Penton Mewsey CMBs and Briefs

The first fiche for Penton Mewsey (Parish Register 1) was only 21 pages with the first few pages being title pages. The last page was a list of briefs collected by the parish

Collected towards the relief of  those that
suffered by fire at Milton Abbot 22 December
2 s 3 d at Penton Mewsey February the 3rd 1668

Collected towards the relief of those that suffered  by fire
at Ilmister in Somerset the sum of 4 s at
Penton Mewsey March the 17th 1660

Collected towards the relief of the Towne of South Wouldalt
soulway in the County of Suffolk the summe of
three shillings and four pence at Penton Mewsey
June the 20th 1661

Collected at Penton Mewsey January 23rd 1661
towards those that suffered by fire in Topfield
in the parish of St Dunstans in London the
sum of three shillings halfpenny farthing

Collected towards the _____ suffered by
_______Oxford

Collected towards a fire at Hungerford two shillings
one pence

A little more work to do on the transcription but it is always amazing to see these small parishes contributing to places so far away from themselves although not out of country as was the case with Knights Enham. Their several pages of briefs were amazing and I want to write an article to submit to a journal transcribing those pages at some point in the future.

Thus far for Penton Mewsey with registers commencing in 1647 there are by the end of 1674 112 baptisms, 22 marriages and 70 burials. The location of people is sometimes added and Charleton and Wildhern are mentioned thus far. The 1665 Hearth Tax Assessment has the following individuals for Penton Mewsey:

Beare    widow
Blake    John   
Carter    mister
Cradock    widow
Crouch    John   
Crowch    John   
Crowch    Thomas   
Dalby    Thomas   
Fray    David   
Grace    John   
Grace    Robert   
Hellier    John   
Hellier    John   
Knowles    Henry   
Knowles    John   
Lancaster Thomas   
Lewis    John   
Moncke    John   
Mundy    Jasper   
Mundy    William   
Noyes    Richard   
Osgood    Stephen   
Poynter    mister
Read    Henry   
Read    widow
Russell    mister
Smith    William   
Trewelove widow
Twine    John   

I have put them into alphabetical order for ease in looking at them. These names are found at Andover as well. The The Hampshire Hearth Tax Assessment 1665 was published as part of The Hampshire Record Series and it is Volume 11 (editors Elizabeth Hughes and Philippa White). An excellent book to purchase as it provides a mini census for the different villages in Hampshire and in particular my interest in the Andover area is well covered by the book.

Blake family members in the book total 76 and from a number of different hundreds of Hampshire. By 1665 the Blake family can be found in many parts of Hampshire. Are they all one family? That is really the question. Is there a mixture of Blake members in the Andover area or are they all one family grouping? Are they related to the Wiltshire Blake family as published histories (and the Blake Pedigree Chart) show.

Is the John Blake at Penton Mewsey my ancestor? The baptism of John Blake son of William Blake and Ann Hellier was at Penton according to the Andover Parish Register. Why is he baptized at Andover instead of Penton? Does he live at Penton in the 1680s after his marriage to Elizabeth . Will I find his marriage in these Penton Mewsey registers? I actually haven't looked for it there yet.

One purchase I would like to make when we are in Winchester (in 2012 or 2013) is the purchase of a couple of the other Hampshire Record Series books. The Pipe Rolls would be an interesting one and several of the other ones. They capture a moment in time which is what genealogy is all about really. Capturing moments in time of our ancestors and reading books about these times especially very old ones are quite fascinating.

I am still working my way through the military records of the 23rd Regiment of Foot (now in time the Royal Welsh Fusiliers). At any time in England back in the 1700s there must have been troops of soldiers moving about through the countryside going north, south, east and west of London helping where help was needed, controlling where that was needed. The parish records of Andover in the mid 1700s had a number of soldiers marrying at Andover. I wondered why not earlier or perhaps the priest simply did not record that until the mid 1700s time period.

The article on Blake yDNA (http://www.kipp-blake-families.ca/ACR-RevealingBLAKEfamily-ADNAstudy.pdf) appears to be attracting a little attention with hits on my website. I am hoping that it might encourage people to test their yDNA if they are Blake descendants. However, I also realize it is an expensive endeavour ($149 US) and that it isn't in everyone's budget to take this on. But it will be interesting to see what emerges with the Blake families of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset in that printed histories often link these families together and the Pedigree Chart at Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office also links the three families. But are they all the same Blake line? I just admit to having a great curiosity in that regard. Thus far the only semi match with my line is an individual tracing back to Ireland and we match 8/12 but the differences are quite quite interesting in themselves. One day perhaps the markers will be extended to 37 and then we would have a better view of whether or not there is a relationship in near time (i.e. the last 15 - 20 generations).