Diana Collins (1774 - 1834)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 33

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterell, 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

Diana Collins married John Happerfield 21 Nov 1793 at South Tidworth. Their daughter Sarah married  John Shearwood 10 Jul 1821 at South Tidworth. Their daughter Jane married William Cotterill 21 Feb 1852 at Kimpton.

She is likely the Dinah Collins baptized 6 Mar 1774 at Collingbourne Kingston daughter of John Collins. This John Collings married Sarah Potter 9 Oct 1769 at Collingbourne Kingston. Since Dinah was 60 years of age when she died 9 Nov 1834 at South Tidworth this baptism fits very well. Plus the eldest daughter was named Sarah.

Collingbourne Kingston is  4.2 miles from North Tidworth  and 5 miles from South Tidworth. It is 7 miles from Kimpton and 8 miles from Ham. It is also nine miles from Woodborough.

Children baptized to John and Sarah Collings at Collingbourne Kingston:

Hester baptized 12 Aug 1770
Sarah baptized 16 Feb 1772
Dinah baptized 6 Mar 1774
John baptized 26 Jan 1777
Charles baptized 6 Jun 1779
Daniel baptized 12 Aug 1781

Trying to find further information  on John Collings/Collins and Sarah Potter was not yet possible.This ends my seven weeks on the possible natural ancestors of my grandmother Blake. I was unable to determine the surname of the wife of John Shearwood/Sheerwood/Sherwood. At a later date I may be able to do that. The next 52 Ancestor Challenge will be one of my Routledges, the third and last 4x Routledge great grandparent.

Ancestry of Diana Collins:

1. Jane SHERWOOD (b 12 Dec 1824) - Kimpton Hampshire England
2. Sarah HAPPERFIELD (b 31 Jul 1796) - South Tidworth Hampshire England
Possibly
3. Diana COLLINS (b 6 Mar 1774) - Collingbourne Kingston Wiltshire England
4. John COLLINGS

Joanna Shepherd (1752 - ?)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 30

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterell, 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

Joanna Shepherd was baptized 7 June 1752 at Kimpton, Hampshire the daughter of William and Joanna Shepherd. A William Shepherd was buried 12 Jan 1786 at Kimpton aged 78 years (birth year circa 1708). Is this the father of Joanna? He would have been 48 years of age when she was baptized. I haven't found a marriage for William Shepherd to Joanna.

Joanna Shepherd married John Alderman 13 Jan 1772 at Kimpton. Their daughter Hannah married  Charles Coterill 23 Oct 1824 at Kimpton. Their son William Cotterill married Jane Sherwood 21 Feb 1852 at Kimpton.

I did find one interesting baptism for a William Shepherd son of William Shepherd 27 Mar 1735 at Collingbourne Kingston. However he would likely be too young to be the father of Joanna.

Joanna's date of death/burial is unknown to me but she does not appear on the 1841 census at Kimpton. 

Ancestry of Joanna Shepherd:

1. William COTTERILL (b 12 Jun 1825) - Kimpton Hampshire England
2. Hannah ALDERMAN (b 2 Aug 1789) - Kimpton Hampshire England
3. Joanna SHEPHERD (b 7 Jun 1752) - Kimpton Hampshire England
4. William SHEPHERD

Elizabeth Pearce (1737 - 1823)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 22

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, Durnford, 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

Elizabeth Pearce is my 4x great grandmother and she married John Coleman 7 Oct 1771 at Abbots Ann. John and Elizabeth baptized one child at Abbots Ann namely Sarah baptized 15 Jun 1773 and one at Upper Clatford William baptized 12 Mar 1775. John died and was buried 2 Jul 1780 at Upper Clatford. Elizabeth was married a second time 10 Oct 1781 at Upper Clatford to John Head. They had one daughter Elizabeth baptized 2 Feb 1783 at Upper Clatford. John Head was buried 13 Aug 1809 at Upper Clatford and Elizabeth Head was buried 8 Apr 1823 at Upper Clatford.

Finding the parents of Elizabeth Pearce proved to be a very difficult ask. She was not baptized at Abbots Ann where she married. The Hampshire Baptisms are online at Find My Past and a review of the 251 results searching for an Elizabeth Pearce/Pierce, etc did not reveal any possible hits. So I hunted around the Abbots Ann area to see why she might be there and discovered Simon Pearce who was a malster there (a Peter Pearce had been a victualler dying around 24 Nov 1744). There were three members of a Pearce family in the early records of Abbots Ann. Simon, Mary and Elizabeth. Mary Pearce had married Joseph Welch 7 Oct 1769 at Abbots Ann. Simon married Sarah Cooke 6 Sep 1775 at Abbots Ann. The three Pearce marriages in 1769, 1771 and 1775 all at Abbots Ann. Were they siblings? That set me off on a hunt in Family Search and later Find My Past to see if I could link these three people together and find their parents. It proved to be fairly difficult and another researcher living in Wiltshire looked this family up in the Collingbourne Kingston and Collingbourne Ducis registers and found the following:

William Pearce married Elizabeth Hopgood 25 Apr 1736 at Collingbourne Kingston (Elizabeth was baptized 6 Apr 1712 at Collingbourne Kingston daughter of Thomas Hopgood).

Elizabeth daughter of William and Elizabeth Pearce was baptized 1 Sep 1737 at Collingbourne Ducis
Mary daughter of William and Elizabeth Pearce was baptized 22 Jun 1742 at Collingbourne Ducis
Simon son of William and Elizabeth Pearce was baptized 9 Apr 1746 at Collingbourne Ducis

Finding this particular set made me look harder at the Farmer family at Collingbourne Kingston. It was Isaac Farmer's daughter Ann that married Sarah Coleman's son John Blake. If Isaac had relatives in Collingbourne Kingston and also born there as I thought and mentioned in last week's blog and Elizabeth Pearce's daughter Sarah Coleman married to Thomas Blake also had relatives in Collingbourne Kingston then these two families would have a common ancestral village that could just be the reason that they get to know each other considering that Ann (daughter of Isaac Farmer) lived in Andover and John (son of Sarah Coleman, grandson of Elizabeth Pearce) lived at Upper Clatford where the Coleman family were buried. Abbots Ann is 9 miles from Collingbourne Ducis and 10 miles from Collingbourne Kingston. Abbots Ann to Upper Clatford is just 1.5 miles.

Have I solved the parents of Elizabeth? I have done a fairly exhaustive search of the Pearce families in this area and the three individuals baptized by William and Elizabeth at Collingbourne Ducis appear to be the three later married at Abbots Ann. What attracted them to Abbots Ann? Perhaps the Inn that had been owned by Peter Pearce who had died around 1744. No ideas there actually.

I did find a baptism for a William Peirce 30 May 1699 at Bishops Cannings son of Simon Peirce, labourer.  Bishops Cannings is 15 miles from Collingbourne Ducis. I did not find any further details for Simon Peirce.

Ancestry of Elizabeth Pearce:

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. Edward Blake (b 2 Jan 1845) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
5. John BLAKE (b 25 Feb 1799) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
6. Sarah COLEMAN (b 15 Jun 1773) - Abbotts Ann Hampshire England
7. Elizabeth PEARCE (b 1 Sep 1737) - Collingbourne Ducis Wiltshire England
8. William PEARCE

John Farmer (1717 - 1771)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 21

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, Durnford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman,  Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, 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

When I first searched for the baptism of Isaac Farmer (husband of Elizabeth Lambden) back at the beginning of my research days in 2003, I only found one entry that would fit because I have both his death date and burial dates at Andover and his listed age at death. Even expanding that for a couple years either way led me to the same baptism for an Isaac Farmer son of John Farmer. John is my next 4x great grandfather to be reviewed in this 52 Ancestor Challenge. Can I find anything that will permit me to positively identify John as one of my 4x great grandparents.

Working first with Isaac who himself is a bit of a mystery in terms of what he worked at and why he died relatively young. My first sight of him was signing the marriage registration with Elizabeth Lambden with a perfect hand. His letters neatly formed and his signature a work of art really. They married 16 Aug 1789 at Andover St Mary. Elizabeth lived at Woodhouse and her father also neatly signed the marriage registration although not with as perfect a hand as Isaac. This couple were to baptize six children at Andover St Mary:

William baptized 16 Aug 1789
Sarah baptized 27 May 1792
Mary baptized 21 |Jan 1795
Martha baptized 9 Feb 1798
John baptized 20 Sep 1801; buried 3 Apr 1814
Ann baptized 11 May 1804 (and my ancestor)


Ann married John Blake 4 Sep 1823 at Andover St Mary. However did John who was born at Upper Clatford meet Ann? Upper Clatford is just 1 mile to the south of Andover but still Andover was a large town even in those days. Questions I could have asked my grandfather had I been older or had he lived younger but at the age of eight when he died I have only retained so much of what he did tell me. His grandmother Ann (Farmer) Blake had lived right next door to him in Upper Clatford until she died when he was eighteen years of age.

Isaac was buried 18 Mar 1808 at Andover St Mary when Ann was just under four years of age. No cause of death was given in the death register but his age was said to be 44 years which brings one back to 1764 and the baptism 6 May 1764 at Collingbourne Kingston does seem like a good fit; a reasonable area in terms of Andover since these two places are just eleven miles apart.

Returning to the story of John Farmer having set the scene. A new search has revealed documents held at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre:

Reference:     9/12/77
Description:    
Lease and release in fee, (1) John Farmer of Collingbourne Kingston, husbandman, and Mary, his wife, (2) William Macham of Doctors' Commons, in the City of London, Ll.D. House, garden and mead plot (½ a.) in the tithing of Brunton, in the parish of Collingbourne Kingston.

Consideration: £50. Bond for performance enclosed.
Date:     8-9 October 1756
Held by:     Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, not available at The National Archives

There are just the two John Farmers at Collingbourne Kingston and in 1756 John Farmer junior was married to Mary (unknown) and they had two sons William and John at that time.

Children baptized by John and Mary at Collingbourne Kingston:

William baptized 19 Mar 1753
John baptized 12 Dec 1756
Joseph baptized 9 Sep 1759
Jacob baptized 3 Jan 1762; buried 14 Aug 1764
Isaac baptized 6 May 1764

John himself is likely the John Farmer baptized 31 Mar 1717 at Collingbourne Kingston the son of John Farmer and his wife Mary Acars who were married 3 Oct 1709 at Collingbourne Kingston.She is quite likely the Mary Acres baptized 12 Oct 1681 at Collingbourne Kingston daughter of  Thomas and Mary Acres.

Another interesting set of documents from the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre:

Reference:     9/12/73
Description:    
Mortgage for £35 by lease for 500 years, (1) John Farmer of Collingbourne Kingston, husbandman, (2) William Mist of Collingbourne Kingston, yeoman.

House, garden and mead plot (½ a.) lying in the tithing of Brunton in the parish of Collingbourne Kingston.

Bond enclosed.
Date:     2 November 1730

Reference:     9/12/70
Description:    
Feoffment, (1) John Reeves of Collingbourne Kingston, husbandman and Joan, his wife, (2) John Farmer of Collingbourne Kingston, husbandman.

House, garden and mead plot (½ a.) lying in the tithing of Brunton, in the parish of Collingbourne Kingston.

Consideration: £40.
Date:     15 March 1718

Held by:     Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, not available at The National Archives

The baptisms of William and John had listed John Farmer, their father, as John junior but the next baptism, that of Joseph, had been simply John and Mary Farmer but perhaps was just an oversight on the part of the priest. Mary the wife of John Farmer the elder was buried 8 Feb 1761 and in 1771 is recorded the burial of John Farmer 15 Oct. Was this John Farmer the elder? Do these land records all pertain to John Farmer senior?

Were both John Farmers on the same plot of land and were both husbandmen. There are a few other Farmer records at Collingbourne Kingston and I suspect they are all one family. I did photograph some of them but not a sufficient number to really put this family together accurately other than this father and son relationship.

The image of John Farmer, likely 5x great grandfather, is one of a husbandman who in 1718 (just after the birth of his son John in 1717) had obtained in consideration of £40 a piece of property that was to be utilized by both father and son until 1771 likely when John senior died (the land assessments in 1780 show Andrews on this piece of property).


Other Farmer records at Collingbourne Kingston imaged by myself or from Family Search (italics):

Thomas son of Thomas Farmer baptized 30 Apr 1674
Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Farmer baptized 15 May 1677
William son of Thomas Farmer baptized 29 Dec 1679
John son of Thomas Farmer baptized 30 Oct 1682
Susanna daughter of Thomas Farmer baptized 27 Nov 1685
Jane daughter of Thomas Farmer baptized 25 Sep 1704
John son of William Farmer baptized 25 Sep 1705
William son of William Farmer baptized 2 Apr 1708
Mary daughter of John Farmer baptized 4 Sep 1714
Sara daughter of John Farmer baptized 4 Sep 1714
John Farmer son of John Farmer baptized 31 Mar 1716
Mary daughter of William Farmer, labourer, baptized 17 Nov 1727
Ann daughter of William Farmer, labourer, baptized 4 Oct 1730
William son of William Farmer, labourer, buried 29 Mar 1732
Elizabeth daughter of William Farmer, labourer, baptized 27 Jul 1733
Sarah daughter of William Farmer, labourer, baptized 11 Apr 1737
Mary wife of John Farmer senior buried 8 Feb 1761

From Find My Past:
There is a marriage of William Farmer and Jane Sheffeild at Collingbourne Kingston 20 Feb 1704.


Ancestry of John Farmer:

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. Edward Blake (b 2 Jan 1845) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
5. Ann FARMER (b 19 Apr 1804) - Little London, Andover, Hampshire England
likely
6. Isaac FARMER (b 6 May 1764)  - Collingbourne Kingston Wiltshire England
7. John FARMER (b 31 Mar 1717) - Collingbourne Kingston Wiltshire England
8. John FARMER (b 30 Oct 1682) - Collingbourne Kingston Wiltshire England
9. Thomas FARMER

Did I solve the mystery as to whether or not John is absolutely mine? I think likely can be applied given the wide search for possibilities for Isaac Farmer's baptism. I have looked at my images again  and added in some material from Family Search that permits the separation of the two families found in the 1700s into sons of Thomas Farmer (John and William). The marriage for each of these sons is now known with John marrying Mary Acres (daughter of Thomas and Mary Acres also of Collingbourne Kingston). I shall have to share this work with my Farmer cousin in England although he may have also discovered this material.

Parents of Isaac Farmer - Brick Wall Number 2

Brick Wall Number 2: Parents of Isaac Farmer

Another mysterious individual is Isaac Farmer. He signed the marriage register with a well formed hand (along with his father in law Nathanael Lambden). Isaac Farmer and Elizabeth Lambden were married 16 Aug 1789 at Woodhouse, Andover, Hampshire. Isaac was buried 18 Mar 1808 and he was 44 years of age according to the burial register. There is a baptism 6 May 1764 at Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire (11 miles slightly north west of Andover) son of John Farmer. There is a John Farmer buried 15 Oct 1771 at Collingbourne Kingston (Isaac would have been just seven years of age and the individual isn't listed as the son of  John just a clear statement of burial usually attributed to an adult). Three sons were baptized by a John Farmer at Collingbourne Kingston - John 12 Dec 1756, Joseph 9 Sep 1759 and Isaac 6 May 1764. There is a burial for a Jacob Farmer son of John Farmer 14 Aug 1764.  The priest records Isaac as "of Andover" in his marriage lines.

There is a John Farmer married to Mary Holland 7 Jan 1755 at Whitchurch, Hampshire and he was 23 years of age and Mary 18 years. Whitchurch is just 7 miles east of Andover. Although one might think the surname Farmer is somewhat common looking at the Public Profiler it is most commonly found in the West Midlands and next in southern England. Almost 300 persons per million have the Farmer surname in England. It is the 612th most common name in England with Hampshire being amongst one of the top places for occurrence.


I need to check the apprenticeship records to see if I can learn more about this Farmer family at Collingbourne Kingston as they do not appear in the land records there.

Farmer Research Day and Abbots Ann Parish Registers

The Farmer family Research Day and again this is a line that begins its long stretch backwards with Ann Farmer married to John Blake 4 Sep 1823 at Andover. Ann was born 19 Apr 1804 at Little London, Andover and baptized 11 May 1804 at the Parish Church of Andover. She died 27 Mar 1893 at Upper Clatford and was buried 31 Mar 1893 at Upper Clatford. Ann was my Grandfather Blake's grandmother. She lived next door to them and my Grandfather was almost eighteen years old when she died. He knew her very well and she supplied him with many details on his Blake family but also telling him about her mother Elizabeth Lambden who had married Isaac Farmer 16 Aug 1789 at Woodhouse, Andover. Elizabeth Lambden Farmer lived to be 96 years of age. She was baptized 16 Mar 1766 at Andover the daughter of Nathanael and Sarah Lambden. She died 28 Aug 1862 at Knights Enham and I do not yet know where she was buried. Tomorrow is Lambden Research Day so I will check Find My Past to see if that information is available.

Ann Farmer was the youngest child of six and her father Isaac Farmer was buried 18 Mar 1808 at Andover. Isaac is a bit of a mystery. He may be the Isaac Farmer who was christened 6 May 1764 at Collingbourne Kingston son of John Farmer. His signature on his marriage registration is very neatly formed and John Farmer was a farmer at Collingbourne Kingston so perhaps could afford to educate his sons. There were three children baptized by John Farmer and his unknown wife at Collingbourne Kingston - John baptized 12 Dec 1756, Joseph 9 Sep 1759 and of course Isaac in 1764. John Farmer was buried 15 Oct 1771 at Collingbourne Kingston leaving behind his sons of ages 15, 12 and 7. Who raised them? That is a mystery that might be solved with the Collingbourne Kingston parish registers. Ancestry has an interesting Farmer marriage at Collingbourne Ducis 3 Oct 1709 John Farmer married Mary Akars. The father of John Farmer was also a John Farmer.

Because I do not yet own the parish registers for Collingbourne Kingston and I can not really do much on the Farmer family from afar I will also devote this research time to working on the Abbots Ann Parish Registers. These Registers have entered into the Commonwealth time period and are poorly kept and few entries. However, what there is I will attempt to transcribe.

Pearce Research Day and Abbots Ann Parish Register

Today is the Pearce family research day and as mentioned yesterday John Coleman married Elizabeth Pearce 7 Oct 1771 at Abbots Ann and they are one set of my 4x great grandparents. Elizabeth was buried 8 Apr 1823 at Upper Clatford as Elizabeth Head having married her second husband John Head 10 Oct 1781 at Upper Clatford . They had one daughter Elizabeth baptized 2 Feb 1783 at Upper Clatford who married William Hunter 19 Feb 1805 at Upper Clatford.They had four children Eizabeth (baptized 27 Mar 1814 at Upper Clatford and married to Thomas Williams 28 Apr 1832 at Upper Clatford), Ann Hunter (baptized 8 Jun 1817 at Upper Clatford), Thomas Hunter (baptized 12 Mar 1820 at Upper Clatford) and Richard Hunter baptized 20 Jun 1824 at Upper Clatford). These four children would be half first cousins to my 3x great grandfather John Blake (son of Thomas Blake and Sarah Coleman).  More details on these families will be available when I complete the Upper Clatford Parish Registers past 1812.

In order to more fully understand the Pearce family at Abbots Ann I need to continue working on the Parish Registers for Abbots Ann.There hasn't been a Pearce Research Day as I did not reach that point in the Calendar the last time. I had moved to the 4x great grandparents from the third in my research endeavours but Coleman was the last one worked on. Because of the Pearce records that I do hold for Abbots Ann I suspect that Elizabeth is a sibling to Mary Pearce who married Joseph Welch 7 Oct 1769 at Abbots Ann and Simon Pearce who married Sarah Cooke 6 Sep 1775 at Abbots Ann. These children were baptized at Collingbourne Ducis and the children of William Pearce and Elizabeth Hopgood who married at Collingbourne Kingston 25 Apr 1736.The Pearce family were Innkeepers/malsters at Abbots Ann which would make them a similar background to the Coleman family with their Inn at Goodworth Clatford.

Once again in order to more fully understand the Pearce family I will spend their Research Day on the Abbots Ann Parish Registers. Yesterday I managed to enter five years of baptisms bringing the numbers for the Abbots Ann Parish Registers to 506 baptisms by 1625, 99 marriages by 1598 and 177 burials by 1597.

The first Blake entry at Abbots Ann is the baptism of Thomas Blake son of Robert Blake and baptized 1 Sep 1568. The latest entry in the Blake family is William Blake son of John Blake baptized 27 Dec 1627.  No ideas yet on which Blake family in the Andover area this might be. The one known Blake family at Abbots Ann was Peter Blake of Andover who left his heavily mortgaged property to his son Peter Blake and thence to his sister Sarah Lambert. This was the Manor and advowson of Abbots Ann.

 At the end of the day I now have 607 baptisms at Abbots Ann and the same number of marriages and burials. The next set of transcriptions is marriages and I will begin them tomorrow.

Pincombe and Blake

The last few days have produced a flurry of activity in my two main one name studies - Blake and Pincombe. I received emails from two descendants of each of these families that have provoked more thought on their lines.

In the case of the Pincombe family, the email request is from Australia and I am still learning about the Pincombe family now located in Australia. My 2x great grandfather's brother George went to Australia and died there. He did not have any children whilst living there though so I would be going back one more generation to find anyone in Australia related to me (5th cousin or greater likely). The person in question was a William Pincombe who married Emma White at the parish church of St Pancras in 1852. Fortunately I do have that marriage and know that his father was George Pincombe (deceased in 1852) and Giles White was the father of Emma also deceased in 1852. There was a substantial Pincombe/Pinkham family in Middlesex in this time period that was descendant of Arthur Pincombe who had migrated to Middlesex in the 1700s. It will be this family that I will investigate initially as the family lore says that William was born in Middlesex but there is also some controversy which may have him born in Devon. Since the records in Australia (thus far) indicate Middlesex my effort will be directed towards the family that is known to me in Middlesex and descendant of Arthur Pincombe who was christened 26 Dec 1761 at Robourough by Torrington and buried 19 Apr 1823 at St Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, London. Arthur married twice, first Elizabeth Milton 13 Oct 1784 at St James Westminster, London  and second Ann Smale. From his second marriage, there was a son George Pincombe baptized 29 Aug 1802 at St Mary Whitechapel. I will first either eliminate or prove that this is the George for whom we are looking.

In the case of the Blake family, I have been corresponding with a descendant of the Charles Blake family living in the United States. Probably I have received more requests about this particular Blake line than any other from individuals who live all over the world including never having left England. Charles Blake appears in the Abbots Ann, Hampshire, England records that are available on the FamilySearch site first with his marriage to Mary Prince 4 Sep 1736. Mary was the daughter of James Prince and Ruth Burger. Charles was buried 28 Oct 1783 at Abbots Ann. They had only one child recorded in FamilySearch and I am still in the process of transcribing Abbots Ann so have not found any more either. Their son Charles was baptized 24 Jun 1737 at Abbots Ann and buried there 31 Oct 1800. Charles married twice.

His first wife was Jane Gilbert (baptized 3 Oct 1740 at Abbots Ann) and Jane was also descended from the Blake family through her father John Gilbert. John Gilbert was the son of John Gilbert and Sarah Kidgell with Sarah being baptized 28 Mar 1690 at Abbots Ann (married to John 3 Feb 1707 at Abbots Ann). Sarah's father was Richard Kidgell baptized 24 Sep 1661 and Richard's father was John Kidgell. John's father's name was Kidgell and his mother was Elizabeth Blake. This Elizabeth Blake was the daughter of unknown Blake married to Elizabeth Hinxman (baptized 17 Jul 1593 at Andover). My suspicion is that the unknown Blake was the son of Thomas Blake (brother to my Richard Blake). The brother of Elizabeth Blake was a merchant at Oxford according to his mother's will of 1688.

The second wife of Charles was Hannah Powell and they were married 17 Aug 1779 at Abbots Ann. From the two marriages there were nine sons in total who lived to adulthood. I have corresponded with descendants of a number of these sons but not all of them.

A will left by John Blake malster at Abbots Ann is full of genealogical information and can be found on my website. Both my ancestor Thomas Blake at Upper Clatford and Charles Blake are mentioned in the will with considerably more attention (and bequests) being paid to the descendants of Charles Blake making me think that there is more of a blood connection to John. I do know the connection to John for my Thomas as he was his uncle. The mother of Thomas was Joanna King and it was her sister Mary King that married John Blake malster at Abbots Ann. Whether or not I am also related to John Blake on the Blake side is unknown to me at this time.

I then extracted the Poor Law Records for Abbots Ann to find the Blake family there and indeed there was a Robert Blake there as early as 1727 when he was Churchwarden and paying the poor rate. The lands on which he paid this tax ended up being later assessed to Charles and John Blake leading me to suspect that Charles and John were sons of Robert Blake. Perhaps aiding with matching up families is the entry of 1812 where Ann Blake (sister to my Thomas) is paying the poor rate as per the terms of John's will where Ann was to remain on the property with various codicils pertaining to that.

There was a Robert Blake married to Elizabeth Russell 15 Jul 1694 at Andover where they baptized:

Blake Sarah       daughter       Blake Robert Elizabeth 1696 March 10
Blake Joannah   daughter       Blake Robert Elizabeth 1700 February 12
Blake Mary        daughter       Blake Robert Elizabeth 1702 December 21
Blake Edward     son               Blake Robert Elizabeth 1711 August 12
Blake Thomas     son               Blake Robert Elizabeth 1714 July 2
Blake Jane          daughter        Blake Robert Elizabeth 1717 July 22

There is the rather large gap between 1702 and 1711 where the birth of Charles could have occurred but where is the question. Edward does appear on this list and he is also in the tax list at Abbots Ann living on Coles which was formerly held by Robert Blake. I did find a John Blake baptized to Robert 22 Feb 1714 at Penton Mewsey (he was born 14 Feb 1714) but the priest has not given the mother's name unfortunately. This does appear to be rather close to the baptism of Thomas on July 2 but February would follow July as this is old calendar  but it is still only seven months later. However, it is a possibility. But still no Charles baptism found yet. The Abbots Ann parish registers are still in the process and the period that I am most interested in is very faint and poorly organized unfortunately. Plus I am only up to 1613 in the register thus far.

The ongoing debate for me is which to put first. I would like to complete my proofreading of Bishops Nympton and have those records online to reduce the number of requests for this information but I am also quite dedicated to the idea of transcribing Abbots Ann which is just one set of registers for the Andover Registration District that I am working on.

I must admit that I tend to always mention yDNA testing to people these days because I do believe that is the only way to sort these families in both of my one name studies.

Farmer Family of Andover, Collingbourne Kingston

Andover Parish Registers

Baptisms

Farmer    John    son    Farmer    Thomas        Margarett    1710    October    9
Farmer    Amie    daughter    Farmer    Thomas        Margaret    1713    June    7
Farmer    Elizabeth    daughter    Farmer    Thomas            1715    November    11

Marriages
Farmer    Thomas        Deane    Margarett                1709    October    9

Burials
Farmar    Sarah                        1741    February    16   
Farmer    Thomas                        1739    March    6   

I have transcribed the Parish Registers up to the end of 1756 and need to move on to the next Parish Register as Isaac Farmer was likely born around 1764 as he was 44 years old when he died in 1808. I have "read" the register but I find that I do miss items when I read but do not when I transcribe and proofread.

I do not have a lot of hints on Isaac Farmer; he wrote a very clear hand one can tell from his signature on his marriage lines. I have absolutely no idea how he was employed. He married Elizabeth Lambden daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Lambden 16 Aug 1789 at Woodhouse in Andover and their eldest child William was baptized the same day. Isaac and Elizabeth had six children: William born 16 Jul 1789 at Andover, Sarah born 20 May 1792 and baptized 27 May 1792 at Andover and died Mar quarter 1876 at Andover, Mary Farmer born 21 Dec 1794 and baptized 21 Jan 1795 at Andover, Martha born and baptized 9 Feb 1798 at Andover, married to Thomas Hawkins 23 Sep 1822 at Andover and buried Sep quarter 1852 at Andover, John was born 20 Aug 1801 and baptized 20 Sep 1801 at Andover and buried 3 Apr 1814 at Andover,  and Ann (my 2x great grandmother) was born 19 Apr 1804 at Little London in Andover baptized 11 May 1804 at Andover and died 27 Mar 1893 at Upper Clatford and was buried 31 Mar 1893 at Upper Clatford. About Ann I know a surprising amount. She lived right next door to my grandfather and he was 18 when she died so he knew and remembered her very well. From her he learned about the Blake family mostly although he also learned about his great grandmother Elizabeth Lambden who lived to be 96 years old and worked until that time. He had several great grandparents who lived to great ages. Ann (Farmer) Blake didn't remember her father ver well as she was only four years old when he died.

Isaac being an unfamiliar name I did search on the IGI and found an Isaac Farmer baptized 6 May 1764 at Collingbourne Kingston son of John Farmer. The Collingbourne Kingston has just one Farmer family listed and I did collect all of that information. However the priest does write on the wedding lines that both Isaac Farmer and Elizabeth Lambden are of the parish. The father of Isaac Farmer baptized at Collingbourne Kingston died in 1771 when Isaac was only seven years old. I am left to wonder if he was sent to live with a relative and perhaps in Andover. More work needed here on the Andover Parish Registers and I shall spend my Farmer/Lambden research time on the Andover Parish Registers.

Upper Clatford complete to 1812

I have completed the Upper Clatford Parish Registers to the end of 1812 and I am proofreading them today. Hopefully it will not take me too long. I learned about what I thought I would learn from the Upper Clatford marriages. There was a Blake family there in the 1600s and likely descendant of the Peter Blake family. This Peter descends from Nicholas Blake. It is interesting to find my Blake family there from the mid 1700s on. One wonders if they realized that they were related to the earlier Blake family that was there. My grandfather used to say that the Blake family had been at Upper Clatford for at least 500 years when I was young so possibly he did know but did not fill in enough details for my eight year old mind to retain that knowledge. We are not, however, directly descendant of the Peter Blake line that lived there. He would have been a many times great grand uncle.

There was a Pearse family at Upper Clatford which greatly interested me in that Elizabeth Pearse married to John Coleman was one of my 4x great grandmothers. I have no idea if there is any relationship between these Pearse families. Elizabeth is likely baptized at Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire. John and Elizabeth were married at Abbotts Ann. This is my next block of transcription to do once Upper Clatford is proofread.

The final tally for records in Upper Clatford includes 1683 baptisms, 349 marriages and 1161 burials. The burials to baptisms ratio shows a very healthy population at Upper Clatford with over 500 baptisms compared to burials. The Church of All Saints at Upper Clatford was a busy place when we visited. There were a number of people there in the church and visiting the graveyard. It is a quiet peaceful place and the mystical part of me left my memories of my grandfather with the nearest tree. Some of the trees have been there for long enough to have been touched by my grandfather. It was a heady moment for me to be there where he had been. He talked a great deal about Upper Clatford in the last years of his life. Although he lived at Eastleigh from his 20s on until coming to Canada when he was 39 in 1913, the love he had for his home village was quite easy to see. His father, Edward Blake,  lived at Goodworth Clatford the last years of his life. My father could remember that and said that his grandfather used to walk to Upper Clatford from the nursing home he lived in (Yew Cottage) in order to see his home town once again. Edward, father to Samuel, died in 1916 at Yew Cottage. I didn't try to find it when we visited but we may try the next time as we will spend a couple of days in that area.One of my grandfather's younger brothers is buried at Goodworth Clatford - Edward Sidney Blake was buried in 1898.

Back to transcription proofreading and I shall probably get a start on Abbotts Ann just for a change. For Abbotts Ann I have the registers from 1561 right up to the mid 1960s. I may transcribe this one right up to 1837 initially and further later. My interest is primarily in the Coleman and Pearse families there but also to see if I can discover the Blake family there and whether Robert Blake and Elizabeth Russell of Andover did end up in Abbotts Ann. The time period of the early 1700s is difficult in this set of records but will try to transcribe as much as I am able.

Guild of One Name Studies

The Blake one name study is now my primary study at the Guild of one name studies. It will involve most of my effort in genealogy as well. At the moment I am engaged in collecting the data on the Blake family that centered at Andover Hampshire from the late 1400s and continue in this area to this day. I wish I had contacts with this section of the Blake family but I am probably much too shy to just write people out of the telephone book although it is tempting. Probably though all the Blakes in this area are not descended from the Mr. Blake and Jone Blake family mentioned in the will of Jone Blake in 1527 - sons Robert and Nicholas and daughter Elizabeth married to Mr. Mylne. Jone does not mention her grandchildren and she would have had quite a number by the time of her death so perhaps that is why. I suspect her age to have been in the vicinity of 60 years plus or minus 5 years. The age of her son Nicholas is not known either when he leaves his will in 1547 nor his brother Robert who leave a will in 1542. Semi-accurate aging comes in partially with the next to following generation. Then the next generation born/baptized after the beginning of the Parish Registers at Andover is better known in that regard.

I also worked at updating my Pincombe and Lambden profiles. The Lambden study though is in resting mode. I pull items when I find them but if another researcher comes along and wishes to do the Lambden study then it is available. I am tempted to add that to the profile and may do so just to make it perfectly plain for all to see. The Pincombe study interests me but is a relatively small study and I continue to collect data.

I shall put together the Blake Profile for the approval of my two other authors when I receive the link. The masses of the textual material has been created by Barrie Blake of Australia and he has done a most fascinating job. It is his webpage that the Blake study is linked to from the main page with a more complete explanation in the profile to come. The DNA workup has also been completed by him and he continues this important work. It is hoped that having a one name study might encourage people to test their Blake yDNA line or if already tested to join the project.

Continuing with the Upper Clatford Parish Registers I have reached 1444 baptisms by the end of 1787, 243 marriages to 1753 and 963 burials to 1776. I will work my way up to 1812 for baptisms, marriages and burials before then turning to Abbotts Ann. At Abbotts Ann I have the Coleman family and the Pearce family to work through for my own direct line but I am also quite interested in the Blake line there to simply sort out whether this is the Robert Blake line from Andover as I strongly suspect. The Pearce family may be from Collingbourne Kingston one generation back where William Pearce married Elizabeth Habgood 25 Apr 1736 at Collingbourne Kingston. Interestingly enough the father of Elizabeth Habgood was Thomas Habgood who married Anne Farmer in 1705 at Collingbourne Kingston. The Farmer line is interesting because Ann Farmer (daughter of Isaac Farmer and Elizabeth Lambden) married John Blake (my 2x great grandparents) at Andover 4 Sep 1823. Ann was born 19 Apr 1804 at Little London and baptized 11 May 1804 at Andover. Her father is a mystery. He signs the marriage register with a well shaped hand as does the father of Elizabeth Lambden. But I am somewhat stumped with both of these families and finding an Isaac Farmer baptized 6 May 1764 at Collingbourne Kingston has certainly proven to be an interesting possibility for my 3x great grandfather. One of my next purchases of fiche will be Collingbourne Kingston.

Carter family at Upper Clatford and Andover

The Carter family at Upper Clatford and Andover has interested me for awhile because I have at least one marriage and possibly two into this family. One of them is likely a daughter of the Carter family at Andover.

Thomas King married Mary Carter 10 Jan 1728 at Upper Clatford and I am not sure of Mary Carter's parents or where she was born. The marriage lines state that they are both of this parish. There are at least four Carter families at Upper Clatford in the early to mid 1660s - Thomas, Henery, Michaell and John. However by the late 1600s there is Thomas only but no daughter Mary in the IGI. The Register is becoming more difficult to read  by the 1670s and continues thus into the early 1700s. Perhaps I will find a Mary hidden away in there somewhere that was missed in the IGI. On the other hand there are at least half of a dozen Carter families at Andover and there are Marys the right age there. The wills of the Carter family might help me and I have collected all those as well. Gyles Carter in 1675 at Andover, Richard Carter in 1684 at Andover, Robert Carter in 1725 at Andover, John Carter in 1780 at Andover, and Mary Carter widow in 1828 at Andover. These were all at the National Archives in Kew. There are other wills for Carter family members at Upper Clatford namely John Carter in 1732 and Thomas Carter in 1732. Robert Carter in 1732 leaves a will at Andover and the last three are from the Hampshire Record office. I need to purchase the Carter wills at Upper Clatford.

Once I have transcribed all these registers then I will work on the wills. It is so much easier when I know the families through the baptisms to work on the wills I find. There is still a Carter family at Upper Clatford in the 1900s with a will for George Carter farmer. On the 1911 Census he is living at Eastbury House in Upper Clatford.

Continuing on with the Upper Clatford Parish Registers and as of the end of 1670 there are 688 baptisms. Considering I have all the baptisms up to 1970 this is going to be a very large file when complete. Although we drove around Upper Clatford somewhat it did not seem like that large a village but looking at the map we only skirted around the outside going to the Church and then continuing on the road to Goodworth Clatford. Looking at the village in Google Maps reveals a fairly large village surrounded by farmland except to the north where Andover is located on the other side of the highway which runs between the two. There was a copse of trees to the north of the village which blocked the highway and Andover from view. It was an extremely quiet village considering the main highway was so close.

I would like to visit Upper Clatford again one day and actually walk on some of the streets and climb Bury Hill if that is possible. My grandfather used to describe the village to me and the Bury Hill so I am keen to look at it more closely. The Church was most interesting and the centre of the community I think. It was very busy the day that we were there with a number of people inside. It was amazing being there actually. The next time we are there I shall miss my cousins very much as they were with us last time and Ivan passed away this past year. This time it will be my husband and myself.

Thinking of going to England we also want to go to Norfolk and visit Aylmerton, East Runton, Sherringham where his Abbs line originated. His Mary Abbs came to Canada in about 1832/33 with her parents William Abbs and Martha Chapman as a child of 13/14 years of age. Finding her last year was one of my husbands "great events" in that he had been searching for her for awhile - a Eureka moment!

Thomas Blake at Upper Clatford

I have completed the baptisms at Andover up to the end of December 1756 and there are 11,785 baptisms from the beginning of the registers to this date at St Marys Andover. Next the burials and then the marriages and I will be ready to move on to Penton Mewsey parish registers. Having just discussed Charles Blake at Abbotts Ann I now move to remind myself of what I know about my own line at Upper Clatford going back to Andover.

My Blake line which runs back from my father who was born at Eastleigh HAM in 1904 to his father born at Upper Clatford HAM in 1875 (Samuel George Blake). Samuel's father was Edward Blake and his mother Maria Jane Knight. Edward was born at Upper Clatford in 1845 and Maria Jane Knight was born at Turnworth, DOR in 1849. Maria Jane Knight's family lines are fairly well defined back into the mid 1700s and I will speak about the Knight family in another blog.

Edward Blake's parents were John Blake (b 1799 Upper Clatford) and Ann Farmer (b 1804 Woodhouse, Little London, Andover). Again I have acquired some information on the Farmer line back into the mid 1700s and it too will be discussed in another blog.

John Blake's parents were Thomas Blake (b 1767 Upper Clatford) and Sarah Coleman (b 1773 Abbotts Ann HAM). The Coleman family dates back to Goodworth Clatford in the late 1600s and they were inn keepers there with more information to come on this line later.

Thomas Blake was born posthumously in Oct 1767 after the death of his father Joseph (b 1730 Andover) in May 1767 and his older brother Thomas also in May 1767. Thomas' mother was Joanna King b 1736 Upper Clatford. She was the only surviving child of Thomas King and Mary Carter who had married 10 Jan 1728. Both of them were older (Thomas King was likely b 1688 Upper Clatford and Mary Carter was likely b 1692 Andover) and only two children were baptized to this couple Elizabeth b 1735; d 1735 and Joanna b 1736. Thomas King in his will 1762 mentioned the daughter Mary of John Blake (malster at Abbotts Ann). Is it significant that he doesn't mention Mary the wife of John (her grave would indicate that she was still living)? I am looking for a connection between Thomas King and John Blake and why they mention each others children in their respective wills (written more than 30 years apart). The mother of Joseph Blake is still a mystery although signs point towards it being Ann Carter and the wife of Thomas King was Mary Carter. John Blake leaves money to the Church at Upper Clatford and what significance should I find there? All these little questions emerged from John's will. Nice to see Thomas Blake mentioned there but so many new questions emerged.

Joseph Blake's father is Thomas Blake and he was baptized in 1730 at Andover. This Thomas is the son of Thomas Blake and Mary Spring who married in 1708 at Andover. I am fairly quickly answering the question of which Thomas this was in that Thomas Blake (b 1671) does not appear on the Poll book in 1710 and as the nephew of Peter Blake one would have expected him to be there I think. More proof still needed. The other Thomas that is a candidate is the son of John Blake and Elizabeth and baptized 1685 at Andover. Although this John Blake appears to be the son of William Blake and Ann Hellier I am holding that in abeyance because the father of Thomas (b 1671) is John the brother of William Blake married to Ann Hellier. I need to resolve this issue before moving back to the father of William and John and he was William Blake married to Dorothy Madgwick.

The line continues back to Richard Blake married to Jone Blake. These two bring the two Blake lines at Andover together in that Richard and Jone are both great grandchildren of Mr. Blake and Jone Blake. Jone left a will in 1527 naming her children: Robert, Nicholas and Elizabeth (married to Mr. Mylne). Jone was descended from Robert (his grandaughter (her father was Robert)) and Richard was descended from Nicholas his grandson (his father was William). Although I still need to work out which Thomas married Mary Spring the ultimate way back is the same result - Nicholas and Robert Blake as my two Blake lines at Andover and they were brothers.

Proving 4x great grandparents

I am now back to the project that I want to complete before we have our trip to Salt Lake City. I discovered I have proven Joseph Blake, Joanna King, John Coleman and I was working on Elizabeth Pearce. I discovered that Elizabeth (Pearce) Coleman had remarried in 1781 (her husband was buried in 1780 at Upper Clatford. I suspect that they lived with Dinah (Bever) Coleman and that they were involved in running an Inn although I still have to ferret out those details. The Coleman family had an Inn at Goodworth Clatford in the late 1600s and on into the 1700s but I am not sure how long they were there yet. Still working on those details! Elizabeth married John Head in 1781 at Upper Clatford. The marriage registration lists her as a widow and I finally have now found her burial registration in 1823 at Upper Clatford and she was 85 years old. This works well back to the Elizabeth Pearce baptized at Collingbourne Ducis in 1737. This is one record that I need to look at when we are in Salt Lake City. I did do some photography of this register but I was looking for Farmer entries. Elizabeth Pearce's grandmother was likely Anne Farmer and so the story may start to come together for the Farmer family which married into the Lambden family and then into the Blake family. I was trying to place Isaac Farmer in Andover but the only really good match is at Collingbourne Ducis. I completed my proof for Elizabeth Pearce but with the stipulation that I need to verify the details on her baptism and her parentage which would appear to be William Pearce and Elizabeth Hapgood. Elizabeth is from Collingbourne Ducis and the daughter of Thomas Hapgood and Anne Farmer. If I can indeed prove this line then the linkage with the Farmer family is very intriguing. Isaac Farmer was orphaned by the time he was 7 years old but he signs his marriage registration with a firm hand and well rounded letters leading one to suspect that he was educated. I related earlier my suspicions on the Farmer family so will not expand on that thought at this moment in time.

I then moved on to my Knight 4x great grandparents. This has been something I have wanted to work on for awhile. I did not do any Knight research at Salt Lake City and will do that the next time. I have a lot of information from other researchers who link this family back to the Knight family at Shaftesbury and then Cann before that. I am still sitting at William Knight (burial at Winterborne Stickland is a W Knight in 1827 and the individual is 67 years old which would work well with the records that I have for him. There are not a large number of Knight families at Stickland and I more or less know each one there. The baptism that I am looking for is at Spetisbury. At Spetisbury in 1787 we have three Knight members listed on the Militia list - William Knight bricklayer, John Knight bricklayer, John Knight, servant bricklayer (apprentice perhaps). Possibly this is John Knight son of William Knight. Eleanor though the wife of Ellis (son of William above) is the daughter of John Knight who is a bricklayer. Are they first cousins? Family lore says that they are first cousins. William Knight and Mary Dashwood at Shaftesbury (and the Knight family is not there after the 1860s when they are found at Spetisbury) had sons William, Samuel, George, John, and Thomas. Ideally I would be looking for this William to have sons William and John and indeed they do. But is this John the father of Eleanor who married Ellis the son of William. That I am still not sure about. The difference in their station continues to plague me - John was a bricklayer and William was an agricultural labourer. I need some interesting entry that relates them so that I can actually say that they are both the sons of William Knight the bricklayer. I have started entering my proofs for them. This is my grandfather Samuel Blake's line back (his 2x great grandparents). I have thus far proven four of the sixteen. I have evidence to complete John Butt, Jane Durnford, William Arnold and Elizabeth Malton. That brings me half way. I need to add to my Knight data which is four more (two Knight and one each Ellis and Vincent). The Farmer line I do have information on the likely father of Isaac and his name was John. I have no idea of his mother's name at the moment. The Lambden line I have information on Nathanael but I am not sure that the Nathanael baptized at Bradfield Berkshire is him and need to look at the other Nathaniel baptized in this time period in Berkshire. He was not baptized at St Mary Bourne. The wife of Nathanael Lambden is thus far unknown beyond the forename of Sarah and her burial in 1797 at Andover Hampshire.

Today I am having my eyes tested and more on that later. I have been meaning to upgrade my glasses for awhile but at $200 a lens I need to contemplate it for awhile! I think they need to be a little stronger perhaps in the reading portion. Although I am reading this quite well at 18 inches from the computer. We will see!

I shall dedicate another day to my grandfather's 2x great grandparents as that should permit me to add all the proofs and images to my Legacy file. Then I shall move on to my grandmother Blake's families. I will prove her "natural" parent line Cotterill (I am missing one of her 2x great grandmothers) but I want to find the grandparents of her adopted father William Taylor and perhaps beyond if I am lucky. The researcher who is doing this line has not gone beyond what I have done thus far. Perhaps she will later and she lives in England so has easier access to the registers. For her mother's line I will be able to prove those eight lines as I have collected all the evidence.

For my maternal grandfather I have the proofs for all sixteen of his 2x great grandparents. I collected all of that information (which I didn't have already) when we were at Salt Lake City last time. For my maternal grandmother I still have the problem of using family lore to connect my Ellen Taylor (her mother) back to her parents. If that connection is true then I have the proofs for five out of eight. On my grandmother's father's side I have the proofs for four out of eight. I need to work on the Cheatle lineat the 4x great grandparents but I have the fiche for that. For my Christopher Buller's parents I do not have even an inkling at this point in time. Another line to research at Salt Lake City.

That means I will work on the Pearce family at Abbotts Ann/Collingbourne Kingston, Collingbourne Ducis to find William Pearce my 5x great grandfather and his line. I will work on the Knight family to sort them out. I will work on the Farmer family at Collingbourne Ducis - I have some information on them already that I need to sort. I will work on the Lambden family in Berkshire. I will look at my paternal Grandmother's natural parentage at the 5x great grandparent level. I will seek out the family of William Taylor (her adopted father). I want to do more work on the Charley family at Kentisbear Devon. I have a few 5x great grandparents in my mother's that are known and I need to check the registers for their parents information.

I shall soon start to build my excel file for Salt Lake City. I have one created that includes the itens that I set aside last time and I will add more items to it. I know that I can look at about 40 to 50 films if I control my day very well. I am more experienced with the camera which will help and I will repeat the few pictures that are blurry and I really want to have a good copy. Quite often the ones that were blurry were not a problem for me.

I spent most of the afternoon working on the West Hampshire Tax Subsidy as I had copied about 30 pages when we were at Salt Lake city. I am producing an excel file that I can sort by surname, forename, year or place. I have a number of Hampshire ancestors who are listed in this set of records. Since I did not have eye drops I could spend the rest of the day working - a real surprise.

My new glasses will be ready in a couple of weeks and will be a change. They are not big round lenses this time but rather more of an oblong shape. I tried them out for a bit and quite liked them.

Tomorrow I will continue with the Tax Subsidy for West Hampshire.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 6 Jan 2009

After concentrating on the Bishops Nympton records for a week and the discipline of it, yesterday was a day of catching up and looking at lots of interesting bits and pieces. I want to prove all of my 4x great grandparents and I am starting to work down the list. These are my grandparents 2x great grandparents so I will be proving up to 64 people over the next little while. I started with my paternal grandfather. That means sixteen people to prove their relationship to my grandfather's great grandparents and to their parents my five times great grandparents.

Starting with my grandfather's paternal ancestors, the first two: Joseph Blake and Joanna King are quite straightforward as I have all the information needed to show the two relationships. The next two: John Coleman and Elizabeth Pearce are straightforward for John Coleman but Elizabeth Pearce is more of a challenge. They marry at Abbots Ann (not Old Alresford as is found on the IGI) as I have the fiche of the original register. Unfortunately no parent details are found for this couple in the marriage registration. John was baptized at Upper Clatford as it would appear that the Coleman family found earlier at Goodworth Clatford is no longer running the Inn there and his parents are buried at Upper Clatford. The interesting part about the Pearce family is that they ran an Inn at Abbots Ann but I am not sure of the relationship between Peter Pearce who ran the Inn and William Pearce the possible father of Elizabeth. William Pearce married Elizabeth Habgood at Collingbourne Kingston where she was baptized (daughter of Thomas Habgood and Anne Farmer (interesting detail!)) and their children were baptized at Collingbourne Ducis. I haven't found a baptism for this William Pearce or parents. I have nothing to go on with regard to this Elizabeth being the wife of John Coleman other than proximity. There were four Pearce marriages at Abbots Ann in this time frame and none of them state other than that they were "of the parish."

I am ordering the parish register fiche for Collingbourne Ducis and Collingbourne Kingston. I did look at these two parishes in Salt Lake City and have copies of the Poor Rate there and registers at Kingston. I will continue looking at this information today. Proving Elizabeth may take a while so once I have ordered the registers I will move on to the next couple: and they are interestingly enough John Farmer and his wife Mary. Isaac Farmer (an unusual forename) signed his marriage registration with a good clear hand at Woodhouse in Andover 16 Aug 1789. The Isaac Farmer that marries at Andover (Elizabeth Lambden) was not baptized at Andover (I have the fiche and have studied them for Isaac). The only Isaac Farmer that I have found to date was baptized at Collingbourne Kingston 6 May 1764 (matches his age at burial of 44 years in 1808).

Clearly I have not proven the connection between this Isaac my 3x great grandfather and John Farmer who is baptizing an Isaac at Collingbourne Kingston which is why the marriage between Thomas Habgood and Anne Farmer is rather interesting (great grandparents of Sarah Coleman who is the wife of Thomas Blake (son of Joseph mentioned above). This Anne Farmer married Thomas at Collingbourne Kingston. John Blake who married Ann Farmer at Andover is the son of Sarah Coleman. One of the daughters of Elizabeth Lambden Farmer (wife of Isaac) married Thomas Hawkins of Collingbourne Kingston at Andover one year earlier than the marriage between John Blake and Ann Farmer at Andover. Clearly this is not proof of the relationship between Isaac Farmer married to Elizabeth Lambden and John Farmer baptizing an Isaac Farmer at Collingbourne Kingston but it is certainly an interesting happening.

To pursue an answer I again need to look more carefully at the records of Collingbourne Kingston which I will continue to do today as well as ordering the fiche. Mary, wife of John Farmer, was buried in 1761 so could not be the mother of Isaac. He must have remarried but he too was buried in 1771 at Collingbourne Kingston. I shall try family reconstuction on his other two sons as well John b 1756 and Joseph b 1759 to see if that will help to link these families.

Since the Lambden family is also involved I will be looking at the parents of Elizabeth (my 3x great grandmother): Nathanael Lambden and Sarah his wife (surname unknown). I tried to purchase the fiche for the two parishes of Thatcham and Bradfield in Berkshire where there is a Nathan(i or a)el Lambden baptized in the correct time frame but this is not possible. I may purchase the transcription of the Bradfield register transcription from the FHS there and that one is very interesting as it has the Nathanael spelling which is the one which Nathanael Lambden used when he signed the marriage register for Elizabeth marrying Isaac Farmer. Having now traveled the roads in the area around Andover I can see it is quite feasible to see Nathanael marrying in Bradfield Berkshire and then traveling to Andover with his family to work for the rest of his life at Woodhouse as a wheelwright. All of their children are baptized at Woodhouse.

Looking at my paternal grandfather's maternal ancestors I know the names of all eight and I have the parents for six of them. This is my Dorset family line which begins with my grandfather's mother Maria Jane Knight who was born at Turnworth Dorset in 1850. More about them when I complete looking at my paternal grandfather's paternal line. Having so much information on the Dorset line is great as I am unable to purchase the parish fiche for my Dorset parishes. For the two that I am missing it will take a fair amount of digging to work their lines back I rather suspect. This is one of my collapsing lines as two of my 3x great grandparents (married) were first cousins.

As well today I want to continue looking at the Rose Ash, Merton, Landkey and Molland parish register fiche. Landkey proved interesting with the Walter Manning family baptizing children in the 1630s when Thomas (father of John Manning baptized 1655 at Landkey) could have been born (married to Elizabeth Upcott at Landkey in 1653). I want to have a longer look at that time period as some of the entries are difficult to read and perhaps have not been transcribed into the IGI.

At Rose Ash I want to look at the Vicary family; at Merton the Rowcliffe family and at Molland I continue to look at the Pincombe family there both in the 1800s when John and Elizabeth (my 2x great grandparents) lived there and earlier to see if there are other Pincombe lines there.

Another snowfall and it continues to snow here with a good wind. We are supposed to have 25 centimetres so the buildup begins that only sees an end with the thaws of late March and early April. Last year when we went to England 19th of April, the snow was still about 4 feet high in the front yard. I love the snow actually and we will try snowshoeing or skiing this afternoon. When it snows heavy it is usually a little milder here and then we go into a deep freeze for a few days which compacts it and builds up the ice on the canal. If you have winter; this is by far the best kind where the snow gradually builds up and you do not have the severe flooding that comes with the freeze, thaw, freeze cycles to the south of us.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 11 Dec 2008

I have 40 images of the Chittlehampton Bishop's Transcripts (full pages) and have now completed over half of them for a total of 500 line entries in my Excel file. I hadn't photographed the pages with that in mind actually as my intent was simply to collect all the Pincombe entries for my one-name study. However, it will be interesting to have this overview of Chittlehampton in the 1600s. A few Somerset records are next and then the Manor Books for Upper Clatford. I needed to get back into reading Secretary hand to work on those records and as I glance at them occasionally I am finding them easier to read. That will be at least two weeks of transcription to transcribe those records but will provide me with a very close birds eye view of Upper Clatford. The Blake family were there at various times between the early 1500s and the mid 1700s when my Joseph Blake moved there from Andover.

I completed Bryan Sykes's book Adam's Curse. An excellent read for the budding DNA enthusiast looking at UK families. He does tend to concentrate on his own blood lines but still the author feels drawn into his discussions as they give an interesting picture of possible scenarios on life in Neolithic British Isles. I want to write a Review of his three books - The Seven Daughters of Eve, Adam's Curse and Saxons, Vikings, and Celts for the Ottawa Branch Newsletter next edition in 2009.

Today I will continue with Chittlehampton Parish Register Bishop's Transcripts and also do a little work on the Abbots Ann fiche. Still pursuing the Pearce family of Abbots Ann and their relationship with the Coleman family there plus the newfound relationship between the Farmer family and the Hapgood families of Collingbourne Kingston. Still working on the Farmer family there as it appears to be a good possibility for my Isaac Farmer line.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 6 Dec 2008

No new work on the images from Salt Lake City today. I decided instead to look at Abbots Ann where my Pearce family lived. Elizabeth Pearce married John Coleman 7 Oct 1771 at Abbots Ann. John was baptized 13 Feb 1737 at Upper Clatford which seems to tell a tale of declining fortune in this family. The Coleman family had been Inn Keepers at Goodworth Clatford. His grandparents Clement and Katherine (Holeridge) Coleman had continuously held a licence there from 1716 to 1726 (Clement died in 1721). His father Clement was baptized at Goodworth Clatford 25 Oct 1704 and married to Dinah Bever (marriage date unknown which is a reminder that I need to check the fiche for Goodworth Clatford and Upper Clatford for this marriage as I work my way back). Elizabeth Pearce I hadn't been able to locate so decided to spend some time looking at the fiche for Abbots Ann and discovered Elizabeth Pearce's baptism 26 Jul 1739 although very very difficult to read. Her parents were William Pearce and Elizabeth. Possibly this is the marriage between William Pearce and Elizabeth Hopgood 25 Apr 1736 at Collingbourne Kingston as I can not find a marriage in this time frame in the Abbots Ann Register. There are two earlier Pearce marriages at Abbots Ann with one for a William and the other for a Peter (1707 and 1704). It was this Peter that attracted my attention as I found his Inn license from the 1720s time period at Abbots Ann. I have started to transcribe the register for Abbots Ann but it is a very slow process as the earliest register is one of the worst that I have seen. I did feel that this was a successful find though for Elizabeth Pearce.

I added Roberts to my webpage just to increase the possibility of locating descendants of this family line. Ellen Roberts married Thomas Taylor 29 Jun 1857 at Birmingham. She was less than 16 years old (b 18 Oct 1841; bap 6 Dec 1841 St Martin Birmingham), her mother had died two years earlier and the name of one of the witnesses at the marriage was the next door neighbour of this family on the 1841 census (Sarah Hadley) whom Thomas married 27 Dec 1859. Thomas himself died in 1860 or 1861 as he isn't alive on the 1861 census (Sarah is a widow with his three sons). This is my mtDNA line with my thought that this Ellen is the mother of my Ellen Taylor (b 9 Oct 1859 at Birmingham). Ellen Roberts had three brothers: Thomas (b 2 Sep 1843; bap 6 Nov 1843 St Martin Birmingham), James (b 5 Oct 1845; bap 8 Jan 1846 St Martin Birmingham), and Joseph (b 27 Sep 1847, bap 18 Oct 1847 St Martin Birmingham). Joseph was married to Mary Maria Odams Dec quarter 1869 at Aston Warwick. They had four children: Elizabeth b 1875, William b 1878, Alfred b 1885, Nellie b 1888 all born at Birmingham. The parents of Ellen Roberts were: Thomas Roberts and Ellen Lawley married 29 Nov 1840 at St Martins Birmingham. Ellen's father was Joseph Lawley and according to the census of 1851 Ellen was born at Wellington Shropshire. The possible trek back on my mtDNA continues to be brickwalled in the Midlands.

We attended the Opera Doctor Atomic at the theatre live streamed from the Met in New York City. It was my first event out since I took ill. I debated going as I am still having some pain in my ribs where I fell down but it ended up being quite practical. We sat near the level and by the edge as I didn't want anyone to accidentally knock me down! Opera was very well done.

Christmas Tree up this evening and will finish decorating when everyone is here tomorrow.

Finished proofreading Ed's UEL newsletter that he produced for the Branch. I want to continue to decrease my external commitments and I am looking at what else I can handoff or eliminate from my responsibilities. Although I enjoy the DNA work I have decided I do not really have time to become heavily involved in course writing which is one item that I have been mulling around. I have spent a fair amount of time reading and preparing but I do not think that I want to spend the time on it.