Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Nicholas Blake, Jone Question and World Connect

Checking World Connect and all four references to Joan Question married to Nicholas Blake are either inadequate or incorrect. I decided to put up my information on the Question family along with the wills of that family. The more information available on World Connect, I am slowly becoming convinced, the more likely I will be able to correct misconceived notions about the Blake family and the Question family in this case.

The earliest record that I have for the Question family is the marriage about the mid 1550s in Dunster, Somerset, England between William Question and Susan Millet. I have not to date looked for information on their parents as I have not purchased the land records for Dunster, Somerset which are applicable to this family. Genuki webpages for Dunster are very helpful with Parish Register Transcriptions provided by Phil Mustoe from 1716 to 1903 for baptisms, 1746 to 1864 for burials and 1716 to 1901 for marriages (banns from 1754 to 1812). There is also a transcription of Methodist baptisms (Dunster Circuit) from 1803 to 1850 by Martin Southwood.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Dunster/

http://www.wsom.org.uk/Parreg.html

There is extensive information available about Dunster in the Somerset Record Office at Taunton. There is a will for Nicholas Blake available there. The land which this family (Nicholas Blake and Jone Question) occupied at Puriton and Bawdrip was sold in 1667 and more documents available. Finding anything on the Question family has been a slow process except for their wills which are available on the National Archives of UK website.

My link to the Question family is through the brother of Jone Question, Augustine Question whose daughter Elizabeth married Robert Siderfin of Selworthy, Somerset. Their son Augustine Siderfin married Mary Davies 29 Apr 1720 at Cutcombe, Somerset. Their son Robert married Grace Kent 5 Feb 1752 at Selworthy, Somerset. Their daughter Elizabeth married John Rew 30 Jan 1792 at Selworthy, Somerset and their daughter Elizabeth married John Pincombe 9 Jan 1834 at Bishops Nympton, Devon. The entire Somerset line was completely unknown to me when I first started to investigate my genealogy. Earlier in my blogs I have indicated the steps that I followed to find Elizabeth Rew and it was an incredible journey which included serendipity and signing up for Ancestry as well as finding a copy of the History of the Siderfin Family of West Somerset (on ancestry and at the Allen County Public Library). Included in the book was Elizabeth Siderfin and connecting her to John Rew was complete with the will of her mother Grace (Kent) Siderfin.

I think genealogy brings out the dogged determination to find the end of the path in all of us. Once I had hold of a few clues I couldn't let go until I had reached the beginnings of the Siderfin family which was fairly easy to do once I acquired the book. There are errors in the book which I mention on my webpages but the early history of the family is incredibly well documented by the author whose mother was Elizabeth Siderfin. James Saunders in his position as Justice of the Peace had the knowledge and ability to search out those old records and put them together in a very meaningful and useful way in order that people in the future looking at this family could readily find and follow his research. His errors are far outweighed by the bulk of the information that he provided.

World Connect for Question family

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=questionfamily

Over time I will add to my trees on World Connect but for the moment I like to put up short runs just to correct material that is incorrect up on World Connect. I have a 50-50 chance of being the one chosen and likely people will look at every incidence of these unusual surnames!

I think I continue to be amazed at my about face with respect to genealogy. I helped my husband find census material and BMD material in the early 70s before our children were born. Then when he went off to the Ontario Genealogical Society Ottawa Branch in the early 1980s I was totally disinterested in belonging to anything genealogy related and I continued that way until the trip that our eldest daughter and I took to Rome and then London, UK. Home turf can bring up incredible memories from long ago family members that inspire you to look deeper into what they said and search out the roots of your existence.

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