Number 5 Brick Wall

Brick Wall Number 5: Wife of William Molton

This brick wall seems a bit out of order but I created this order a couple of years ago and at that time I did not know for sure the parents of Hannah Arnold (my 3x great grandmother). I met an Arnold cousin online and he had been able to verify his family lore that Hannah Arnold was the daughter of William Arnold and Elizabeth Malton (online transcription of marriage). But we could not find the parents of Elizabeth Malton. The transcription of the original marriage register was incorrect and it wasn't until my cousin visited the Dorset Record Office that the correction was made to Molton and he discovered that Elizabeth Molton was the daughter of William and Sarah Molton but he could not find this marriage.

Elizabeth Molton was baptized 20 Apr 1766 at Winterborne Whitchurch as were her five siblings. Sarah (her mother) was buried 13 Jan 1799 at Winterborne Whitchurch and her father William was baptized 2 Aug 1743 at Winterborne Whitchurch son of John and Elizabeth Molton with John being baptized 20 Jul 1714 at Winterborne Whitchurch son of John and Elizabeth Molton. Elizabeth (wife of John baptized 1714) was buried 18 Jun 1781 at Winterborne Whitchurch and John was buried 24 Jul 1784 at Winterborne Whitchurch.  His parents were both buried at Winterborne Whitchurch - John buried 29 Apr 1747 (aged 64 years) and Elizabeth buried 14 Dec 1768. The children of both sets of John and Elizabeth were all baptized at Winterborne Whitchurch. My cousin still works in England and doesn't get down to Dorset often but hopefully on his next trip we might learn even more.

This remains a brick wall for me but I haven't really done any of the work on this line. The Dorset records are now on Ancestry so will search these out for a bit today. There isn't a marriage for William Molton to Sarah on Ancestry. I also checked Find My Past, Family Search and the Dorset OPC site. A mystery remains with regard to the surname of Sarah my 5x great grandmother. I really have not found anything about this family at Winterborne Whitchurch. Checking the census at Winterbourne Whitechurch in 1851 does not reveal any Molton families. There are Molton families at Bridport and Blandford. I have not traced all the lines down and perhaps one day will do that just out of curiosity.

Genealogy Brick Wall Number 6

Brick Wall Number 6: Wife of Nathanael Lambden

It was a tossup which of the Lambden brickwalls would be 6 or 7 but Sarah is one generation earlier to me than the parents of Nathanael so she became my Brick Wall Number 6. I have known that Sarah was the wife of Nathanael almost from the beginning of my research. Odd times I have tried to find the marriage of Nathanael and Sarah but I haven't gone so far as to pay for the marriage CD for Berkshire. It could be that there marriage is on that CD. I do not find it on the Hampshire marriage CD which I do have. I suspect that Nathanael was employed at Woodhouse in Andover and possibly as a wheelwright. Why didn't he stay in Berkshire if he was native to Berkshire? That is a mystery that did not pass down through the family.

No hints for this surname as all the children have one forename only. They did not live long enough to appear on the census. I do not find that they married by license yet. The avenues for discovering her surname are very limited. No one is researching this family except for people that I know who are my cousins and also descendant of Nathanael and Sarah through their sons. They are also brickwalled with this marriage but they, like myself, have not been to Berkshire Record Office. Occasionally that thought is discussed as they live in England but none of us carries the Lambden surname and somehow they always end up on the backburner when research travel time comes along and we just do not make it to Berkshire.

Parents of Nathanael Lambden, Brick Wall Number 7

Brick Wall Number 7: Parents of Nathanael Lambden

Nathanael Lambden doesn't appear very often in the records but he signed the marriage registration of his daughter Elizabeth and Isaac Farmer. Isaac Farmer also neatly signed this marriage registration. Elizabeth, however, did not sign but made an X. It is possible that Nathanael was a wheelwright at Woodhouse in Andover but his parentage is somewhat of a mystery. The spelling of his name Nathanael might be a clue and there is a baptism for a Nathanael Lambden 26 Jul 1724 at Bradfield, Berkshire son of John Lambden and Joan Baruttine (married 11 Oct 1721 at Bradfield). When Nathanael and his wife Sarah baptized their children they were named: Nathaniel, John, William and Elizabeth. The children of John and Joan Lambden all baptized at Bradfield: Nathanael (1724), Sarah (1727), Mary (1729), John (1733), Benjamin (1736), Joseph (1739).

I have not yet persued the original record of the Berkshire baptism but the Lambden family is most prevalent in Berkshire in the earlier records (looking at the Public Profiler the most frequent location for Lambden in 1881 was Berkshire and secondly in North Hampshire/Wiltshire). Later records find this family at St Mary Bourne, Hampshire (larger in numbers than in Andover) but no Nathanael found there. Interestingly, Elizabeth's brother Nathaniel Lambden married Catherine Cook at Hurstborne Tarrant 8 Oct 1794 and they named their sons: Nathaniel, William, Thomas and John. This family lived at Hurstborne Tarrant.

Again this brick wall could come down with a more dedicated pursuit of the Lambden family in Bradfield and discovering if Nathanael was a wheelwright as mentioned in another website.

Elizabeth (Lambden) Farmer was my 3x great grandmother and she lived to be 96 years old. My grandfather mentioned her when I was a child as she had died in 1862 (baptized 16 Mar 1766 at Andover) and by 1875 when he was born they must have still been talking about her long life. Her daughter Ann had married John Blake and Ann in her widowhood had lived right next door to my grandfather and likely was the source of many of the stories that he passed on to me about his Farmer/Lambden family. I do not clearly remember if he said that Nathanael was a wheelwright. That memory is too vague - I was just eight years old when he died.

The oldest records for the Lambden family in Berkshire date back to the 1260s. But I have not seen this family researched to any great extent. Until I can actually link back to John and Joan Lambden as the parents of Nathanael, I am brickwalled at this point. It would appear that this family has taken its name from a property known as Lambden.

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-40041-lambden-s-farmhouse-englefield-

This website points to a farmhouse known as Lambden at Englefield, Berkshire. Englefield is just 1.9 miles from Bradfield.

Today is brick wall number 8

Brick wall number 8: Parents of Andrew Rowcliffe

I do have the parish registers for Merton where the Rowcliffe family lived.I know that Andrew was buried 3 Feb 1687 at Merton and that his wife was Mary. Their possible son Andrew was born in 1687 or earlier and he married Joan Harvey 8 Jun 1720 at Merton.I do know my ancestry coming down from Andrew Rowcliffe and Joan Harvey.

The St Paul's brief for its rebuilding from 1678 at Merton only lists an Andrew Routly, a Prissila Routly and a Sameull Routlife at Merton in this time period. This is possibly the Andrew that I have suggested as the father of my Andrew married to Joan Harvey. There is some controversy as trees exist naming a William Rowcliffe as the father of Andrew married to Joan Harvey but no William at Merton in 1678.

The Rowcliffe family can be found in the visitation of Devon in 1620:

This perhaps explains having William named as the father of Andrew.

William Rockley of Yearnscomb in the hundred of Hartland married Jone daughter of Bagbeare of Bagbeare in the county of Devon. Their children 1. Thomas Rocliff of Yearnscomb b 1554 married to Christian daughter of John Horne of High Bickington, 2. George b 1555, living 1620, 3. John, 4. Aldered ob s p, 1. Emma.

The children of Thomas and Christian: 1. Arthur ob s p, 2. Francis ob s p, 3. George Rockliffe son and heir, aet 22, 1620, 4. William aet 18, 1. Elizabeth aet 24 and 2. Avis aet 21. This was signed by Thomas Rowclieffe.

Yarnscombe is 8 miles from Merton.

Rowcliffe is largely a North Devon/Somerset name although it is most frequently found in the London area on the 1881 census.

Finding records prior to the late 1600s and after the visitation of 1620 for this family at Merton is a high priority and I need to pursue that so this brick wall may fall down easily or with difficulty!

Brick Wall number 9

And my title will vary because my blog was locked up about five years ago when it was checked out for being spam because of a repeating title! I am spending about an hour a day on my research once again and want to build that back up to 4 or 5 hours per day but will not go back to 8 to 10 or 12 hours per day.

Brick Wall number 9

Wife of John Kent

This particular lady continues within that set of Somerset families that I have. I haven't been to Somerset yet and I suspect that is part of the reason that I have a couple of problems there. The record office at Taunton is said to be excellent and I look forward to having a look one of these days.

John Kent and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of Grace Kent who married Robert Siderfin (5 Feb 1752 at Selworthy) one of the sons of Augustine Siderfin and his wife Mary Davies (Brick Wall Number 10). I have been through the Selworthy Parish Registers having a look because Grace was baptized there (25 Apr 1731). However her elder brother John was baptized at Porlock (15 Feb 1730) so I have also been through the Porlock Parish Registers to find a marriage for John Kent (baptized 28 Jan 1708 Porlock) and Elizabeth (unknown). No luck thus far and there are a few Kent families there. There is an Elizabeth Kent wife of John buried at Porlock 4 Oct 1739.

For the record it is 2 miles from Selworthy to Porlock, it is three miles from Luccombe (another Kent place) to Porlock, it is 4 miles from Wootton Courtenay to Porlock. These are not great distances in terms of movement place to place.

In this early time frame how far would they go to marry? I am confident that John Kent is the son of John Kent and Joan Beague who married 15 Dec 1694 at Luccombe and their children were all baptized at Porlock. This family tended to be blacksmiths.

10th Most Difficult Genealogy Brickwall in my lines

Getting back to blogging hopefully daily and I decided to do a challenge I have noticed on other sites.

My 10th most difficult genealogy brickwall and I will work my way down to my biggest brickwall.

Brick Wall Number 10. Parents of Mary Davies

Mary Davies married Augustine Siderfin 29 Apr 1720 at Cutcombe Somerset England. I really know nothing about her other than that. There is a Mary Davies daughter of William Davies baptized 24 Nov 1700 at Yatton Keynell, Wiltshire (this is 63 miles from Selworthy so I am somewhat ambivalent about thinking that this would be the Mary Davies who married Augustine Siderfin). I am tempted to think that she could be from Wales.

Augustine Siderfin was a schoolmaster at Cutcombe and Wootton Courtney. He was buried at Wootton Courtney 1 Mar 1762.They had two children as far as I can determine - John baptized 14 Jan 1722 at Cutcombe and Robert baptized 23 Jun 1726 at Cutcombe. This is also verified by the family tree created by another research back in 1912 (History of the Siderfin Family of West Somerset by James Sanders, J.P., of South Molton, Devon, Exeter: W. J. Southwood and Co, Dynamo Works, 1912). Although he made an error connecting my family line in, the overall chart is quite good in terms of descendants of each individual line. He misconnected his own line actually.

But even another day of looking at the records fails to reveal the parentage of Mary Davies my 5x great grandmother.

Will of Robert Blacke, Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills on Ancestry, probated 22 Dec 1639

I have included this will of Robert Blacke although do tend not to include any Black family members normally. The reason I did do that was because one of the witnesses was John Blake and he has a brother John Blacke. Robert is married to Jane and has sons Robert and John. His mother is Elizabeth Drue.

Pucklechurch is a parish just six miles from Bristol.


Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 15 Oct 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Robert Blacke,
Place: Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 10 Oct 1639, probated 22 Dec 1639
Condition: 17th century English, legible copy

[Margin]: 789

1    In the name of God Amen I Robert Blacke of
2    Pucklechurch in the Countie of Gloucester Ghownmaker
3    beinge sicke in bodie but in good and p[er]fect memory
4    thanckes be given to Allmyghtie god doe make this my
5    last wil and testament in manner and Forme
6    Followinge viz[ a vit] I give and bequeth my soule into
7    the hands of Allmyghtie god my maker and redeemer
8    And my bodie to be buried in the Church of Pucklechurch
9    aforesaid Item I give and bequeth unto Jane my
10    wefe Five pounds Item I give and bequeth unto Robert
11    my eldest sonn five pounds to be paid unto him at our
12    Ladie day next ensuinge the date hereof And the stocke
13    to be Imployed to his use and maintenance during his
14    mynoritie Item I give and bequeth unto John my sonn
15    Five pounds to be paid unto him at our ladie day next
16    ensuing the date hereof And the stocke to be Imployed
17    to his use and maintenance All the rest of my goods
18    cattles and chattles unbequethed I give and bequeth unto
19    Jane my wefe and to Robert and John my foresaid
20    sonnes to be equally devided amongst them And my
21    wefe to have the use of my goods cattles and chattles last
22    given and bequeathed for and duringe the tyme of her
23    widowhood Item I doe nominat constitute ordayne and
24    Appointe Jane my wefe to be my whole and sole Executrix
25    of this my last will and testament And to see this my
26    Last will and testament Justlie truelie and honestlie
27    p[er]formed I doe nominat ordeyne and Appoint my loving
28    mother Elizabeth Drue and my Brother John Blacke to be my oversears
29    of this my last will and Testament dated the tenth
30    day of October Anno RRs Carolinum decimo quinto 1639
31    In the p[re]sents of
32    those witnesses here
33    undernamed
34    Roger Gregorye
35    Hugh Wickham
36    John Blake

The British: A Genetic Journey by Alistair Moffat

Over the past month I have managed to read a rather fascinating book by Alistair Moffat titled The British A Genetic Journey. With all my English ancestry I have meant to read this book for awhile. Although he does not use footnotes choosing to write in a less academic style, his text is quite interesting and one can readily look into the literature and discover the science that has been published to which he refers. He paints an interesting story of the peopling of the British Isles. Some of the latest results of Big Y testing are perhaps updating his thoughts but this is an evolving study.

In my family lines, both the yDNA and the mtDNA are ancient to the British Isles according to testing done with BritainsDNA, FT DNA, and Genographic Project 2.0. The I2a2b haplogroup assignment for our yDNA results (FT DNA and I2a1b2 (ISOGG)) has been further broken down in the I2a study at FT DNA and designated as B4 along with two other results. These three results do not match but are said to belong to the same distinct group B4. This is the work of Ken Nordvedt with the three members -  Abijah Sussex being traced back to Devon in the 1600s and Roger Hoyte to circa 1650s at Creed Cornwall and my paternal line traces back to Robert Blayke circa mid 1400s in the Andover Hampshire area (namely Knights Enham). Alistair Moffat refers to this group as the deer hunters as does BritainsDNA. BritainsDNA lists this group as being S-185 but further delineated as S-2640 subtype but no further information on this subgroup. S-185 is just 0.9% of I haplogroup in their study and I haplogroup is just 18.1% of their entire set of results for y haplogroup. If you have 100,000 people tested at BritainsDNA then 18,100 would be I haplogroup and 1,629 of them would belong to I2a2b. Extrapolating that to the total population of the British Isles about 68 million one would have if the percentages actually do match actuality 12 million I haplogroup and 110,000 I2a2b. This subgroup is 3x more frequent in The Irish Republic yielding approximately 84,000 for this area and 26,000 in the rest of the British Isles although the concentration would likely be in the southern to south western part of England according to charts published by BritainsDNA in my brother's results and this does appear to hold true to the results in the FT DNA group where the three members are from Cornwall, Devon and Hampshire for B4 and there are several other groups.

I found a rather interesting article about I2a2b online discussing why this group is so small in the published results (I also think that part of this is because it is a very ancient group to the British Isles and the numbers are still not really large for people testing their deep ancestry in the British Isles). For instance, not one of my 3rd and greater Blake cousins in England has tested. I do not have any 2nd cousins in the Blake line in England (my father was an only child and the only Blake grandson of Edward Blake of Upper Clatford but Edward did have brothers with sons (their father was John Blake of Upper Clatford) and he had uncles with sons (their father was Thomas Blake of Upper Clatford and he was the son of Joseph Blake of Andover)).

http://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/26211-The-founding-and-migration-of-I2a2b

Lately, with all these discoveries of ancient burials I wonder if one day my own line will be found - an exciting prospect. But having said all of this I still do not have a match at FT DNA, the matches at BritainsDNA are for SNPs only. No Blake, other than my brother, has tested in my known line as far as I am aware. There are several matches using the limited markers of the Blood of the Isles database. Should I actively pursue my 3rd and 4th cousins living still in England in the Andover area? What would they think if I wrote to them? telephoned them? I am still considering that idea. We are going to be in that area next April following Who Do You Think You Are in Birmingham - at least that is the plan. To spend a couple of days in the Andover area including Upper Clatford. Would any of my grandfather's cousins' children be interested in seeing what I have collected? I am basically a rather shy person and the idea of cold-calling people is foreign to me. I keep thinking about my grandfather and what he would have thought if he received a call out of the blue. A few more months to think about that.

The mtDNA of my most ancient ancestress and mine as well (verified with my brother's testing) is H11a2a1. We tested back in 2007 and have watched as H11 has unfolded with the published literature giving a deeper look into H11. This is a small part of the much greater H haplogroup. H11 is about 1% of all H and my own group a much smaller part of that greater group of H11. My best matches are in Ireland and Scotland but also there are some individual matches in Russia of the coding region but they lack the extra mutations that my line has in the British Isles. Tracking the members of my H11 study at FT DNA the further you are away from Ukraina where this group likely wintered during the last Ice Age then the more mutations you have acquired. My own line has three of the four distinct ones found in the British Isles (perhaps my line has reverted on one of these mutations making it somewhat easier to spot matches!).The added mutations perhaps helped them to survive as they are named Pioneers by BritainsDNA. BritainsDNA does not look at H11 individually in their writeup. It is a very very small group in the British Isles. The Blood of the Isles database has 18 with the full four mutations and two matching myself with just three mutations in HVRI (HVRII matches in both groups). There are 16 exact matches with the larger group at FT DNA. I have one match with my brother. This is my one line that I have only family lore to go on back from my great grandmother Ellen Taylor. There is some hint that she may have been Irish so perhaps from the Planters in County Antrim where there are a couple of matches on Oxford Ancestors database or from Scotland where Sorenson has a single match.

I will write a book report in my other blog on this book. 

Returning slowly to transcription

I will be slowly returning to transcription and hope to be back at it full time again by early December. Instead of eight hours or so a day at my computer I find time for a couple of hours only. Thank you to everyone for your kind words. During this long interval of months I have been once again rethinking my approach on my studies of all my lines and my new methodology will not emerge until after the New Year. My this year has passed fast in actual fact.

I did test with Ancestry DNA and was quite pleased with the results. I have a 5th cousin once removed on my Buller line and we did not match when I tested her at Family Finder and downloading all the results and taking them into Gedmatch did not reveal anything. Tested at Ancestry DNA and we still do not have a match but we do have a mutual cousin that we both match and that can only be on the Buller side. I just happen to be a third cousin to this individual. The matches at Ancestry appear to be more distant in their estimation than FT DNA in that she is judged to be a 4th to 6th cousin whereas a known 4th cousin at FT DNA was said to be a 2nd to 4th cousin. All in how they do it and we benefit from their effort nevertheless.

My  ethnicity estimate was rather interesting at Ancestry and possibly the closest to what my estimate would be and that was 64% Great Britain, 14% Ireland (yielding 78% British Isles), 11% Europe West (probably accounts for my German matches everywhere), 6% Scandinavia and I have no ideas on that ancestry. Trace Regions Iberian Peninsula 1%, Europe East 1%, Italy/Greece 1%, Finland, Northwest Russia 1%, and Melanesia less than 1%.

Back to exercise as I do that about eight times a day for an hour at a time; plus amazingly I can still run so do 3K morning and evening. We also walk 4 K or so per day and the hours pass quickly. It is amazing how much a back problem can affect your entire life style!

Will of Richard Blake, Innholder, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills found on Ancestry, probated 29 Apr 1724

Richard Blake is the testator and he is an Innholder at Chipping Sodbury. He mentions his son Thomas and his wife Mary in his will below.

The portbury-hundred website (http://www.portbury-hundred.co.uk/admiralreport.htm) lists Richard as #98, born in 1668 and died in Chipping Sodbury 9 Apr 1724 at the age of 56 years. Richard married to Mary is listed as having three children: Joseph (died 18 May 1715 in Chipping Sodbury, Samuel (born 1692 and died in 1715 at Chipping Sodbury) and Richard born in 1700 and there is further information on Richard. This Richard is said to be a son of Ambrose Blake who was known to be born at Pynhills (Wiltshire) around 1620. Richard is said to have two brothers Henry and Ambrose both of whom have descendancies in the chart above. The great grandson of Richard was said to be the Richard who married Anne Augustine Harwood, daughter of Rev Charles Harwood, Dean of Chichester. There is some information on this family already blogged:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/search/label/Harwood

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/search/label/Harward

Earlier I did conclude that this line as written in the portbury-hundred website seems to be a reasonable lineage but one is left to wonder why did Richard not mention his son Richard in his will below. A couple of possibilities include he is a well established merchant in Bristol already, he has received his portion to set him up as a merchant or he has inherited from another relative and is passed by in this will. Presumably Thomas will remain with the Inn in Chipping Sodbury which his mother is inheriting. No will is listed for this Thomas.

There are other Blake wills at Chipping Sodbury. However, I can not clearly fit them into this particular lineage.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 1 Oct 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Richard Blake, Inholder
Place: Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 16 Apr 1724; probated 29 Apr 1724
Condition: 18th century English, legible copy

1    In the name of God Amen I Richard Blake
2    of Chipping Sodbury in the County of Glouc Inholder
3    being Sick in body but of sound and disposing mind
4    and memory do make my last will and Testament
5    in manner and Form following
6    Imp[rim]is I will that my debts and funeral Expences shall
7    be paid by my Executrix hereinafter named
8    Item I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Thomas
9    Blake the sum of five pounds
10    Item all the rest and residue of my Goods and Chattles
11    of what kind soever I give and bequeath unto my dearly
12    beloved wife Mary whom I do hereby constitute and
13    appoint sole and only Executrix of this my last Will and
14    Testament And lastly I do hereby revoke recall and
15    make utterly null and void all and every Former and
16    other will Legacy bequest or Executor by me at any
17    time heretofore made given appointed or named
18    ratifying and confirming this and no other to be
19    my last Will and Testam[en]t In Testament whereof I have
20    hereunto set my hand and Seal this Sixteenth day of
21    April Anno d[omi]ni 1724
22    The Mark of
23    Rich
24    Richard Blake
25    Signed Sealed published pronounced
26    and declared by the above named
27    Richard Blake as his last Will
28    and Testament in the presence of us
29    who set our hands in the pre[se]nce
30    of the Testator
31    Georg Hardwicke
32    Jno Shellard
33    Joseph Hughes