Continuing with Ancestry matches

 I did manage to complete all but the last siblings matches in my Ancestry File so will finish that today. A couple of interesting matches and I do colour code where I recognize the lines that merge with mine in the past. It is the trees though that tend to be the most interesting with Ancestry although the amount shared is also meaningful along with the number of chromosomes shared. Just FT DNA to work on today and will work on that. I have decided that with these new books I will set them aside at the point where I am getting ready to publish and then a month later do my final proofreading. I suspect that in my rush to finish whilst my eyes were still handling somewhat the amount of reading I was doing I may not have followed through on my lists for proofreading which my daughter helped me to set up. Looking at the list yesterday I had not checked off proofreading the Index. The names in the index will be as in the text but I am somewhat concerned about the paging as I did not proofread the index. It was just a moment in my early widowhood when I was using James Sanders book that the thought came to me to revise it and it was never really a long thought out project but rather I dove in and did it and then my cataracts were dimming my sight somewhat, I just thought it was aging, and I rushed to publish it. Even the corrected version was part of that rushing after I completed the Companion Charting Book. An apology and a mention to any users that the paging in the indexes might be questionable because I did not actually proofread the indexes against the text. At some point I will do that and republish (there is more material that I could insert along the way although may just put it into my blog and let someone in the future carry on with a new revision). 

Once I have completed pulling the matches and entering them into my database I will return to my latin transcriptions of the wills and make a final decision on where to begin the Blake genealogical descent table for the Andover Blake family (I still tend towards Robert but should I mention Richard Blake found at Salisbury in the 1440s from Ireland). I think one contemplates whether he is English and his ancestral line went to Ireland earlier although I do not find anything in the Calendar of Patent Rolls. That he arrived twice (10 Jul 1440 and 7 Sep 1441) is interesting. Historically speaking in the 1440s the Normans are fully in control of England at this point and Henry VI is King (1422-1461 and 1470-1471). He is crowned King of both England (1429) and France (1431). By 1447 the term "The Pale" first refers to English rule and it was pretty much limited to areas within Dublin, Meath, Louth and Kildare.Ireland is seeing a change with a decline of centralized English control and the Anglo-Irish lordships are taking over control of Ireland. It could be mere coincidence that Robert has named his sons as Richard and Thomas. But I feel that I should mention this individual. Perhaps in time more British/Irish yDNA tests will come forth for the Blake family. There are a number of founding lines known in England already and the Emigrant's Database between 1330 and 1550 includes 50  Blake individuals (including three female Blake where it is not possible using the chart to determine if they were wives or Blake was their maiden name) coming into Britain but not all have a location of exit (i.e. the country they lived in prior to their arrival).  Using Paul Reed's papers and my own transcription and a couple of other items that support one thought or the other I will move to this next phase of the Blake book. It does occasionally cross my mind that my two brothers having tested their yDNA and the result being Western Hunter Gatherer it would be interesting to test my grandfather who was buried in London, Ontario at some point but at 80 probably it isn't going to be me I am thinking. It is his memories that I carry within my mind; he definitely did a good job of placing material within my brain which I have retained through these years because he said it so often and I loved him dearly and his words remain with me on many occasions. I still dream about Grandpa and I can remember that last day together when I was just past my eighth birthday. I found it hard to believe he was dead but I had kissed him goodbye lying there in his coffin. I just didn't want him to be but children grow up and accept the loss of loved ones slowly but knowing they are with God. He was born in 1875 in Upper Clatford. I think the future holds great excitement for those pursing the past in their family lines. I am fairly content with the first one hundred pages although will be reading it again and again. I need to complete my footnoting (I have done quite a bit as I have moved along but will footnote items that I may have missed). Already there are nearly 200 footnotes on the first 100 pages. Amazingly my sight is so much better now and the time taken after the cataract surgery not overdoing anything has given that to me I believe. I am still amazed that I now live a life without glasses except when I work on the computer or read a book. Wearing glasses everyday, all day, for 78 years does form habits that take time to change. Particularly putting your glasses on every day. I noticed that stayed with me; that hand movement for nearly two years.  

The Pincombe book appears to have drifted into some resting spot but actually I do think about it particularly with the Pincombe matches on Living DNA. These are the descendants of the Pincombe lines including common ancestry further back than John Pincombe and Mary (Charly) Pincombe.  The six children of John and Mary Pincombe all married but a number of them emigrated to British Colonies. My line (Robert Pincombe and Elizabeth (Rowcliffe) Pincombe) went to the United States and Canada as well as one son George who went to Australia (at least one of his descendants emigrated to South Africa). But two of their children (Robert and Elizabeth Pincombe) remained in England with the youngest Philip having a large family but living in Somerset. Looking at the six children of John and Mary Pincombe a number of their grandchildren/great grandchildren emigrated to various places including the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. I will return to Pincombe probably in May sometime. The newsletter for May 1 is for the Pincombe study at FT DNA. I am contemplating that newsletter. They are brief at the moment due to my working on these books. 

A cloudy day again and the slight wind in the trees tells me God is with us; at our side watching and waiting patiently for us to do the right thing in the world. Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. 

Soon time for breakfast and the first day that is devoted to research; cleaning is all accomplished. I also have the car ready for summer and my daughter's return to do her research. This will be a busy summer for her as are all of them. But she gets a chance to kayak and enjoy the world around her and I suspect she worries that I will not be always here and at 80 that is a legitimate thought for sure plus she is my caregiver. But I try hard to take care of myself so that I can still be here until I am not. The wonder of the internet means that I chat with my daughters every day and I am blessed that I am able to do so. 

Was there accomplishment on the book? No.

 I did think about the book a lot but I need to really work on the wills and the matches and will co-join those two projects starting today so that I do not strain my eyes. I guess I am getting old. Either that or my brain just seemed to be over-running or something. It has calmed down. 

Prayers for the two French Peace-Keepers who were killed in Lebanon. So sad really as the UN functions well with so many countries providing Peace-Keepers. How sad for their families and for France. 

England and France are both thought highly of here in Canada and I always remember our trip that was solely France and we traveled about the entire country. A marvelous few weeks and the food so wonderful. Especially I loved the walnuts - walnut everything; you name it ice cream, walnut bread (oh that was exceptional) and so many other items made with walnuts. I love walnuts; mind you I love all the nuts and eat at least one handful every day. The protein is wonderful especially when you are old and still doing as much exercise as I do. Finishing up a run with an apple, nuts and some cheese; delicious. 

I also did spend a lot of time in England; I went there four times and Edward three times. The first time was with my eldest daughter in the Fall of 2001 as she accompanied me on my pilgrimage to Rome. What a fantastic time that was; I saw so much. Then we flew to England and another wonderful time mostly in London. Edward and I went in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016. We had a trip to go all over Germany in 2020 but it was cancelled due to COVID. That was a huge disappointment for Edward as his Schultz great grandparents came to Canada directly from Eastern Germany in the 1800s. His only other ancestor coming to Canada directly was from East Anglia in the 1830s. All of his ancestors other than these three came up from the United States to Upper Canada between 1800 and 1830 and to the Maritimes between 1750 (planters moved to the Maritimes by the British) and 1780 (a few loyalists in his line to both Upper Canada and the Maritimes and a number of patriots all to Upper Canada). An interesting mix I always thought; with a Patriot descendant marrying a Loyalist descendant. His American colonials arrived between 1620 and 1709 with most being between 1620 and 1640. The first were Dutch and then the English Dissenters and then more Dutch followed by Palatines. He was 30% German, 30% Dutch, 20% French, 5% Swedish, 5% English and then some from Poland, Switzerland and Belgium to make up the other 10%. I went back to his 9x great grandparents and added them all up and divided them into birth countries and calculated the percentage. The DNA companies actually come very close with his ethnicity. My ethnicity is 100% English back to the 1400s and then I have Scot from the Highlands and Huguenot from France and we show some Irish and it is possible that is the Charly family as that is a claim made by this line again very early from Ireland to England. No idea on that. My 4x great grandmother was a Charly. 

I am tired of the way that news appears on the television at the moment. I just want actual reporting and no more questions by reporters. I hate it when they ask questions to create issues; they just do it for the notoriety. The questions they are asking are unimportant. What I want to hear about is shovels in the ground, agreements on pipe lines. I am tired of hearing about affordability (we have to manage that is what the PM said). It will not be easy for sure and yes I would love to sell my house (it is too big for me although it is only a carriage home of 1400 square feet) but I have to wait for another few years until my daughter returns because she, like many Canadians, could not get a job here (Americans were hired instead so when one is offered a job in the United States one takes it of course). When your educational aims take you on a path that you have to find a research group that you fit into that is the way that it is. Americans are much more innovative than we are research wise and it shows particularly in some fields for sure and so that is where you have to go when you choose something that is new and innovative. Once you find that research group you are going to stay obviously unless you can find it or create it here. Her ideas to bring her field home is a great one and she will try but right now she has PhD students to finish off and research projects as well. One in particular is fascinating and funded. At 80 it is just too unstable for me to move several times in a few years. 

Canada is on a mission to improve our output and our trade around the world. Our new Prime Minister is also innovative and will push us towards being more like that and that is good. But it will cost money and we will need to tighten up our finances and just make them work. We liked CUSMA and had really no complaints but tariff is hurting our companies and so we must diversify both internally between provinces and around the world.   In the meantime we have a task ongoing which is to improve our military and particularly our military activities are increasing exponentially in the Arctic along with our Arctic partners. Affordability is a personal thing; the government can not be the bank account for the people. That is the focus; the reporters need to get with it; the Conservative Party needs to get with it. Their last time in power military projects were not properly supported and even cancelled. They sold the science library to Americans after Canadians had built up a perfect distribution system that made money. Who does that?  I would like to see some good policy coming out of the Conservative Party. You have had my support for a very long time and I would like to see adults in the room and Question Period is revolting to be honest. I would rather have a long list of what is being done in the field to get things going. The work at Montreal Harbour would be a much more interesting discussion and the upcoming work on Port Churchill even more so and the possibility finally of a new pipeline to tidewater in British Columbia and also the XL Pipeline (I would like to see this as a potential 3 way distribution (south to the United States, northwest to Port Churchill and east to Thunder Bay). Tricky perhaps but our engineers are up to that task I am sure. Listening to the Premier of the North West Territories was very interesting and he too has good ideas. Asking the Premiers dumb questions on a program that is transmitted around the world is just unbelievable. Less of CUSMA please until we need to hear about it. I love my American cousins and the American people for that matter but do not need to hear some of the things that are being said. I can hardly believe some of the comments being made to be honest and it annoys my American cousins as well. More discussion of our trade around the world and between provinces would be nice. I agree with the Prime Minister on that for sure. Thank you.

I am getting distracted again and so must start being more organized first thing to accomplish everything that I want to get done. Life moves on and I move on towards 81 and my date for the books is the end of 2028 so concentration is upper most in my mind. I can do nothing about what is happening in the world. We need to follow God's commandments and sooner rather than later. So many of us worship the same God although our path to God somewhat different but in the long run He is the same God, always has been, always will be. 

Thank you God for another beautiful day in your world. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavy snowfall

 We are having a heavy snowfall but only 10 cm predicted but at the moment it is fairly thick coming down although not so much that the distance vision is limited. Just a lovely white snowfall on this beautiful world that the Creator produced and gave to us at a later time to protect and cherish.

Yesterday finished the cleaning and worked on the matches for chromosome 7. This one is very interesting as there is a length that is inherited by pretty much all of my close cousins that I have found testing all the way back to John Pincombe and Mary Charly who married at Bishops Nympton, Devon  8 Nov 1767. Their six children with their descendants are the progenitors of many of the Pincombe families in the Bishops Nympton area. Although John had a brother William (both sons of John Pincombe and Grace Manning who married 20 Mar 1725 at Bishops Nympton) William's only child, a son, William died at the age of 21 (his parents William Pincombe married Grace Smyth 13 Jun 1758 at North Molton). John and William also had a sister Grace who married John Butcher 31 Mar 1755 at Bishops Nympton But I have yet to trace their two surviving daughters beyond their baptism (another daughter and only son died as infants/young children). John (married to Grace Manning) was the only son of William Pincombe and Mary Vicary who married 17 Jun 1685 at Bishops Nympton. The only other sibling was Joan who was buried in 1726 at Bishops Nympton. This William traces back to John Pincombe and Johane Blackmoore who married 25 Sep 1655 at Bishops Nympton and of their other five children Thomas married Christian (unknown) and their single surviving child John Pincombe married Catharine Bryer at Bishops Nympton 3 Nov 1732 and their five children are the other Pincombe grouping in the Bishops Nympton area and are the progenitors of many of the Pincombe families also in the Bishops Nympton area. Another son of John Pincombe and Johane Blackmoore, Hugh married Sarah (unknown) likely at Swimbridge, Devon and the Pincombe families found in the Landkey, Devon area are their descendants. Working through this Chromosome 7 I may spot some of the descendants of these lines in the Living DNA matches or others that I have not noted before. 

There does look to be a potential for a lot of snow if it keeps up at the present rate. Although I have had fun skiing I am pretty tired from all that fun and will be putting the skis away for the rest of the month or two. It is not something that I generally would go out on my own and do at 80 years of age. Although I could go around the backyard but I have not done a lot of research these past couple of weeks and need to get back to that. Plus I really do enjoy my research just as I enjoy skiing and there is a time and place for everything especially at this age for sure.  

Continuing with Chromosome 7 today and I am about one quarter of the way through the matches. Thus far I have separated out Rawlings, Blake, Knight, Cotterill (coming down from my 4x great grandparents), and Pincombe. Half of my great grandparents in the first quarter of matches is  not too bad. I am not likely to locate Taylor from the Buller/Taylor grandparents and perhaps not Cotterill from the possible father of my paternal grandmother but likely Gray is a possibility. 

Drinking tea and must move to the solitaire puzzles and then begin my extractions of data.  

"Elbows up" and on our way but the route is heavy going

 One thing I am sure about any one who can live in Canada through the winters is up to the job of "Elbows Up" to get the jobs done here in Canada to bring our country to its glory as a producing nation but in a kindly way that we have learned from the First Nations. The land is our wealth and our security and our life and we must protect it as much as one can but it will give up its goodness to support the people of the land. We just have to find the best ways to do that and those best ways must fit into a business plan. I note that Enbridge is supporting the pipeline from Edmonton to Houston, Texas which is a straight through flow of crude to the south and allows for a healthy increase in that shipment. Although I would love to see an eastern pipeline to Ontario and the East it is  highly likely that Ontario would be the only province that had an actual pipeline built in the east and that the St Lawrence Seaway would have to be the conduit for any going further east. Does Ontario use enough crude to justify a pipeline? That becomes the great question although shipments to Quebec for their usage (which is also significant) are possible by road and by the seaway. Probably those in the know are putting those numbers together to determine if re-establishing our refineries to save the 3x the cost of buying it back is a good business case. 

The Nickle mine I find to be such a good idea and so long in the  making - I believe it dates back to the early 2000s although I am not that knowledgeable. Governments have just ignored Northern Ontario and the wealth there for her people is huge in terms of jobs and actual second job creation effects by the mine itself. Once one mine is effectively created under this new attitude then others will follow in their season because the support will be there. In a way that compliments Northern Ontario creating jobs and the consequential offshoots of better educational facilities (more funding for them), housing and all sorts of good things for the people. 

Monday is coming and it is Budget Day. An election would cost a fortune and I hope that is on everyone's mind as the House sits in debate and then votes. There is no value in an election at this time; criticism without constructive plans is useless. We can not live in the past; the past has changed very radically in just this short time. One doesn't fight tariff - how one country does their business should not be allowed to put us into a crisis ever again. Time to come to our greatness as a producer. We already lived through a past Conservative government whose answer to a downturn was panic and balance the budget no matter what. We do not need to experience that again. The debt level at the end of the 1800s in Canada was huge when we built the railway and we survived and we will again. I prefer careful cautious finance but with opportunity underwriting it I can loosen up those thoughts and this is the time; it is Canada's time to blossom. It is a must; our youth need jobs that uses their skill sets or if they do not have the specific ones then they can retrain and quickly. Their minds are fast and alert. Canada is an extremely wealthy country both in natural products and in the ability of all her people. Yes it will be hard; young families may have to live with their parents for a longer time but that is life and for children exciting and wonderful. They have been doing it in Europe for centuries! My children were welcomed to stay as long as they wanted and we were blessed to have them stay as long as they did including all sorts of wonderful extras that made our life much richer. Edward certainly took advantage of that as we traveled so extensively when our children were living with us long into their adulthood. Life moved very fast in those days when I first retired as there were so many places he wanted to go.  

Worked on Chromosome 4 and probably one third of the way through the matches. Thus far eight crossover points are proven and eleven to go. This chromosome has fewer matches and they tend to be clumped over particular lengths particularly Pincombe (both older and more recent). It always give me pause to think about the breaking up of these lengths into Pincombe, Gray, Rew, Rowcliffe, Charly, Manning, Vicary and Blackmoore. With the Living DNA data I am probably finding lengths that reach much further back into the past to make their connection but only rarely as far back as Blackmoore and Vicary (6x and 7x great grandparents).  Occasionally I do see autosomal back that far but it is rare. They could be especially back to Manning and Charly. When I see Australia and New Zealand in the country of location then I know that Manning and Charly are a possibility for them. In the United States it is more likely Pincombe/Rowcliffe but also Pincombe/Charly. But these small glimpses on occasion of a match that is definitely Pincombe related the possibility of Vicary and Blackmoore is there. Thus far I would say more than 50% of the matches have been Pincombe (I haven't tallied it). 

This morning at just past 5 the sky was clear and the moon now in slipper mode accompanied by Venus shining brightly high in the sky.  What a gorgeous sight and it always reminds me of the early morning when Edward and I were camping years and years ago in the north waking up to the beauty of the morning sky. I was just in my early twenties and Edward in his mid twenties and time was ahead of us and we grabbed hold of it and ran with it all over the northern province of Ontario enjoying the goodness of the land and seeing so much in our cedar strip canoe. 

Time to get some work done. Tea drank and solitaire puzzles to do. First breakfast eaten a while ago now and starting to feel hungry for the second breakfast. One pound up and three to go. For me it is more of a need to eat as I get hungry rather than a fascination with eating.  

Absolutely beautiful the All Saints Day Service

Amongst one of my most favourite Church Services, this All Saints Day Service particularly was wonderful. I love the music in my Church, the choirs as they process with the banner and cross through the congregation. A replica of the Church through the ages and one can imagine one's ancestors watching and being part of that same service (although it has moved to 1st Sunday of November from earlier times (as a child it was always on November 1st and I used to go to Church before I went to school as a child as one could do that; attend Church and not be counted as late when the note was presented). Of course for me I do not have any non Church of England ancestors in the recent past and back many generations before my Routledges were in Scotland and my Huguenots were in France still (prior to 1490) and there is Irish in the DNA but still not positive on just who was Irish - was it my Charly family or was it my Taylor family (I think they were Scottish planters in Northern Ireland) or both but the DNA shows the Irish Republic for my Irish DNA (Northern Ireland for my sibling who also matches) so who knows. Fascinating though seeing history repeat itself through the centuries. God forever in our minds and hearts.

Signed up for my membership in the Guild of one-name Studies for another year; the other two are both active for next year as well. I just belong to a couple of genealogical type organizations including Ontario Ancestors (I finally got that done by using a different email; should have thought of that sooner) and British Isles Family History Society of the Greater Ottawa area.  

The day was busy as I had clothes washing to do and then carry the baskets up two flights and dry them so that the moisture goes into the air, then there was my chicken stew to make for the next couple of days. It had to be today because my hydro may be affected in the middle of the week. Then there were my exercise periods which I designate as must do because when one is old one very quickly loses endurance and muscle mass if it isn't constantly challenged. I looked outside and did pump up the tire on my car to go grocery shopping and once again the light turned off to tell me I had done it (that is such a wonderful gadget; just charge it up when you are done and it is always ready to go). Soon time for winter tires and that will be nice. They do not generally need me to pump them up. Handling the commercial garage system just looks too complicated and busy and this gadget does the job. I usually do not drive when the children are out playing but yesterday was an exception and I saw no children out playing actually except briefly on my own street. It is a different life style that children live being on their computers/tablets although to be honest much more like my own as a child when I hid away with the Encyclopaedias reading from cover to cover from the age of six years on (and I did run for health even when I was young to get my exercise in; plus my reading was always interspaced by doing head stands or some sort of gymnastics as I read away). The big words were just that when I was six and I stumbled over them but I read them all and eventually learned what they all meant. My mother would hunt me out and take away my glasses and send me out to play. But as soon as I could I was back reading in my hiding spots (I did  not like to go out without my glasses; they were my crutch and the world didn't move about when I had them on). Reading was my favourite thing to do as a child and the new Encyclopaedias were an absolute gift to this child who couldn't absorb enough words; just always wanted more and more about the world that I lived in. 

Today working on Chromosome 7 and some progress yesterday and a number of the cross overs proven which is great. Tiny little changes. I am coming to the chromosome where I consider that there will be a major change as I constantly questioned that particular one. As known matches came in I knew it was incorrect in the Buller-Pincombe cross but then there were these matches that just didn't seem to fit the other way but now with all the known it is the way that it is. I am always needing proof; I love proof but then I also loved science and the two generally walk hand in hand. 

Time for a slice of Banana bread and tea.  

 

More data coming forth for the Siderfin book

 When I first had the idea of a slight revision to James Sanders book "The Siderfin Family of West Somerset" I had no idea that it would result in a complete rewrite and accumulation of new data that has since been scanned and available on line. I now have 44 pages with the original book having 60 pages including the Pedigree Chart and I am  just into the Fourth Generation. There are some gaps that I can not fill easily but I can check at the Family Search Library on some of the material in the spring. I do not see myself driving there during the winter. 

The next two weeks will hopefully see me through the Fourth Generation and let me move on to the Fifth Generation after publishing the next issue of the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter. I did hear back from my Pinkham match and not surprising he is from the Barnstaple Pincombe family. During the 1700s some of the members of this family at Barnstaple starting using the Pinkham surname. I do not really know when the Pinkham surname first arose although I do not find it before the Pincombe surname. When you say Pincombe - it sounds like that to me but I know that my great uncle said it somewhat differently and one could end up spelling it as Pinkham. I wonder at what point the pronunciation changed since the original surname was Pencombe and I do rather think it would have been closer to the way that I have been saying Pincombe.

 Although we did see Pincombe cousins when I was a child - mostly at the large funerals - I did not spend a lot of time with any of them so do not know them that well plus I have now lived away from my "growing up" place for more than 45 years. Although when we went back to meet with all of our Pincombe cousins to plan the Pincombe Profile - that was my one request that before I published it I would meet with everyone so that they could look at it and add changes. My own line daughtered out - my mother was a Pincombe and my Pincombe uncle did not have any children. Plus they had left the Pincombe farm (and there were a lot of them) in 1925 years before I wrote the profile so I wanted their input plus I wanted to highlight them in the profile because they were still on the various farms in the area. 

Looking at autosomal DNA results can be very interesting. I tend to not really do much with results that are less than 20 centimorgans. However, ancestry can be an exception on occasion as they run all of the results against a piece of software known as Timber which removes "ethnic" lengths from the final result. It can result in a smaller match and I have several good examples in my lines including Pincombe. When I discovered the Pinkham matches who traced back to the New Hampshire/Maine Pinkham family (emigration was in the 1600s) I was pretty shocked actually. I had not expected to find any such matches. I need to look at the trees to see what I can see and that is one of the steps. I also need to look at the matches in common. 

The original Pincombe project was created by Dr Richard Pinkham and Galen Pinkham and they did an excellent set of research charts (16 of them in total) and the alternate surname in the project was Pinkham. The thoughts were that it was a singleton surname but the yDNA results of my two cousins (one in Australia and one in the United States)  do not match any of the Pinkham yDNA results. One of the cousins who tested is a third cousin once removed and the other is a fifth cousin with our Most Recent Common Ancestor being John Pincomb and Mary Charly who married 8 Nov 1767 at Bishops Nympton, Devon, England and the Australian cousin is descended from their second eldest son William and the American cousin is descended from their third son Robert (also my ancestor). For a while I did try to persuade other cousins to test but with two matching results it did not seem to be necessary but any new testers are always welcomed. 

At some point in the past and it was the mid 1700s for the Barnstaple Pincombe family Pincombe members did start using the surname Pinkham. There was some thought that it could have originated as Tinkham but pulling out the available data on the Tinkham family does look like a free standing surname resulting from a placename. It should be an interesting article to write although I again am very leery of matches that are small lengths of autosomal DNA. 

I have always felt that my management of the project did not do enough for the Pinkham spelling so hope that can be rectified at some point in the future. 

Only three recycling bags out

No rain today so I managed to clear out the front flower bed of all but the hostas. They are still green although starting to yellow. I raked up the leaves and stems from the large tree in front but the grass was still wet so did not get them all yet (1 bag full).  

Off shopping for a bit and found one of the books that I was looking for which was lucky, Resting now after a long morning of work. I could still do more work but my human nature tells me that rest is also a good thing so have decided to listen!

Still publishing The Romance of the Charley Family book and it will take another two weeks maybe to get it all published. I am left to ponder about this family. Did my Charly line come from France as Huguenots? I suspect so. I know virtually nothing about Mary Charly except for her marriage to John Pincombe. I suspect that she is the daughter of Richard Charley/Charly and perhaps one of these days I will have a look at that. 

Raining today

 Heavy rain today; no leaf work or cutting down plants. Maybe tomorrow. However the basement is all vacuumed and the washing done. Winter is coming but still a month or two away. The trees were slow to turn in our microcosm this year but are turning now. 

Just proofreading the "Romance of the Charley Family." All appendices are now typed and ready to go. I think I will put a link to the excel file on the blog and load the file into my website. I will not check it or update it as my line is not there. I could, I suppose create a Charly tree for my Mary Charly as far as I am able to determine her lineage. My mother used to talk about Irish ancestry but I always thought she was referring to her mother's mother (and I do still think that). But she also talked about French ancestry and so I am left curious but perhaps not yet curious enough to discover more about this Charly line that married into my Pincombe line in the 1760s. This is also true of the Question family (which is Huguenot) and married into the Siderfin family in the mid 1600s (that Question family lived at Dunster,  Somerset). I need to have more "French" matches with my DNA before I pursue that to any degree. 

Waiting for clear skies and working on the Charley/Charly family

I have been waiting for clear skies for awhile now. Perhaps this week will be better for star gazing.  But in the meantime I am back to working on the Charley book hoping to complete that this week and I think I will publish it to my blog just to make it available. It is over 50 years since it was first published. Although a second Charley family book has been published and is available on Family Search:

https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/500397-the-charley-family-from-gloucestershire?viewer=1&offset=25#page=1&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q=

This second book adds to the first in that all of the children from the "first family named with the surname Charley" are now listed and traced down into the present. Congratulations to Derrick Reeves for producing this book to add to the earlier book. It is always good when family history is written up in a book that is accessible. 

I have not verified any of the details in the "Romance of the Charley Family" written by Irene H Charley in 1970. I do find the Chorley surname in the index of the Visitation of Cheshire, 1613 transcribed by the Harlequin Society in 1909 and available online:

 http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/visitations1613/1613.pdf

and the list in the index: Chorley, 5, 18, * 19, 21, 78, 91, 134, 200, 248, *

Several of the references refer to the Bebington family of Bebington and Chorley (namely, 5, 18, 19, 78), the Dauenport family of Chorley (namely 21, 91), the Dodd family of Chorley (namely 134), the Brome family of Chorley (namely 200) and the Fowden family of Chorley (namely 248). 

The National Archives of the UK hold 49 articles and other archives 499 articles when a search is made on Discovery for Richard Chorley. The first item from 1652 in the Lancashire Archives discusses the sequestered estate of Richard Chorley. They are from the Lancashire County Quarter Sessions and it is a petition QSP/67 (Ormskirk, Midsummer, 1652). There are a number of documents in the Lancashire Archives concerning Richard Chorley's forfeited estates (dated 30 Jul 1684). Probably I should order the document for the sequestered estate of Richard Chorley and will do that in the near future likely. One is left to surmise though that the Chorley family not being listed in the Visitations of 1613 is rather interesting as this does precede all the difficulties encountered during the 1600s.

My branch of Charley in Devonshire is not overly covered in this book other than to imply that this line which held property at Combe Martin had an alcohol problem which resulted in a rather see-saw family fortune to disaster in their history there. I always wondered why Mary Charly signed the parish register at the time of her marriage as Mary Pincomb and perhaps that is the answer!

Harvey and Charley family

 I decided to type the book "The Romance of the Charley Family" since it was published in the 1930s and now out of print and copyright. It is really just for my own purpose anyway. I read the book perhaps ten years ago when I bought it from a small bookstore in Somerset online. My Charley family is illusive. The priest entering the name of Mary Charly/Charley was misread as Charlie leading me astray initially way back when I first found the marriage registration on Ancestry. I was also very new to genealogy and I knew her name was verbally Charly/Charley/Charlie because my mother knew her line back a considerable distance when I was a child having learned it from her father and other family members. My mother would actually be thrilled with everything I have found out about her family but I never knew of her interest in genealogy until I moved away with my husband to Ottawa. Then in her weekly letters she started mentioning some of the things that she was doing and there it was; the occasional trip to the Family History Library and talking about her discoveries. At the time I was not really very interested in genealogy from that perspective. It did take the advent of personal DNA testing to bring me into that fold!

I read through the foreword as I was typing the author mentioned that her great aunt Emma Charley of Blakeney, a sister to her grandfather George Charley, had a daughter who married a Harvey. That of course sent me into Find My Past and I found Emma Charley the daughter of James Charley and Emma Virgo at Blakeney Gloucestershire in the Non-Conformist Register. On the census in 1841 with her brother George three years younger. By 1841 Emma the eldest had six siblings younger than her. I found Emma's marriage to William No[a]kes at Westbury on Severn, Gloucestershire December quarter 1856. Frank Charley Nokes was born Dec quarter 1859 at Bromsgrove. Rosa Clara Nokes was born Mar quarter 1864 at Bromsgrove.  Ernest William Nokes was born Jun quarter 1866 at Bromsgrove. Laura Emma Nokes was born Jun quarter 1868 at Bromsgrove. Kate Maud Nokes was born Mar quarter 1870 at Bromsgrove. 

One of these daughters married into the Harvey family. Laura Emma Nokes married Frank William Harvey Sep quarter 1892 at Bromsgrove. Most of the Charley lines in this book are tracing back to the 1840s when they arrived in Gloucestershire during the Irish Famine times and they were from Northern Ireland. 

Looking back at my Harvey and Charley families; my Harvey family was at Merton Devon where Andrew Rowcliffe married Joan Harvey 8 Jun 1720. Their son Philip married Martha Pearse 9 Apr 1760 at South Molton. Their daughter Elizabeth Rowcliffe married Robert Pincombe 7 Jun 1803 at Bishops Nympton. It was Robert Pincombe's mother Mary Charly that had married John Pincombe 8 Nov 1767 at Bishops Nympton. This Mary Charly is likely the daughter of Richard and Joan Charley born circa 1738 at Combe Martin, Devon. The Devon Charley family was in the Combe Martin area from at least 1699 on as Nutcombe Farm near Combe Martin was in their hands at that time. There does appear to have been a problem with alcohol in the family and the family suffered losses at various times due to that. The family crest that they used is similar to the one used by the then present Belfast Northern Ireland family and the belief is that they came from Belfast before 1699 to this area of North Devon. A DNA study of the Charley family would certainly be interesting. I just found it interesting to see similar names in the two families. I missed that on the first read through. Of my five siblings, the ones that have Irish in their ethnicity as tested by the various companies also have larger and more Pincombe matches than say myself where I have mostly English ancestry with some Scot, some Swedish and Northern European but the English is prominent around 70 to 80%. My Pincombe matches tend to be the smallest comparing me to my four siblings that have tested. DNA does really simplify genealogy to some extent!