
My new book "Adam's Curse" arrived and I have started reading that (four chapters finished). I had passed on reading it earlier but lately his views have been debated heavily on the DNA list so wanted to see what all the excitement was about. I have read his other books - The Seven Daughters of Eve and Saxons, Vikings and Celts. Both of these books were very interesting reads although not adding enormous amounts to the Science, his grasp of archaeological history is quite wide and, at the moment, the theoretical field is very wide open.
I extracted all the Routledge names and using the Protestation Returns for Bewcastle (1641-42) I went in and placed father's/uncle's names opposite the listed names since these children would then be adults in this time period (or would be deceased). There are 23 Routledge names on the Bewcastle return. Having now extracted all of the Eskdale Ward, I now know that almost all Routledge families are listed at Bewcastle with only a few in total in other parishes of this ward. One of the individuals, James Routledge of Baileyhead, writing his will has six sons in total and four of these names appear on the list (James, Richard, Rowland and Thomas). James Routledge of the Ash mentions his sons Francis and George. William Routledge mentions his nephew Edward Routledge. Rowland Routledge of the Nook includes his sons Adam and Thomas. John Routledge of Black dubs mentions his son Thomas. Also mentioned is Edward Routledge of Ash. Half of the names on the list appear to be these men who were mentioned in their father's wills between 20 and 40 years earlier. It allowed me to look at the list differently as I already know that some of the names are the men who were at Oakshaw (Cuthbert and William). I need to now purchase these Oakshaw Routledge wills to see if I can separate out more of the people in the list.
I have now removed the link between my Todholes and Oakshaw families (other than that Grace Routledge of Oakshaw married George Routledge of Todholes/Raw) showing two James Routledge now at the 8x great grandparent level. These wills have made it obvious that we also need to transcribe the manor records from this time period from the original latin to really have a clear understanding of these Routledge families. The first appearance of the Routledge families may be in Morayshire at a place called Redlatches. Tom Routledge (http://everymansprey.com/) has been researching our family lines (we are related on the Routledge and the Tweddle lines) in England and come up with some very interesting history.
I will set this aside for awhile to let it gel a bit as I did collect some interesting material on Bewcastle at Salt Lake City other than the protestation returns.
My new book "Adam's Curse" arrived and I have started reading that (four chapters finished). I had passed on reading it earlier but lately his views have been debated heavily on the DNA list so wanted to see what all the excitement was about. I have read his other books - The Seven Daughters of Eve and Saxons, Vikings and Celts. Both of these books were very interesting reads although not adding enormous amounts to the Science, his grasp of archaeological history is quite wide and, at the moment, the theoretical field is very wide open.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 7 Dec 2008
I completed proofreading the Presentation Returns for Braintree (I still have 25 names to continue querying in a total of 574 - a very large parish) for my husband. An enormous variety of names in this parish which is 41 miles northeast of London, England. My husband has a number of ancestors who emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s and 1640s from Braintree including the Loomis family.
Other than my rather sore ribs where I fell I am feeling improved from my bout of illness so will now plot out the next few weeks of looking at the old records. However, I received from the Routledge group a rather interesting 20 pages of Routledge wills from the 1500s and 1600s. I will put together a chart of all that information today and see if it can assist me at all. Definitely it will change one concept that I had. I had thought that my Todholes Routledge family and my Oakshaw Routledge family were closely related (both descend from a James Routledge) but the wills would certainly show that there isn't a close relationship 100 years earlier than I had originally thought from the registers. It is always better to find more than one source for documentation.
I had thought about starting my Certified Genealogist application to the Board of Certified Genealogists this winter and may still do so. My hesitation is my short time in the field of genealogy (five years) although I have now experienced most of the major repositories for collections that deal with my ancestors on this side of the Atlantic. A visit to Kew is absolutely essential on our next trip to England and then I think I would feel ready to be a Certified Genealogist - it is sort of one thing to be able to do all the written work and researching but another to be fluent in the language which is only acquired through years of research which I quite appreciate. My logic in acquiring the CG now was more to support the family research that I am doing although I have done some teaching, research and writing for my small publishing business. Initially I had considered working full time as a genealogist but my shoulder injury made me rethink those ideas and retire.
Going back to my Salt Lake City images now, I will perhaps do a quick overview once again of all the material that I have collected and then a look at the material of which I have completed transcription. I can then make a plan for the next stage of transcribing. With the Christmas season my time will get chopped up somewhat but a plan will move me smoothly through the holidays and into the working time of January.
Other than my rather sore ribs where I fell I am feeling improved from my bout of illness so will now plot out the next few weeks of looking at the old records. However, I received from the Routledge group a rather interesting 20 pages of Routledge wills from the 1500s and 1600s. I will put together a chart of all that information today and see if it can assist me at all. Definitely it will change one concept that I had. I had thought that my Todholes Routledge family and my Oakshaw Routledge family were closely related (both descend from a James Routledge) but the wills would certainly show that there isn't a close relationship 100 years earlier than I had originally thought from the registers. It is always better to find more than one source for documentation.
I had thought about starting my Certified Genealogist application to the Board of Certified Genealogists this winter and may still do so. My hesitation is my short time in the field of genealogy (five years) although I have now experienced most of the major repositories for collections that deal with my ancestors on this side of the Atlantic. A visit to Kew is absolutely essential on our next trip to England and then I think I would feel ready to be a Certified Genealogist - it is sort of one thing to be able to do all the written work and researching but another to be fluent in the language which is only acquired through years of research which I quite appreciate. My logic in acquiring the CG now was more to support the family research that I am doing although I have done some teaching, research and writing for my small publishing business. Initially I had considered working full time as a genealogist but my shoulder injury made me rethink those ideas and retire.
Going back to my Salt Lake City images now, I will perhaps do a quick overview once again of all the material that I have collected and then a look at the material of which I have completed transcription. I can then make a plan for the next stage of transcribing. With the Christmas season my time will get chopped up somewhat but a plan will move me smoothly through the holidays and into the working time of January.
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 6 Dec 2008
No new work on the images from Salt Lake City today. I decided instead to look at Abbots Ann where my Pearce family lived. Elizabeth Pearce married John Coleman 7 Oct 1771 at Abbots Ann. John was baptized 13 Feb 1737 at Upper Clatford which seems to tell a tale of declining fortune in this family. The Coleman family had been Inn Keepers at Goodworth Clatford. His grandparents Clement and Katherine (Holeridge) Coleman had continuously held a licence there from 1716 to 1726 (Clement died in 1721). His father Clement was baptized at Goodworth Clatford 25 Oct 1704 and married to Dinah Bever (marriage date unknown which is a reminder that I need to check the fiche for Goodworth Clatford and Upper Clatford for this marriage as I work my way back). Elizabeth Pearce I hadn't been able to locate so decided to spend some time looking at the fiche for Abbots Ann and discovered Elizabeth Pearce's baptism 26 Jul 1739 although very very difficult to read. Her parents were William Pearce and Elizabeth. Possibly this is the marriage between William Pearce and Elizabeth Hopgood 25 Apr 1736 at Collingbourne Kingston as I can not find a marriage in this time frame in the Abbots Ann Register. There are two earlier Pearce marriages at Abbots Ann with one for a William and the other for a Peter (1707 and 1704). It was this Peter that attracted my attention as I found his Inn license from the 1720s time period at Abbots Ann. I have started to transcribe the register for Abbots Ann but it is a very slow process as the earliest register is one of the worst that I have seen. I did feel that this was a successful find though for Elizabeth Pearce.
I added Roberts to my webpage just to increase the possibility of locating descendants of this family line. Ellen Roberts married Thomas Taylor 29 Jun 1857 at Birmingham. She was less than 16 years old (b 18 Oct 1841; bap 6 Dec 1841 St Martin Birmingham), her mother had died two years earlier and the name of one of the witnesses at the marriage was the next door neighbour of this family on the 1841 census (Sarah Hadley) whom Thomas married 27 Dec 1859. Thomas himself died in 1860 or 1861 as he isn't alive on the 1861 census (Sarah is a widow with his three sons). This is my mtDNA line with my thought that this Ellen is the mother of my Ellen Taylor (b 9 Oct 1859 at Birmingham). Ellen Roberts had three brothers: Thomas (b 2 Sep 1843; bap 6 Nov 1843 St Martin Birmingham), James (b 5 Oct 1845; bap 8 Jan 1846 St Martin Birmingham), and Joseph (b 27 Sep 1847, bap 18 Oct 1847 St Martin Birmingham). Joseph was married to Mary Maria Odams Dec quarter 1869 at Aston Warwick. They had four children: Elizabeth b 1875, William b 1878, Alfred b 1885, Nellie b 1888 all born at Birmingham. The parents of Ellen Roberts were: Thomas Roberts and Ellen Lawley married 29 Nov 1840 at St Martins Birmingham. Ellen's father was Joseph Lawley and according to the census of 1851 Ellen was born at Wellington Shropshire. The possible trek back on my mtDNA continues to be brickwalled in the Midlands.
We attended the Opera Doctor Atomic at the theatre live streamed from the Met in New York City. It was my first event out since I took ill. I debated going as I am still having some pain in my ribs where I fell down but it ended up being quite practical. We sat near the level and by the edge as I didn't want anyone to accidentally knock me down! Opera was very well done.
Christmas Tree up this evening and will finish decorating when everyone is here tomorrow.
Finished proofreading Ed's UEL newsletter that he produced for the Branch. I want to continue to decrease my external commitments and I am looking at what else I can handoff or eliminate from my responsibilities. Although I enjoy the DNA work I have decided I do not really have time to become heavily involved in course writing which is one item that I have been mulling around. I have spent a fair amount of time reading and preparing but I do not think that I want to spend the time on it.
I added Roberts to my webpage just to increase the possibility of locating descendants of this family line. Ellen Roberts married Thomas Taylor 29 Jun 1857 at Birmingham. She was less than 16 years old (b 18 Oct 1841; bap 6 Dec 1841 St Martin Birmingham), her mother had died two years earlier and the name of one of the witnesses at the marriage was the next door neighbour of this family on the 1841 census (Sarah Hadley) whom Thomas married 27 Dec 1859. Thomas himself died in 1860 or 1861 as he isn't alive on the 1861 census (Sarah is a widow with his three sons). This is my mtDNA line with my thought that this Ellen is the mother of my Ellen Taylor (b 9 Oct 1859 at Birmingham). Ellen Roberts had three brothers: Thomas (b 2 Sep 1843; bap 6 Nov 1843 St Martin Birmingham), James (b 5 Oct 1845; bap 8 Jan 1846 St Martin Birmingham), and Joseph (b 27 Sep 1847, bap 18 Oct 1847 St Martin Birmingham). Joseph was married to Mary Maria Odams Dec quarter 1869 at Aston Warwick. They had four children: Elizabeth b 1875, William b 1878, Alfred b 1885, Nellie b 1888 all born at Birmingham. The parents of Ellen Roberts were: Thomas Roberts and Ellen Lawley married 29 Nov 1840 at St Martins Birmingham. Ellen's father was Joseph Lawley and according to the census of 1851 Ellen was born at Wellington Shropshire. The possible trek back on my mtDNA continues to be brickwalled in the Midlands.
We attended the Opera Doctor Atomic at the theatre live streamed from the Met in New York City. It was my first event out since I took ill. I debated going as I am still having some pain in my ribs where I fell down but it ended up being quite practical. We sat near the level and by the edge as I didn't want anyone to accidentally knock me down! Opera was very well done.
Christmas Tree up this evening and will finish decorating when everyone is here tomorrow.
Finished proofreading Ed's UEL newsletter that he produced for the Branch. I want to continue to decrease my external commitments and I am looking at what else I can handoff or eliminate from my responsibilities. Although I enjoy the DNA work I have decided I do not really have time to become heavily involved in course writing which is one item that I have been mulling around. I have spent a fair amount of time reading and preparing but I do not think that I want to spend the time on it.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Canada
I became wrapped up in the political crisis here in Canada and watched television although did do some work on the protestation returns. Still proofreading Braintree and it is a slow process.
I also remembered I was working on my FamilySearch page for the 1916 Canadian Census (already completed a number of them) but they had taken it back again. I decided to try the Belgium emigree list and will work away at that the next few days.
With a few days passing since the initial crisis began here in our parliament, I have given some thought to the cause. Is it possible that our Prime Minister suddenly became sick and tired of all the jibes and comments being made by the Opposition leaders (they view their comments as usual political style) and was considering retiring and letting others carry the torch? I am left to think about that thought for awhile. The real farce was Elizabeth May rushing to Ottawa (thinking there was a Senate seat in it for her I suspect)and then making her usual inane statements but this time she really came up with a corker - tanks at Parliament Hill. I think perhaps she is just not suited to this life as she really doesn't know how to express herself. I felt that way at the debates as well. Her personal attacks on Stephen Harper were absolutely unacceptable and should have been halted. He is an excellent Prime Minister and shouldn't be driven from his post by inane comments. He has managed to get rid of the Liberals as our "permanent" government finally bringing back together the conservative parties of Canada. History will remember him well and be kind to him.
Off to the opera today.
I also remembered I was working on my FamilySearch page for the 1916 Canadian Census (already completed a number of them) but they had taken it back again. I decided to try the Belgium emigree list and will work away at that the next few days.
With a few days passing since the initial crisis began here in our parliament, I have given some thought to the cause. Is it possible that our Prime Minister suddenly became sick and tired of all the jibes and comments being made by the Opposition leaders (they view their comments as usual political style) and was considering retiring and letting others carry the torch? I am left to think about that thought for awhile. The real farce was Elizabeth May rushing to Ottawa (thinking there was a Senate seat in it for her I suspect)and then making her usual inane statements but this time she really came up with a corker - tanks at Parliament Hill. I think perhaps she is just not suited to this life as she really doesn't know how to express herself. I felt that way at the debates as well. Her personal attacks on Stephen Harper were absolutely unacceptable and should have been halted. He is an excellent Prime Minister and shouldn't be driven from his post by inane comments. He has managed to get rid of the Liberals as our "permanent" government finally bringing back together the conservative parties of Canada. History will remember him well and be kind to him.
Off to the opera today.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 3 Dec 2008
First full morning of working on the protestation returns for Braintree. I am proofreading them. It is a slow process because I have never worked on this parish or even looked at this parish in my five years of doing Genealogy other than noticing that my husband had a number of ancestors who left Braintree during the 1630s and 1640s. I thought it would be interesting to give him the transcription for Christmas and I should complete it in time now.
I sent back my request to the Leicestershire Registry Office for the fiche of the parish registers of Castle Donnington and Loughborough (All Saints) to assist me in looking at my Cheatle family. This family has now become one of my new brickwalls and actually always has been. I found Sarah Cheatle quite early on in my research and her baptism at Ashby de la Zouch but have never been able to get back further in time with them. My work at Salt Lake City let me look at Ashby de la Zouch and sort out the three William Cheatles who were having children there at that time and to verify that they were three different men, that one of the Williams has a brother Benjamin with father Henry and this is not my line as Sarah isn't mentioned in the 1807 will of Henry as a daughter of William. The other William is definitely younger as he only begins to have children in the 1790s and continues to the midteens of the 1800s. Sarah is the last child of the William and Sarah Cheatle family and interestingly there is a burial for a Sarah Cheatle in 1793 (no age given, no parents but the register is quite brief for burials unfortunately). I do have the Cheatle family at Castle Donnington with a daughter Sarah and I am left to wonder if this is my Cheatle family. I hope to learn more with the registers. I also took a bit of time and mapped the twelve Cheatle males on the Freemen's list from the 1700s and found that there were three main areas where they lived with a cluster at each one. They are all on a radius from Loughborough and many of their family events occur at Loughborough. My thought is that my line was in the Castle Donnington area. Next time we are at Salt Lake City I will photograph the Poor Law Records for Castle Donnington. That was one bit of homework I should have done in advance as I already owned all of the material that I needed to produce these charts. It would have saved me time there and probably aided my research. They got missed in my research plan. My research plan for each day consisted of a minimum ten items and usually twenty. When I got back home I found that I accomplished between 80 to 100% of each day's work which I felt was quite good since I had never been there before. It is so easy to find the film and you are allowed to take back as many reels as you want (usually I only took 5 but sometimes for a long run I had 10).
Back to sleep again as my energy level is a little low still. Unfortunately I slipped and hit my ribcage and when we went off to the physician for my illness (related to my nervous disorder) I thought he was sending me off for an x-ray of my shoulder but actually it was an xray of an adnexal mass on my right ovary so I still do not know if I cracked a rib. I appear to be improving. Last night I had a dream where I remembered the ob/gyn that delivered our first daughter telling me about an adnexal mass on my right ovary 34 years ago - amazing thing dreams. I shall have to wait and see on that one.
I sent back my request to the Leicestershire Registry Office for the fiche of the parish registers of Castle Donnington and Loughborough (All Saints) to assist me in looking at my Cheatle family. This family has now become one of my new brickwalls and actually always has been. I found Sarah Cheatle quite early on in my research and her baptism at Ashby de la Zouch but have never been able to get back further in time with them. My work at Salt Lake City let me look at Ashby de la Zouch and sort out the three William Cheatles who were having children there at that time and to verify that they were three different men, that one of the Williams has a brother Benjamin with father Henry and this is not my line as Sarah isn't mentioned in the 1807 will of Henry as a daughter of William. The other William is definitely younger as he only begins to have children in the 1790s and continues to the midteens of the 1800s. Sarah is the last child of the William and Sarah Cheatle family and interestingly there is a burial for a Sarah Cheatle in 1793 (no age given, no parents but the register is quite brief for burials unfortunately). I do have the Cheatle family at Castle Donnington with a daughter Sarah and I am left to wonder if this is my Cheatle family. I hope to learn more with the registers. I also took a bit of time and mapped the twelve Cheatle males on the Freemen's list from the 1700s and found that there were three main areas where they lived with a cluster at each one. They are all on a radius from Loughborough and many of their family events occur at Loughborough. My thought is that my line was in the Castle Donnington area. Next time we are at Salt Lake City I will photograph the Poor Law Records for Castle Donnington. That was one bit of homework I should have done in advance as I already owned all of the material that I needed to produce these charts. It would have saved me time there and probably aided my research. They got missed in my research plan. My research plan for each day consisted of a minimum ten items and usually twenty. When I got back home I found that I accomplished between 80 to 100% of each day's work which I felt was quite good since I had never been there before. It is so easy to find the film and you are allowed to take back as many reels as you want (usually I only took 5 but sometimes for a long run I had 10).
Back to sleep again as my energy level is a little low still. Unfortunately I slipped and hit my ribcage and when we went off to the physician for my illness (related to my nervous disorder) I thought he was sending me off for an x-ray of my shoulder but actually it was an xray of an adnexal mass on my right ovary so I still do not know if I cracked a rib. I appear to be improving. Last night I had a dream where I remembered the ob/gyn that delivered our first daughter telling me about an adnexal mass on my right ovary 34 years ago - amazing thing dreams. I shall have to wait and see on that one.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 27 Nov - 2 Dec
Great strides made on transcribing the Protestation Returns for Eskdale Ward in Cumberland. I have completed all of them and will get at the busy task of proofreading them very soon. I also heard back from the Cumbria Journal and they would like to publish Lanercost so I will start preparing that one for submision.
I decided to transcribe the Protestation Returns for Braintree Essex as a number of Ed's families emigrated from Braintree in the 1630 and 1640 time period. I completed that but unfortunately was taken ill on Saturday so have accomplished absolutely nothing since. This is my first day back at the computer. I will need to catch up on all of my emails and other items. I did have my flue shot!
I decided to transcribe the Protestation Returns for Braintree Essex as a number of Ed's families emigrated from Braintree in the 1630 and 1640 time period. I completed that but unfortunately was taken ill on Saturday so have accomplished absolutely nothing since. This is my first day back at the computer. I will need to catch up on all of my emails and other items. I did have my flue shot!
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