Conversion of Bishop Nympton Parish Registers completed

Although a few days late (completed 27 December), the Parish Register for Bishops Nympton has now been converted from the word document to the excel document. Now begins the long task of proofreading the excel and word file. I will have them up simultaneously so that I can make corrections to both. Since I went to the trouble of initially doing a word by word accounting of the parish register it only seems logical that I should correct this document as well as the excel file.

Unfortunately, my husband had another fall and had to be dashed off to hospital by ambulance again on Tuesday. I spent the entire day with him at the hospital and fortunately the problem was quickly resolved (new drug conflict) and we were back home again at 9:45 pm. having been picked up by our daughter and son in law. It has been wonderful having everyone here for the week after Christmas although they head home now in order to get ready to go back to work next week. Our older daughter remains with us another couple of weeks doing research before she returns to teach once again.

I believe that I will start tomorrow to proofread the documents. I would like to accomplish that by the end of January although that might prove to be too short a time. I will have to see how the reading goes.

I am trying to decide about my commitments for next year. I am tempted to back away from absolutely everything in order to be free to assist my husband as needed. I do not want to commit to anything very far in advance which will have its difficulties. I shall consider that over the next couple of weeks.

Bishops Nympton Registers

As Christmas Day comes nearer I realize that I will not quite complete the last group of records although very close. There are still 400 burials to convert to the excel chart and I will leave them now until after Christmas Day although if there is a lull in activities I may find myself completing them :)

In total the Bishops Nympton Parish Registers have yielded 7302 baptisms, 1284 marriages, 5398 burials (with 400 still to convert for a total of likely 5798 burials), and 365 banns. These registers run from the late 1550s to the late 1980s yielding 430 years of history for this small village in North Devon. For myself, I descend from a number of families with deep roots in Bishops Nympton dating back to the earlier parish registers - Pincombe (from the mid 1590s on), Thomas, Tapp (from the early 1600s on), Blackmoore, and Manning (middle 1600s on) with the Thomas and Blackmoore families being in the earliest registers. My Pincombe and Tapp families were from North Molton and my Manning family from Landkey.

Thoughts for the New Year and I shall be downsizing my efforts in genealogical activities once again as my home commitments become somewhat larger and my time for genealogy smaller. I will be concentrating on my Blake one name study and my Pincombe one name study.

The latest Pincombe yDNA results are most interesting in that the Pinkham descendant does not match the results of my likely 5th cousin. Finding someone to test my direct line from Robert Pincombe would be really great as it would give me a baseline from which to look at all the data. The Pinkham result is quite within the realm of results to be expected from Devon. We are still awaiting results beyond the first 12 but a quick test with Withey's Haplogroup Predictor does yield I haplogroup rather than the R1b that is predicted for the results of my 5th cousin on ysearch. Since he is unwilling to be part of the project and has entered the data himself I would really like to have results in the study that are from a known cousin. Will have to wait and see on that.

The original researchers for the Pincombe one name study have linked the Pinkham and Pincombe family as having a common ancestor. yDNA results are really the only way to determine if in reality this was a true common ancestry.

Arnold Family

Reading the posts on the Dorset list, I discovered a new cousin (probably quite distant) who has done quite a bit of research on the Arnold family. It would be most exciting to read her book now unfortunately out of print so I will search for that but she has offered to send me a CD of her Arnold research which is greatly appreciated. I find that my only seven years of genealogy research has not given me enough time and background yet to really offer to send large sections to people. I am still busily checking and proving connections. For a specific name though I can provide some information that has been extracted from the original records providing that the individual shares part of my direct line. With my father being an only child born in 1904 and my mother had only one sibling with no children and she was born in 1916, there are only my own siblings who connect back along this direct line. Because my father was 33 when he married and my mother's father was 42 when he married I am back into the 1800s with all of my grandparents (1872, 1875, 1876, and 1886) and then for my great grandparents I am well back into the mid 1800s so that finding these people has not been at all difficult plus I grew up on a diet of family history luckily for me (1845, 1850, 1859, 1853, 1837, 1839, 1850, 1859). One more generation back takes me to the late 1700s and mostly first quarter of the 1800s for all my lines (1798, 1804, 1827, 1828, 1825, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1808, 1801, 1810, 1804, 1805, 1820, 1830, 1841).

Still continuing with the conversion of the Bishops Nympton Parish Registers and at the end of 1880 there are 6363 baptisms, end of 1812 3676 burials (the post 1812 are to come at the end of the file), 1111 marriages and 364 banns (no changes except in the baptisms). There are 106 years left on about 80 pages. The number of baptisms does decrease considerably in the 1900s. There are no Pincombe births in this time period which is as expected. All of the my direct line was gone from the Bishops Nympton area with emigrations to Canada and Australia.

The yDNA result has come in for the Pincombe study and he does not match either of the sets of results thus far. No one has tested in my direct line and I have hopes that someone will. The result on ysearch is supposed to be my fifth cousin but until someone I know is my cousin tests I am somewhat ambivalent about the result's accuracy. Hopefully one of these days more Pincombe/Pinkham descendants will test. The Pinkham testor is descendant of the New Hampshire family who did indeed emigrate from Devon. The result is exciting as it may prove whether or not the original investigators were correct in thinking that the Pinkham and Pincombe family share common ancestry. Their charts very much indicate this to be the case but yDNA can now conclude with accuracy whether or not two families are indeed related even if they share a couple of centuries of assumed relationship. Since the latest member is probably I2b1 rather than the R1b of the earlier members there is always the possibility that his ancestor took on the Pincome/Pinkham surname from his wife many centuries ago. Likely the Pincombe/Pinkham family grouping predates the Roman occupation of Britain. I2b1 members came from the Roman Legions mostly as auxiliaries and some of them stayed on. They could have become part of the Pincombe/Pinkham family grouping through marriage with daughters of this family prior even to surname selection.

Once Bishops Nympton is complete and it does appear I may accomplish this task before Christmas with respect to the conversion, then I will turn to South Molton transcription although these registers do not begin until 1600. The next part of the task is the proofreading of the file. Since I created it very early on in my transcribing career I do wish to proofread it very thoroughly before sharing it or sending it off to Genuki to put on the Bishops Nympton webpage. I receive even yet a few enquiries a week and I would like to publish all of my work to reduce their enquiries.

I have answered probably a thousand or more enquiries on my early transcriptions but I want to just put everything up where people can find it so that I can concentrate totally on my lines and those of our son in law.

Bishops Nympton conversion

Proceding along with the conversion of the word file to an excel file, there are now at the middle of 1835 5278 baptisms, at the end of 1812 1111 marriages, at the end of 1812 3676 burials and at the end of 1886 364 banns. The baptisms continue up to 1986 and I will complete all of those before going to the marriages. Marriages will just be up to the middle of 1837 as Devon does not make fiche of the marriages from 1837 onwards, the burials then continue from 1813 to 1987. The Banns are now complete. I am on page 554 of this 876 page document. I am quite pleased to be moving along so quickly. The next stage will be to proofread the documents from the original microfiche of the Parish Registers.

I have had a few interesting emails. One in particular was from a descendant of the older brother of John Pincombe (my 2x great grandfather). The two families communciated into the early 1900s (likely until about 1918 when William Robert Pincombe died (my great grandfather). He used to visit relatives in the United States with his second family leaving my grandfather to take care of the farm.

A second email was from a descendant of the William Millin/Elizabeth Beard family (the sister of my 3x great grandmother Mary Beard married to Christy Buller). I am not entirely sure what to think of their queries and perhaps it was an error on my part to record a couple of thoughts on the Millin family and their emigration to Australia. I may just remove them from my blog until I can figure out again why I think it was five rather than the three for which he has clear knowledge. I know I chatted back and forth with another Beard cousin at the time about the Millin family. I think perhaps I will just remove the statement. Sometimes people are quite friendly on line and other times they are rather pointed and this is supposed to be fun so I tend to ignore them for the most part. My study of family history is just a hobby these days. My working in genealogy is way back in the past now. If I am incorrect in a statement than I can just remove it if anyone can substantiate that it is incorrect.

A third email today mentioned North Molton records. I eventually plan to submit the transcription to Genuki Devon.
Well that being said I shall get back to my Bishops Nympton file and delete the short statement from the Millin post until I can substantiate it. Likely I will not delve that thoroughly into the Millin family so I may never substantiate it. Time will tell in that regard.

Home again

I arrived home again from Milwaukee and my almost two week stay with our eldest daughter. Lovely weather and beautiful scenery walking along Lake Michigan.

Bishops Nympton excel file has moved along and I am now at 4372 baptisms (end of 1767) , 768 marriages (end of 1754), 3593 burials (end of 1767) and 21 banns (a short period of time prior to 1754). Surprisingly there are nearly 700 more baptisms than burials bespeaking a very healthy community at Bishops Nympton and environs. There may be a few more entries as this register's microfiche are very mixed up by years. Once I am into the 1800s the register follows the years but prior to that one flips back from the 1700s to the 1600s and the end of the 1700s to the beginning of the 1700s. It will be very nice to have a sortable file and I will give it to Genuki Devon once it is proofread. I may also send it off to Free Reg as well to put up on line.

No surprises for any of my families lines as I extracted all that information a long time ago now. What might change is how I see some of the collateral family lines to my own direct line. I transcribed these fiche at the beginning of my genealogical researching so that the proofreading is very much needed. As I get towards this time period though the transcriptions are probably more precise. I started to transcribe before taking the Palaeography Course. That course itself greatly speeded up m y transcriptions and smoothed them out.

Other than the Bishops Nympton file I haven't really looked at genealogy for a couple of weeks. I am at page 336  of the 876 page file (adjusted for our new printer). I like this printer as it shortens everything.

Conversion of the Bishops Nympton Parish Register from text file to excel file

Working away on the Bishops Nympton word file and at the end of one week I have converted 25% of the file to an excel file. It has been a slow process on the one hand and on the other hand I do have 25% converted. It is still possible that I can complete the file by Christmas.

Initially I typed in the entries from the one file into the other. But I listened to the thoughts of my husband and daughter and tried capturing the text and converting it to an excel data sheet and then working on rearranging the text. Although it initially appeared to be slower gradually I developed a scheme that worked and I moved to this newer method for the conversion.

The priests of course had their own pattern for recording and it wasn't always the same. I have now reached the contracts/marriages which in the mid 1600s had an amazing amount of information in this parish register. I must reduce them to one line but it is the "form" that will be left out not the information that can be gleaned from these entries.

Bishops Nympton Parish Register

My fifth day in Milwaukee and I have managed to get started with converting the Bishops Nympton Parish Register word file to excel. Mostly we have spent time enjoying American Thanksgiving which includes shopping. Black Friday we spent most of the day walking and enjoying beautiful weather here but also we went to the Milwaukee Museum which has a special Cleopatra exhibit. A wonderful exhibit and I highly recommend it if you are in this area. Saturday was a busy day doing some work my daughter needed doing.

Finally on Sunday we went shopping and it was quite busy. Since my daughter is away for my birthday in September she likes to take me shopping for my birthday present when I come in November. I had in mind a navy blue suit and we found a lovely one at the Boston Store. My daughter found some clothes that she wanted as well and so we had a very productive shopping trip. The roads were quite busy but traffic was flowing very nicely. This is a large metropolitan area with about 1.6 million people in total.

Now I shall begin my conversion in earnest hoping to accomplish as much of the 900+ pages as possible over the next week. With a big bite into it I should be able to accomplish it by Christmas. Then the proofreading comes next against the original register since I have never proofread the word file.

Doing a line by line transcription of the parish register can be quite revealing. For instance there are two marriages of servants of William Pincombe and no location is given but given there are no William Pincombes at Bishops Nympton in this time period who are adult then this is William Pincombe at Filleigh (son of my ancestor and brother to Richard my ancestor). He was by far the wealthiest of the seven sons of William Pincombe and Emotte Snow having inherited the property at Filleigh and East Buckland. My Richard was the fourth son and his holdings were all at Bishops Nympton. Possibly he held Park, East Week, West Week at Bishops Nympton and Gatcombe, Great Woods at Molland since these are the properties that can be traced back in my family lines.

Coming down from Richard, my William and then his son John were singleton land owners although William had a half brother John who held more property. My John had three sons and all the PIncombes at Bishops Nympton in the 1700s trace down from John Pincombe and Johane Blackmoore. The grandson John of this couple then was the father of all the Pincombe lines at Bishops Nympton and John Pincombe and his wife Mary Charlie/Charley had four sons with my Robert being the third son. The Parish Registers bear this out as do the land records.

Other than the Parish Register I do not have any plans for work whilst here in Milwaukee. I would really like to accomplish the conversion of this file by Christmas.

Will of Elizabeth Pincombe, widow, dated 17 Oct 1816 and probated 16 Oct 1819 (Source - Inland Revenue Wills page 883)

The last will in my cache for Pincombe is this particular one written by Elizabeth Pincombe widow of the City of Exeter. I do not have any particular information on this Pincombe line other than the original chart for Exeter prepared by the earlier Pincombe investigators. I can not locate a marriage between a Pincombe and an Elizabeth Arthurs which was my first thought on reading this will. However, I am unable to clearly read the relationship between Samuel Arthurs and Elizabeth Pincombe. I do not think that it says brother but the next opportunity that I have to read this will I will clarify that item.

The will of Elizabeth Pincombe, Widow, Exeter, Devon

Recorded: 23 Nov 2011
Source: Inland Revenue Wills page 883
Place: Exeter, Devon
Type of record: Will
Dated: 17 Oct 1816 (Probated 16 Oct 1819)
Read: Electronic File
Copy: bold, 19th century writing
1 This is the last Will and Testament of me Elizabeth Pincombe
2 Of the City of Exeter Widow, I give devise and bequeath unto my ______ Samuel
3 Arthurs of the City, of Exeter, Grocer all my real and permanent Estate with Effects
4 Of what nature or Account soever To hold the same unto the said Samuell Arthurs
5 His Heirs Executors Administrators and Assignes forever Now I revoke
6 Constitute and appoint the said Samuel Arthurs sole Executor of this my Will
7 And I revoke all former wills and declare this is only to be my last Will
8 And Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and
9 Seal the Seventeenth day of October One Thousand eight hundred and
10 Sixteen.
11 The Mark of the X said Elizabeth Pincombe [Seal]
12 Signed Sealed Published and Declared
13 by the said Elizabeth Pincombe the
14 Testator  as and for her last Will and
15 Testament in the presence of us who in
16 Her presence at her request and in the
17 presence of each other have subscribed
18 our names as Witness thereto
19 James Torrell [signed]
20 George Soelter [signed]
21 W[illia]m Tremlett [signed]
22 Examined with the Original Will by me
23 John Jackson
I still need to transcribe the Probate package for this will. A future endeavour that will eventually appear here

Family Pictures - Samuel George Blake 1875 - 1953

Sorting through boxes with my husband we came across another cache of family pictures. This time it was the originals of some photographs that I had originally labeled Grandma Blake's pictures. They are actually my grandparent's pictures not just solely Grandma Blake's pictures as it turns out. I have now scanned all of them and because I now have the original of a picture of the Union that my grandfather belonged to (International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers Local 183) I was able to spot him and have now written to the London Leaf to see if they want the image to put in the newsletter as a "Can you name any of the men in this picture?" I have told them which one is my grandfather which is a start. I have no idea on the names of any of the other men. By the time that I knew my grandfather he had been retired for several years and did not really speak a great deal about his time of working.

When we chatted it was about the green hills of Upper Clatford and stories of his life there. It was somewhat hilly actually when we visited but he was remembering Bury Hill which they had climbed as children. I didn't get to climb it and I think it might be on private land actually now. But perhaps when we go again I can have a longer look at it.

I put together a collage of pictures of my grandfather and decided to put it into this post. Not so much that it will aid anyone researching our family since I know all of his descendants but there may yet be cousins lurking out there that I have not yet discovered who might like to see a picture of my grandfather. I understand that he resembled his father and that Harry in Toronto resembled his mother's side of the family.

Pictures of Grandpa through the years (the early dates are approximate with the latter three to the year).

All of the pictures have a story actually with the first having been sent to me by my cousin in England with the query is this Sam? When I first looked at it I wasn't sure because I only had pictures of Grandpa when he was over 50. The earliest one that I had of him at that time was the lower left picture where he is clearing away snow from their laneway on Hackett Street in London, Ontario. My father had purchased a camera and this was a picture that they sent to all the relatives back in England that Christmas of 1925. The next picture was a more formal portrait that included my grandmother Blake and was likely taken at the wedding of my parents in 1938. The blossoms are definitely spring and they were married in May 1938. The last picture is from his railway pass and that was 1940. My grandmother died in 1940 and the strain of her illness and death shows in this picture of my grandfather. In later years some of the strain was gone from his face but he always missed my grandmother and would often visit her grave. When my husband and I first went looking for my grandparent's grave in the 1970s I was able to walk right to it having been a number of times with my grandfather as a child. On the other hand it was much harder to find my mother's parent's grave as I had almost never been there in my memory. I knew it was up on the hill not far from my other grandparents but it was quite a bit further than I remembered plus a columbarium had been built which had changed the look of the graveyard. I thought it was somewhat surprising to have remembered a distance as shorter given the much shorter legs of a child!

Since I received that first picture I have since discovered the second picture at the top in the middle which is from a picture of my father and grandparents whilst they were still living at Eastleigh Hampshire and around 1910 as my father would be about six years old and as I recall it was just before he went off to school (it could actually have been closer to 1908). I have a number of pictures of my father and have not yet placed this one into the collection of his pictures which is quite extensive. Being an only child, his parents quite doted on him and he was 33 before he married. The top picture on the right I just identified last night from a picture of his Union (Local 183 International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, London, Ontario). When I scanned the original image I was able to pick him out which I hadn't been able to do with the small copy I had from the earlier set of images. The story behind that picture is unknown to me but I am sort of hoping that London Leaf will take me up on my suggestion of printing it as a "Can you name any of the men in this picture?"

When I started genealogy I just had a few pictures of my grandfather starting with the one shoveling snow and right up until the early 1950s (he passed away in 1953). Now I have a picture story of him from his early adulthood. It is amazing how you can put together information as you glean it from various sources on your family. I have pictures of his brother's family (now all deceased I think) that I will post later in case any of my other cousins should happen upon this page. I have now yet been able to determine if anyone else is still living aside from my known cousin's family.

I just have a very few pictures of my grandmother Blake but that cache has too been added to since my initial foray into genealogy. I think there is also a picture of my grandfather's grandmother Ann (Farmer) Blake but I haven't found it yet. My grandfather was 18 when his grandmother Blake died and because she lived right next door to them he knew her very well. Many of her stories have now become stories that I can pass on to the next generation.

Completion of North Molton Parish Registers up to 1707

The Parish Registers of North Molton transcription to 1707 is now complete and there are 4963 baptisms, 1008 marriages,  3048 burials and 162 banns. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of entries. Being able to look deeply into the Pincombe family at North Molton was also most rewarding.

The next step is to proofread this parish register transcription and that will likely wait for the New Year. I must now prepare for my dedicated research time of ten days so that I have everything ready to go. Working on the excel file for the Bishops Nympton Parish Register has been a goal of mine for a few years but I never had a really good time that I would be isolated so that I could work on it. The time has come and I shall take full advantage of it.

The Pincombe entries in the last few years of the registers at North Molton (as far as I have transcribed it) yielded very few Pincombe entries. My thoughts are now directed at the Pincombe family there in the 1700s and one source that might lead me to them are the Freeholder books transcribed by the Genuki Devon team and I am happy to say that I was one of them. Checking the online database there were no Pincombe freeholders at North Molton in the 1700s. I will put the rest of the entries together shortly remembering there were a number of burials. I would like to complete my study of the Pincombe family there although it may have to wait until I purchase the other parish registers for North Molton.

Variants of Blake and continuing with North Molton Parish Register

At the end of 1700 (I have now completed 162 years of parish records at North Molton) in North Molton there are 4714 baptisms, 929 marriages, 2844 burials and 162 banns. No more Pincombe entries these last few years. There are quite a few new families likely replacing the families that were quite reduced during the high burial years. A number of Cornwall males have moved to North Molton and if one followed the manor ownership one would likely discover that they were moved from the holdings of families that owned property in both places. Must look into that one day.

I also received an email from a fellow Goons who looks at the Blaker family. He was curious if I investigated the name Blak. In general it is not a variant that I investigate. However, in the parishes that I have done quite a bit of work transcribing in the 1500s to the 1700s I do look at each of these entries as they are generally my Blake family and the priest has simply written too lightly on the e and it isn't readily noticeable or he has spelled the name Blak (or Blaak or Blacke). There are a number of spellings for even such a short name as Blake. He is suggesting working together on a project looking at all the Blak names and I will think about that for a couple of days. I am still mostly involved with the 1800s in my overall Goons one name study for the Blake family and I do not want to rush back too quickly into earlier times until I have completed my accumulation of 1800s data and early 1900s data for the Blake family.

I will continue with North Molton planning on completing the last five years in the next two days. Then the proofreading must be done before I can submit it to Genuki. The work on Bishops Nympton conversion will come first and has a high priority from Thursday coming on to completion. After completion of that I have reserved research time which will then move to the Blake family of Norfolk where I plan to extract the Blake entries from the Norfolk Parish Registers.

Once I have finished this particular research time than I will return to my usual pattern of days working on my family history and that of our son in law. I had planned to begin this month but It will wait another cycle through. There is just so much ongoing to look at.

1688, 1689 and 1690 at North Molton

The years 1688, 1689 and 1690 were quite severe at North Molton with the burials doubling and more. No indication of the cause in the parish register but looking at a few webpages smallpox is mentioned as being a problem after the 1650s.

At the end of 1690 I  have now transcribed 4347 baptisms, 834 marriages, 2548 burials and 162 banns. There are more people listed as being from another parish which could be the new priest or just more diligent record keeping. The parish if not North Molton is a very handy item to have tracing some of these families where you might find Gould or Thorne or Shapland/Shopland families in many of the parishes in the North Molton area.

The Parish Registers were particularly difficult to read from 1687 to 1690 and hopefully they will improve for the last few years for which I have fiche copy (end of 1706). More Pincombe entries for me to sort out. Certainly there are at least two distinct lines at North Molton. I can not be absolutely sure that they are both descendant of Thomas Pincombe. There is a possibility that they may descend also from William Pincombe (possible third son of Unknown Pencombe who first came to North Molton in 1485).

I think that two more days may well complete the Parish Registers but perhaps a third day will be needed. Once completed than I will proofread it as I have time and then submit it to Genuki Devon where Brian Randall maintains the webpages.

My next project is to convert my word text of the Bishop Nympton parish register to an excel file. The 954 page document will likely take me a number of days to convert. Since I will have dedicated time to do the project I hope to complete it soon and also put it up on Genuki Devon. I am the On Line Parish Clerk for Bishops Nympton.

1675 at North Molton

Although Pincombe variants have filled my thoughts for the last couple of days, I did manage to work away at North Molton Parish Registers in between. Now at the end of 1675 there are 3857 baptisms, 660 marriages, 2076 burials and 162 banns. It was interesting having the banns for a few years (1654-1658) at North Molton. It gives you irrefutable evidence of the linkage of the three generations (father to son/daughter to grandchildren of that marriage) unless of course you have too many similar forenames. Certainly the families that are most usual at North Molton have a lot of entries in any given year and the Locke, Thorne, Burges and Shopland families come to mind. This is 137 years of baptisms from 1538 (less of marriages, burials and banns because of missing years of records).

One Pincombe entry I hadn't noticed before was the baptism (and burial six weeks later)  of a son Thomas to Thomas Pincombe in 1670. This is likely the son of Thomas Pyncombe and Johane Smith who married 28 Apr 1635 at North Molton and had five sons: William, Thomas, John, Richard and Robert all nicely named by their grandfather Thomas Pyncombe in his will. No Pincombe marriage in this time frame at North Molton and the name of the wife was omitted in the baptism.


There was also a burial for a John Pincombe 5 Apr 1673. There are two possible living in this direct area and I shall have to work away at that. He was likely an adult as the priest normally noted if the burial was the child of someone or the wife of someone which is rather handy.


Onto the fourth row of this fiche which leaves me with one full fiche and 18 images (1.5 rows) of this one to complete all the material that I have purchased for North Molton. This will bring me into the 1700s and I may in the future purchase more registers of North Molton. Once completed I will likely submit this to Genuki Devon and also Landkey.

One of my major projects this year to complete is the conversion of the Parish Registers of Bishops Nympton transcription from the word document that I prepared it in to an excel file. This was my very first big project of transcription and it is nearly 1000 pages long. I felt that I had to have a word for word transcription and it is all of that. I can search it readily but sorting like an excel file simply isn't possible. I never do a line by line transcription anymore; I record the extra details in a "Note" column which works very well but I was new to genealogy and had absolutely no idea that I would eventually prefer the ability to sort over the ability to have an exact replica of the original register.

Pincombe marriages after Civil Registration in 1837

I have now gone through all of the marriages on Find My Past where I can readily connect the correct spouse with the Pincombe spouse. I have 150 of 450 left to find through the census. Some of these are in my Legacy file and I will tease them out next and then the task of going through the census to find the matching spouse plus it lets me now look at the births and death and match them into families. How to label each family is uppermost in my mind at the moment. I have heard of a number of different methods and I think I will go for numerical since the Pincombe family is not that large and it doesn't matter which County. I can make that reference within the family grouping. I need to also work on the Pinkham family as I have them partially linked with the marriages. The Pincombe records outnumber the Pinkham records about 2:1 in most cases but there is sometimes a crossover where the Pincombe name is used in one set of records and Pinkham in another set and it is the same family. I must learn more about the origin of the Pinkham family name. It arose spontaneously within the Pincombe family it would appear and as noted earlier is by far the greatest occurrence of the surname in the United States of America.

Working away on the marriages I have discovered two new variants of Pincombe that I hadn't really noticed. The numbers are sufficient to merit thinking about adding them to the study and they include PINCHAM and PINKAM. Looking at Free BMD there are 181 records for Pincham between 1837 and the 1950s; for Pinkam there is only one but more on Find My Past.  It seems like a long stretch from PINCOMBE but if I look at PINKHAM as a variant then I need to consider whether or not to include these two new ones. Occasionally there is also a PINKCOMBE entry (11 in total on Free BMD which I have also ignored to date). If I move to including these three spellings I am wondering about Tincombe (87 records on Free BMD principally in the Exeter Devon area but moving into the London area especially in the 1900s)  which I am asked about as well - is it a variant of Pincombe? Listening to the Forum others go through this experience once they are heavily into data collection of whether or not to include the "rarer" variants of the surname.  Pincombe itself has 427 marriages and Pinkham has 293 records on Free BMD. If I include Pincham, Pinkam, Pinkcombe and Tincombe this would yield for my study around 1000 marriages between 1837 and the 1950s. Certainly doable as I am looking at that many marriages per county for my Blake one name study! But are they derived from the Pincombe (and originally Pencombe name).

Checking out these variants on the Public Profiler for British Names and they are less than 100 on the 1998 electoral list which I have already noted with the BMD records. Perhaps what I should do is take one of these variants and I think it should be Tincombe as that is the one most people ask me about with regard to being a variant of Pincombe and see if I can find the point at which a name change occurred.

The Tincombe name occurs (for marriages) in the following 34 Registration Districts from 1837 up to 1955:

Alresford
 Brighton
 Clerkenwell
 Crediton
 Croydon
 Devon Central
 Devonport
 Elham
 Essex S.W.
 Exeter
 Falmouth
 Gravesend
 Hackney
 Hampstead
 Holsworthy
 Honiton
 Lewisham
 Newton A
 Okehampton
 Plymouth
 Romford
 S. Molton
 Shoreditch
 St Thomas
 St. Saviour
 Surrey N.E.
 Swansea
 Tavistock
 Tavistock
 Tiverton
 Uckfield
 W. Ham
 Wandsworth
 Woolwich

If I look at 1837 to 1911 only the number of Registration Districts is now 19:

 Clerkenwell
 Crediton
 Croydon
 Devonport
 Exeter
 Falmouth
 Hackney
 Hampstead
 Honiton
 Newton A
 Okehampton
 Plymouth
 S. Molton
 Shoreditch
 St Thomas
 St. Saviour
 Tavistock
 Tiverton
 Woolwich

I can see this is primarily a Devon/London name and the Pincombe family up until the mid 1800s was primarily a Devon/London name. Point one in favour of Tincombe as being a variant of Pincombe - similar locality.

I then went to the IGI to look at the Tincombe family surname and with the new search I am able to bring up a box of information on locality:

Canada, USA, and Mexico 13,135
Europe 1,717

I excluded the other five entries as they were all less than 20 individual entries.

Why would the Tincombe surname be nearly ten times as frequent in the United States/Canada/Mexico than Europe (which is probably England primarily)? Perhaps transcription error of Pincombe which is fairly uncommon in the United States - the usual spelling is Pinkham in the United States.

I need to decide if this is a variant that I should include in my study? How far back does the Tincombe surname go in the Family Search records?There are almost 4000 results between 1400 and 1800 in the new family search. Narrowing this down to 1400 to 1600 gives fourty results which is quite a bit easier to work with.

Surname Forename Event Year Month Day Location Surname Forename Burial
Tinkombe Elizabetha C 1582 Jun 22 Bovey Tracey, Devon Tinkombe Willmi
Tinkcomb Wilms C 1577 Feb 25 Bovey Tracey, Devon Tinkcomb Willmi
Tinkham Richus C 1575 Dec 22 Bovey Tracey, Devon Tinkham Willmi 17 Jan 1586
Tynckombe Richardus C 1585 Mar 15 Bovey Tracey, Devon Tynckombe Johannis
Tingcombe Willms M 1592 Jul 15 Bovey Tracey, Devon Sprie Ebutta
Tinkham William C 1550 Nov 6 Bridford, Devon Tinkham Richard 30 Nov 1550
Tinkham Walter C 1552 Aug 13 Bridford, Devon Tinkham Richard
Tinkham Wilmot C 1563 Jan 21 Bridford, Devon Tinkham John
Tinckum Christofer C 1577 Jan 21 Dean Prior, Devon Tinckum Willm
Tynckum Margery C 1575 Oct 7 Dean Prior, Devon Tynckum Willm
Tinckum Joan C 1581 May 16 Dean Prior, Devon Tinckum Willm 24 Oct 1585
Tincombe John M 1593 Nov 12 Farway, Devon Perry Elsabeth
Tincombe Ede C 1589 May 11 Hatherleigh, Devon Tincombe Richord
Tingcombe John C 1587 Nov 21 Landrake, Cornwall Tingcombe Walter
Tynckom John C 1572 Feb 18 North Bovey, Devon Tynckom John
Tinckom Andrew C 1600 Aug 5 North Bovey, Devon Tinckom Pancrasse
Tynckom Johane C 1573 Feb 19 North Bovey, Devon Tynckom John
Tincumbe Henry M 1600 Oct 20 Saint Andrew, Plymouth, Devon Freende Anne
Tincome Christian M 1578 May 28 Saint Sidwell, Exeter, Devon Hill John
Tinkcombe John C 1584 Jan 19 South Tawton, Devon Tinkcombe Walter
Tinkombe Richardus C 1588 Jun 5 South Tawton, Devon Tinkombe Walter
Tinckcombe Walter M 1584 May 8 South Tawton, Devon Hoode Elizabeth
Tincombe Willmott M 1576 May 12 St Edmunds, Exeter, Devon Poole John
Tinckam William C 1600 Feb 8 Stepney, London Tinckam Robert
Tynckham Rose M 1573 Apr 13 Tedburn Saint Mary, Devon Ponsford Thomas
Tyncome Rochard M 1576 Nov 18 Totnes, Devon Masser John
Tincombe Henry C 1594 Mar 16 Whitestone, Devon Tincombe Gregory
Tinckham Robert C 1595 Feb 20 Whitestone, Devon Tinckham William 1 Mar 1595
Tynckeham Matthew C 1579 May 3 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Tynckeham Augustine 10 Jun 1579
Tynckeham George C 1590 Jun 25 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Tynckeham Augustine 19 Nov 1591
Tynckeham John C 1575 Feb 8 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Tynckeham Augustine
Tynckeham Susanna C 1573 Aug 20 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Tynckeham Augustine
Tynckeham Judith C 1582 May 11 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Tynckeham Augustine 31 Jan 1586
Tynckeham Augustine M 1568 Sep 4 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Polseland Beaton
Tynckeham Augustine M 1572 Oct 20 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Wyndett Elizabeth
Tynckeham Margaret M 1591 Aug 30 Wolborough and Newton Abbot, Devon Derante John
Tynckame Edward C 1569 Jun 26 York Tynckame John

The earliest entries were as expected in the mid 1500s (some parish registers do go back to 1538) but in general mid 1500s is fairly common. All of the entries with the exception of one are in Devon. The locations are in general around the Plymouth area. I do have a Pincombe family in the Plymouth area but the earliest is towards the end of the 1600s. In general they have used the surname Pinkham but not all; the Pincombe surname is certainly found there as well especially in the 1800s. This might appear to indicate that they are a separate family.

Looking online for a meaning for the surname Tincombe:

http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Tincombe

"Recorded in a very wide variety of spellings including Tincomb, Tincombe, Tincam, Tinkum, Tinkham Tinckombe, Tingcombe, and no doubt others, this is an English surname. From early recordings which we have discovered in surviving church registers, the original spelling could have been the pre 7th century Olde English 'tynincel' meaning a small farm, plus either 'cum' meaning a valley or 'ham', a hamlet or village."

I will continue to look at available information but it would appear that this is a surname that arose spontaneously and independent of the Pincombe surname.

I will look at the other two surnames as variants of Pinkham at another sitting.

Pincombe family at North Molton up to 1660

The Pincombe entries at North Molton continue to be a strong interest of mine for my one name study. By the end of 1660 there are 3365 baptisms, 563 marriages, 1669 burials and 162 banns in total with Pincombe being quite a small part of that total. Using the wills of Johane, William, Thomas and Bartholomew Pincombe the families can be put together and I hypothesize the following from the records.

Baptisms:

Pyncombe Agnes daughter Pyncombe William 1543 June 6
Pyncombe Mary daughter Pyncombe William 1547 Dec 8
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pymcombe John 1555 July 8
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John 1555 Feb 3
Pyncombe Johane daughter Pyncombe John 1561 Apr 5
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John 1563 Jan 18
Pyncombe Peternell daughter Pyncombe John 1574 Jun 29 of Flitton
Pyncombe Phillip son Pyncombe George 1592 May 28
Pyncombe Emott daughter Pyncombe George Dorothie 1594 Dec 9
Pyncombe William son Pyncombe George Dorothie 1597 Apr 15
Pyncombe Johane daughter Pyncombe George Dorothie 1599 Nov 9
Pincombe Henrye son Pincombe George  Dorothie 1602 Dec 19
Pincombe Thomas son Pincombe Thomas   1616 Mar 30
Pincombe William son Pincombe Thomas  Joan 1639 Mar 31
Pincombe Thomas son Pincombe Thomas  Joan 1641 Apr 14
Pincombe Richarde son Pincome Thomas  Joan 1644 Nov 10
Pincombe John son Pincome Thomas  Joan 1644 Nov 10
Pincombe Frances daughter Pincome Bartholomew  Frances 1647 Dec 12
Pincombe Robart son Pincombe Thomas  Joan 1648 Jan 21
Pincombe Richorde daughter Pincombe Bartholomew  Joan 1649 Feb 19
Pincombe John son Pincombe Bartholomew  Joane 1654 Nov 27

Marriages:

Pyncombe John            Hodge Emet 1560 Jul 1
Pyncombe William      Gregorye Margret 1564 Nov 26
Pincombe Thomas       Smith Joan 1635 Apr 28
[King]don Phillip         Pincumbe Margret 1539 Nov 15
Locke William            Pyncombe Ales 1561 Nov 29
Squire William           Pyncombe Margerett 1567 May 26
Squire George            Pyncombe Mary 1567 Jul 20

Burials:

Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John   1555 Dec 7
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John   1563 Feb 3
Pyncombe Elizabeth wife Pyncombe William   1563 Feb 18
Pyncombe William      1564 Sep 13
Pyncombe William      1565 Mar 25
Pincombe George      1610 Jan 19
Pincombe Dorothie widow     1610 Feb 2
Pincombe William son Pincombe Thomas  Katherine 1624 Dec 7
Pincomb Joan      1633 Jan 15
Pincombe Katherine wife Pincombe Thomas   1636 Feb 5
Pincombe Elizabeth      1645 Oct 13
Pincomb William      1637 Jan 29
Pyncombe Thomas      1651 Dec 8
Pincombe Bartholomew      1656 Dec 24
Pincombe Richorde daughter Pincombe Bartholomew  Joan 1657 May 21
Pincombe Frances daughter Pincombe Bartholomew (deceased)  Joane 1657 May 27

Placed into families:

William Pincombe (circa 1520 - 1564/1565)

Pyncombe Agnes daughter Pyncombe William 1543 June 6
Pyncombe Mary daughter Pyncombe William 1547 Dec 8
Pyncombe Elizabeth wife Pyncombe William 1563 Feb 18
Pyncombe William 1564 Sep 13
Pyncombe William Gregorye Margret 1564 Nov 26
Pyncombe William 1565 Mar 25
Squire William Pyncombe Margerett 1567 May 26
Squire George Pyncombe Mary 1567 Jul 20


John Pincombe (circa 1530 - still alive in 1574)

Pyncombe Marye daughter Pymcombe John 1555 July 8
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John 1555 Dec 7
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John 1555 Feb 3
Pyncombe John Hodge Emet 1560 Jul 1
Pyncombe Johane daughter Pyncombe John 1561 Apr 5
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John 1563 Jan 18
Pyncombe Marye daughter Pyncombe John 1563 Feb 3
Pyncombe Peternell daughter Pyncombe John 1574 Jun 29 of Flitton

George Pincombe (circa 1560s - 1610)

Pyncombe Phillip son Pyncombe George 1592 May 28
Pyncombe Emott daughter Pyncombe George Dorothie 1594 Dec 9
Pyncombe William son Pyncombe George Dorothie 1597 Apr 15
Pyncombe Johane daughter Pyncombe George Dorothie 1599 Nov 9
Pincombe Henrye son Pincombe George Dorothie 1602 Dec 19
Pincombe George 1610 Jan 19
Pincombe Dorothie widow 1610 Feb 2

Thomas Pincombe (circa 1572 - 1653)

Pincombe Thomas son Pincombe Thomas 1616 Mar 30
Pincombe William son Pincombe Thomas Katherine 1624 Dec 7
Pincombe Katherine wife Pincombe Thomas 1636 Feb 5
Pyncombe Thomas 1651 Dec 8


Pincombe Thomas married  Smith Joan 1635 Apr 28
Pincombe William son Pincombe Thomas Joan 1639 Mar 31
Pincombe Thomas son Pincombe Thomas Joan 1641 Apr 14
Pincombe Richarde son Pincome Thomas Joan 1644 Nov 10
Pincombe John son Pincome Thomas Joan 1644 Nov 10
Pincombe Robart son Pincombe Thomas Joan 1648 Jan 21


Pincombe Frances daughter Pincome Bartholomew Frances 1647 Dec 12
Pincombe Richorde daughter Pincombe Bartholomew Joan 1649 Feb 19
Pincombe John son Pincombe Bartholomew Joane 1654 Nov 27
Pincombe Bartholomew 1656 Dec 24
Pincombe Richorde daughter Pincombe Bartholomew Joan 1657 May 21
Pincombe Frances daughter Pincombe Bartholomew (deceased) Joane 1657 May 27

The Pincombe family at North Molton are not all descendant of the marriage of William Pincombe and Emotte Snow since their marriage probably occurred in the early 1560s. His mother Johane Pencombe (widow) left a will in 1563 whilst living at East Buckland where William also lived after this time naming her children as William, John Alice, Richard and another daughter. The daughters were married to John Lock (Alice) and John Jesse (unnamed daughter). The parish register has William Lock as the husband of Alice Pencombe but the will has John. William is either not yet married or does not have any children in 1563 when the will is written but his brother John has married Emet Hodge and their eldest daughter Johane is named in the will. Richard is also not married. This is the Richard though who died at Chittlehampton and is he the ancestor of Richard Pincombe who married Jane Bond at Chittlehampton in 1652 - I have a broken line there which would be interesting to complete - land records perhaps?

George Pincombe is not a descendant of the William Pincombe and Emotte Snow marriage (at least he is not named in William's will). He is also not named in the will of Johane Pencombe which encourages me to place him in the family of the unnamed brother in the Visitation and we have a William buried in 1564 at North Molton who may have been married to Elizabeth (or the son) and their children Agnes, Mary and a William (father or son? who was buried in 1565). The Parish Register at North Molton definitely adds good additional information to the Pincombe family listed in the Visitation.


[King]don Phillip Pincumbe Margret 1539 Nov 15
This is the only unrevealed marriage and is likely a sister to the brothers listed on the Visitation as she is in their age range. The two baptisms Johane Kingdon baptized 6 Oct 1545 at North Molton (and married to William Hobb 28 Jan 1564 at North Molton) and Emote baptized 26 May 1549 at North Molton are likely their children. Since this is a one name study I do not usually follow the daughters down past the one generation (i.e. their children unless there was a non paternal event).

The records would appear to indicate that of the three brothers in the visitation the eldest John went to South Molton (none of his children appear at North Molton Parish Records), Thomas was known to be at East Buckland and Filleigh and the unnamed son was perhaps the William found in the records at North Molton. Solving the mystery of which William married Margaret Gregorye (father or son) would also be helpful but not absolutely necessary. Since the marriage of William and Margaret Gregorye was at North Molton one might think it was her home parish but not necessarily. Finding a George Pincombe baptized in 1564-1565 is a good next step or finding a will in the Squire family which I have not yet pursued might reveal more details on George other than what is in the Parish Register.

The Thomas Pincombe family certainly fits well into the William Pincombe and Emotte Snow family because they have a son Thomas the right age to be marrying a Katherine (unknown) who had three children listed in the will of Thomas buried in 1653 at North Molton (Bartholomew, Thomas and Grace). Grace is likely married to Richard Haniford (the will makes deciphering of her married name difficult) and they had three children. The Filleigh and East Buckland records in the 1500s would probably have filled in the missing items but one must work with what one has!

Pincombe marriages and North Molton Parish Registers

I worked on the Pincombe marriages and it is surprising how many I actually do have between 1837 and 1911. Not so many Pinkham yet though; that needs to be a dedicated direction for the one name study. Once I have all the marriages that I can find then I want to do the births and deaths in conjunction with the census. Then I can move back into the parish registers. London is online at Ancestry making that task straightforward and I have most of the parishes in Devon where they lived but certainly not all of them.

Continuing with the North Molton Parish Registers I have completed to the end of 1656 with 3173 baptisms, 522 marriages, 135 banns, and 1529 burials. Looking at the results does skew the numbers somewhat as one might think that this was a very unusual parish with just half the number of burials to the baptisms but the reality is that 30+ years of burials are missing so easily 1200 to 1500 burials missing. There are banns once again as the Justice of the Peace is now recording the information on births, marriages and deaths (baptisms are also there which is a surprise but then North Molton is a long way from London and the authority of Cromwell).

There are more Pincombe entries but no unexpected ones particularly. I am curious about Pincombe entries from now until the end of the fiche that I own. I do not have any of them recorded if there are in fact any there. I watch the Bray family (and they have dwindled down in numbers) and the Tap family (still fairly frequent) that are also my ancestors as my lines were at North Molton in the earlier years.

Tomorrow I hope to complete this fiche and then I have two left. Completing the North Molton Parish Registers in November is becoming less likely although one never knows. I may put a push on for completion and leave some of the other items I had in mind until later. Although I do want to transcribe the last Pincombe will (Elizabeth Pincombe of Exeter) sooner rather than later and then I will have completed all the Pincombe wills that I have.

I also need to get started on my newsletter for the Eastern Region of the Guild of one name studies. I have a couple of other pending items there as well but I have a ten day block of days when I will be looking after all of these items. Right now I feel the push to get North Molton done. Of course, it is only me that is pushing. I have this tendency to be a bit of a scheduler although I also find it easy to adjust the schedule. It is just my numerical nature to be like that probably.

Parish Registers of North Molton continuing

At the end of 1650 in the Parish Registers of North Molton there are now 2943 baptisms, 477 marriages, 103 banns and 1380 burials. New families have arrived in North Molton including the Scott family. The older families are still there and records for Pincombe continue with the grandchildren of Thomas Pincombe now being baptized. I have thirteen pages left to do on this fiche and that will bring me to the births of 1657. The plan of completing these fiche by mid November is unlikely although I shall continue to strive to do so.

On the other hand, the 50th Anniversary story is in the last stages of completion and I will submit it next week. I want to do a few more proofreadings and there is always the possibility that I will find one more set of pictures that might prove interesting to insert. There is only one more set that we have been looking for and the discovery two days ago of the package from my mother was most rewarding in terms of having better images using the originals instead of copies from years ago.

After North Molton is complete then I will return to Abbots Ann. It is a gruelling task working on Abbots Ann but once I am into the middle 1700s then the task greatly improves. There is that 30 year period that is particularly poor that I must get through. That will also return my focus to the Blake one name study once again. I have taken a short hiatus from that. I want to work with the study group and write a paper on Theophilus Blake to submit to The American Genealogist. It is such an exciting story to tell and will assist Blake researchers in the United States as there are several distinct Blake lines there.

One of the pictures in the cache which my mother gave to us includes one with a label that belongs to the Taylor/Smart family. I have sent the information off to my grandmother's half-sister's descendants to see if the extra information will help them to identify this family. There is always the remote possibility that it is a picture of Elizabeth Rawlings Taylor but time will tell on that.

I want to continue with my extension of the Pincombe family past the 1911 census in sorting out marriages, baptisms and burials in as much as possible. That will be a side project that I will keep ongoing.

Photographs

Working our way through boxes and boxes of genealogical material and my husband came across an envelope that had been put away probably as much as 23 years ago. My mother had given it to me and my interest in genealogy at that time was virtually nil. As it turns out they were principally pictures of my father's family and she didn't actually know who all the people were anyway but fortunately I had sat with my grandfather in his last year quite a bit and he used to talk about the pictures so I recognized some of them amazingly.

However, one surfaced that I hadn't remembered at all. It was in it's own separate envelope and a tintype:












































I decided to write my cousin to see if it struck a memory with him (especially as he is definitely the family historian reaching way back). There is writing on the back and one of the words is Robert. Of course, I would like it to be Robert Gray and Mary Routledge (my 2x great grandparents) but he doesn't really look like his two brothers for whom we have pictures albeit at a later date.

Tomorrow my husband will try to photograph the back and see if we can bring up the writing. I scanned it but there is just too much noise in the picture to zoom in on the writing.

I am trying to think of other possibilities. Since it is a tintype that dates it as after 1856. I have discovered they were not popular in England although they were done there but I can not think of anyone with the name of Robert in my family that lived in that time period and looked about that age. Robert isn't a very common name in my families.

Along with the tintype, the envelope also contained the originals of some pictures of which I have smaller reproductions. The originals are much sharper so we will photograph them tomorrow and replace the ones in my OGS story with sharper ones. They were my Grandfather's pictures although not the tintype. I can not remember him having any tintypes.

It is very exciting though to have a new picture to think about and perhaps if I am very lucky fit into my family lines. I have virtually nothing for my Gray and Routledge lines in terms of pictures. Lots of wills and other legal documents but no pictures. However, I shall really hang back on this one until I am very sure.

I sat and looked at the pictures of my four brothers and actually they do not all look exactly alike so it is a possibility that it could be Robert Gray but proving it is another story; that is for sure.

Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring married 7 Mar 1738 at Winterborne Stickland

Ancestry now has the Dorset parish registers online and a quick search brought up the marriage of Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring. They are one set of my 5x great grandparents and I really hadn't expected to find out more about them until I made a trip to the Dorset Record Office in Dorchester and that was rather on the bottom of my list of things to do in Dorset. I had found the Ellis family in Andover and began to wonder if they had moved on from there but evidently not.

The parents of Ellis Ellis turned out to be Thomas Ellis and Mary Bound who were themselves married 27 Dec 1703 at Winterborne Stickland. The Ellis family has been in Winterborne Stickland for quite a while prior to this date so I may, when I read the register, find a baptism for Thomas and his parents. The Bound family is also found in Winterborne Stickland and a quick search did not locate Mary's baptism or parents but I will leave that for the Ellis research day once I am back into the schedule once again.

The youngest daughter of Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring was Sarah Ellis who married William Knight 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland. I may now be able to settle which of the eight children attributed to William and Sarah are actually theirs. I am in somewhat of a debate on the results which were given to me for the Knight family that I descend from and what I am finding. But I shall save all of that register reading for my research day.

I rather believe that my Dorset line are primarily agricultural labourers and skilled tradesmen as far as I can tell thus far. They all lived in the Winterborne Valley within about ten miles of Blandford Forum. A large number of them suddenly moved to Lancashire in the mid 1800s for work but they seemed to find their roots in Dorset coming back in their old age.

I am very happy that the Dorset parish registers and wills are now scanned and available on Ancestry. I will make very good use of that material. When I visit Dorset I really would like to drive about and see everything. It is a very rural area and quite full of history as we discovered when we were there in 2008. I would have been sad to spend days in the Registry Office with all the goodness of Dorset beckoning to me. It is also the home of a number of my husband's ancestors; they having left in the 1630s to go to America. His roots are a whole lot further back but he rather enjoyed visiting St Mary's Beaminster Church where his 10x great grandparents John Nyle and Johane Paviot were married in 1605. We had a great visit to that Church.

Will of John Rew dated 4 Jan 1840 and probated 10 Mar 1848 - Source: The National Archives - PROB 11/2072 - Image Reference 51/38

The will of John Rew was my first introduction to transcription of wills. I had been trying rather unsuccessfully to find parents for Elizabeth Rew who married John Pincombe at Bishops Nympton 9 Jan 1834. She was reputed to be a school teacher at Bishops Nympton was the only extra information that I had to go on. Plus from the census I knew she was around eight years older than John (33 years of age when she married John in 1834). They had five children John (b 1834), William Robert (b 1837 and my ancestor), Elizabeth Anne (b 1839), Richard (b 1842) and Louisa (b 1844). With the Pincombe family I could often use names to help me with the parent quest but this set of parents appeared to do their own thing although William Robert carried the name of John's father Robert (William is a very common Pincombe forename and the name of the brother next in age to John who had died as a 15 year old in 1825. Elizabeth was the name of John's mother (Anne is still somewhat of a mystery), Richard was a surprise and reaches back a long way in the Pincombe family except one of John's brothers was also Richard. Louisa is simply an unusual name in the Pincombe family.

A couple of clues perhaps I thought at the time were the two names Anne and Louisa. Neither proved to be useful in my quest. There were Rew families in the Bishops Nympton area but none had a daughter Elizabeth who fitted the time frame. The witnesses on the marriage registration proved to be the most help although it wasn't until I purchased the Bishops Nympton fiche that I knew those names. Thomas Rew and Robert Nurcombe were the witnesses. I found a Thomas Rew on the 1851 census at Sheepwash and his place of birth was amazingly Selworthy Somerset. At this point I should have put the Rew and Nurcombe families together and did try. I purchased the census for Somerset (before indexes were available!) and tried that method but a lot of people lived in Somerset in the area of Selworthy.

It was about that time that I had the notion of looking at wills for the Rew family and discovered the will of John Rew probated 10 Mar 1848 at  Bishops Nympton, Devon and at that time I had family lore that told me the John Pincombe/Elizabeth Rew family emigrated to Canada in 1848. Family lore can be very good and it can really throw you off the traces. In this case, it was somewhat helpful as I had this family coming to Canada in 1848 at what appeared to be a time after a father might have just passed away. I bought the will and it was my first purchase of wills from the National Archives (UK) website. It was so easy and straightforward and there was my will right in front of me just 3 pounds 50 pence later! The will though was difficult to read I thought initially but a quick scan gave me the name Elizabeth Pincombe. My first Eureka moment I think! Time has passed by and I can not now remember if that was the first but it must have been close.

Now that will is fairly easy to read but a lot of transcription has passed under the bridge for me plus my palaeography course which was really the eye opener for me. Up until that time I would have to leave out words with the old style of letters and work on each one individually. Once I took the course I could skim wills quickly and get the gist much more comfortably than before.

I had the father of Elizabeth Rew and a clue in the will that told me his wife was buried at Selworthy and he wanted to be buried there as well (he had been living at Sheepwash Farm near Bishops Nympton). More digging into the records and I found the marriage of John Rew and Elizabeth Siderfin and once found I quickly discovered that they had a daughter Elizabeth (actually two daughters born on that day so twins with Charlotte being the other daughter).

I then discovered a book on the Siderfin Family of West Somerset and thanks be to God there was my ancestress Elizabeth Siderfin in the book named as Elizabeth Rew in a will. It was my first real introduction to wills and I was hooked. Wills have become very much one of my leading research tools but I do realize that I am lucky to find so many wills but actually wills were left by people from all walks of life. One of my older wills was written by a shepherd in Wiltshire in 1610 so do not forget wills just because your people may have been agricultural labourers. They may have left a will as William Peck did at Milston Wiltshire.

The will opened up an entire family line starting with Elizabeth Rew my 2x great grandmother. I met descendants of all of her siblings on line at Genes Reunited. Elizabeth was the only one in her family to emigrate with all the rest remaining in England to this day.

The Nurcombe family was certainly a hint as well. Ann Siderfin (sister to Elizabeth Siderfin) married John Nurcombe and the census of 1841 revealed an amazing group at her home. I shall relate that one later.

This will also made me rethink the Pincombe family. I knew that John had come to Canada and purchased a farm for 750 pounds and did have the thought that Elizabeth had inherited money that then let them come to Canada. This was not the case at all. John himself sold his property in Devon and used that cash to fund their trip and buy the new farm in Canada. That set me to looking at Pincombe wills with an eye to following the properties which proved to be most useful in sorting out the Pincombe families in my direct and collateral lines back.

The will of John Rew (my 3x great grandfather):

Recorded: 21 May 2005
Source: The National Archives - PROB 11/2072 - Image Reference 51/38
Place: Sheepwash, Bishops Nympton, Devon, England
Type of record: Will – John Rew, Yeoman, Bishopsnympton
Dated: 4 Jan 1840 (Probated 10 Mar 1848)
Read: Electronic File
Copy: bold, late 18th century writing

1 This is the last Will and Testament
2 of me, John Rew, of Bishops Nympton in the County of Devon, Yeoman. First I desire
3 that my body may be privately and decently interred without any funeral pomp and at as
4 little expense as possible in the Church yard belonging to the Parish of Selworthy in the coun
5 ty of Somerset and as near to the remains of my late wife as can be. I give and bequeath unto
6 each and everyone of my daughters Mary Watts Sarah May Charlotte Griffith and Eliza
7 beth Pincombe the sum of five pounds of lawful money of Great Britain and I direct
8 that the same Legacies shall be payable and paid by my executor hereinafter named at
9 the end of six months next after my decease Also I give devise and bequeath unto my son
10 Thomas Rew his heirs executors administrators and assignes All my real estate goods or
11 chattels Personal Estate and property whatsoever and wheresoever subject ne
12 vertheless to and charged with the payment of all my just debts the expences of my funeral
13 and of proving this my will and the said pecuniary Legacies To hold the same (subject
14 and charges as aforesaid) unto and to the use of my said son Thomas Rew his heirs exec
15 utors administrators and assignes for ever Thus I hereby nominate institute and appoint
16 my said son Thomas Rew sole Executor of this my last will and testament And Lastly
17 I hereby revoke and make void all other wills by me heretofore made In witness whereof
18 I the said John Rew (the Testator) have hereunto subscribed and set my hand and seal
19 this fourth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and
20 forty – John Rew [signed] [his seal] – Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the said
21 John Rew (the Testator) as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us present
22 at the same time who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other
23 have hereunto subscribed our names as witness thereto – J G Pearse [signed]
24 J Galliford [signed]
25 Proved at London 10th March 1848 for the Judge by the oath of Thomas
26 Rew the son the sole Executor to whom Admon was granted having been first sworn
27 by Commission duly to administer

OGS Golden Anniversary Family History Collection - Administration for Henry Routledge - Carlisle Record Office - died 15 Dec 1764, probate 29 Dec 1764

Today, I completed the present edition of my Canadian family story and circulated it to my rather large family, my siblings (5 living), my nieces and nephews (many) and will wait to hear back. I want to submit by mid December with the printed copy. It managed to get to be 55 pages long but that includes four solid pages of pictures at the end (there are 25 images in the document and I was very restrictive I could have put in 100 easily. I also put in an ancestor chart back to my 14x great grandparents (it is somewhat sparse at the end) which is 18 pages long and it is just a basic chart by generation. Mostly I wrote about my Canadian family but that is only a small part of my family even going back just one generation as I have just the three Canadian born ancestors - my mother, her father and his mother. All the rest were emigrants from England and the parents of all of these three were either Canadian born or emigrants from England. I ended up being surprised at having so much to talk about but I added in some transcriptions and images of documents that I found when we were in London (Ontario) and Archives of Ontario in Toronto.

Whilst putting together the document I transcribed the will of my 3x great grandfather Henry Routledge so will add that to my transcriptions. Actually it was an administration with inventory and he died at the age of 44 years quite suddenly I rather think since just a few days earlier he was quite involved with a business deal. He was a farmer though and as I have learned sudden death was not an unusual happening in the 1840s and probably even more so in the 1760s.

This was one of the Border Reiver families and one of my most difficult lines. I have my 3x great grandparents who both have the surname Routledge, then three of their parents are Routledge surname and back another generation six of the eight are Routledge and it continues thus back. They are of the so-called Oakshaw Routledge family and they tended to marry cousins to keep the property intact.

The will makes interesting reading. When I read it about six years ago it didn't really mean much to me but now I can see that Henry was rather well to do in terms of the animals and feed that he had plus the property which was entailed - Borderrigg was a sizeable farm. He also held Antonstown and Parkhead which are all closeby.

His son Thomas (and the only surviving child of Henry) was a civil engineer although he also had farms while he was still in Cumberland. After he brought  his family of nine children to Canada he only farmed as far as I can tell.

Recorded: 3 Nov 2011
Source: Carlisle Record Office
Place: Bewcastle, Cumberland, England
Type of Record: Administration
Dated: 29 Dec 1764
Read: File Paper copy
Condition: photocopy, light, modern English writing
Type: three pages - Administration , Probate and Inventory

1 Carlisle Dec[embe]r 29th 1764
2 On which day appeared personally Margaret
3 Routledge Widow and alleged
4 that Henry Routledge late of Borderrigg
5 In the parish of Bewcastle and Diocese of
6 Carlisle Yeoman deceased died intestate without making
7 any Will (so far as she doth know or believe) That she is the
8 Widow and Relict of the said deceased
9 Therefore she prayed Letter of Admon of all and singular the
10 Goods Chattels and Credits of the said deceased to be committed
11 and granted to her the said Margaret Routledge
12 on her giving good and sufficient security in that behalf
13 The said Margaret Routledge was
14 sworn in due form of Law to
15 the truth of the premis[s]es and to faithfully
16 administer and to the truth of the
17 Inventory & so forth
18 Before me
19 Robert Wardale
20 Surrog[ate]
 [Page 2]
21 Know all Men by these Presents that WE Margaret
22 Routledge of Borderigg in the County of Cumberland Widow
23 Thomas Tweddle of Ringing hills in the s[ai]d County Yeo[man]
24 and William Armstrong of Askerton in the s[ai]d County Yeo[man]
25 are held and firmly bound unto the Right Reverend Father in GOD, Charles by Di-
26 vine Permission lord Bishop of Carlisle in Seven hundred pounds of
27 good and lawful money of Great Britain to be paid unto the said Lord Bishop or to
28 his certain Attorn[ey]s his Executors, Administrators or Assigns, to which Payment well and
29 truly to be made. WE oblige ourselves and each of US by herself & himself
30 for the whole our and each and every of our Heirs, Executors and Administrators firmly
31 by these Presents. Sealed with our seals dated the twenty ninth Day of
32 December in the fifth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE
33 the Third by the Grace of GOD of Great Britain France and Ireland, King Defender
34 of the Faith and so forth, and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred
35 and Sixty four.
36 The Condition of this Obligation is such that if the above bounden
37 Margaret Routledge Widow and Relict of Henry
38 Routledge late of Borderigg in the Parish of
39 Bewcastle and s[ai]d County Yeoman dec[ea]s[ed] intestate and
40 Administratix of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased
41 do make or cause to be made a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the Goods,
42 Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased, which have or shall come to the Hands, Possession,
43 or Knowledge of her the said Margaret Routledge or into
44 the Hands and Possession of any Person or Persons for her and the same so made do exhi-
45 bit or cause to be exhibited into the Registry of the Consistory Court of Carlisle on or before
46 the last Day of March next ensuing, and the same Goods, Chat-
47 tels and Credits and all other the Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said Deceased at the time
48 of his Death, which at any time after shall come to the Hands or Possession of the said
49 Margaret Routledge or into the Hands or Possession of any other
50 Person or Persons for her do well and truly administer according to Law and further do
51 make or cause to be made a true and just Account of h[er]  said Administration at or before
52 the last Day of September 1765 and all the rest and residue of the said Goods, Chat-
53 tels and Credits which shall be found remaining upon the said Administrators, Accompt, the
54 same being first examined and allowed of by the judge or judges, for the time being of the said
55 Court shall deliver and pay unto such Person or Persons respectively as the said judge or judges
56 by his or their Decree or Sentence, pursuant to the true Intent and Meaning of a late Act of
57 Parliament made in the two and twentieth and three and twentieth Years of the Reign of our
58 late Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second, intitled, An Act for the better Feeling of Intes-
59 Tate's Estates, shall limit and appoint, and if it shall hereafter appear that any last Will and Test-
60 ament was made by the said Deceased, and the Executor or Executors therein named do ex-
61 hibit the same into the said Court, making request to have it allowed and approved according-
62 ly if the said Margaret Routledge, above bounden being, being thereunto required
63 to render and deliver the said Letters of Administration, Approbation of such Testament being
64 first had and made in the said Court, then this Obligation to be void or else to remain in full Faith
65 and Virtue
66 Margaret Routledg [signed and sealed]
67 Sealed and delivered being first duly
68 Stamp'd in the Presence of
69 John Nicolson
70 Thomas Tweddle [signed and sealed]
71 William Armstrong [signed and sealed]
 [Page 3]
72 A true full and perfect Inventory of all and singular the
73 Goods Chattels and Credits of Henry Routledge
74 late of Borderigg in the parish of Bewcastle
75 and Diocese of Carlisle Yeoman deceased
76 Taken and appraized on the 19th day of December
77 1764 By Rob[er]t Lattimer and William Armstrong
78                                                                          £ s d
79 His Horse and Wearing Apparell                  10 0 0
80 More Horses                                                  21 0 0
81 Cows young Cattle and Bulls                      59 10 0
82 Highland Cows                                            49 0 0
83 Sheep                                                         100 0 0
84 In the Parlor Press Bed &c                            7 0 0
85 In the Kitchen Table Dresser Clock &c     10 10 0
86 In the Room up stairs                                   6 0 0
87 Oats Barley and Hay                                  20 0 0
77 a Hogg                                                         1 10 0
78 Implements of Husbandry                          2 10 1
79 Highland Bullocks                                     65 0 0
80                                                               £ 352 0 1
81 App[raise]d  Rob[er]t Latimer affirmed [signed]  
82 William Armstrong sworn [signed]  

50th Anniversary of the Ontario Genealogical Society and Family Stories

November 1st on my calendar reminded me that I have just two months to submit my family story to the anniversary collection of family histories at the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) in order to be part of their Golden Anniversary Collection.

http://www.ogs.on.ca/home/golden.php

I have published parts of my family stories in three different publications thus far and I will put these together along with corrections to the original Pincombe story published as a profile in the Delaware-Westminster History Book which has since been enhanced by further research, a few additions to the Routledge story published in Families (journal of the OGS) and the Blake family yDNA study published in Anglo Celtic Roots. Of course, my blog is chock full of family information!

My story in Canada though is a relatively short one but mirrored by many others with their long history of British ancestry. Our British ancestors moved to Canada like it was traveling from one county to another in their native country. There was no thought of leaving the British umbrella; Canada was just another part of their great country and they carried their enthusiasm and devotion to the mother country with them across the ocean. My grandfather lived and died an Englishman although he loved Canada too but his Canada was part of Britain.

When I complete the story I will also place it on my blog as a free standing page - my second one. My first free standing page is on the Guild of One-Name Studies. I originally joined this group early on in my research days. My initial look at the group was to find the Pincombe One-Name study which had been mentioned online by others but had actually terminated in the late 1990s. In trying to find it on the Guild pages I discovered that it had been archived at the Society of Genealogists in London, England and my cousin went there and retrieved all the information thus deposited and had it photographed and mailed off to me (eight bristol board sized charts) and together we worked out our mutual ancestry (which was incorrect on the charts) and she published her family line in England almost at the same time as the Pincombe profile appeared here in the Delaware-Westminster History Book. We exchanged publications and write back and forth a few times a year now.

Perhaps later today I will complete the transcription of the last Pincombe will in my cache - Elizabeth Pincombe. I haven't read the will yet and do not know anything about this Pincombe line unless they are in the earlier charts. Although I have found errors in the charts I continue to use them because they were prepared by the Guild member in England talking to people who lived in these particular places. Family lore also plays a strong part in genealogical research so I am ever mindful that flat pages can not tell me the story as well as the spoken word of descendants (even though they could be in error especially when they are talking about lines of the family that are only remotely related to them and the stories are already a couple of generations passed on to them). If I have to go back later and correct because of new information that I find then that just adds to the story rather than detracting from it is my thought in that regard. Why did they think they were more closely related or less so? Probably there were many reasons!

Amazingly, the yellow daisies which my husband gave me for Mother's Day are still blooming as their second blossoming. I popped the plant into the ground late in May and didn't really expect anything but buds formed towards the end of September and still it blooms an amazing host of yellow flowers on November 1st. Most of the other plants have now been nipped by frost but this yellow flower continues to bloom. Such bright yellow in the midst of brown and dull green colours that tell us winter is coming. A real treat for the eyes whenever one chances to glance out the windows facing the rear yard.

Back to the story of my ancestors for the OGS Golden Anniversary Collection, you need to print it but can also send it as an electronic version by 31st December 2011.

Will of Abraham Pincombe of Stoke Damerel (dated 26 Apr 1830 (probated 5 Dec 1831)) - Source: Inland Revenue Wills p. 882

The will of Abraham Pincombe is the second last of my cache of Pincombe wills (other than those of my 2x great grandfather and great grandfather and the administration for my grandfather which I have not yet published). I need to verify the transcription of these three other wills and will in due course publish them as well but the wills I have thus far completed are all wills published in England.

Abraham Pincombe allows me to identify him fairly closely by the entries in his will. Looking at the chart prepared by the earlier Pincombe researchers he is Abraham Pincombe baptized 30 May 1764 at Stoke Damerel and a quick check of Find My Past locates the burial for Abraham Pincombe as 4 Dec 1831 at 66 years of age. The earlier chart lists the parents of this Abraham as Abraham Pincombe and Mary (no surname) who were married before the 12th April 1750. This Abraham was said to be the son of Silas Richard Pincombe and Hannah. An interesting website traces the Pincombe family at Northlew:

http://www.speare.org.uk/pincombe_family_of_northlew.htm

This website identifies the descendants of Abraham Pincombe bc 1727; buried 23 Jun 1799 at Northlew Devon and his wife Mary whom he married by 1749 and she was buried 10 Aug 1773 at Northlew. Their children weere: Abraham Pincombe baptized 12 Apr 1750 (buried 16 Oct 1753 in Northlew), Elizabeth Pincombe baptized 30 Sep 1752; buried 27 Dec 1753 in Northlew, Abraham Pincombe baptized 23 Sec 1754; buried 28 Feb 1762 at Northlew, Elizabeth Pincombe baptized 20 Feb 1759 at Northlew, Thomas Pincombe baptized 6 Apr 1761 at Northlew and died Sep quarter 1841 at Northlew, and  Abraham Pincombe baptized 30 May 1764 and buried 5 Dec 1831 at Plymouth.

The website identifies the sons of Thomas as Abraham, John, Thomas, William and Stephen. The progeny of William Pincombe is then followed in this chart.

The will mentions only Abraham, Thomas, William and Stephen as sons of Thomas, brother of Abraham (the testator). He also mentions Elizabeth the wife of John Dennis but a search of the IGI, Find my Past and other databases does not reveal if this is his sister Elizabeth or a niece Elizabeth. The same is true of Agnes married to Thomas Curtis. I do not know if there is any relationship between Agnes and Abraham Pincombe although they are named executors.

The will of Abraham Pincombe (probate to follow when I am satisfied with the transcription :) ):

Recorded: 31 Oct 2011
Source: Inland Revenue Wills - p 882
Place: Stoke Damerel, Devon, England
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 26 Apr 1830 (probated 5 Dec 1831)
Condition: photocopy, light, modern English writing
Type: four pages - Original will (2 pages) and Probate (3 pages)


1 This is the last Will and Testament of me Abraham Pincombe
2 of the parish of Stoke Damerel in the County of Devon Gentleman made
3 the twenty sixth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
4 hundred and thirty First I desire and my Will is that my body be decently interred
5 at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter named I give unto my nephew Joseph
6 Pincombe the sum of Nineteen Guineas of lawful money current in Great
7 Britain to be paid to him within three months after my decease I give unto Elisabeth
8 Dennis the wife of John Dennis of Northlew in the said County the sum of ten
9 pounds of like lawful money to be paid to her within three months after my
10 decease I give unto Abraham Pincombe William Pincombe Thomas Pincombe
11 and Stephen Pincombe sons of my brother Thomas Pincombe of Northlew aforesaid
12 the sum of two pounds each of like lawful money to be paid as aforesaid  I give
u unto my said brother Thomas Pincombe an annuity or yearly sum of five
14 pounds to be paid to him in half yearly payments the first payment thereof
15 to be made within three months after my decease and the same to continue
16 to be paid him for and during the term of his natural life All the rest residue
17 and remainder of my goods and chattels money and securities for many household
18 and other estate and effects whatsoever which I may have or possess at the
19 time of my decease (subject nevertheless to the payment of my just debts
20 legacies funeral expences and all other incidental expenses for securing and
21 further execution of this my Will and also to the payment of the said
22 Annuity in manner aforesaid) I give and devise the same and every
23 part thereof unto Thomas Curtis of Devonport in the said County Shipwright
24 and Agnes his wife to and for their own use and benefit and to be disposed of as
25 he she or they shall jointly or severally in their lifetime consider most necessary
26 and needful so as the same be used for and towards the benefit support and
27 maintenance of themselves and each of their children as may for the time being
28 most need the same and shall dispose of the same or  whatsoever shall remain
29 though at the time of the death of the survivor of them the  said Thomas
30 Curtis and Agnes his wife by any instrument in writing under the hand
31 and seal of such survivor And I do hereby nominate constitute and
32 appoint the said Thomas Curtis and Agnes his wife joint Executor and Executrix
 hereby revoking all former Wills by me at any time heretofore made do confirm this to be my last Will and Testament
33 of this my last Will and Testament ^ to which I have set my hand and seal the
34 day and year first above written
35 Abraham Pincombe [signed] [sealed]

Abraham (the testator) is the youngest son in this family. When I look for descendants of his brother Thomas they are all agricultural labourers. One wonders why Abraham is listed as a gentleman (of course this is self-reporting). Did this family undergo a drop in status in this generation? Who is Richard Silas Pincombe the supposed father of Abraham Pincombe married to Mary and the father of the testator Abraham? As always each new will brings up a whole lot of new questions.

The remaining will in this set of wills from Inland Revenue is Elizabeth Pincombe and I will work on her will next.