Fireworks in the sky

 I guess someone up the block decided to have fireworks last night; the fireworks for the National Display here in Ottawa were cancelled due to the heavy thunder and lightning storms that we had yesterday. The rain came down in sheets it was so heavy. 

I completed Leviticus today and I perhaps read it this time with more understanding than the last. These were the rules given to the peoples of Israel through Moses. The Israelites whom God brought out of Egypt from their bondage there. To be the people of God, close to Him and His most trusted people the rules that are followed in the 27 Chapters of Leviticus are many and the punishments for not doing so extremely severe. 

Discipline was a very important part of every day when I was a child at school. The rules were kept without deviation and one simply followed them exactly and precisely. You just knew which line was yours and where you were in that line. The world had just been through a terrible World War; the second in the 1900s. Both terrible wars of loss; loss of life, loss of property; loss of health so many losses and even when I worked at the Post Office one could still see those losses in the 1970s with the Stenographic group in the middle of the large working room who did the tasks required by the other workers in the offices around them. Many of them were maimed by that war but each day they came. Some still shell-shocked and feeble but they too came day after day. Computers were coming though and the members of the Stenographic Pool were reaching retirement age and rest and I moved on to raise our eldest daughter born during this time period. 

That is what I understand reading Leviticus. It was discipline on how to live within the close shadow of God. History records the life of the people of Israel and these Old Testament books have been handed down from a long time ago  and then recorded by scribes and then rewritten many times by scribes as the centuries passed. This history of Homo sapiens as known to mankind was written down and carefully preserved by the Israeli people. Archaeology verifies these stories many times over but the experience of my childhood with my grandfather (and grandmother to a certain extent) telling me the stories of their time and the stories told to them by their ancestors tells me that real stories can be passed down through the centuries virtually intact. 

When I first started thinking about all of these stories and decided to google them I was amazed to see in print exactly what I remembered being said to me and for me that was over sixty years ago and for my grandfather who was seventy eight when he died his discussions included great grandparents born over two hundred years ago. The one I am thinking of was Charles Butt baptized 25 Dec 1801 at Winterborne Stickland, Dorset, England. My grandfather went to his 80th birthday party in Dorset as a young child and remembered seeing all of his many cousins, aunts and uncles. Charles was a Wesleyan Preacher although he lived and died as an Anglican in the Church of England. Always fascinated me that information about Charles. But Grandpa said he loved to talk and he talked about so many things but especially the Church and how one lives ones life within the Church of England. So did Grandpa!

Main floor all cleaned yesterday and today is the basement and I shall soon begin. 

Solitaire puzzles first.  

Cleaning all accomplished

Another week of cleaning accomplished and today a research day. I did absolutely nothing yesterday on research. It was a busy day. 

 Today though, unless it rains, will see me outside working in the garden for some time. But I also want to do some research and will continue adding the newest DNA matches into my various databases. There are still 36 matches to file away. So far the matches have been as interesting as I thought they might be. I skipped over quite a few because they did not add anything to the thousands of matches I have already in my databases. 

Phasing the great grandparents is going to be an interesting item to work on although I will continue writing the Blake book as I do that. I want to spend some time on the early Latin wills line by line just to see if anything has been missed. Working on documents written by your ancestors five hundred years ago is amazing and challenging. Were these people just like my grandfather or grandmother as I search back into my own past thinking of their thought pattern? My grandfather talked in particular about his grandparents and great grandparents as he did know one of the great grandparents personally and they had all died between 1808 and 1886 with most of them dying between 1840 and 1886. In the case of his mother's grandparents she knew all but her paternal grandfather very well since they all lived in the same area and closeby each other. In the case of his father's grandparents he was not quite as lucky in that regard with only one of them living after he was born but his mother who lived to the age of 89 was right next door when her son's young family was growing up and a widow and memories of my grandfather's grandmother Blake were very clear when he talked about her. So I do spend some time contemplating what my grandfather used to say about his family. The Blake family lived in Upper Clatford and the Knights lived in Turnworth but he did spend time there perhaps because his eldest sister lived with their grandparents until she married. She is found on the census at nine years of age with them. Samuel Knight and his wife Louisa (Butt) Knight had  eleven children (my great grandmother was their eldest) but only four of them lived past infancy. Their only surviving son Henry married Catherine Crankshaw 25 Dec 1878 at Chorley, Lancashire. They had just one child Samuel who along with his wife Rose Anna Yates emigrated to Canada where all their children were born in the early 1900s. My father never mentioned if he met any of these cousins (3rd) but I have corresponded with a number of them. They lived in Saskatchewan. So I need to prod this brain of mine and find the references so to speak that bring this information back to me. 

Even though I am first generation Canadian with deep roots in the British Isles going back many centuries (indeed my Blake line carries Western Hunter Gatherer yDNA some of the earliest in the British Isles after the Ice Age which rendered life there impossible) my citizenship is Canadian (as a young child I was granfathered in along with everyone else born in Canada before the 1st of January 1947). I have no rights in England other than those that might come to me as a member of the Commonwealth but pretty limited and the same is true for people coming to Canada (with the exception of Jay's Treaty of 1794 which permits the First Nations peoples to travel back and forth across the border between Canada and the United States readily). When I first went to England back in 2001 I was so excited to actually be in the island. When it was our turn at Customs my daughter quickly said who she was and why she had come and then it was my turn and I said who I was but pondered why had I come (this was my first international travel outside of North America). I said my father was born here and three of my grandparents and mumbled on a bit (I can remember saying all of that) and he looked at me kindly and asked me again why I came (which I successfully answered with a detailed mention of what we were doing travel wise, where we were staying and when we were leaving). That told me that my very long ancestry in the British Isles has no meaning because I do not live there (in this world we are all an organized people because that is how it works best). He was right and I really appreciated his patience with me.  

I did get the H11 Newsletter published and online. I generally for the first of May keep thinking year after year it is the Pincombe Newsletter but it is not; it is due 1st of June and I need to start thinking about that. The yDNA project for Pincombe/Pinkham has two distinct lines. The one points back to Western Hunter Gather and the other points to the Continent (Flemish likely). My line is the Flemish which I believe used the spelling Pencombe which is initially found at North Molton in the early 1500s and the notation on the Visitation for Pincombe in 1620 carries the note "Pyncombe of Northmolton came there with the Lord Zouch  about the beginning of H 7" and that refers to King Henry VII who defeated Richard III King of England at Bosworth Field in 1485 and became the King of England (Henry VII). John Lord Zouch was on the side of Richard III and was attainted, stripped of his civil rights and properties. He had relatives in Northmolton where he was received and I am becoming of the much stronger opinion that perhaps John Pencombe who accompanied him to Northmolton was his jailer rather than one of his retinue under attainment with him. Mostly because John Pencombe received land at North Molton. More reading of the early records might provide that answer. 

So a few items to work on this month along with the gardening.  All this traveling by the Prime Minister and those who accompany him in several capacities as these tend to be the opportunity to showcase Canadian industry around the world. Mostly I am not watching the news or reading the news unless it is archaeological or about DNA. The Prime Minister has things in hand along with his Cabinet. I am hoping that the Opposition will find a way to help to support getting our young employed in the trades and in the military. There are jobs and these jobs are all fantastic right at the greatest changes in research and development and not sitting at a desk inputting data  which an AI will soon do much faster and with greater efficiency. Grab hold of these exciting opportunities and every elected and those wanting to be elected should be out there in their constituency helping this to happen. 

Time to do the Solitaire Puzzles.  

More shopping

 Once you get started shopping it does get to be a must do that as well experience. However, I believe we are finished for a bit. Two new sets of drapes for windows that needed a change (for both the existing blind was simply worn out; did its duty through the years) and they are all up now and we are pleased with the end result. They both work; that was my main criteria. My daughter though had thoughts on how she wanted them to look so went with that as it saves me thinking about it. My husband was usually the one who got such activities going as my interest is low in that so long as it works. I am simply not a shopper; have little interest in the ups and downs of fashions and avoid shopping times that are intense. 

Consequently because I had holes to file and sanding to do I did not accomplish much other than that yesterday. A little bit of painting to do here and there and also some staining where the holes were filled. That I can do although in the past Edward would have done most of it other than my helping when he wanted a second pair of hands at work. 

Today perhaps some research. I opened the file and that was about it; nothing beyond that yesterday. I had another email from the member of the Hinxman family which is most interesting as we both pursue information on our family lines in the Andover, Hampshire, England area. His line had arrived in the mid 1500s with mine appearing to have been there for quite a while prior to that. The proofs though are what I am looking for and some do exist which is helpful. I have documents which I must transcribe and the time for that is coming as I start to create the genealogical charts. 

My mind was too busy yesterday to continue strolling back into time. Just occasionally something brings back little memories and in retrospect they point out to me my character. Was I too polite as a younger person? I never think you can be too polite but perhaps you can be too welcoming sometimes although that is not a characteristic I would give myself but more something that Edward was comfortable at. We were often opposites in how we approached items but that was often a very good trait I feel in retrospect. Not having close relatives outside of my own personal large family of six siblings, parents, grandparents and one uncle  and aunt only, no first cousins, I did not have his sense of closeness to what I have always deemed as strangers particularly and that includes second cousins etc. However, I did have my fifth cousin in for tea a while ago but we do know each other from our mutual work in DNA. That was an amazing discovery finding Susan in the midst of all that endogamy that exists in my Knight-Butt-Arnold-Ellis family. She relates back through the Ellis family which is very large. 

So today some work on Gedmatch and perhaps the rest of my matches there which might be interesting will be completed. Slowly I am collecting up any missed matches this past six months. I am considering creating a family tree on 23 and Me to follow their suggestion that I could see a DNA pattern emerge for relatives (I would assume they are referring to phasing grandparents). It would be an interesting exercise to see what they come up with in this regard. 

Time to do solitaire puzzles and I am a little late with breakfast although I have already had a snack with my exercise routine.  

Moving on to the second cleaning day

 A bit late today and I am into the second cleaning day - the main floor. With all the snow and the slush there will be a little more cleanup around the front door for sure. But we have a good setup with book trays and a tree for coats which keeps it all there pretty much. 

Worked on Chromosome 8 and completed it yesterday with a little finishing up today. The section that I think is early American colonial in the Blake family continues that way in my calculations. Mixed in with that are some good matches in England and Canada in the present time. The only Blake in the Andover family that I know for sure was in colonial America was Joanne Blake married to Roberte Sedgewicke 6 Jan 1634 at St Marys Andover, Hampshire, England and none of these trees go back to this couple thus far plus I believe this is a Knight match on the great grandparent side.  There are many matches in common where I find the matches in Ancestry so this does appear to be a pile-up area exclusively for me in the Knight-Butt-Arnold-Ellis families from the Winterbourne, Dorset, England area. In the 1500s/1600s they were in Newfoundland area but one can see in the trees of some that they moved from there to the American colonies in the early 1700s. One strong match in the group goes back to John Butt and Jean O'Ford who married 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland, Dorset, England. In general their descendants are well known to me and it does make me think that this particular pile-up area may be regionally common as all of these families (Arnold, Butt, Ellis, Knight) that come from that general area in Dorset that I am able to locate on trees back that far namely in the Winterborne area, west, south and east of these many small villages. 

I will move on to Chromosome 7  and this one has lots of Pincombe matches, Blake and Rawlings somewhat fewer and no Buller matches where the individuals matching are known to me. But there are some good lengths of the ones known to me (eleven cousins in total). There are 77 matches in total and quite a few are from Ancestry as well as My Heritage, 23 and Me, FT DNA and Living DNA. 

Cloudy out today and apparently rain is possible. There is good snow cover and the temperature is 1 degree celsius. Perhaps no skiing for me again today we will see.

Must get some work done. Solitaire puzzles not yet done. The morning is passing quickly.  

 

Downsizing and a couple of new tasks

 Downsizing is great but a new task emerged which I had not considered before now. In our trips to the Northern United States in particular over the last fifty years we visited a lot of graveyards deep into the woods on occasion and took pictures of the gravestones of Edward's ancestors. There are two binders of these pictures (not actually part of the 40 plus binders that are under current survey) and I have resolved to put them into a *.pdf file and publish them as ancestral photos of gravestones and I think his index tells where they are located (hopefully). A smallish project really as just two binders but it has a greater likelihood of happening. What to do with the binders when I have completed the task? I could ask the OGS Library if they want them and will probably do that but the actual images are all scanned and in the backups so do not need to keep these printed pictures at all. 

So another task to do but it could be a diversion whilst I work on the cross-over points using the Living DNA data for the five siblings. I did begin with that yesterday and have Chromosome 1 completed as coming directly from the Living DNA data. I will work with this data somewhat as it is influenced, I think, by the points that have been selected by this company as testing points for DNA matching. Where there are very small gaps in particular I can ignore those as cross-over points as they are likely just a product of the methodology used for the actual running of samples. I note that it shows up quite strongly in just one sibling. The problem areas that I found with the original phasing is showing up quite consistently in these new match results and were truly ambiguous so that was good to find as well. 

I do want to get together the journal that I still contribute to the OGS Library along with some family newsletters and get them to the library. It is hard to believe that it is a year since I last took them a box of items. What I thought was a real stack is really just a few items actually as it included a box which turns out to be a bankerbox full of back-ups that we need to review and discard if they are backed up adequately in the present. These backups go back to the last century! 

Edward was very consistent in backing up all of his material from a very early time in the life of computers but then he did work with electronic messaging systems almost from his arrival at CISTI where he worked for 30 years. When he was there, retired in 2004,  it was a busy place heavily involved in research but then Prime Minister Harper sold the library to the United States which was pretty weird at the time and remains pretty weird. Why would anyone sell or close up libraries as he did - it will be forever a black mark against him trying to destroy research and gag researchers preventing them from attending particularly foreign conferences. Life moves forward always and if you do not like the research perhaps one should examine why that is rather than suffocating research. 

The oil industry must survive the perils of research the same as all other industries have overtime. Research perfects the system to make it better, safer and more economical. It was such items that cost the Conservative Party their control of government  in Canada. A return to the Progressive Conservative fundamentals is what is needed in order for them to win again - I am after all a Conservative but a great believer in science and its value in the human sphere. Attacking the Prime Minister on a personal level continues to be a no-go for me unless he is breaking the law. I do not care what stocks he owns if they are in a blind trust. Obviously the man is not stupid and does know where his money is likely invested. I haven't seen anything yet that I do not like that he is doing. He is walking a very fine tightrope dealing with this tariff issue and I was accepting of his saying that likely there will be a tariff in the end on Canadians exports to the United States that are not covered by CUSMA but we can do a claw-back on American imports just the same to match. Farm management is never up for change because we will protect our family farms! I mean putting tariffs on us at the time was unkind (which is basically a very weak comment on my part) considering the close and honest relationship between us and stripping shelves here of American products was just a tit for tat and continues thus.  That is life and the government coffers here need money to manage projects which are huge to come in this country once acceptance is gained by all involved parties (we let our local industries go over the past fourty years but now we can re-invent them and build this country to be the great powerhouse it will be). Roll up the sleeves and lets get to work building this energy corridor that 85% of Canadians voted for. Re-invent the industries that were destroyed by free trade over the past fourty years and get our youth working at meaningful work not sitting behind a desk staring at computers. The Americans will always be our friends though and for some of us our cousins!

So today is another research day. Yesterday I completed the fifth sibling's extractions from the Living DNA site. There are 230 new files to put into my databases and I have completed the first couple of them yesterday.  I have one new folder that will include all of those files that demonstrated endogamy and have already built the file structure for that as they will primarily be part of the Knight family (my great grandmother (wife of Edward Blake) and includes a number of family lines - Knight, Arnold, Butt, Ellis, and a couple of other ones where blocks of data are composed of sticky pieces of DNA coming down from these ancestors and looking like just one grandparent but are in reality coming down from several different great great great grandparents and can be readily distinguished and separated. These particular matches will not form part of the larger system that I use looking at new matches but rather just to illustrate the areas where endogamy is occurring and lets me slot these matches into the correct family line coming down from those 3x great grandparents. 

The smoke  slowly dissipating with Air Quality now at 69 which is still above good but not too bad. It is just 23 degrees celsius but feels like 28 degrees celsius apparently and rain is coming likely as the humidity is 94%. 

Drinking tea and solitaire puzzles are next and then breakfast.  

 

 

 

Preparing for License Renewal

I shall start reading the  Official Ministry of Transportation Driver's Handbook today just to sharpen up my memory of the rules. I only need my license to drive to the grocery store and back in actuality as I do not go out of my area on the roads anymore. I am too busy and I hate shopping so have no need to go anywhere actually except for food which I can have delivered. However, I will go and renew my driver's license as it is handy to have. Who knows I might have to drive someone to the hospital or something like that in an emergency but for the most part at nearly 80 emergency is a word in my past for sure. 

Today is the second cleaning day and it is an all day affair for the most part although I take breaks. The main floor and the basement get the cleaning today. Yesterday went very well and was accomplished primarily in the morning. Today is another day of the heat wave and at 7:00 a.m. it was 19 degrees celsius and at 7:45 it is now 21 degrees celsius and brilliant sunshine. I have the windows all covered with drapes etc at the back where the sun shines in. The air conditioner is working well and set at 24 degrees celsius although it doesn't come on very often generally mostly the dehumidifier runs. 

Still have moving on the brain and gearing myself up to downsizing once again for this move. No idea when I will move but the where is gradually coming into view although I doubt that I will have a clear thought on that before next spring. But move I need to do as this house is too much work for me. 

No work done on the extraction of matches and probably not today either but back to that tomorrow likely. I would like to complete the last sibling's extractions so that I can start entering them into the database. I will also be paying attention to the endogamy and recording that on a separate database now that I have a clearer picture of the involved chromosomes where we all inherited from the Knight-Arnold-Butt families and how they break down into these family lines. The Routledge is actually more difficult and I may not yet have adequate information although the number of matches with Routledge has increased exponentially with the Living DNA results which is not surprising as most of those cousins are still in England with just Thomas Routledge and his wife Elizabeth (Routledge) Routledge coming to Canada in the late summer/early fall of 1818 and my first Canadian colonials with their daughter (married a Gray and they are my 2x great grandparents) also born in England with them along with their other eight children (one daughter already married came with her husband and children as well). However the footprint of this family is not that large in that most of the sons never married (and had no children) with just one son marrying and he and his wife had nine children and all three daughters married where the bulk of the descendants continue into my generation although the one son who married was the father of seven sons and two daughters so quite a few descendants in the Routledge surname there. But primarily the relatives remained in England. 

I would really have liked to have seen the session in Parliament last much longer this year (surely a couple of weeks off in the summer is adequate given the present situation) and some movement towards the energy corridor right across Canada. However, I am still willing to give the Prime Minister a break (a honeymoon) so to speak and I think that the news sources should do the same after all what they write is read especially on line and we must continue our trend of support (85% of Canadians voted for the platforms put forward by the major two parties Conservative and Liberal) for the government to get the job done. Internal trade seems to be coming together with the hurdles between the provinces coming down and it is what we buy and sell everyday in our country that is most important - trade is a luxury; nice to have when it works for us but otherwise the internal sales in a country are the most important. 

The weekend plus at the cottage was good for me. Left me a bit disorganized as we had to shop more than once for groceries and with our downsizing had taken items to Salvation Army as well as mailing boxes to cousins of Edward's material so quick trips here and there in my socks and shoes with a dress. It must have looked very 1950s for sure! 

Drinking tea and solitaire puzzles are next. Then yoga and breakfast.  

 

An afternoon of golfing

 We did eighteen holes of golf yesterday (well I only did 14 by then I had had it and didn't want to be in the way so just watched as my daughter played her last four holes. We didn't golf last summer at all so it was two years but it was a lovely day for a walk and I thoroughly enjoyed my walk and what golf I did do. The golf course was very busy yesterday but kept moving along. 

Looking out this morning at what little of the sky is actually visible. The one side of the window is pretty much completely blocked and about 95% of the other window although it is bright enough to type without turning on the light at 5:30 a.m.   

Perhaps today some kayaking and walking (the walking for me) as I do enjoy a walk along the beach in the summer. It was very busy last weekend and pretty much every parking spot was taken up. We have a pass which allows us to park for that minimum fee but does not promise a parking spot but it is handy not to have to stand in line and collect your parking pass plus we generally go three or four times a week so is probably cheaper. 

Worked on the Living DNA matches yesterday and I am on page 7 of the third siblings matches. Hope to complete that set of matches today and move on to the fourth sibling. I also want to start to work on the files to be used for phasing of the grandparents and great grandparents. I anticipate a few changes here and there mostly created by the endogamy in our lines particularly the Knight family and the families that feed into it namely Butt, Arnold, Ellis and a couple of other ones. But also the Routledge family which tended to marry second cousins or greater through the generations (my 3x great grandparents were 2nd cousins once removed - Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth (Routledge) Routledge. The Oakshaw branch of the Routledge family were particularly known for their close marriages through the centuries. But also Nicholas Blake married his first cousins Margaret (Blake) Blake and later Richard Blake married Joan (Blake) Blake but their relationship is less obvious (she could be a Blake from the Andover Blake family or from the Calne Blake family.  Then further back the Blake name itself in the Andover Blake family was acquired likely in the late 1200s/early 1300s when I postulate that a daughter of Richard le Blak married a John (no surname known) of Knights Enham. To me it is a logical statement as choosing the surname Blake when it was already held by several different well known families in the British Isles seemed rather strange but the advantage to a Norman marriage would have been huge for sure in now-Norman England having been conquered by William of Normandy in 1066! By the early 1300s most of the large land holdings were in Norman hands although the actual property holdings further down remained basically the same and many of the large landowners under King Harold retained their lands in return for swearing fealty to the Norman Kings. 

Perhaps outside and more work on the weeds - I need to weed the bricks along the sides of the laneway and a little weeding out front. One bag of weed pullings went out to the garbage yesterday. That cleared out the rhubarb patch and raspberry patch in the back right garden patch. Never an end of weed pulling for sure. The hostas keep the weeds down along the right side but the left side needs a lot of work. The sunflowers are growing now and very visible - my daughter hoed out the large weeds but left a little greenery with hopes that the rabbits wouldn't eat up all the sunflowers before they get to grow!

Up early and will have a nap a little later so that I am ready for a good long walk in the afternoon! Slowly approaching 80 and a nap on some days might just be beneficial. Tea to drink and solitaire puzzles to do.  

Two Thought Provoking Sermons

Yesterday I did attend both Anglican Services - one here at Christ Church and one at St Peters and St James Hereford. Both had two extremely thoughtful sermons which provoked a good deal of thought in my brain throughout the day and this morning I found myself going back to the thinking pattern and contemplating Solomon and his wisdom once again (although the sermons themselves looked at the Trinity but one of the readings in the week was about Solomon and his talk with God). Greed and hate have raised their ugly heads once again in our world and although it has been sitting as an undercurrent for quite a while especially in the case of Iran's hatred of Israel but the Russian desire to commit genocide against the Ukrainian people is also a long lasting plan on their part dating back over the century past. Iran has created three sycophants to carry out their satanic plots against Israel namely Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. This satanic murder of six Palestinians who were helping with the US food distribution group is just the continuing usage of the Gazan peoples as collateral damage in the Iranian war against Israel which has been relentless throughout the last couple of decades. That a people would allow themselves to become willing to be the collateral damage and even allowing their children to be killed in order to satisfy the hatred of the Iranian government for Israel continues to confound the world (why did they not send them to safety!). Palestinians need to destroy Hamas not the other way around - they must stop being willing victims. Then the equally satanic leadership of Russia has destroyed the glory of the Russian people for their extreme sacrifice during the Second World War as they fought night and day to cast off the Nazi invaders in their country. Satanism must be gone from our world - the Iranian leadership and the Russian leadership (and North Korean leadership for that matter); so long as it endures then there will be useless waste of people and property namely the Israelis, the Palestinians and the Ukrainians. The picture is constantly coming into clearer and clearer view of the need of the world to eliminate these satanic peoples so that we can have peace.

More work on the Living DNA matches yesterday and some interesting ones that have three out of four of my grandparent lines appearing to come together in another family (very occasionally generally just two lines). Given my own lack of first cousins, few second cousins but all known to me and hundreds and hundreds of third cousins I do anticipate the possibility. However I always find this a little suspicious but I must remember in England in particular many of my lines became quite large in the 1800s (John Blake and Ann (Farmer) Blake (my 2x great grandparents) had 54 grandchildren many of whom had large families). The Buller families in Birmingham (particularly the daughters marrying into other lines) had a dozen children in some lines. The Knight/Butt families that went to Lancashire in the late 1800s also had large families (again my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents). So it is possible but some of the lengths are quite long but again I do have endogamy in those Knight/Butt lines where two different Knight/Butt lines come together as sticky lengths of chromosomes giving me longer lengths than one would anticipate in third or fourth cousins. The possibility of marriages between my lines is much greater in England than here where the proportion of English descent is smaller and in particular 100% as mine is.  But I will continue with that today along with the cleaning. Basement today and it is already set up to run the Robot vacuum cleaner. I have to establish the perimeter for the vacuum to remain on the rug which I must set up each time and that takes perhaps four minutes give or take. 

Drinking my lemon ginger tea and will do my solitaire puzzles.  

 

Shopping

My least liked outing yesterday as we made the rounds of the Farmer's Market (excellent vegetables), then the grocery store and that went pretty smoothly (a list makes that short work), but then we still had two more places to go. The first accomplished of those two and then the latter one we ended up at St Laurent Plaza looking for a particular couple of items although I regretted not just going to Place as it is closer but we found them and 2.5 hours later we were on our way home again caught in Rush Hour traffic. No more shopping for a bit; I really do dislike shopping. 

Some work on the matches on Living DNA and I have now completed the first 4 of 50 pages of matches sorted on genetic distance. There are four sorts which are probably more than adequate but missing the one sort that I really like on the other sites - sorting by the largest single centimorgan result.  But I do like the features on the Living DNA site and I realize that British people who possibly predominate the site it appears to me look at DNA differently from North Americans likely. Because all of my relatives are going to be British descendant with a few slightly different ones but still primarily have some British ancestry my results resemble those of British people more than say American/Canadian but reading the Living DNA site results is different from the other databases as you have a set of Islands (and when I am referring to British in this instance I am including all of those islands in the British Isles which includes the Irish Republic) that has sent people around the world but in general the flow of DNA is fairly constant in the British Isles with incoming variety that gradually works its way into the population and basically disappears into that population over the generations. I went to page 7 of the matches out of curiosity displayed as genetic distance and the second person on this page is primarily of British heritage likely by the surname but that doesn't always hold true and he matches my Pincombe line on both of his shared chromsome lengths (in total he matches four out of five siblings on both and five out of five siblings on just one). So in theory I still have a ways to go before I run out of data that is meaningful to my search. Plus I have only pulled data for one sibling namely myself but there are far fewer singleton matches to any sibling in this database thus far which is different from the other databases where a single sibling sometimes is the only match out of five for individuals that do not have 100% British DNA inheritance. We all, my siblings, have inherited on occasion an unbroken chromosome from one or other of our grandparents and the number of times this has occurred is striking actually looking at five siblings but that is one of my reasons for wanting to also do my great grandparents as we have endogamy in two lines - Routledge (two 3x great grandparents were 2nd cousins once removed in a family line which tended to always marry cousins) and Knight/Butt where a number of siblings in several generations married their cousins (not always first or second) but it does mean that you have sticky pieces that are actually from different lines of a named family but appear to be solidly passed but not in reality when you really look at the passage of material. Further back we have two Blake cousins marrying in the 1500s and again in the mid 1600s thus increasing the lengths of chromosomes passed. Interesting really as in this generation we have all married into entirely different DNA backgrounds although limited to European inheritance which includes early Colonial America with my husband and my son in law with his 95% French ancestry including early Quebec ancestry and a few links to First Nations through the centuries. DNA is really quite fascinating and will be the centerpiece of medical research in the future. 

Politics here in Canada continue to be interesting as the Throne Speech has now passed the house successfully - given the temperature of the electorate anything else would not have been forgiven and would ensure a Liberal majority. Eighty five percent of Canadians voted to follow the platforms of the Liberal and Conservative parties and they were very similar so lets get the job done and stop grandstanding. The new Prime Minister is very interesting in that (unlike earlier ones in this century he does not grandstand but rather follows the team approach which is rewarding - I just need that approach to be economically sound given the last administrations by the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau). On with the show; shovels in the ground and work happening to build this economy back up after the years of free trade with the United States. I actually had no problem with the free trade (life was reasonable) but it decimated our local industries through the years (the Americans who bought them out then went off shore because they didn't want to pay high wages in the United States to their employees in their greed for more money decimating the American economy) and we need to rebuild our economy along with pipelines and other energy needs to create this national energy corridor and free ourselves from any dependence on any country. Canada is a powerhouse of natural resources and human ability - lets get this show on the road. Parliament could consider working through the summer for a change and speed it all up. Who actually gets three months holidays plus every year! If I see that they are working in their ridings then that works or doing research that is valuable use of the money that I pay in taxes but otherwise they could be in Ottawa getting things done. The situation is urgent. 

Tea drank and solitaire puzzles next then into DNA research once again. Some exercise breaks and no more shopping - done with that for sure for a few days. Perhaps some gardening if the smoke is gone. It descended last night for a bit. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Shared Workaholic tendency and Monday morning

Edward and I share a workaholic tendency although he is more prone to being sociable than I ever was. For me, as a child, being sociable was what my mother requested of me and as an adult I have avoided social experiences in as much as possible. I love to read and work away at things although when my children were small I couldn't always do that and didn't as they came first. Learned that from my mother as well. But as luck would have it my children were quite amenable to an organized day so that by the time they were three they would sit beside me and do "their work" as they called it. The coffee breaks were longer for them for sure and generally involved a long walk to have a look at the world and discover birds, trees, plants along the way or watch favourite movies. I did take the girls to play group and my older daughter enjoyed it more perhaps because she was an only child for such a long time but my younger daughter on her first day there quietly confided to me that she would rather be at home working and we never went back! I do think we are all workaholics in this family as Edward has many projects but he put everything together for his various projects and passed them on before and during COVID and published everything that he wanted published. 

I am busy writing all of these books I have thought about since I ventured into Surname Studies back in 2003 and mostly when DNA became the driver of my genealogical pursuits around 2005 after the Pincombe Profile was completed. George DeKay would be amazed to see the result of his persuading me to write the Pincombe Profile for sure. The Siderfin book revised and published. Blake and Pencombe books in the starting phases. Buller book on the back burner. Rawlings being thought about occasionally but one of my third cousins in Australia has written up quite a bit on the Rawlings. Then I get back another generation and I have Knight (Winterbourne villages, Dorset), Cotterill (Kimpton, Hampshire it appears but not conclusive on the surname)?, Gray (Holme on the Wolds, East Riding of Yorkshire), Taylor (Birmingham family, shoe/boot maker - a small company, was contacted by a descendant which was interesting). Would I ever take up books on these four lines? The Gray is written up by my cousin George DeKay but  he wanted to revise and update it and I said I would help him if he wanted but he passed away and COVID did rather get in the way of that. That would mean a revise and update of his book but I wouldn't do all the families that  he did without other contributors - I do not know most of them actually. For me it would be a Gray-Routledge book perhaps looking at the descendants of the Routledge family here plus my research back in Bewcastle. My cousin though has a lot of work on line for the family beyond Bewcastle back into the Highlands of Scotland. There have been books on the various Knight families and I rather think I would need to be on the spot to do that one as there are a lot of Knight families and the same goes for Taylor I expect. The next generation (2x great grandparents - would be Farmer (Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire), Butt (Winterbourne villages, Dorset), Sherwood (Cotterill married Sherwood at Kimpton)??, Lywood (there is a one name study for Lywood and Warwick Lywood has done great work for sure), Rew (same areas  as Siderfin, have done some work on this line because of the Siderfin book and just interest), Routledge (my cousin (perhaps 7th) Thomas Routledge is doing a wonderful job with this family in England), Welch (huge family although I have traced my line back into Rugley Staffordshire several generations) and Roberts (Bickenhill, Warwickshire for a couple of generations before Birmingham). 

Perhaps one can go to far back! I think at this point (3x great grandparents) I would become selective and pick some of the unusual 4th great grandparents and further back surnames and work on them - Cheatle (Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire), Croxall (Bickenhill, Warwickshire), Lawley (Wellington, Shropshire), Hemsley (Southwark, Surrey), Sproxton (Hutton Cranswick, East Riding of Yorkshire), Charlie/Charly (Combe Martin, Devon) and the list keeps going back! But there is just one lifetime for each of us and we do what we get done for sure. I did learn that from Edward who enjoyed the OGS now Ontario Ancestors Ottawa Branch so very much. He never really missed a meeting all those years before COVID taking me along after he got tired and his friend became ill and he found the drive home long. He loved being able to go and do the things he wanted to do anytime that he wanted knowing I was quite content that he enjoy his life. I loved all that precious time at home after I retired working away on Surname Studies which in itself is rather amazing being very late to arrive at an interest in such things. His greatest regret was not traveling across the ocean much much earlier - like when I proposed we backpack around the British Isles and Europe after he finished his PhD in 1970. It would have been fun for sure.

On to the day. This is basement cleaning day and today work on the Blake book - looking at Andover and area. 

Attended the DNA meeting - Alexa is a great way to remember

The DNA meeting was interesting. I tend not to get too into matching lengths that are less than 25 centimorgans but some of these lengths do pass intact generation to generation and down the cousin paths. It is surprising sometimes although mostly seen in endogamy which I have in my Knight/Ellis/Arnold/Butt families so that the matches can be quite large as much as second cousin but they are actually fourth cousins and it is these stubborn pieces that simply pass to everyone it would appear. These families all lived in the Winterbourne Valley of Dorset in a series of villages that are all about one to two kilometres distant from each other. In my families a number of siblings married the siblings in another family (Knight and Butt) and they were already related further back thus creating a huge collapsing pedigree which I tend to think of as endogamy but not quite the same as found in some ethnic families that are closely related. It is more of a collapsing pedigree. I have that in this line and again in the Routledge line where my 3x great grandparents were both Routledge and both of the Oakshaw Routledge family from Bewcastle, Cumberland. All of those Routledge families may collapse back into one set of grandparents. I stopped working on it when my 7th cousin Thomas Routledge took it over.

I did a little survey listening to the DNA meeting as well on my five sibling results and discovered that a thesis put forward that there is an increasing tendency for whole lengths of chromosome to be passed intact from one generation to the next as parents age was actually right on. Since my parents are twelve years apart I did a quick calculation and discovered that there was an 80% chance that the passage by my father of an entire length of chromosome to one of us as compared to only a 20% chance that the same would be true of my mother and actually there are very few lengths of chromosome that are singly passed on my mother's side (only four out of 22) but on my father's side looking at all five of us and summing up there were 17 out of 22 chromosomes. Of course this is divided over five siblings and over 22 chromosomes. That is interesting I suspect from a medical point of view perhaps. The longer the length perhaps the better because you do not split lengths. Makes sense. Anyway interesting and thought provoking as if I didn't already have enough thinking to do. I actually received the entire length unbroken of one of my chromosome 1s from my father which was from his father but could be a combination from his parents (Edward Blake and Maria Jane (Knight) Blake). I would need to look at all my matches (and I have a lot actually as many members of my Blake family have tested at all of the different sites giving a lovely combination (most (more than 95%) are living in England to this day). Only my grandfather and his brother came to Canada with the rest remaining in England (he had eleven siblings).

Today I continue with the Siderfin book and I am reaching towards the end of the 11th generation. I am into the Pincombe family now and it is about four pages and then another perhaps twelve pages to complete the entire generation leaving me with the final generation which will not include anything beyond 1920. Then I can make a decision on the autosomal DNA chapter. Footnote the appendices if I think that is appropriate - these are primarily chunks of material from James Sanders book and what may have been very apparent 100 + years ago to the reader does sometimes need a little extra explanation. 

On to the proofreading and indexing as I go. Breakfast time.  Church on You-Tube today - All Saints. All Saints day is actually November 1 and I used to go to Church before School for some services in my High School days. I always loved that service remembering the Saints of the Church.

30 emails left

The last 30 emails have finally been reached. They all need a response of one sort or another. They range from 2017 to 2019 although most are 2019. They have all had a preliminary response (mostly I will get back to you when I get a chance) but each one require me to work through one of my descendant lines.

It will be nice to be finished. I would like to get back to the Blake wills. I also want to get back to writing up the children of my 2x great grandparents John Blake and Ann Farmer. I am working on child # 4 of 10 children. One is written up, my great grandfather, and three of them have smaller families but three of them had quite large families so will take some time to finish them and move on to Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt, the parents of my great grandmother Blake. A woman described to me by my father as being a very warm person with long blond hair braided and wrapped around her hair like a crown he used to say. I have a picture of her with her hair arranged that way. He loved going to see her in Goodworth Clatford where they lived when he was young. His grandfather was strict and he had to always mind him but his grandmother adored him he said.

25th British Isles Family History Conference

The BIFHSGO Conference was an outstanding success. Although I missed Friday's night's lecture due to other commitments (as well as any workshop I might have attended), the Saturday and Sunday lectures were works of art to put it mildly. Every speaker more than exceeded any expectations I had.

What did I like the most? Probably the lectures by Blaine Bettinger as DNA is my strongest interest at the moment. I like to do the tree research but mostly I like to assemble the DNA into my grandparent's likely donation to their children, my parents. I want to move backwards in the New Year and start to reconstruct my great grandparents and several of Blaine's lectures gave me thoughts on how to proceed with that. As a very early supporter of DNA Painter, I was pleased to see Blaine's approach to utilizing this particularly well designed tool for looking at DNA.

I brought up one question concerning a rather good 2nd cousin match that arrived in my Ancestry account. I was especially a good match with the range for my other three siblings being third and fourth cousin. I knew almost immediately that this was likely on my father's paternal grandmother's side and when the individual wrote to me I said that he was likely matching me in the Knight family. Being very new to DNA he thought a second cousin match was a second cousin and quite often it is! However, I come from a somewhat unusual situation in that I do not have any first cousins and most of my second cousins are half second cousins. All of my second cousins are known to me but one shouldn't be too boastful in that regard! However, I could not see any of my relatives who could have had a child in England that was adopted by a couple who went to New Zealand and that that child would be my direct second cousin. The age differential was also interesting. I have very long generations in my family with my grandparents born in 1872, 1875, 1876 and 1886 with the latter three born in England (lived in England to adulthood and my father was born in England). The 1872 grandfather was born in Westminster Township, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. He was the only child who survived to adulthood in his family and his only grandchildren are myself and my siblings. Mind you he had a lot of first cousins. But this match was definitely on my father's side as he matched several of my known Knight cousins. The tester was in mid 40s and I am in my mid 70s!

I mentioned to the tester that I was descended from a Knight line that had a second cousin marriage at the 3x great grandparent level (Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight were 2nd cousins). This was the most recent common ancestor for most of those Knight matches. A number of my matches descend from Samuel Knight my 2x great grandfather who married Louisa Butt. Two of Samuel's siblings married two of Louisa's siblings making for lots of double cousins in that generation. Louisa Butt's parents were Charles Butt and Hannah Arnold (my 3x great grandparents) and fortunately they were not, as far as I can tell thus far, related. Hannah Arnold's parents were William Arnold and Elizabeth Molton and their daughter Sarah married a brother to Charles Butt (Joseph Butt) and in 1840 they emigrated to Canada with their ten children, Sarah died in childbirth a year later and Joseph married Ann Trewin in 1843 and they had eight children. Most members of the Butt family in Canada are probably related to me but that digresses. As a result of all of this intermarriage an endogamous situation has arisen in my Knight-Butt-Arnold family lines. That has mostly created this rather large match that I have with the tester. He is more likely a fourth cousin and does possibly share DNA with me on my paternal grandmother's side. I am still working on her line perhaps not enthusiastically enough as there is one large match with the tester that I can not match although likely on my paternal grandmother's side.

My paternal grandmother was raised by her mother and stepfather and really considered them her family. No mention was ever made of her actual father and other than her original birth certificate I would not have any particular clues as to his possible name. Her name at birth Ada Bessie Cotteril Rawlings and recorded on the census as Ida Rawlins (with her maternal grandparents in 1881), Bessie Taylor (with her mother and stepfather in 1891) and Edith B Taylor (working as a cook in the Manor House at Kimpton Hampshire in 1901). On her marriage registration she is listed as Edith Bessie Taylor. I do have matches in the Rawlin[g]s line that are not descendant of the Rawlings family lines. I would need to have a match with a descendant of a half sibling if I am correct in my thoughts on whom the father might be. Thus far that has not happened. The possible father was married three times with eight children.

The tester does not appear to match on my mother's side thus far and I have quite a few matches for her side on both of her parent's lines.

But I digress from the conference which was a wonderful event and I am looking forward to next year's event.

Ancestry DNA Circles - # 3

Although I like all the testing companies for various reasons, Ancestry's DNA Circles are a real treat for me. When I started my research no one had researched my lines other than the work done by my Pincombe cousins as far as I knew. As I moved backwards in time, my parent's stories and then my grandparent's stories aided me when I had to make choices. When those avenues ran out DNA suddenly started to be rather interesting keeping me on the narrow path backwards.

With 3 DNA Circles I am now looking backwards to my 4x great grandparents and being assured that in those three lines I have been accurate.

That includes my Pincombe line which has Robert Pincombe as my 3x great grandfather and that is certainly true and my 25 cousins that have now tested very much verify our relationship. The matches recently with cousins have extended this line back to the late 1500s and my 9x great grandfather Richard Pincombe but more on him another time.

It also includes my Blake line which has Maria Jane (Knight) Blake my great grandmother and wife of Edward Blake. Her paternal Knight line goes back to Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight (likely 2nd cousins) who were my 3x great grandparents and their line easily goes back another two generations with the parish records (and paper trails). In this case, my latest DNA Circle is capturing her maternal line with her mother having been Louisa Butt daughter of Charles Butt and Hannah Arnold. Charles Butt, my 3x great grandfather, is my third DNA circle.

Also including my Rawlings line with my great grandmother Elizabeth (Rawlings) Taylor daughter of  William Rawlings and Elizabeth (Lywood) Rawlings. With the help of the Lywood research project and other Rawlings researchers this is taken back quite readily to William Rawlins who married Mary Foord and they are my 5x great grandparents. The circle itself is based on Jeremiah Rawlings their son and my 4x great grandfather.

That leaves my maternal grandmother's line where I am able to trace her father back several generations but her mother is somewhat of a mystery due to the inability to locate the marriage record between Edward Denner Buller and Ellen Taylor. Perhaps one of these days a DNA circle will emerge as I have a number of DNA matches with Buller cousins but not so many at Ancestry.,

Newfoundland and Dorset/Devon

My siblings and myself (5 in total thus far) have quite a few matches with people whose families emigrated to Newfoundland in the past 300 years from Dorset and Devon. Some of these matches end up looking like 2nd to 4th cousin but in reality are more distant than that since I can not match them up with my known lines. As it turns out, I know my lines in Dorset and Devon back at least to my 4x and 5x great grandparents and further in quite a few of these lines.

Some of these surnames Butt, Jeanes and others are showing up on a regular basis. The Butt line I find especially interesting as a Butt researcher (research below attributed to this researcher for the most part) has traced our mutual lines back to Robert Butt who married Susan Cantrell (baptized 18 Aug 1585 at Winterborne Stickland) 13 Apr 1607 at Winterbourne Stickland, Dorset. This couple baptized eight children at Winterborne Stickland or other as mentioned below:

William Butt baptized Sep 1610
Jane Butt baptized 17 Dec 1611
Francis Butt baptized 27 Feb 1613 and buried 13 June 1623 at Winterborne Stickland
Robert Butt baptized 22 Sep 1616
Simon Butt baptized 27 Jun 1619
Thomas Butt baptized 31 Mar 1622 at Winterborne Houghton
John Butt baptized 28 Nov 1624
Francis Butt baptized 18 Feb 1626

Thomas Butt appears to be my ancestor and he married Elizabeth (unknown). Thomas was buried 16 Jun 1668 at Winterborne Stickland and his wife was buried 15 May 1687 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized two sons at Winterborne Stickland:

William baptized 24 Aug 1665
Thomas baptized 10 Dec 1667

William, my likely ancestor, married Elizabeth Lemon 27 Jul 1696 at Winterborne Houghton and they baptized five children at Winterborne Houghton:

William Butt baptized 28 May 1697
Mary Butt baptized 15 Nov 1700
Elizabeth Butt baptized 3 Jun 1702 and buried 3 Jun 1702 at Winterborne Houghton
Thomas Butt baptized 5 Nov 1704 and buried 6 Nov 1704 at Winterborne Houghton
 John Butt baptized 14 Apr 1707

My likely ancestor William married Susanna Foster (baptized 10 Dec 1696 at Winterborne Stickland) 31 Jan 1729 at Winterborne Stickland. William Butt was buried 29 Jun 1774 at Winterborne Stickland and Susanna (Foster) Butt was buried 17 Feb 1775 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized five children at Winterborne Stickland:

Robert Butt baptized 15 Feb 1731 and buried 3 Mar 1731 at Winterborne Stickland
William Butt baptized 6 Jan 1732
Susanna Butt baptized 6 Sep 1734
John Butt baptized 6 May 1736
Martha Butt baptized 16 Jun 1738

My likely ancestor John Butt married Mary Rolles (baptized 15 Apr 1740 at Wimbourne Minster) 9 Aug 1762 at Winterborne Clenstone. John Butt was buried 6 Jan 1820 at Winterborne Stickland and Mary (Rolles) Butt was buried 4 Mar 1811 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized six children at Winterborne Stickland or other as mentioned below:

Sarah Butt baptized 19 Nov 1765
Joseph Butt baptized 24 Jun 1766
John Butt was baptized 11 Dec 1771 and buried 15 Sep 1772 at Winterborne Stickland
John Butt baptized 10 May 1776 at Winterborne Clenstone
Deborah Butt baptized 8 Jun 1783
William Butt baptized 18 Nov 1786

At this point my research is added into the research of this earlier researcher (and indeed I have verified all the dates above in the records now available online). My ancestor John Butt (baptized 10 May 1776) married Jean O'Ford (baptized 27 Jun 1773 at Milton Abbas) 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland. John Butt was buried 6 Jan 1850 at Winterborne Stickland and Jean (O'Ford) Butt was buried 3 Feb 1848 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized seven children at Winterborne Stickland or other as noted below:

Charles Butt baptized 25 Dec 1801
George Butt baptized 16 Oct 1803
Joseph Butt baptized 11 Aug 1805 at Winterborne Clenstone
Robert Butt baptism not located
Maria Butt baptized 18 Feb 1810 at Winterborne Clenstone
Bethaniah Butt baptized 5 Apr 1811 and buried 26 Nov 1811 at Winterborne Stickland
Stephen Butt baptized 12 Oct 1815

All of the lines of these siblings have been traced down by me mostly well into the 1900s thus leading me to deduce that the Butt family which we (my siblings and I) match in Newfoundland must be descended from the earlier branches of this family.

The Winterborne villages in Dorset all lie within a few kilometres of each other. It is a very quiet beautiful piece of Dorset and when we visited there was a low hanging haze over the valley looking down from the Church of St Nicholas at Winterborne Clenstone. Rolling fields stretched away in all directions from this high point. Has it changed very much? I suspect a good deal in some ways as there were more people in this area when my ancestors were there in the 1700s and 1800s and into the early 1900s. The wars perhaps changed that a lot but along with that the mechanization of agriculture rendered all those workers to be no longer needed in the agricultural industries of this area.

Maybe one of these days I will be able to discover our matches with the many Newfoundland families in our kits. Endogamy probably plays a part making the matches seem closer.

Charles Butt was a Methodist Preacher along with his agricultural duties. My grandfather knew this great grandfather of his but mostly from a distance as Charles lived at Turnworth near the end of his life. He did however spend some time with his then over 80 year old great grandfather and shared with me a little of this man who was born in 1801. Amazing the span of years that represents. My grandfather was born in 1875 and I was born in 1945 so I had the opportunity as a child of 8 years of age (the year my grandfather passed away) to listen to stories of a man who lived at the beginning of the 1800s (144 years before I was born). My grandfather liked to talk about how life had changed from then to when he died in 1953.

The ARNOLD family of Milton Abbas, Dorset

A flurry of emails back and forth discussing the Arnold family at Milton Abbas between myself and Jill Morley who has been collecting Arnold material for over 30 years. She runs an active Facebook group on the Arnold family.

Likely Jill and I are related but she is unable to find earlier material on her direct line.

My Arnold line has fallen neatly into place back into the 1600s at Milton Abbas but I am stuck there with James Arnold married to Sibyl unknown. Sibyl was buried at Milton Abbas 28 Jul 1673. This couple baptized six children at Milton Abbas.

Henry baptized 4 Jan 1651
Mary baptized 12 Sep 1654
unmamed baptized 18 Nov 1657; buried 19 Nov 1657
Ann baptized 27 Mar 1661
James baptized 4 Oct 1663 (married Mary Hardy 1 Nov 1694 at Milton Abbas)
John baptized 4 Oct 1663 (married Melionor Leave 17 Oct 1692 at Milton Abbas)

These two younger sons trace their line down at Milton Abbas with my line being James Arnold married to Mary Hardy. They baptized six children at Milton Abbas.

Mary baptized 8 Mar 1694
James baptized 25 Feb 1697 (married Honor Lovell 26 Jun 1721 at MIlton Abbas)
John baptized 21 Apr 1702 (married Susannah (unknown) circa 1725)
Ann baptized 19 Oct 1704 (married Peter Hause)
Jane baptized 13 Apr 1712; buried 18 Aug 1712 at Milton Abbas
Jinny (Jane) baptized 4 Mar 1714

MA/4 1742 = this is the will of James ARNOLD of Milton Abbas dated 25 June 1742 Proved 8 August 1743 Mentions Wife: Mary ARNOLD Son: John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House. Daughter: Jinny Appoints wife Mary as Executor

MA/3 1744 = this is the will of Mary ARNOLD (wife of the above) of Milton Abbas Mentions: son John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House Grand daughter: Honor Daughter: Jinny executor

http://www.dorset-opc.com/Miscellaneous/ArnoldWills.htm

My ancestor was John Arnold married to Susannah and they baptized seven children at Milton Abbas.

John baptized 4 Aug 1725 (married to Hannah Norris 7 Jul 1751 at Milton Abbas)
James baptized 1 Feb 1726
Jane baptized 29 Jan 1728
Mary born circa 1730 at MIlton Abbas
William baptized 26 Jan 1732 (married to Ann Riggs 4 May 1755 at Cheselbourne)
Susannah baptized 19 Mar 1734
Thomas baptized 21 May 1737

My line is John Arnold married to Hannah Norris and they baptized eight children at Milton Abbas.

Mary baptized 8 Apr 1752 (married to Stephen Elford 27 Apr 1780 at Milton Abbas)
John baptized 17 Mar 1754
Jane baptized 20 Oct 1756
Joseph baptized 24 Oct 1759 (married to Susanna Best 18 Jul 1781)
Hannah baptized 18 Aug 1762 (married to John Hooper 21 Mar 1791 at Milton Abbas)
Susannah baptized 2 Oct 1765
William baptized 21 Feb 1770 (married to Elizabeth Molton 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas)
Ann born circa 1773 at Milton Abbas (married James Vacher 26 Jul 1796 at MIlton Abbas)

My line is William Arnold married to Elizabeth Molton and they baptized six children at Winterborne Whitchurch and three or four children at Winterborne Clenstone

Thyrsa baptized 25 Mar 1791 (married Robert Tuffin 3 May 1814 at Winterborne Stickland)
Abel baptized 11 Mar 1792 (married Mary Lewis 6 Feb 1816 at Winterborne Clenstone)
Charles baptized 1 Dec 1793
Hannah baptized 18 Jan 1795 (married Charles Butt 26 Dec 1820 at Winterborne Clenstone)
Jane baptized 10 Jul 1796
Mark baptized 25 Mar 1798
Sarah baptized 15 Sep 1799 (married Joseph Butt 7 Jun 1824 at Winterborne Clenstone)
Elim baptized 11 Jan 1801 (married Mary Ann Cuff 24 Apr 1821 at Winterborne Whitchurch)
Ann baptized 8 May 1802

Mark baptized 15 Jul 1821 at Winterborne Clenstone (married Emma Hook)
This last baptism was said to be the son of William and Elizabeth Arnold but it is 19 years after the baptism of Ann. Not impossible Elizabeth would have been 55 years of age.

My line continues down from Charles Butt and Hannah Arnold. They baptized seven children at Winterborne Stickland.

Thurza baptized 11 Mar 1821 (married Thomas Knight 10 Nov 1844 at Turnworth)
Abel baptized 15 Feb 1823 (married Martha Knight 8 Feb 1850 at Turnworth)
Josiah baptized 15 Jan 1826; buried 24 Jan 1826 at Winterborne Stickland
Louisa baptized 27 Jan 1827 (married Samuel Knight 7 Sep 1849 at Winterborne Stickland)
John born circa 1830 at Winterborne Stickland (married Jane Gumbleton 13 Apr 1857 at Winterborne Stickland)
Arthur baptized 5 Jan 1834 (married Jane Cross sep quarter 1853 in Blandford RD)
Nehemiah baptized 15 May 1836

Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt are my ancestors. Interesting that three Knight siblings married three Butt siblings. Samuel and Louisa baptized eleven children at Turnworth including their eldest Maria Jane.

Maria Jane baptized 27 Jan 1850 (married Edward Blake 29 Oct 1870 at Upper Clatford)

This couple were my great grandparents and their son Samuel George Blake my grandfather. I have traced these lines down and only my grandfather and his younger brother Henry came to Canada with the rest of the family remaining in England. This family has kept in contact into the 2000s with my husband and I visiting the grandchildren of the youngest son of Edward Blake and Maria Jane Knight in 2008.

I did know from childhood that Charles Butt had married Hannah Arnold and that this family lived in the Winterborne area of Dorset. Going back from Hannah involved research on my part along with a cousin of mine Robert Arnold.

William Arnold (1770 - 1855)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 24

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

William Arnold is my 4x great grandfather. He married Elizabeth Molton 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas. William was baptized 21 Feb 1770 at Milton Abbas the son of John Arnold and Hannah Norris who were themselves married 7 Jul 1751 at Milton Abbas. In my last challenge I talked about Jane O'Ford who was baptized at Milton Abbas and the coincidence of a child of hers Charles Butt marrying a daughter of William Arnold this week's challenge. That coupled with the surname O'Ford only really being found on Find My Past. It has occurred to me that I should check FreeReg but again did not found an O'Ford family but did find a Durnford family at Marnhull although no Jane baptized in the 1770s. I also wondered if there were any original records online at FMP for the O'Ford family just to see this visually but I was correct in my memory that they were all transcriptions. Carrying on with the Arnold family and the siblings of William can be found below.

John Arnold and Hannah Norris baptized eight children at Milton Abbas:

Mary baptized 8 Apr 1752; married Stephen Elford 27 Apr 1780 at Milton Abbas
John baptized 17 Mar 1754
Jane baptized 20 Oct 1756
Joseph baptized 24 Oct 1759; married Susanna Best 18 Jul 1781 at Milton Abbas
Hannah baptized 18 Aug 1762; married John Hooper 21 Mar 1791 at Milton Abbas
Susannah baptized 2 Oct 1765
William baptized 21 Feb 1770; married Elizabeth Molton 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas
Ann Arnold (no record of baptism, circa 1773); married James Vacher 26 Jul 1796 at Milton Abbas

William Arnold and Elizabeth Molton baptized seven children at Winterborne Whitchurch and three at Winterborne Clenstone:

Thrysa baptized 25 Mar 1791; married Robert Tuffin 3 May 1814 at Winterborne Stickland
Abel baptized 11 Mar 1792; married Mary Lewis 6 Feb 1816 at Winterborne Clenstone
Charles baptized 1 Dec 1793
Hannah baptized 18 Jan 1795; married Charles Butt 26 Dec 1820 at Winterborne Clenstone
Jane baptized 10 Jul 1796
Mark baptized 25 Mar 1798
Sarah baptized 15 Sep[ 1799; married Joseph Butt 7 Jun 1824 at Winterborne Clenstone
Elim baptized 11 Jan 1801 at Winterborne Clenstone; married Mary Ann Cuff 24 Apr 1821 at Winterborne Whitchurch
Ann baptized 8 May 1802 at Winterborne Clenstone
Mark baptized 15 Jul 1821 at Winterborne Clenstone; married Emma Hook

John Arnold (father of William) was baptized 4 Aug 1725 at Milton Abbas son of John and Susannah Arnold.  John and Susannah baptized six children at Milton Abbas:

John baptized 4 Aug 1725; married Hannah Norris 7 Jul 1751 at Milton Abbas
James baptized 1 Feb 1726
Jane baptized 29 Jan 1728
Mary baptism not found, birth circa 1730
William baptized 26 Jan 1732; married Ann Riggs 4 May 1755 at Cheselbourne
Susannah baptized 19 Mar 1734
Thomas baptized 21 May 1737

John Arnold (father of John) was baptized 21 Apr 1702 at Milton Abbas the son of James Arnold and Mary Hardy (no proof of this but generally accepted that her surname was Hardy). They baptized six children at Milton Abbas and both left a will.

Mary baptized 8 Mar 1694; married William Lovell
James baptized 25 Feb 1697; married Honor Lovell 26 Jun 1721
John baptized 21 Apr 1702; married Susannah ?
Ann baptized 19 Oct 1704; married Peter Hause by 22 Mar 1722
Jane baptized 13 Apr 1712
Jane (Jinny) baptized 4 Mar 1714

Will of James Arnold - abstract only -  will of James ARNOLD of Milton Abbas dated 25 June 1742 Proved 8 August 1743 Mentions Wife: Mary ARNOLD Son: John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House. Daughter: Jinny Appoints wife Mary as Executor

Will of Mary Arnold - abstract only - will of Mary ARNOLD (wife of the above) of Milton Abbas Mentions: son John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House Grand daughter: Honor Daughter: Jinny executor

James (father of John) was baptized 4 Oct 1663 at Milton Abbas son of James and Sibyl Arnold. James and Sibyl baptized six children at Milton Abbas.

Henry baptized 4 Jan 1651
Mary baptized 12 Sep 1654
Baby baptized 18 Nov 1657 (born dead); buried 19 Nov 1657
Ann baptized 27 Mar 1661
James baptized 4 Oct 1663
John baptized 4 Oct 1663

The Protestation Returns (1641-42) for Milton Abbas have the following entries:

Henry Arnold, gent
Wm Arnold
David Arnold
Henry Arnold
John Arnold

Richard Arnold  - Constable

Given that the first son of James and Sibyl was named Henry then perhaps the father of James was Henry and there are two available in the correct time frame. However, I have not yet found information to link James to his father. That can be the object of my research today along with finding marriage dates that are missing and missing wife's surnames. From the records below it could also be that this family has come from Helton parish (I suspect this is Hilton which is just 2 miles from Milton Abbas) noting William Arnold is the father of a Henry who married 6 Apr 1655 Sara Vincent at Milton Abbas. Interesting but not conclusive results and one notes that there wasn't a James Arnold listed in the Protestation Returns. To be on the returns usually the individual was 18 years of age or older so born before 1624.

A few extraneous records gleaned reading the Parish Registers at Milton Abbas:

Henry Arnold was born son of Henry and Sara Arnold 12 Apr 1650; buried 11 Jun 1650
Richard Arnold, gent, was buried 11 Feb 1652
Davee Arnold was buried 27 Mar 1653
Tobias Painter and Alace Arnold were married 2 Oct 1654
Henry Arnold (helton parish, son of William Arnold) and Sara Vincent (daughter of William Vincent) banns published three times (March 1654) and married 6 Apr 1655
Unknown Arnold daughter of Henry and Sara Arnold born 10 Jan 1655; buried 1 Feb 1655
Henry Arnold was born son of Henry and Sara Arnold 12 Apr 1657; buried 11 Jun 1657
John Arnold son of Henry and Sara Arnold 9 Jul 1658; buried 23 Dec 1658
Jone Arnold wife of William Arnold was buried 17 May 1659
Sara Arnold was baptized daughter of Henry and Sara Arnold 27 December 1663
Sibbell Arnold wife of James Arnold was buried 28 Jul 1673
Mary Arnold was buried 22 Jun 1674
Robert Arnold of Ansty, gent, was buried 27 Mar 1677
Mary Arnold was baptized daughter of Henry and Margarett Arnold 13 Oct 1678
Ann Arnold was baptized daughter of Henry and Margarett Arnold 19 Oct 1680
Avice Arnold was buried  24 Oct 1680
Mary Arnold was buried 10 Nov 1682
Joseph Arnold and Mary Roger were married 18 Apr 1687
Ann Arnold was buried 13 Mar 1688
John Arnold was buried 14 Sep 1690
Henry Arnold was baptized son of Henry and Margarett Arnold 26 Dec 1690
Jame Arnold and Joane Arnold were married 1 Nov 1693
Jane Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Joane Arnold 6 Aug 1695
Robert Arnold was baptized son of Henry and Margarett Arnold 6 Dec 1696
Elizabeth Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Joane Arnold 11 Aug 1698
John Arnold and Jone Arnold his wife were buried 6 May 1700
Ann Arnold of Henton was buried 13 Aug 1718
Henry Arnold was buried 16 Nov 1721
Mary Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Honour Arnold 11 Oct 1722
Mary Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Mary Arnold 5 Nov 1723
Honour Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Honour Arnold 29 May 1724
Thomas Arnold was baptized son of James and Honour Arnold 31 Dec 1725
Robert Arnold was baptized son of James and Mary Arnold 21 Apr 1727
Margarett Arnold was buried 5 Nov 1727
Robert Arnold was baptized son of James and Honour Arnold 9 Nov 1727
Margaret Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Mary Arnold 11 Feb 1729


The registers for Hilton are on the OPC Dorset site:

Hugh Arnold was baptized 3 Nov 1626 son of John Arnold
Joane Arnold was baptized 8 Apr 1629 daughter of Mr John Arnold of Frome Aller
Agnes Arnold was baptized 6 Sep 1629 daughter of William Arnold of Aller
Ralph Arnold was baptized 11 Sep 1631 son of John Arnold of Twin Aller
Margaret Arnold was baptized 16 Feb 1631 daughter of William Arnold of Aller
Richard Arnold was baptized 16 Aug 1635 son of William Arnold of Aller
Elizabeth Arnold was baptized 9 Mar 1635 daughter of William Arnold of Ansty
Elizabeth Arnold buried 19 May 1638 daughter of William Arnold
John Arnold and Judith Keines married at Hilton both of Aller 17 Jan 1642
Abraham Arnold baptized 30 Jul 1643 son of John Arnold of Aller
Thomas Arnold of Pecke Mill buried 3 Dec 1645
William Arnold of Aller buried 6 Feb 1660
Elizabeth Arnold buried 21 Jul 1661
Alice Arnold widow of Newton buried 10 Feb 1662
Thomas Rogers of Ibberton and Margaret Arnold of Aller married 3 Nov 1663 at Hilton
Thomas Mathews of Tinckleton and Sarah Arnold of Milton married 17 Mar 1680 at Hilton
Mrs Margaret Arnold widow of Ansty buried 18 Nov 1684
John Arnold of MIlton Abbas and Jane Parsons married 16 May 1738 at Hilton

Still no sight of James Arnold but an overall search on the OPC Dorset site yielded 132 results for "James Arnold" but none of the results added to the available information thus far on James and his wife Sibbel. This was an interesting search through the records. Many of them have been added to greatly in the past couple of years. Although I did not add any new information, looking at the Arnold family at Milton Abbas and the O'Ford family also there has led to some rather interesting blogs!

The Protestation Returns for Hilton (spelled Helton in this return) have the following:

John Arnold
Robert Arnold
William Arnold junior

William Arnold overseer (possibly senior?)

Ancestry of William Arnold:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Louisa BUTT (b 27 Jan 1827) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
6. Hannah ARNOLD (b 13 Dec 1797) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
7. William ARNOLD (b 21 Feb 1770) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
8. John ARNOLD (b 4 Aug 1725) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
9. John ARNOLD (b 21 Apr 1702) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
10. James ARNOLD (b 4 Oct 1663) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
11 James ARNOLD

Jane O'Ford or Durnford (1771 - 1848)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 23

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Jean/Jane Durnford married John Butt 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland, Dorset. She is said to be the daughter of Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball but at this time of looking once again at Jean/Jane I have not found anything further about her nor is it possible to verify her parents having been given them by another researcher back in 2004. The date of baptism was also given as 29 Sep 1771 at Winterborne Stickland which is about three years earlier than the death registration indicated but will not let that determine my final thought as it could be in error.

John and Jane Butt had seven children baptized at either Winterbourne Stickland or Winterbourne Clenstone (mostly at Stickland). These two places are very close together with Clenstone being a very small village where my husband and I spent a short while in 2008. Their eldest son Charles married Hannah Arnold (the Arnold family will be the next 52 Ancestor Challenge) 26 Dec 1820 at Winterbourne Clenstone. Their daughter Louisa married Samuel Knight 7 Sep 1849 at Winterbourne Stickland and their eldest daughter Maria Jane married Edward Blake 29 Oct 1870 at Upper Clatford and they were my great grandparents.

Jane Butt's burial lines of 3 Feb 1848 give her age as 74 years or year of birth circa 1774.

Possible matches at Find My Past:

Jane baptized at Newton Tony, Wiltshire 19 Jun 1775 daughter of Thomas and Lydia Durnford
Jane baptized at Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire 9 Jun 1771 daughter of Thomas and Grace Durnford
Jane baptized at Etchilhampton, Wiltshire 31 May 1773 daughter of Thomas and Bridget Durnford

The daughters of John Butt and Jean Durnford are named Maria and Bethaniah so that isn't helpful in determining the correct parents although Mary Ball comes closest. I have pretty much left this alone the last ten years because I couldn't find anything to prove the Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball incorrect.

Newton Tony is 33 miles from Winterborne Stickland/Clenstone.
Upton Scudmore is  28 miles from Winterborne Stickland/Clenstone
Etchilhampton is 38 miles from Winterborne Stickland/Clenstone.

Since there are very few Durnford families in Dorset I think looking at Wiltshire is a reasonable thought. However, I am really stepping out of the box as most people are sticking with Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball which I find to be a dead end in terms of learning anything about them.
Given the names of their sons I am left to wonder if Jane's father is Thomas since the sons are named: Charles, George, Joseph, Robert and Stephen.

After ten years of being brickwalled with all the online records I am left to wonder if Thomas Durnford married to Mary Ball really exists. Why didn't John Butt and Jane Durnford name one of their sons Thomas. Mind you the name Thomas does appear in great grandsons of this couple.  However this could have more to do with the forenames of some of the inlaws that married into the Butt family.

This is not a day of great gains but more a day of refreshing what I do know about Jane Durnford and it is still not very much. Lots about her descendants nothing particularly about her ancestors. I have made the decision however to change my website to remove the earlier information.

I am left with the thought that her name is simply spelled completely wrong on the marriage registration. I did a search on Find My Past and found in the area of Winterborne Stickland:

Jane O'Ford baptized 27 Jun 1773 at Milton Abbas daughter of Thomas and Ann O'Ford
Jane Coffin baptized 12 May 1773 at Durweston daughter of Henry and his wife (twin)
Jane Head baptized 15 Oct 1775 at Durweston daughter of John and Jane Head
Jane Horlock baptized 5 Apr 1772 at Blandford Forum daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Horlock
Jane O'Ford baptized 1 Jun 1769 at Winterborne Stickland daughter of William and Elizabeth O'Ford

Have I perhaps solved a mystery. That Jane/Jean's surname is actually O'Ford? The process of proving it could be rather interesting!  There is only one entry for O'Ford in FreeBMD but there are a number of entries on Find My Past for this family in Dorset. Did the name simply change? The name Oxford appears in Free BMD in Dorset in this area. What happens to the O'Ford surname in Dorset? The OPC Dorset site for Milton Abbas does not have the baptism I found on Find My Past. There is both an Oxford and an O'Ford family at Milton Abbas. There is also an Alford  and an Elford family at Milton Abbas. This is a mystery that I would love to solve. I suspect that I may be moving to the correct path. The surname O'Ford is not listed in Reaney or Titford (Dictionaries of English Surnames), nor is it listed in MacLysaght's surnames of Ireland. It is also not listed in Rowlands Surnames of Wales. Did the priest who married John Butt and Jane Durnford mishear the name Durnford? Looking at their marriage registration I note that William Elford has signed as a witness along with William Tizzard. John Butt (husband of this Jane) also signed the parish register. Both of these men William Tizzard and William Elford) did sign the registers on occasion so did not think anything of that. But there is a William O'Ford baptizing a daughter Jane 1769 at Winterborne Stickland. The year of birth seems too early but the coincidence is amazing. I never see anyone writing the name Durnford. Everytime it is written it is the priest writing it. I would be more curious about the daughter of Thomas and Ann from Milton Abbas as being the correct Jane just because of the year of baptism. The record that was originally used by most people is from Family Search:

It is a patron submission and I think it is just incorrect as I can not find this couple anywhere including in All Cannings where the Durnford family is quite numerous. I am noting however that the father was Thomas and that the Thomas O'Ford at Milton Abbas is baptizing a daughter Jane in 1773. But can I find a Thomas O'Ford marrying an Ann? There is a Thomas Elford buried 30 Sep 1798 at Winterborne Stickland.

There is a strong temptation to move to this family at Milton Abbas as the parents of this Jane. There is a Thomas O'Ford baptized 23 Jan 1729 at Milton Abbas son of John and Frances. There is also a Thomas O'Ford baptized 28 Jul 1741 at Tarrant Monkton son of John and Mary. Tarrant Monkton is just 8 miles from Winterborne Stickland. 24 Jul 1761 Thomas O'Ford was buried at Milton Abbas. There was also a Thomas O'Ford buried 23 Dec 1810 at Milton Abbas. Why do I only find the O'Ford family on Find My Past! Searching on just O'Ford between 1710 and 1750 yields 228 results in Dorset. There can be good news in some of this abstract searching and I found a Bethiah O'Ford baptized 20 Oct 1736 at Milton Abbas daughter of John and Frances. This is similar to one of the forenames of the children of John and Jane Butt.

Marriages of O'Ford at Winterborne Stickland:

Benjamin O'Ford married Mary Sheppherd 3 Sep 1737

William O'Ford married Elizabeth Williams 3 Jul 1764

Finding Bethiah is very very interesting. Thomas O'Ford baptized 23 Jan 1729 as mentioned is also the son of John and Frances. John O'Ford is baptized 20 Sep 1728 at Milton Abbas son of John and Frances. What can I find out about John and Frances O'Ford? Also Thomas O'Ford at Milton Abbas baptized a daughter Jane in 1773. I feel that I have within that measure of doubt found a reasonable family line for Jane. Certainly the other line can not be proven. I am curious if I will receive any comments on this blog from my relatives in Australia who have studied the Butt family in great detail! and also cousins in England who have done the same. This could also, perhaps, account for some of that Irish ancestry that I appear to have with my DNA testing. Jane is my 4x great grandmother and could have influence on my ethnicity. The oldest entries appear to be in the 1720s. I do not find this surname in the Discovery Catalogue on the National Archives website.

In total there are 551 results for the O'Ford surname in Dorset on Find My Past. There are 1773 O'Fords in a general search on Find My Past for Britain. Of the first 40 entries, 39 are in London in the Westminster Rate Books.There are a few records in the late 1600s in London. Some of these surnames are spelled Oford. When I get a chance I will update my webpage!

Ancestry of Jane O'Ford mispelled as Durnford perhaps:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Louisa BUTT (b 27 Jan 1827) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
6. Charles BUTT (b 21 Dec 1801) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
Possibly and interestingly
7. Jane O'FORD (b 27 Jun 1773) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
8. Thomas O'FORD (b 23 Jan 1729) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
9. John O'FORD

Elizabeth Molton (1766 - 1838)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 9

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, unknown, Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, Durnford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Ann (unknown), Sherwood, unknown, Habberfield, Collings, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Canham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Elizabeth Molton, another of my 64 3x great grandparents, married William Arnold 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas, Dorset. For a few years I had Elizabeth's surname as Malton from a trancription of their marriage lines but a cousin of mine checked the original documents in the Dorset Record Office and found the surname was Molton. That set us off on an interesting journey. We both had found the baptism of an Elizabeth Molton 20 Apr 1766 at Winterborne Whitchurch daughter of William and Sarah Molton (and it was known that her husband William Arnold had been baptized at Milton Abbas). We could now claim Elizabeth as our own which was a rather comfortable addition as Elizabeth had been quite brickwalled for ages for my cousin and for me from the beginning of my research time in 2004.

However, we could not find a marriage for William Molton and Sarah although did find the baptism of William 2 Aug 1743 at Winterborne Whitchurch and the burial of Sarah 13 Jan 1799 at Winterborne Whitchurch. They baptized six children at Winterborne Whitchurch namely:

Thomas baptized 11 Jun 1764 and buried 10 Feb 1765 at Winterborne Whitchurch
Elizabeth baptized 20 Apr 1766
Jane baptized 24 Jun 1769 and buried 20 Apr 1771 at Winterborne Whitchurch
Stephen baptized 12 Jan 1772
Jane baptized 1 May 1774
William baptized 7 Apr 1782

Searching through Find My Past for William Molton I came across an interesting marriage at Winterborne Clenston: William Malton married Sarah Seafear 5 Jan 1764 with witnesses James Masterman and Thomas Clerk. The witnesses were often to be found on marriages at this parish (I am the online parish clerk for Winterborne Clenston but had not noticed this marriage before).

There is also a baptism at Winterborne Whitechurch 2 Aug 1743 of William Molton son of John and Elizabeth Molton. This I had found earlier.

Other children baptized by John and Elizabeth Molton at Winterborne Whitechurch

Jane baptized 2 Jun 1749
Robert baptized 29 Nov 1753
John baptized 18 Jan 1756

Again a new marriage on Find My Past and it is at Turnworth with John Molton marrying Elizabeth Durden 12 Aug 1740. John is of Winterborn Kingston (at the time of his marriage) and Elizabeth of Winterborne Whitechurch. Turnworth is close to Winterborne Clenstone and Winterborne Whitechurch.  We visited all of these sites in 2008.I had found earlier the baptism of a John Molton 20 Jul 1714 at Winterborne Whitechurch son of John and Elizabeth Molton. There was a John Molton buried at Winterborne Whitechurch 24 Jul 1784 and an Elizabeth Molton buried 18 Jun 1781 at Winterborne Whitechurch wife of John aged 67 years.

There was also a John Molton (senior) buried 29 Apr 1747 at Winterborne Whitechurch aged 64 years and an Elizabeth Molton (widow of John) buried 14 Dec 1768 at Winterborne Whitechurch. The following children are baptized at Winterborne Whitechurch children of John and Elizabeth Molton (John Molton said to be of Milton, generally thought to refer to Milton Abbas but a website on abandoned communities is giving me second thought as there was a town of Milton midway between Dorchester and Blandford).

Mary baptized 2 Jan 1710
Thomas baptized 24 Aug 1712
John baptized 20 Jul 1714
Mary bpatized 24 Jul 1721
Betty baptized 30 Jan 1723

Although in terms of generations I have not added to the Molton family I have fleshed out a few more details which was the intent of my 52 ancestor challenge!

Ancestry of Elizabeth Molton

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Louisa BUTT (b 27 Jan 1827) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
6. Hannah ARNOLD (b 13 Dec 1797) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
7. Elizabeth MOLTON (b 20 Apr 1766) - Winterborne Whitchurch Dorset England
8. William MOLTON (b 2 Aug 1743) - Winterborne Whitchurch Dorset England
9. John MOLTON (b 20 Jul 1714) - Winterborne Whitchurch Dorset England
10. John MOLTON (bc 1683)

I do not know anything about Elizabeth other than her parents at baptism, her marriage to William Arnold and the children that they had and her death date. She lived in Winterborne Whitchurch all of her life it would appear although they married at Milton Abbas (the home of William Arnold). I know that her great grandparents John and Elizabeth Molton were buried at Winterborne Whitechurch and baptized all of their children there but do not have a marriage for them nor do I know their parents or where they were baptized. These furtherest back in her line on the Molton side were my 7x great grandparents. I have learned her mother's maiden name of Seafear but nothing more about her mother.

William Arnold and Elizabeth Molton would have ten children although some list the youngest Mark born 19 years after the youngest as the son of Sarah (daughter of this couple). Her daughter Hannah was my 3x great grandmother and she married Charles Butt and my last challenge was John Butt the father of Charles.