Continuing to extract information on the Pencombe family and its derivatives

 There are 225 matches with a slightly different criteria and I think I will stay with this criteria as it collects more information. So using a + or - 40 years over a time period around 1520 gives me 1480 to 1560. A perfect expanse for what I am looking at in the records. You can adjust the display by clicking on year at the top and that will have the years beginning with the oldest and numerically following that. 

So continuing today and I have almost completed the first three pages of the sort. Some repetition from yesterday and the day before but I believe I am capturing more of the records this way. I am into the John Pyncombe family at South Molton and it is a difficult one even in the 1500s but I believe I have it sorted now. John Pincombe Senior son of John Pencombe (son of John Pencombe who arrived in 1486) outlives his son John Pincombe Junior and it is John Pincombe Junior that marries Amy Doddridge. I am thinking that it was a second marriage for John Pincombe Senior at Bishops Nympton in 1598 (Margarett Stephan). That one has always been a slight source of confusion. 

The drive itself from South Molton to Bishops Nympton is a lovely scenic route which sits somewhat above the surrounding land and you sort of swoop into Bishops Nympton suddenly as you round a curve. The Church at Bishops Nympton is simply beautiful and it is not that far from South Molton having driven from South Molton to Bishops Nympton in 2008 with  my cousin. It was my cousin who spotted the gravestone of my 3x great grandfather Robert Pincombe and his wife Elizabeth (Rowcliffe) Pincombe firmly attached to the outside wall of the Church but behind a small Yew tree so was slightly hidden. On the road (away from the main  highway and to the south of it) into Bishops Nympton right at the outskirts is the farm/home known as Park where Robert and Elizabeth raised their eight children. That is what has really saved this family because in this generation three of the four boys including Robert had huge families and the one sister as well. The second sister died quite young in childbirth.  John Pincombe and Mary (Charly) Pincombe had 36 grandchildren with quite a number of sons compared to daughters. And so the Pincombe name was propagated quickly throughout the British Isles in this generation with William's line going to Australia and Robert's line going to America and Canada. However quite a few remained in England to keep up the name there and I did find a lot of Pincombe matches at Living DNA, as well as FT DNA, Ancestry, My Heritage and 23 and Me. Now all of these matches carry the Pincombe spelling and it was just during a period between the late 1700s and into the 1800s that one saw some using the spelling of Pinkham particularly if they were from the Barnstaple area. It has helped with noticing who kept the spelling as they, I believe, are likely descendant of the John Pyncombe family at South Molton perhaps by his son Christopher. Part of doing all this extraction is to see if I can build the line and see where I can go with it. It is handy having the Charts from the earlier researchers as I tend to be able to separate the Pinkham from the Pincombe although in essence because they chose a surname that is a village in Herefordshire there could be a number of descendant lines not yet noted in the DNA groups. But for the moment it appears to be only two and I do suspect that the Pinkham family of the United States is descendant of the line at Bondleigh where Roger de Pencombe received land grants in the early 1300s (they appear to disappear but that can happen in the records especially as most of them were destroyed in 1942 when Exeter Record Office was demolished). Not seeing them on the 1332 Devon Lay Subsidy means I couldn't find them in the index (just one at Molland, John de Pencomb'). But finding John on the wrong page from what was in the index I probably need to read the Subsidy for that area and I will eventually as part of the study created by Galen and Richard. Fascinating really all of this sleuthing but they do share this history that was created by the earlier researchers in this study - Galen Pinkham in the United States and Dr. Richard Pinkham in England (I have not located him on any of the charts but I am about to do a more thorough perusal through them as I proceed through this data). 

I record all of this in case one day my Sleep Apnea or whatever  takes me out sort of and my daughters would give my research away for sure. They helped their Dad with his graveyards tours as children and did not acquire an interest in genealogy. Since I didn't have one either I can understand completely. So I am trying to write up as much as I know so that in the future someone might run with it to learn more about our shared ancestry which was brought together by the two original researchers in the Pincombe/Pinkham family at the Guild of one-name Studies. But my research materials (parish register fiche in particular will go the Anglican Church Archives) as I agreed when I purchased them that they would be placed in a suitable repository. 

 I digress and I continue on the John Pyncombe family at South Molton which included two known sons John and Christopher. The puzzle is not Christopher who died before or during 1585 when he was at least 61 as he would have been an infant possibly on the Devon Lay Subsidy where he appears but likely older just unknown how much older. It is John Pyncombe Senior that is the question as he does not appear on the Subsidy so born after 1524-7. There is one likely daughter Margret who married in 1539 to Philip Kingdon at North Molton (the item to remember is that North Molton was the wealthier of the two Moltons in this time frame) and her age could be as young as 16 perhaps. Another possible daughter Marye Pencombe who was buried 4 Feb 1563 at North Molton. Establishing this third generation is interesting for sure and lots of data flowing by and trying to figure it all out. But noting that most data is centralized in this North Molton/South Molton area so the family Pynkeham at Tawstock/Bideford is small probably since there are few records. We also know that it exists before Richard Pencombe (son of Thomas, grandson of John (in North Molton in 1486) arrives in Bideford. So lots gained in all of this working through the data. 

I went out raked and it may be that it is too much for me to do the yard work. We will see. I did just one bag of leaves. There are likely two more. I will investigate having a company come in the spring and do the cleanup and cut the grass. I did sort of do that thing last year but decided to work away at it but I do think it is too much for me. My health although good is fragile somewhat due to my crashing out at 29 or I am still recovering from my puncture wound which is all healed; we will see. 

I am still sorting the John Pyncombe members at South Molton. There are according to the Visitation of 1620 five in a row. The first one died by 1571. I think I have now determined that the second one died by 1605 and the third one died by 1604 although his initial will was dated 1593 (he was married to Amy Dodridge). The fourth one I am still working on and there is a fifth one who died young and the line then daughtered out in that generation. A trust was established and which provides financial assistance and welfare grants to needy, serving clergy of the Church of England (I was not quite right about the purpose earlier). But Christopher and his descendants still remain and it is that information that I am pursuing as I believe that one of the members of our yDNA match is a descendant of this family which would then prove that these two lines are descendant of John Pencombe (in North Molton in 1486) coming down from the two sons John and Thomas and that is hugely amazing to be honest. I am very pleased with the process thus far. The family lore points to the South Molton family being also in the Barnstaple area.

I was in communication with a Pincombe descendant in Chittlehampton (he was fairly old in 2007 and the lines dropped maybe ten or  more years ago) who had not been able to trace his Pincombe line because there were too many so the hope is that as I move forward I will be luckier. We will see how that transpires as that is the purpose of this digging forward into 50,000 records.  I have sorted out the beginning so now I just have to push forward with my checking all these matches. As I mentioned, I will pull the Pinkham as well as I move along and enter them into my Legacy file. Eventually I will burn that to a DVD and make it available to anyone in the family that wants it. It will only carry information up to the beginning of the 1900s (my uncle and mother will be on it). This is a memory of John Routledge Pincombe who died much too young at 53 years of age. His life was sad but he had a joy in his children and he and my grandmother had a good marriage. He loved to argue politics which she did not like but other than that their life together was full of joy she told me. 

 There does appear to be a problem with the Visitation and I note that it was prepared by William Pincombe (descendant of  Thomas) and in 1620 he was 54 years of age although he did live at South Molton at this time it was only because he was Coroner as his usual abode was at East Buckland. I think he has an extra John Pyncombe in the list and does not know what has happened to Christopher's son John. They are second cousins and what I did learn was that this was not as close a relationship as first cousins especially with William normally living at East Buckland and this John Pyncombe family was at Poughill, Devon and the distance is 44 miles from South Molton which is substantial and how often would they see each other. However I will continue observing the results. I also have a copy of the 1620 Visitation with additions which removes that extra John (forgot I had that).  The footnote for this updated Visitation reads:

The portion of this pedigree printed in italic is a copy of the Original Visitation of Devon, Harl M8, 1163, fo. 95b  and not signed. Additionally six items were used to make these changes:

 1. The Visitation of Devon 1564 contained in Harl. MS. 1080, fo. 64 b, commences with this.

2. The Original Visitation begins here. 

3. Washfield Parish Register.

4. Southmolton Parish Register.

5. Crediton Parish Register.

6. Barnstaple Parish Register 

 I did look at this on my blog years ago but had forgotten that I saw it then. So the one problem solved but still I need to pursue the records to see if I can bring Christopher's family down in the records. I did find it interesting that John Pyncombe married Amy Dodridge at Barnstaple although I need to see that record but it is mentioned in this footnote. 

Quitting time and I must be quick  to get my steps for this hour. 

Solitaire puzzles to do; forgot them today.  

 

 

 

 

Working my way through the records on Find My Past and Thursday is recovery day from cleaning

The work that I did yesterday: This next set of results for the search (which is just 96 records actually and a number of them are duplicate because of two different sources (this is always good for sure). I have now encountered Philip Pyncombe in the records at Bideford and looking at Chart 10 which is Bideford from the earlier study Philip is said to be a son of William Pincombe. There are a couple of known William Pincombe in the time period that I am reviewing. Thomas has a son William married to Emotte but they did not have a son Philip so they are eliminated from the known descendants of John Pencombe. William the actual son of John Pencombe and his only son William are deceased in the 1560s but the time frame does not work anyway as the son was very young in the 1560s. Family lore does have some members of the South Molton Pincombe family moving to the Barnstaple area. According to Chart 1-2 which is North Molton/South Molton there are no William Pincombe descendants in this time frame eligible. However, Christopher does have a son John and he is not listed on the Chart so I need to be open minded (but the time frame would not really work). I will review the Charts as I move through the records and if I find any changes I will blog them for people's interest.  

As I have now found three distinct areas in Devon where the Pencombe/de Pencombe surname existed from the early 1300s. There is a possibility of having a surname similar to others without being related. Particularly a surname that is attached to the name of a village (in this case, Pencombe, Herefordshire). 

Quite a few people on Chart 10 continued to live in the Bideford/Barnstaple area up into the mid 1900s when Dr. Richard Pinkham was collecting data. However he does not list anyone particularly on Chart 10 as being an informant. Most of the chart is somewhat broken (links are not generational) except at the very top. I did provide all of these charts in the Pincombe newsletters on the FT DNA website by the way. 

I did then move to Chart 14 (Chart 10 does say to go to Chart 16 although it does look overwritten so maybe 14) which repeats the William Pincombe ancestor of the emigrant Richard Pinkham to the United States. William is said to be born in 1539 and married in 1561 (but no name listed for the bride). 

 I pulled up the Devon Lay Subsidy for Tawstock Parish 1524-7 and listed there is Philip Pyngham. There isn't any name similar to Pincombe/Pinkham in Bideford I then moved on to the 1543-45 Devon Lay Subsidy where I located Philip Pynkeham and a Richard Pencombe is at Bideford (this is Thomas Pencombe's son). Moving back to 1332 and looking at Tawstock Parish there is no surname resembling Pincombe. A slow day for sure but what did I learn - the derivatives of the Pinkham surname existed in 1524-7. I also learned that thousands of people with the Pinkham surname are using the data prepared by the earlier researchers. For instance Ann Pyncombe married Christopher Rashleigh and I was amazed to see how many people actually had Ann in the family of William Pincombe and Emotte (Snowe) Pincombe (and no Ann although there is a Johane). The will of William Pincombe in 1602 clearly states the names of the children in this family. So an interesting day spent looking at Philip Pyngham/Pynkeham and his descendants in the Tawstock etc. area and I will put that information into the next newsletter. 

I am in the midst of a second research week where I will look for instances of Pencombe here and there but along the way I wanted to look at the Philip Pynkeham in Tawstock/Bideford area. I am completely unable to link this individual to the Pencombe family in North Molton. Chart 10 though clearly shows the emigrant to the United States and his father as descendant of Philip. The entire chart 10 has many instances of the surname Pincombe and these were primarily word of mouth although a lot of them have BMB data attached to them. But as mentioned the top of the chart does link several generations but the lower half are individual families for the most part. But it was interesting to see the spelling of Philip Pyngham in 1524-7 at Tawstock on the Devon Lay Subsidy when Pencombe/Pyncombe was pretty much localized in North and South Molton. The presence of a surname so close to Pinkham in 1524-7 does give one pause for thought. Had these earlier de Pencombe family members at Bondleigh gradually assimilated into the area. The distance from Bondleigh to Tawstock is 19.6 miles (31.5 km). 

The methodology for doing genealogy has changed in some ways but still one does the reading of all the records and puts together family lines. But DNA lets us check those family lines to see if indeed as one compares with matches that the flow back is the same at the 2x great grandparent level and further back. Most people know their grandparents but not everyone knows their relatives further back.  That is why testing 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins is really a great idea. 

An interesting day and I completed maybe 1/3 of the 96 records and will complete today perhaps since I have the whole day. All the cleaning is accomplished.

My two week research event is to look at the areas that are of interest; determine if there is a Pencombe/Pyncombe family presence there between the 1332 Devon Lay Subsidy and the 1524-7 Devon Lay Subsidy. I did find some information and perhaps I have located the furtherest back ancestor of the Pinkham family of the United States. Myself, when I discovered that my Blake line was ancient British it was rather intriguing to know that my ancestral line went back to the Western Hunter Gatherers as they worked their way across Europe to the British Isles probably via Doggerland at that time so a dry type of voyage for the most part. Tugging away at my brain was the notion were they returning to a land their ancestors had talked about because Homo sapiens retreated to the south of Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum. Discovering that my Pincombe line came from the continent likely in the 1100s but probably before the 1330s when the Emigrant's Database collects those names as they are not there was different. They were not part of the Norman Conquest but they had been the later group coming to England looking for new places to live in so less exciting perhaps than the Hunter Gatherers. Although it does take true spirit of adventure to leave a solid European environment and go to the wilds of Herefordshire I suspect in 1100. 

There is still some time left in my research period of two weeks so will spend it continuing to look at the records. But I do believe that John Pencombe arrived in 1486 in North Molton just as the Visitation states and that his three sons were born in North Molton possibly with Alice as their mother but I have nothing about Alice other than she is on the 1545 Devon Lay Subsidy at North Molton and the tax 5. It does not say that she is a widow. 

I have begun my Legacy Chart in earnest now and have pulled in the information from my family tree to add to Richard son of William and Emotte Pincombe. Identifying Richard with his son William in the will of 1602 was very handy but I have still spent some time making sure that this Richard is my direct ancestor (there are several thousand or more cousins going along for this ride with me and I would like to get it right). So the book will be solely about John Pencombe at North Molton with his three sons and all their descendants. I am unable to link in the Roger de Pencombe at Bondleigh or the John de Pencomb' at Molland in 1332 to this family. I am also unable to be sure that John Pencombe is related to the de Pencombe family in Herefordshire and will leave it to those closer to Herefordshire to check out the documents in their Archives to see if such a link exists. Just the fact that the forenames are so similar in that both use John, William and Thomas through the generations is not really enough for proof since they are also typical English forenames. But 1486 isn't a bad year to have worked your way back to in a family line and there is room for others to do more in the future. The clustering of this Pencombe family at North Molton and then South Molton is an indication also of their newness perhaps although the movement out in the next generation towards the west including Bideford/Barnstaple and East Buckland and then in the next generation to the east towards Bishops Nympton and Molland is very interesting. Pioneer spirit I guess but it was a long time before my line went to America or Canada except for one individual that tested in the United States although I believe he told me that his family had arrived in the early 1800s as opposed to the middle 1800s for my direct line going to Canada along with his brother who went to America. 

A personal thing this book as opposed to my gathering of information for the Pincombe-Pinkham study. Full speed ahead although I will continue to blog any differences I find with the charts as I work my way through the information. 

The coat of arms for Pincombe was granted to John Pyncombe of South Molton in 1616. He was married to Amy Dodridge  (Arms of Pincombe (or Pyncombe) of South Molton, Devon: Per pale gules and azure, three close helmets argent garnished or) and my understanding is that a Coat of Arms belongs to the person to whom it is granted and one must apply to use the Coat of Arms on a regular basis and there has been a change to show different ownership but I am not an expert - it is just my thought. Exceptions would be the Blake coat of arms that is old and used by a number of Blake lines in the Wiltshire/Hampshire area. 

I was surprised to see how mixed up some people's trees are with the South Molton and the North Molton branches of Pincombe. I guess it just gets started and then people copy. Always better to do one's own research. 

Time to do the solitaire puzzles and keep the brain active.