52 Ancestor Challenge - Benefits

Doing the 52 Ancestor Challenge and for me looking at 52 of my 64 4x great grandparents has been a very beneficial procedure. I have corrected some material. I have found information that had passed me by since I last looked at some of these lines. I have added generations to some of my lines. The latest find was a correction for the surname of one of my 4x great grandmothers married to George Lywood and her surname should be Lanham/Lannum not Canham. I never could find a Canham even close to Wiltshire let alone in Wiltshire so this has been a major find.

The eight 4x great grandparents that are left out will include four of the ancestral lines for my great grandmother Ellen Taylor. I only have family lore to connect her back in time so I will leave that until we have been to Birmingham (Warwickshire) and done the planned research there. I will do an unknown Taylor likely as I suspect he is from Ireland.

I want to do this project again next year but it will be the 3x great grandparents of my daughters and son in law. That will mean doing 32 for our son in law as I have found all of them and then 16 for my husband as again he has found all of them and four of my 2x great grandparents which should be the parents of Ellen Taylor which I hope to have made a breakthrough on after our trip to Birmingham plus two others.

It is sort of a make over process except I have already proven most of my 3x great grandparents's lines so proceeding to the 4x great grandparents was a marvelous idea.

Canham family of West Harnham, Wiltshire

Elizabeth Canham married George Lywood 18 Jul 1780 at West Harnham, Wiltshire. I know only a couple of items about Elizabeth.

1. Elizabeth and George had three known children:

Jane was born circa 1781 at West Harnham and married James Tyneham 9 Aug 1797 at West Harnham

John was baptized 22 Jan 1784 at West Harnham and married Ann Meaden 28 Sep 1808 at Odstock (they had six children: Mary Ann, William, Thomas, John (died as an infant), Andrew and Emma)

 George baptized 7 May 1786 at West Harnham and married to Martha Peck 26 Oct 1817 at Milston (they had four children David, John Elizabeth (my great great grandmother) and George)
 
2. Elizabeth was buried 9 Feb 1829 at Odstock, Wiltshire and she was 77 years of age so born circa 1752.

All of the Information on Elizabeth was acquired from Warwick Lywood who runs the Lywood one name study at the Guild of one name studies. He did not at that time know her parent's names.

In my first research post on this family I mention Fugglestone St Peter but that is because George (whom she married) was baptized 11 Nov 1750 at Fugglestone St Peter).

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2011/04/canham-at-fugglestone-st-peter.html

In the past two years I have not looked at this family as life has just been too busy. I think that I will spend my hour research time looking to see if anything new has appeared. Then I will change this research day to another surname if I am not finding anything.These records following all from Find My Past.

There was an Elizabeth Canham baptized 18 Feb 1750 at St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Canham (born 7 Feb 1750). There was a Canham family still in London (Boyd's Inhabitants) early in the 1800s with John Canham and Elizabeth his wife (John was born 1777). They lived at St Benet's Pauls Wharf. An Elizabeth Canham of Middlesex left a will December 1780 (SOG). There were 31 marriages for Elizabeth Canham between 1762 and 1814. 17 of the marriages were in Suffolk, 4 in Cambridgeshire, 4 in London or Middlesex, 3 in Lincolnshire, 2 in Essex and 1 in Kent.

The Public Profiler for Great Britain shows that the highest frequency for the Canham surname continues to be Suffolk with very few in Wiltshire in 1998 and in 1881 there were none in Wiltshire with again Suffolk being the location for the highest frequency. I believe that I shall leave this surname and move on to another.

For my next research day I shall look at the Carter surname with two of my 4x great grandmothers being Ann Carter married to Thomas Blake and Mary Carter married to Thomas King. These families being at Andover and Upper Clatford respectively.

To speed up looking at the Lywood family I will transcribe the next Lywood will today.

Canham at Fugglestone St Peter Wiltshire

The surname Canham has always been a brickwall ever since Warwick Lywood passed me the name of the wife of George Lywood (baptized 11 Nov 1750 at Fugglestone St Peter). George Lywood and Elizabeth Canham married 18 Jul 1780 at West Harnham. Elizabeth was buried 9 Feb 1829 at Odstock at the age of 77 giving an approximate year of birth as 1752. Looking at the Surname Profiler (World) shows the highest density for this surname to be in the British Isles, second highest in Australia/New Zealand  with a much lower frequency in North America. The village of Fugglestone St Peter is one mile east of Wilton and basically on the way into Salisbury these days. We passed by the roadsign on our tour of England.

The surname Canham is a locational name and the greatest frequency of this surname is in East Anglia with a slightly lower level in Wiltshire. In 1881 there were 49 occurrences per million names and in 1998 there were 51 occurrences per million names. It is thought to be a British name. Looking at the Protestation Returns for this area and Fugglestone St Peter includes Quidhampton and Bemerton and is listed in the Protestation Returns as:

Foulstan and Quidhampton

Uryah Bankes, curat
Thom Baker, churchwarden
George Bacon, churchwarden
William Scammell, overseer
John Feltham
Jarvise Hillman
William Ellis
John Ward
William Richards
Thomas Benger
George Feltham
Edward Feltham
Oliu Abun
John Froth
Roger Blake
Nicholas Blake
Thomas Gibbs
Mathewe Gibbs
John Mackerell, senior
John Mackerell, junior
Gilbert Watkins
Roger Meryvall
Edmond Targett
Richard Brashier
Edmond Ellis
John Thringe
Charles Blake
Randoll Bolton
Nicholas Topp
John Cooper
Roger Bacon
John Bacon, junior
John Bacon, senior
William Bacon
Richard Bacon
John White
William Privett
John Higgons
Henrey Best
Robert Elliott
Robert Starr
John Griffith
Richard Abyn

Bemerton

Adam Ranger, curat
Robert Bower
John Moowdye
Leonard Cooke
Thomas Ward
Robert Ward
Thomas Biggs
Henrey Ranger
Thomas Stevens
Thomas Cooper
William Bacon
John Grey
John Best, senior
John Best, junior
Thomas Ward
Nicholas Subdeane
Edward Ward
Robert Sheppard
Richard Goodfellowe
Richard Best
Humfry Creed
Richard Croatch
Vincent Fugar
Richard Daniell, senior
Henry Spelt
Richard Daniell, junior

I did not find a Canham family in this particular parish but the marriage was in West Harnham and the Protestion Returns:

West Harneham

John Fox, Minister
Richard Beevis, Churchwarden
John Jeffery, Churchwarden
Anthony Blethman, Overseer
John Bacon, Overseer
Robert Elliott, Tythingman
John Younge, gent
Steven Bowman, gent
Roger Langley
Richard Elliott
Henrey Orpen
William Dyer
Phillipp Mintorne
William Gigges
Thomas Barber
William Adlam
William Strugnell
Robert Thomas
Josias Luxan
John Stone
William Limington
Christopher Orron
William Crosman
Richard Laurence
James Lake
John Higgins
Richard Thomas
John Samuel
Richard Quent
John Strugnell, senior
John Strugnell, junior
John Jefferye, senior
William Randoll
John Randoll
John Jeffery, junior
William Jeffery
Richard Jeffrey, senior
Richard Jeffrey, junior
Richard Elliott
Bennett Jefferye
Joseph Mitchell
Walter Haylock
Thomas Head
William Mintorne
George Waterman
Oliu' Whinge
Henry Jefferey
Abraham Strange
Isaack Snelner
Nicholas Jefferey
John Stent
Robert Lymington
William Jefferye
William Ward
John Parker

I have begun my Protestation Returns from the Wiltshire Notes and Queries into a flat file it would appear. No sign of the Canham family in West Harneham.

I need to purchase the West Harnham Parish Register fiche to see if there is anything in the register that might give me details on the Canham family. I wonder if they have filmed the original parish registers? Hampshire Record Office did an absolutely superb job of filming their parish registers.

It would appear that in eight weeks when I look at this family again I shall be checking on family trees on World Connect and Ancestry to see if anything further has been posted which might give me some clues on this family.

George Lywood and Elizabeth Canham are my 4x great grandparents and the parents of George Lywood (baptized 7 May 1786 at West Harnham) and married to Martha Peck 26 October 1817 at Milston.

Lywood Family of Wiltshire - Milston, West Harnham, Fugglestone St Peter, South Newton and Fovant

Most of the work on the Lywood family has been done by Warwick Lywood in his one-name study on Lywood with the Guild of one name Studies. When one looks at the World Profile site of the Lywood surname and I received a surprise because I had only looked at the British Isles profiler before for this surname, the highest frequency for the surname is in Canada at 2.52 per million with the United Kingdom at 2.01 per million and then three European countries - Denmark (0.33), Netherlands (0.32), and Norway (0.28). The top region is the Northwest Territories where the frequency per million shows 110.33 (one does not generally think in millions in the Northwest Territories of Canada :) as there are only 43,529 people living there).

My Lywood connection runs back through my paternal grandmother's line. Her mother Elizabeth Taylor (née Rawlings) was the daughter of Elizabeth Lywood and at that point the name enters into my tree. I have a picture of Elizabeth Lywood probably at a nursing home as the person beside her looks like a nursing sister. She died 2 Jul 1904 at Kimpton (actually at my great grandmother Elizabeth Taylor's home - Elizabeth must have slipped out to buy something as it was her neighbour who was actually listed as being the informant of her death. Unfortunately my paternal grandmother died five years before I was born and not a lot of stories about this family line were passed on as family lore.

Elizabeth Lywood's parents were George Lywood baptized 7 May 1786 at West Harnham and Martha Peck baptized 1 Jul 1792 at Milston. George and Martha married 26 October 1817 at Milston (the registration is somewhat confusing in that Martha is crossed out and the name Rebecca is written in). However, later census show that George married Martha Peck and there isn't a Rebecca to be found. George was a Waterloo pensioner serving in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (23rd Regiment of Foot) and he earned several clasps during his service. He was honourably discharged in 1816 due to asthma. George and Martha had four children:

David baptized 20 Jul 1818 at Milston and married to Maria Henrietta Naish 21 Jun 1840 at Saint Edmunds Church, Salisbury

John baptized 11 Sep 1822 at Milston and married to Martha Elizabeth Jacobs 16 Nov 1844 at Figheldean

Elizabeth (as above)

George baptized 15 Apr 1832 and buried 18 Feb 1849 at Milston

It is John's line that brought the Lywood name to Canada via his grandson William George Lywood who emigrated to Canada in 1913 with his wife Alice Cannons and they were according to the ship's list heading for Winnipeg, Manitoba but they actually lived at Brockville, Ontario. They were accompanied by their children Robert, George and Nellie. This family I did know about from Warwick and I am curious if this is the family that my father corresponded with and can only vaguely remember his doing so when I was a child.

Looking up this family's emigration revealed another Lywood entry in 1919 and it was William John Lywood returning from the 1st world war. I have this person in the tree as a half brother to William George Lywood his father having been married twice - born Dec quarter 1888 at West Harnham. This was a puzzle to me actually and I have finally solved it. There were two Lywood lines in Canada (half siblings) and descended from Robert Lywood (youngest son of John).

I would like to learn a little more about the Lywood family and I have the protestation returns for this area in Wiltshire. I lately acquired these documents when we visited the Allen County Public Library.

Reviewing West Harneham  in 1641-42 I do not find any members of the Lywood family listed and this would be correct as they were not in this area until the middle 1700s.

Reviewing Foffont in 1641-42 I find Robert Lywood listed and indeed this is Robert Lywood married to Alice Baylie and he was born circa 1580s at Fovant and buried there 14 Dec 1660 (Robert and Alice were married 10 Jan 1624 at Fovant). Since his sons were all less than 18 (Robert was 13 and Thomas 8) they are not listed on the protestation return. I am curious about the Baylie family and there is a William Bayly listed. Whether or not this is the father of Alice remains to be proven. I shall set it as a goal of studying this particular family to learn more about the wives of the Lywood men since they are seldom researched in a one name study.

With that in mind I will check for:

Deart (Deare?) at Fovant
Bryan at Idmiston/Fovant/South Newton
Smith at Bemerton/South Newton
Canham at West Harnham

I did find a John Rawlins at South Newton and a Robert Rawlins at Fisherton Anger  which I shall tuck away for the Rawlins day.

There is a Deare family at Wishford Magna (three members on the Protestation Returns).

There is a Smith family at Steeple Langford (one member on the Protestation Return).

There is a Brian family at Langford Pva (one member on the Protestation Return)

There is a Smith family at Wyly (3 members on the Protestation Return).

There is a Smith family at Tilshead (1 member on the Protestation Return).

There is a Smith family at Shrewton (2 members on the Protestation Return (father and son)).

There is a Rawlins family (one member) and Smith family (six members) at Wilton Burg.

There is a Smith family at Fisherton Anger (three members on the Protestation Returns).

Interesting results from that quick survey and it has convinced me that I should enter these Protestation Returns into an excel file so that I can readily look at the names. This area is particularly pertinent to my paternal grandmother's line. My next study time for Lywood will be dedicated to that project.