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!

Mary Charley/Charlie (1738 - 1797 or 1803)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 41

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

I have known the name Mary Charley/Charlie since childhood in terms of her being the wife of John Pincombe father of Robert Pincombe my three times great grandfather and the father of the emigrant John Pincombe who came to Canada with his family in 1850/51. It must have been a name that intrigued my mother because she retained that name from her childhood. Her father had died when she was just eight years old although it was likely reinforced by family gatherings during her childhood.  She remembered seeing a Family Bible which traced this Pincombe line back to John Pincombe and Grace Manning and their marriage took place at Bishops Nympton 20 Mar 1725. The thought crosses my mind that such a Bible would have had to cross with John Pincombe when he emigrated to Canada but the only Bible I have seen for the Pincombe family is held by my half-second cousin and I have copies of the family pages in that Bible. I do remember seeing that particular Bible as a child but do not recall anything other than the pages for which I have images. It is possible that there was a loose page in that Bible which showed the family line as this was a family that found their genealogical information to be very important particularly the spelling of their surname! There were three sons and two daughters of John Pincombe the emigrant (all were born in England) and I have never met most of the descendants. We did, some of us, get together to prepare a bio for the Pincombe Family when the Westminster and Delaware History Books were published and representatives of each of the sons were present at that gathering. I wrote the bio but had imput from everyone. The slant was basically on the Pincombe family which stayed in the Westminster area (my own line had moved into London, Ontario after the death of my grandfather in 1925). The two daughter's lines were not consulted mostly because none of us knew descendants that lived closeby.

I have had two recent communications from possible cousins on the Charley line. The first was as a result of an autosomal DNA match with an individual still living in Devon England where Mary Charley was likely born and certainly died. Mary was buried at Bishops Nympton Parish Church.The second is descendant of the Charley line in Jamaica and this line traces back to Combe Martin, Devon.

Information on possible Mary Charley from Find My Past:

Mary Charley baptized 11 Nov 1738 at Combe Martin daughter of Richard and Joan
Mary Chorly baptized 27 May 1741 at Tiverton St Peter daughter of William
Mary Chaarley baptized 5 Sep 1747 at Tawstock daughter of John and Grace
Mary Chorley baptized 15 Jun 1743 at Great Torrington daughter of George and Margaret

An exercise apparently not done by me earlier! at least not with varying the surname. Tawstock is 13 miles from Bishops Nympton where John Pincomb lived and where he married Mary Charlie in 1767. Tiverton is 14 miles from Bishops Nympton. Great Torrington is 17 miles from Bishops Nympton. Combe Martin is 18 miles from Bishops Nympton. All are within equal distance from Bishops Nympton and all are born in a time interval that would work for the marriage. Richard is a name that is used for the second last son of Robert Pincombe (third son of Mary). William is the name of her second son and John is the name of her first son and husband. George is the third son of Robert (third son of Mary). All the forenames do occur in the family. I will have to eliminate each of these Marys to see if that is helpful.

Mary signed the marriage register with a distinct hand but she signed it as Mary Pincombe unfortunately. The priest has written her surname as Charlie on both the Banns Register and the Marriage Register.

What happened to the four Marys listed above:

Mary Charley buried 3 Feb 1746 at  Parracombe
Mary Charley banns read at Goodleigh and the marriage 5 Nov 1759 to Robert Beard of Symbridge
Mary Charley married Joseph Jago 31 Jan 1765 at Kingskerswell
Mary Charley buried 15 Jul 1769 at Torquay St Marychurch
Mary Charley married at Tawstock 1 Sep 1772 a George Rogers
Mary Churley born circa 1740 and buried 7 Mar 1817 at Uffculme
Mary Charlie married John PIncomb 8 Nov 1767 at Bishops Nympton
Mary Churley buried 20 Jan 1792 at Uffculme
Mary Churly married 4 Jan 1771 to Robert Jordan at Culmstock
Mary Shirley married 26 Oct 1759 to John Whellan at St Andrew Plymouth
Mary Cherlie banns read at Bishops Nympton 27 Sep 1767 John Pincomb
Mary Chorley buried 13 May 1757 at Tiverton St Peter
Mary Chorley married 3 Apr 1763 William Mogford at Bampton
Mary Chorley married 26 Jul 1767 John Moore at Hartland
Mary Chorley married 8 Jun 1772 William Fulford at Tiverton

I am left with two of the Marys - one baptized at Combe Martin and the second baptized at Great Torrington. It is definitely interesting that a Mary Chorley married a John Moore in 1767 at Hartland. Hartland is 15 miles from Great Torrington and 2 miles from Bishops Nympton. The spelling of the surname is distinct for each of these marriages although Charlie is the priest's choice for the spelling as Mary signed her name Mary Pincombe. So is this my Mary?:

Mary Charley baptized 11 Nov 1738 at Combe Martin daughter of Richard and Joan

I never see the name Joan used in this family. I never see the name Richard used in this family until the grandsons of John and Mary are born to Robert Pincombe their third son and Elizabeth Rowcliffe and Richard and Elizabeth name their 5th son Richard. So a mystery there perhaps.  There is a Richard Charley buried 15 Apr 1765 at West Buckland (2 years before the marriage of John Pincombe and Mary Charlie). He left a will which was probated in 1768 and, of course, lost in the bombing of the Exeter Record Office during World War II. It might have been helpful if Mary Pincombe was his heir! There is another Richard Charley buried 16 Nov 1785 at West Buckland. I couldn't find a baptism for Richard Charley on the Find My Past website that would fit. West Buckland is 11 miles from Combe Martin and 8 miles from Bishops Nympton.

An earlier blog I had set my sights on Hugh Charley of Combe Martin as the father of my Mary but the records on Find My Past do not support this idea (they are shown on Family Search but are a patron submission). I have a published book for the Charley Family and there is mention of the Charley Family in North Devon. The chapter is interesting and written in a folksy style and mentions a couple of record groups including the Churchwardens at Combe Martin:

1699 John Charley
1714 Richard Charley
1729 Richard Charley
1730 Richard Charley
1814 John Charley
1815 John Charley
1820 John Charley
1822 John Charley

Evidence that Richard Charley was at Combe Martin along with the baptism of Mary. Nutcombe Farm at Combe Martin is mentioned and I did find the mention of a Nutcombe which is mentioned under Combe Martin on the Genuki site and 10 miles from West Buckland. Was Richard the father of my Mary; he appears to have had a son Richard perhaps as well. There were still Pincombe families in this area at this time who were related to my John Pincombe. Does location play into a decision?

All of the other Mary Charleys born in the right time period have been eliminated. This Mary baptized at Combe Martin appears to have survived. Marrying at her husband's parish might not be that unusual especially as her father is deceased. She could be living with relatives at Bishops Nympton as she is said to be of Bishops Nympton on the marriage registration and banns.

Is John Charley the father of Richard Charley? Is Hugh Charley the father of John Charley and the emigrant from Ireland mentioned in the book Romance of the Charley Family?

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2012/04/romance-of-charley-family-charley.html

The burial date for Mary can not yet be determined as there are two burials at Bishops Nympton in this time period and no age mentioned. Again so much material lost in the bombing of Exeter Record Office.

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Helen Louise PINCOMBE (b 18 Oct 1916) - Westminster Township Middlesex County Ontario Canada
3. John Routledge PINCOMBE (b 10 Sep 1872)- Lobo Township Middlesex County Ontario Canada
4. William Robert PINCOMBE (b 11 Jun 1837)- Molland Devon England
5. John PINCOMBE (b 5 Jul 1808)- Bishops Nympton Devon England
6. Robert PINCOMBE (b 4 Oct 1775) - Bishops Nympton Devon England
7. Mary CHARLEY (b 11 Nov 1738) - Combe Martin Devon England
possibly
8. Richard CHARLEY

Charley family

An interesting set of emails have gone back and forth between another member of the Charley family and myself. This Charley family is mentioned in the published book on the Charley family by Irene H Charley published in 1970 and titled: The Romance of the Charley Family. The crest of the Charley family appears on the front of the book. Chapter 13 talks about the Charley family of Jamaica and this individual is a descendant of that family.

My own line does not appear in the book as such but would possibly be considered to be in the chapter about North Devon although the spelling is Charlie by the priest. He had Mary sign as Mary Pincombe so I shall never know how she spelled her name! unless I am rather lucky.   For those unable to obtain a copy of this particular publication, The Devon family of North Devon is said to be descendant of a Hugh Charley who was of Irish descent. That this Hugh Charley came from Belfast and that they were located in Combe Martin and Kentisbury as yeoman farmers. I have recorded records for the Hugh Charley family at Combe Martin and Kentisbury in another blog:

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

Chapter 10, page 69 begins the chapter on The Charleys of North Devon. Mention is made of a Hugh Charley and his wife Izis and for whom spoons were apparently created with the date 1761 and the initial I.C. They farmed at Combe Martin and Kentisbury. The oldest record that I have for a Charley family at Combe Martin is the baptism of the oldest child of Hugh and Charity Charley named Hugh and this baptism took place 25 Jan 1676. Most of the information is on the Charley family in the 1800s and1900s with a comment that they had been in North Devon for several centuries.

According to the book there is a marriage of Hugh Chorley (did he leave Ulster?) marrying Izis Watts at Bradford 17 Nov 1668. Is he the Hugh Charley found at Combe Martin as a church warden in 1699 (the book hints at that). A silver spoon was handed down in the North Devon family with the initials I.C. 1761.

The book has carefully gathered together a lot of information on the Charley families around the world with a number of genealogical charts. I can not yet place my Mary Charlie/Charley in any of these families although she likely was born in North Devon somewhat closeby to Bishops Nympton where she married John Pincombe in 1767. That she signed the parish register at this time is interesting in itself.

She has signed her name with a clear hand and nicely formed letters.

There are no other Charley/Chorley/Churley/Charlie families in the Bishop Nympton parish records at this time.

It is always nice to hear from possible cousins and I have a match on autosomal DNA with a person who has a Charley in his line. If we are able to find the common ancestor this might lead back to the Charley family at Comb Martin.

Bénoit dit Vaillancourt Family

Marie Josephte Bénoit dit Vaillancourt married Joseph Louis Matté 5 Feb 1839 at St Jérome and Marie Josephte's parents were identified as Joseph Bénoit dit Vaillancourt and Josephte Charette who were themselves married 25 Nov 1811 at St Eustache (Deux Montagnes).

 M Joseph Vaillancourt et Josephte Chauret

Le vingt cinq novembre mil huit cent onze aprèes la publication
de trois bans de mariage faite au prone de nos messes savait ____
les trois __________dimanches consecutifs vingt unieme, la vingt
deux ____ et vingt trois ____ dimanches _____ entre joseph
vaillancour fils majeur de barthelemi vaillancourt et de marie
louise label ses pere et mere cultivateur en cette paroisse d'une part
et marie josephe chauret fille de charles chauret et de defunté
marguerite roi ses pere et mere de cette paroisse d'autre part; ne s'
étant de ____ aucun empechemenmt au dit mariage, nous soussigné
curé de cette paroisse leurs avons donné la bénédiction nuptiale au la
[to be continued but somewhat difficult to read]

Finding this marriage clarifies the parents of Joseph Vaillancourt and that he is descended from the second marriage of Bartelemi Vaillancourt, the present family is also descended from the first marriage of Bartelemi. Both of these marriages are in Tanguay with Barthélemi Vaillancour marrying first Marie Madeleine Bouchard 27 Jan 1766 at Kamouraska and second he married Marie Louise Labelle 3 Jul 1781 at Terrebonne. The parents of Barthélemi Vaillancourt are Joseph Vaillancourt and Thérèse Martin who were themselves married 7 Jan 1733 at Islet. This Joseph was the son of Robert Vaillancour and his first wife Geneviève Destroismaisons and they were married 28 Sep 1704 at St Thomas. Robert was the son of Robert Vaillancour and Françoise Gobeil who were married in 1668 at Chateau Richer. Robert was the emigrant ancestor and so Generation 1.

Robert Vaillancour married to Geneviève Destroismaisons is Generation 2.

Joseph Vaillancour married to Thérèse Martin is Generation 3.

Barthélemy Vaillancourt married to first Marie Madeleine Bouchard and second to Marie Louise Labelle is Generation 4.

Alexis Vaillancour married to Agathe Langlois dite Traversis 14 Jan 1793 at St Eustache (son of Barthélemy and Marie Madeleine Bouchard) is Generation 5.
Joseph Vaillancourt (son of Barthélemy Vaillancour and Marie Louise Labelle) married to Josephte Chauret is Generation 5.

Marie Josephte Bénoit dit Vaillancourt (daughter of Joseph Vaillancourt and Marie Louise Labelle) married to
Joseph Louis Matté is Generation 6.
Alexis Benoit dit Vaillancourt (son of Alexis Vaillancour and Agathe Langlois dite Traversis) married to Charlotte Beauchamp is Generation 6.

Josette Benoit dit Vaillancourt married to Louis Piché 3 Sep 1839 at Ste Scholastique is Generation 7.

The next research day will be spent collecting records.

Grégoire and Séguin dit Ladéroute families

Antoine Grégoire married Rosa de Lima Ségin dit Ladéroute 30 Aug 1869 at the Basilica de Notre Dame in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I wish it had been that simple to discover the full name of the bride as Rosa was listed as Rosa de Lima Séguin. Parents of Antoine were Nicholas Joseph Grégoire and Marie Potvin and for Rosa her parents were Antoine Séguin and Marie Groux. The witnesses at this marriage were Nicholas Grégoire and Toussaint Groux. Trying to find the parents of this couple proved to be a formidable task which I related earlier in my blog. My reason for coming back to these two family lines is organization and tidying up details and to ensure that indeed I did find the correct line.

Working on the Grégoire family proved to be an interesting tour through early New France families and eventually failing to connect to them discovering the answer to my search lay in the census and reading the early records of a particular village. Although the Grégoire family were not 1600s arrivals they were indeed here before the 1750s but, as I was to discover, at Montréal. Their son Homère would marry Rosalie Tremblay 6 Apr 1902 at Embrun and it was this relationship that helped me in the long run. The Tremblay family being so thoroughly researched I was able to locate the marriage of Homère and Rosalie and from there the parents full names which then assisted me greatly with the Séguin family. French Canadian genealogy is marvelous and fits together so neatly that as soon as you go astray you will often get warning signs that something is wrong because it just doesn't match the available files. It usually happens quite quickly which is excellent.

What I was trying to find was the location of the Grégoire family before they moved to Russell Twp in Ontario. The usual route was often up from Montréal via the south shore, across the St Lawrence and into the Québec townships which ran along with the Ontario townships in Eastern Ontario but on the west side of the Ottawa River.  I had found Nicholas Grégoire on the 1852 census quite early on but the name of the wife was Marguerite Emare. Antoine was there, right age and fitted perfectly. Nicholas was born at Chateauguay and Antoine at Ste-Martine (Marguerite was born at  [St] Constant.) I was looking for Marie Potvin however as the wife of Nicholas. I then trekked through the Grégoire records but discovered that they just didn't fit this family. Returning to the census I decided to look at the parish registers for the baptism of Antoine (I was working primarily with marriages as I was trying to quickly prepare a chart for the wedding - since I couldn't really prove the Grégoire line it basically ended at Nicholas at the time). However, looking at the baptisms I discovered that Antoine was baptized at Ste Martine and his parents were listed as Nicholas Grégoire and Marguerite Emard. The census had been perfectly accurate. I was still new to searching at the time and dit names were still a mystery to me. I moved now to find the marriage of Nicholas and Marguerite and it was at St Constant 6 Feb 1837.

Le six Fevrier, mil huit cent
trente sept après la publication des
trois bans de mariage faité ici et a Saint
Remi, entre Nicolas Grégoire Jour
nalier fils majeur de feu Nicolas
Grégoire et de Geneviève Patenaude,
de Saint Remi, d'une parte et Margue
rite Hémar, fille majeure de feu Pierre
Hémar et de Catherine Payant de cette
paroisse, d'autre part; Nous sousigné
avec l'agréement de leurs parents; avons
reçu leur mutuel consentement de mar
iage et leur avons donné le bénédiction nup
tiale au présence de Bédard Payant; de Jean
Baptiste Beaudin, d'Amable Doulean, de Luc
Hamar, d'Antoine Hémar et d'Augustin
Lamoreux, qui ont avec les époux déclaré ne
savoir signer.
La Marth Mieu P[re]tre

I shall work on the transcription but amazingly I had discovered that I did have the correct census for Antoine and back to his parents Nicholas Grégoire and Marguerite Emard. I now had several spelling of Marguerite's surnames which I will discuss later.

Continuing looking at the Grégoire family I now needed the marriage of Nicolas Grégoire and Geneviève Patenaude and they had married at St Constant 12 Jan 1807. The priest recorded in the register

Le deux janvier mil huit cent sept nous pretre soussigné aprés
la publication de trois Bans de mariage a nos messes
paroissialles suivant l'usage, entre nicolas grégoire
majeur laboureur veuf de Thèrèse decoste, de la paroisse
de Cateauguay d'une part; et geneviève patenaude mineure
fille de michel patenaude laboureur et de defunte
charlotte gervais ses pere et mere de cette paroisse d'autre
part sans quel se soit trouvé aucun empechement
au dit mariage leur avons donné la Bénédiction
nuptialle avec les cérémonies presentes après avoir
reçu leur mutuel consentement au mariage ____
que lelui de leurs parents A le en présente de laurent
denise beaupere de l'epoux, de nicholas moyer oncle
maternel de pierre saint pierre aussi oncle maternel de l'epoux
de michel patenaude pere de l'epouse, de joseph patenaude frere
de l'epouse, et de plusieurs autres parents s'amis , qui n'ont
su signer de meme que les epoux
___ Consigney P[re]tre

I was then able to locate the marriage of Nicolas Grégoire and Thérèse Decoste at St Constant 20 Aug 1796. The parents of Nicolas Grégoire were listed as Nicolas Grégoire and Catherine Guerin. Locating their marriage readily at Notre Dame de la Prairie de la Madeleine and they were married 20 Jul 1772. Finding this marriage then showed me that Nicolas was the emigrant as his parents were still living in France. His parents were Nicolas Grégoire and Marie-Anne Martin. The register lists him as a resident of the parish. This family is not listed in Tanguay.

When I was researching this family earlier I had tried to discover if Nicolas was a soldier coming out from France before 1759 but was unable to ascertain that. I had discovered a new set of webpages which lists 214 articles from "Le journal citoyen du Québec pour la francophonie. " Nicolas (his son) was part of a group of voyageurs who traveled down the Mississippi in pursuit of trading opportunities. He is only mentioned the one time in the story so any further part by him is unknown. But what of Nicolas, the father, why is he listed just as a resident? Was he an ex-soldier? He would have been older when he married if he had been a soldier in the 1750s. He died in 1789 at Chateauguay (17 years of marriage). The burial lines state his age as 50 years giving him a possible date of birth in 1739 so that he would have been old enough to have served as a soldier. Perhaps the answer lies in looking at Emigration which I have not yet done. That will be one of my projects for the next time that I look at the Grégoire family

The Séguin family will also have to wait until the next time as I have managed to use up all my allotted time today for these families.

Separating the file for the Grégoire family then Nicolas (b c 1739) is Generation 1, Nicolas (b 1773) is Generation 2, Nicolas Joseph (b 1809) is Generation 3, Antoine is Generation 4 and Homère is Generation 5 and two more generations completes this line to the present. Folders created and images sorted.

Proving 4x great grandparents

I spent yesterday proving two of my 4x great grandparents. I had so much information on John Pincombe that it took me ages to enter all of it in to his Legacy file. Not so much on his wife Mary Charley (Charlie). Unfortunately the priest at that time had women sign with their new married name so I have no idea on how Mary would have signed her surname. The Charley family was located at Arlington, Kentisbury near Barnstaple and Combe Martin in this time period. The Hugh Charley at Arlington (wife Mary) is the father of the Mary Charley baptized 21 Sep 1735 and this would be a reasonable age for Mary. I do not yet know the connection between this Hugh Charley and the Charley families at Kentisbury and Combe Martin but they are all less than 10 miles from Barnstaple (Arlington is 6 miles, Kentisbury is 8 miles and Combe Martin is 9 miles). They are all in a northeasterly direction from Barnstaple (Bishops Nympton is 14 miles from Bishops Nympton). I have not yet found a Charley family living closer but the priest records that Mary Charley is of the parish (perhaps she was living/staying with a relative). John was 39 when he married and Mary possibly 32 in 1767. They had six children though between 1768 and 1778.

I need to look through all the parish registers to see if I can discover any more information on Mary Charley. She has been my brick wall almost from the very beginning as my mother knew her name from her father. She was my grandfather's grandfather's grandmother. By the time my 2x great grandfather was born both Mary and John had died. His father Robert was 28 when he married and my 2x great grandfather John was 26 when he married. Then my grandfather was 41 when he married thus making quite long generations.

As it turns out all of my grandparents were born in the 1800s - 1872, 1875, 1876 and 1886. My great grandparents were born in 1837, 1839, 1845, 1850, 1850, 1853, 1859, and 1859. My 2x great grandparents were born in 1799, 1801, 1804, 1804, 1805, 1808, 1810, 1820, 1824, 1825, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1828, 1830, and 1841. My husband has a 2x great grandparent born in 1764. The bonus is that we are not looking for information that is still private as we know the birth/marriage and death dates of our parents.

I carried on with my proving of 4x great grandparents and started pulling out material on Philip Rowcliffe and Martha Pearse. I have quite a bit on Philip as well with land records but I do not have the marriage lines for Philip and Martha because my South Molton fiche do not do the period past 1754 and they married in 1760 so I will need to locate that record at Salt Lake City. I will complete them today and hopefully move on to John Rew, Sarah Moggridge, Robert Siderfin and Grace Kent. I was trying to do four per day!

This is the day that my daughter gets her first fitting on her wedding dress. The dress is quite lovely and will suit her. My own dress is now complete - I have added carriers for the black velvet ribbon and we will see if she likes the 3 metres or reduce to whatever she does like. I just need to hem it and add a couple of tabs to the neckline and a hook and eye. I am letting it hang though to let the natural folds of the fabric express themselves. I will need to stem out one fold line although it is barely visible now.

I want to sew my new nightdress as well in the next little while. If I am happy with it I will buy another piece of flanellette and do a second one. I am also going to buy a pattern for an 1800s dress of a Scot woman for my Routledge ancestry. I will represent that line when we go to functions that need a costume. I want to make a new costume for my husband as well since I made the other one when I was working and I was not overly pleased with it. I have more time to do a proper job of finishing it.

Back to proving ancestors. This is the slow methodical part as one works their way back in each line. I have no idea how far back I can get except in some of the lines that readily go back into the 1400s others are hopefully stuck in the mid 1700s or even one line (one of my great grandmothers and my mtDNA line!) that is family lore only from the mid 1800s back. My mtDNA matches are from Argyll Scotland though which is very interesting. Hence my interest in doing a dress of a Scot woman which would represent my Routledge ancestry and perhaps others to be found over time.