Another successful cleaning day

 Day two finished for cleaning this week and today it is the basement. The robot will soon do its task of vacuuming the rugs. Another beautiful day in God's world. It is minus 23 degrees celsius with a beautiful golden sun rising in the east. Day is actually predicted to reach minus nine degrees celsius so we will see if there is a slight warming trend coming to the Ottawa Valley. It has been a cold week and a blustery week with lots of snow. Wonderful for the spring melt for sure saturating this great land deep into the roots of the mighty trees that dominate our landscape. When one flies into Ottawa you can only see trees for miles and miles and then suddenly there is a city right in front of you. The frozen Ottawa River will soon enough swell up with all of that fresh water flowing into it from the lakes and the streams that feed it. But in the meantime lots of more snow falling to the ground to refresh the land after the drought of last summer. The United States too is benefiting from all of this cold and heavy snow as it should help to swell up their rivers in the west. The loss of life during these difficult snow periods is sad though. 

Parliament back in and I watched question period. Sometimes I think that people forget that Prime Minister Carney carries a lot of Irish blood and the Irish are fighters for sure (he has excellent debating skills and always includes the members of his party (it is nice not to have a one man show)). I think it will be an exciting session of Parliament given that the leader of the Conservative Party is in his background French and they are also fighters (he too lets the members of his caucus play a role in parliament). Out of all this arguing will come a better plan for Canada and diversification of our trade. The President of the United States did say he wanted the countries of the Western Hemisphere to be successful and that is what we are taking from his direction - a move to make Canada even more successful. It is interesting that the leaders of the two main parties are not "English." Their style of governing is not English at all; one can see the roots of their Irish heritage and their French heritage. I would have to check but I think this may be the first time that at least one of the main leaders of our government do not have an English heritage. Sometimes I think people become confused when one talks about English Canadians - for most of them the only thing English about them is their language - they are not English English as I call  myself on occasion. But first of all I am Canadian and proud to be one. I think there is a beauty in all the countries of the world. Something exciting offers itself when a country has an individuality that people recognize immediately and it makes the world more exciting; more interesting. Peace in our time is the aim and one just needs to follow God's words to us - love your neighbour as yourself. 

 Worked on Chromosome 4 yesterday and it is evolving nicely. A huge number of matches on a good length are all from the Gray-Routledge family. These ancestral lines are from the East Riding of Yorkshire (Gray) and Cumberland (Routledge). But each of them are eventually as one travels back in time likely Viking (Gray) and definitely Highlander Scot (Routledge). England is truly a mix of many European lines due to the estimated one kilometre of ice that sat on the British Isles during the Last Ice Age. Nothing would have survived from the period before that Ice Age. But I often wonder if the Western Hunter Gatherers who made their way to the British Isles 8,000 to 12,000 years ago had been there before and were returning to their homeland. My grandfather always talked about his family being in England for ever and the y signature of this family is Western Hunter Gatherer and said to be amongst the earliest of the inhabitants of the British Isles. He always said he was English not Irish and I concentrated on that and then suddenly the best match on the yDNA lived in Dublin, Ireland. It still makes me chuckle but around the Andover area running towards Basingstoke there are a number of families who have tested their yDNA and they all belong to this group of ancient Western Hunter Gatherers so one can easily believe that what he said was the truth that he knew; his family had always lived in the Andover area. With the coming of the Normans in 1066 life changed and one had to eventually acquire a surname. I contemplated that for a long time and finally as I searched out Blake working with Bill Bleak on the Blake yDNA study at FT DNA I started to contemplate why so many Blake lines in England - why would they choose the same surname? The discovery of the Emigrants Database was very revealing (1330 - 1550) showing just under fourty individuals coming from the Continent and other parts of the British Isles not designated as English into England (there was a lot of traveling between Ireland and England in this time frame and if one reads the Calendar of Patent Rolls people were sent there and returned to England so one can not judge the country of origin within the British Isles using this set of documents). But the thought continued in my brain why would a farmer working his land at Enham choose the surname Blake when it was already used so much (the British are a very independent people so I can not imagine that an ancestor of mine would do that unless there was a reason)? I think the logic that I have brought to this discussion in my brain that an individual would have seen an advantage in marrying a Norman and why not use that surname works in an interesting way. It certainly wouldn't hurt them and the advantages were probably there for them to do so. Hence I began to look at all of my accumulated information differently and the Blake families of Berkshire and the Blake family at Andover did have an association of some sort in the mid 1500s that doesn't state a relationship it simply implies it by mentioning each other in their wills. After all anyone reading the will at that time would have known these individuals were related. Anyway an interesting thought on my part especially given the tendency of people (particularly indigenous peoples) to say they have lived in a place forever. As nothing has occurred to change my mind in that regard these past five years or more I continue in that vein. Plus it suits the accumulated information on the Blake family in England which points out inconsistencies within the data that can readily be answered by time passing and memory blurring the exact time and place of events. 

I continue to correspond with the individual who wrote to me from Upper Clatford. Her surname Kennedy is interesting because my 2x great grandmother Mary (Routledge) Gray had a sister Grace who married  George Arthur Kennedy 14 Jun 1810 at Lanercost, Cumberland. This family came to Canada in 1818 with Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth (Routledge) Routledge. And so I have Kennedy cousins. However it is not an unusual surname and found also in Ireland as well as Scotland. I need to reply to her email and will do that today. 

Also I will continue with Chromosome 4 and I have just under 30 matches still to do. I have only a couple that I can not sort away from Pincombe or Blake but that may happen as well. Otherwise I will just ignore them - I have plenty of matches and it doesn't matter in the long term. Then just three chromosomes to do and my task of extraction is complete except I must now go back and look once again at the databases to see what has accumulated in the past few months. I occasionally glance at them and nothing huge has come in but there are some interesting ones that I will look at. Time is passing quickly and I have been at my computer for over an hour which I tend not to do but rather get up and walk for ten minutes every hour. 

 Tea is finished and I need to do the solitaire puzzles. Walk first.  

 

Marriage Bond for George Routledge and Grace Routledge

From the Carlisle Marriage Bonds:

1 Feb 1763        George Routledge, Raw, Bc Yeo and Grace Routledge, Oakshaw, Bc.  At Bc

Bond:  Thomas Armstrong, Lowgrains., Bc.  Page 4  [at Bc:  George & Grace, license 16 Jun 1763]

I had forgotten about this record that shows Grace Routledge was of Oakshaw.  Talking to the correspondent re the Will abstract of Archibald Forrester I realized that Grace was buried before Archibald. The will is undated as far as I know but it would appear that he likely knew of the death of Grace. The abstract which was provided by the correspondent:

"Will proved 1767:- Archibald Forrester of Cleughside, Bewcastle.

my friend Arthur Kennedie

my relation Sibilla wife of Alexander Kennedie of Cleughside

Helenor wife of Robert Henderson

Catherine daughter of Robert Henderson

rest of Robert Hendersons children

John Kennedie, son of Alexander Kennedie

Thomas son of Alexander Kennedie

Catherine, daughter of Alexander Kennedie

Elizabeth Kennedie of Cleughside

Mary Routledge, widow of Crossgreens or Strandheads

Mary Routledge’s daughters Grace and Mary

Mary Routledge’s sons Adam, John, and Henry

Catherine wife of Thomas Dowglas of Ash

William son of late William Routledge of Oakshaw

late Henry Routledge of Borderigg’s 3 children

George Routledge and his 2 children of Oakshaw

Leonard Routledge of Oakshaw

John Routledge, my sisters son.

Witnesses to will:- John Forrester and Francis Armstrong."

Reading through this abstract gives you a slightly different impression of the will. Was Archibald Forrester's wife a Routledge or was it that his sister had married a Routledge or both? He mentions that Sibilla Routledge is a relation to him.

Perhaps even more information will be forthcoming. I shall go back and search through some more of my documents as well to see what I can find.

Also the statement that there was only one Archibald Forrester buried at Stapleton in this time period and that was in 1767. So I have perhaps misread the abstract in the long run.

There are two baptisms for Grace Routledge in the 1740s and I will have to look at both of them once again. 

Routledge letter from George Routledge to Archibald Armstrong 16 Jan 1837 (London, Ontario, Canada to Parknook, Bewcastle, Cumberland, England

I discovered after searching my labels that I have never posted the letter which George Routledge (my 3x great uncle and brother to my 2x great grandmother Mary Routledge married to Robert Gray) wrote to Archibald Armstrong who still lived in the Brampton, Cumberland, UK area in 1837. This rather interesting and name filled document added to my knowledge of the emigrant families and gave me a glimpse into the life of these early Talbot settlers in southwestern Ontario which included my 3x great grandparents and their family - Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Routledge with their nine children, son in law and two grandsons.

I published the letter in Families several years ago and now include a copy of the article in my blog:

Archibald Armstrong, letter recipient on 5 April 1837, remains a mystery at the time of writing but he was addressed at Parknook , Bewcastle . It was sent in care of the Inn Keeper, Bush Inn, Brampton, Cumberland, England. 

London [Ontario}, Jan 16th 1837
Mr. Archibald Armstrong

I take this opportunity of writing to you a few lines to let you know how we are all going on in this part of America, I wrote to you once or twice before but I never got any answer. we are all in good health at present thanks be to God for that blessing, hoping that these few lines will find you and your family all in the same state.

First I shall give an assessment of the times, our markets and the price of farming stock and all kinds of produce and the price of land also take notice. what I shall name to you in value shall all be sterling money and meashures the old Carlisle bushel [a Carlisle bushel is equal to 2.98 Imperial bushels] that was when we left the country.

land within 6 or 7 miles of the town of London can be bought for about 24 shillings per acre uncleared all the timber thereon, and a cleared up farm of 100 acres with 50 acres of that cleared off fit for cultivation can be bought for about 350 pounds so any man that can come here with a little money he can see how he may be suited.  

there is not the chance now to get land that there was when we came to this country, land has got to be more valueable on account of the great advancement of the population in this part. my old companion, I am sorry to inform you how unfortunate you were in not coming to this country when you were in the notion of coming at the time when we came. you might have had today as much property as I have and perhaps more.
the general price of good horses is from 20 to 30 pounds. Last spring I sold a horse two years old for 20 pounds. about the same time my brother Tho[ma]s [fourth son of Thomas and Elizabeth Routledge]  sold a horse three years old, likely for the saddle, for upwards of 30 pounds. the price of a yoke of oxen is about 17 pounds, milke cows from 5 to 7 pounds a peice, and sheep will average about 12 shillings a peice, beef 3d per pounds, Mutton about the same,, pork 4d – 6d per stone [a stone is an English unit of weight equal to 6.35 kilograms],   butter 9 cents per pound, tallow 8d, wheat 16s per bushel, barly 10s, rye 13s, peas 12s, Indian corn 12s, oats 5s, potatoes 5s per bushel, apples 4s – 6s per bushel, whisky 2s, Brandy 7s, Rum 5s, [and] Wine 7s per gallon.

We live about 6 miles from the town of London which is the county town and city of London. I have 400 Acres of land 300 Acres of it lies all adjoining and about 70 acres of it well cleared and in a good state of cultivation. [O]ne hundred acres lyes within 4 miles of the town and a good clearing upon it which I have a farmer lives upon it. [A]ny man that comes here that is not of ability to buy land there are farms to be let for 7 to 10s per acre yearly for the cleared land that is fit for cultivation.
I have a pair of good draught horses and a yoke of oxen which I keep for working the place I
live on. I keep 6 milk cows and 14 head of young cattle, a flock of sheep and a good brood mare, and the taxes I pay for all I pocess land and stock is only 13s6d yearly. we can feed the best of beef and summer our milk cows in the woods clear of all costs. we have great privileges here that you have not in Bewcastle or no other part in England and we understand that times is always getting worse in England.

I now shall tell you the alterations of Families that was from Bewcastle – Deaths, weddings, etc. Roby Summers [George (b 1792)’s father in law (George was married to Jane Summers)] died three years ago last a[u]gust, my mother died two years ago last sept. My brother Allan died one year ago last October. I expect you have heard of myself being married to Jane Summers 15 years past last July and we have 6 children living and one dead, all boys but
One. my sister Margaret  and Mary both married to men from Yorkshire. there [are] none of the lads [George’s brothers - Henry, William, Thomas Junior, and Joseph (Allan is noted as having died)] married but myself. they all have a great deal of land and other property, my father has a handsome Estate of land he lives on within 3 miles of the town. 
    Geo[rge] Kennedy [George Kennedy, husband of Grace Routledge b.1789]  has 200 acres of land and is doing very well. we all got 100 acres of land a piece and what any of has more we have bought since from government.

James Nixon is doing well, he has plenty of land, stock and chickens. Roby Summers  family has a good deal of land and other property. old Peggy [Margaret (Peggy) Bell wife of Robert (Robby) Summers (and mother in law to George Routledge b 1792)], John, Tho[ma]s,  and Mary  lives together [John Summers and Thomas Summers did not marry, Mary Summers was married to Eli Trowbridge]. Robert  and Betty  [are] married and live at their own homes [Robert Summers married Isabella Robson]. Mary is a widow.

and in short I can safely say that all the old neighbours from Bewcastle and other parts are doing well and has great plenty of almost everything and is all well contented in coming to this country. they can bring up their familys with great plenty and live well. much better than they
could have done in England. times has been a great deal better this last 18 months than they were some time back. Farming stock and produce ha[ve] brought good prices and money has been more plentifully.
you may judge from this, 4 years ago John Elliot and Sibby came to this part and when they came here they had nothing. they borrowed the money to buy a yoke of oxen to work the farm which they rented. now they have great plenty both German stock 6 cows, 2 yoke of oxen and 10 or 12 head of young cattle and a good mare. they have 9 children..

 Henery’s  [Henry Routledge, eldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Routledge]  best respects to you and your wife and so do we all. remember us to your brothers Wm. and Robt. I have often lamented that Wm. did not come to this country. he would have done well no doubt but he would have got rich. y]ou will show this with all our respects to our friends John and Richd. Routledge [Richard and John Routledge (brothers) are the sons of William Routledge who is cousin (unknown exact relationship) to George Routledge, the father of Elizabeth Routledge, the emigrant to London Township]  likewise to John Dodgson [John Dodgson is married to Ann Routledge. Ann’s father is also a cousin (unknown exact relationship) to George Routledge, b.1729, the father of Elizabeth Routledge, emigrant to London Township] of Roantrees. they may expect two letters in a short time.

we will be glad to hear from you with all the news you can afford us. you shall hear more particulars in those letters that I have not mentioned here. in short, I must conclude I am and still will remain your most affectionate.
Geo. Routledge.
Ad[d]ress: George Routledge, London, county of Middlesex and District of London, Upper Canada

Note added by me to this letter:

 When my Armstrong correspondent (also not related to this Armstrong family) forwarded me a copy of the 1837 letter she included a comment by  Sally Ramshaw which said:   “…The letter was given to me by Mr. Andrew Ewart (a 4th cousin of my father, the late William Harrison Armstrong) in case it was useful with my family research. Unfortunately the Armstrong is not one of my relations as far as I know but the letter contained a number of names that might be ancestors of other Cumbria Family History Society members as well as much fascinating social history that I thought it might be worth printing in the next newsletter.”  

This letter was indeed printed in the Cumbria Family History Society newsletter at some point in the past. I do not know when.

For Routledge researchers trying to sort out their ancestry the above letter may be helpful. If you think you are tracing back to my Routledge lines I may be able to help you with that as Thomas (my 3x great grandfather) had no siblings who lived to adulthood and Elizabeth (my 3x great grandmother) had only half-siblings all of whom appeared to have remained in the Bewcastle area as well one of her half siblings was George Routledge mentioned in the Dodgson Manuscript (his ancestry coming down from Elizabeth's father George's second marriage to Elizabeth Armstrong (her mother was a Routledge)). Since I am starting with such a small base in the early to mid 1700s I can tell you if you are related to my lines.

Kennedy family of Bewcastle, Cumberland - and interesting email - and continuing with North Molton Parish Registers

An interesting email today from a Kennedy family researcher asking about Grace Routledge and her husband George Arthur Kennedy. Grace was an older sister to my 2x great grandmother Elizabeth Mary Ann Routledge. Grace and George lived at Nookhouse Farm in Bewcastle, Cumberland, England. They emigrated to Canada probably with Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Routledge, Grace's parents in 1818. George and Grace baptized Robert 28 Jan 1818 at the Scotch Church Bewcastle and Thomas and Elizabeth were still on their property at Pikefoot in the spring of 1818 but they are known to be in London Township in the late Fall of 1818 and on their property as Talbot settlers.

I have not yet been able to locate the parents of George Arthur Kennedy. His baptism does not appear in the Bewcastle Parish Registers. There is a Kennedy family at Bewcastle. Alexander Kennedy owns the farm Cleughside at Bewcastle and he and his sons are running that farm into the latter part of the 1700s although Alexander was buried 9 Apr 1782 at Bewcastle at the age of 72 years. I suspect this Kennedy family is related to my Routledge family as they are all mentioned in a will (will abstract follows):

Carlisle Record Office
Will of Archibald FORRESTER of Cleughside, Bewcastle [Bc] 1767, pg 63. [buried 8 May 1767]
Grace Forrester, deceased
John Forrester, Wit
Adam Routledge s o Mary, Wid
George Routledge, of Oakshaw, Bc, father of 2 children
Grace Routledge, daughter of [d o ] Mary Routledge, Wid
Henry Routledge, s o Mary R*
Henry Routledge of Borderrigg, dec., father of 3 children
John Routledge s o Mary R*, Wid
John Routledge, my “sister’s son, possibly s o Grace
Leondard Routledge of Oakshaw
Mary Routledge of Crossgreens or Strandsheads, Wid, mother of Grace, Mary, Adam, John & Henry
Mary Routledge, d o Mary, Wid
William Routledge of Oakshaw, deceased, father of William R*
William Routledge of Oakshaw s o late William Routledge
Francis Armstrong, Wit
Catherine Dowglass of Ash w o Thomas Douglas
Thomas Dowglass [sic Douglas] of Ash husband of Catherine
Catherine Henderson d o Robert & Helenor Henderson
Helenor Henderson wife of Robert and mother of Catherine
Robert Henderson husband of Helenor & father of Catherine
Alexander Kennedie of Cleughside, Friend husband of Sibella
Catherine Kennedie of Cleughside, d o Alexander
Elizabeth Kennedie of Cleughside
John Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander
Sibella Kennedie of Cleughside w o Alexander
William Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander
One of these days I must order the original will as it would make very interesting reading. Now the testator names Alexander Kennedie of cleughside as a friend and husband of Sibella. Alexander Kennedy married Ann Story 23 Jan 1750. Although I do not find Ann Kennedy in the Burial Register their son John was buried 21 Apr 1751(baptized 24 Feb 1750). Alexander then married Sybil Routledge 29 Feb 1752.

The George Routledge of Oakshaw is one of my 4x great grandfathers and the children mentioned (2 include Elizabeth my 3x great grandmother who married Thomas Routledge and they are the emigrant ancestors who came to London township). Elizabeth's mother Grace is also mentioned as is her mother Mary listed as widow of Crossgreens or Strandsheads. Also mentioned is Henry Routledge of Broderigg now deceased but father of three children and Henry is also one of my 4x great grandfathers and father to Thomas Routledge who married Elizabeth above. Needless to say the will is a tremendous addition to my genealogy for the Routledge family.

The Sybil Routledge mentioned may be the daughter of John Routledge of Redgatehead
baptized 10 Oct 1726 at Bewcastle. The first mention of Redgatehead and the Routledge family is the baptism of John Routledge son Michaell Routledge 1 Feb 1691. We find the Forester family there baptizing John Forester 8 Jul 1714 son of John Forester. All very interesting and if I had the time I would try to put all this together into some sort of sensible timeline but I have learned my lesson in straying too far from my goal which is my one name studies - Blake and Pincombe. So I mention all these interesting details in case some one else wants to run with that :) Just one hint more, Michaell Routledge baptized children in Ashkam not far from Bampton.

All of these Routledge males lived in the Bewcastle area in 1641-42 from the Protestation Returns (go back in my blog and I do separate some of these into fathers and sons):

Routledge Adam
Routledge Bartholomew
Routledge Christopher
Routledge Edward
Routledge Edward
Routledge Edward
Routledge Francis
Routledge George
Routledge George
Routledge Gilbert
Routledge James
Routledge Michael
Routledge Nicholas
Routledge Quinton
Routledge Richard
Routledge Rowland
Routledge Thomas
Routledge Thomas
Routledge Thomas
Routledge Thomas
Routledge William
Routledge William
Routledge William
I already have eight lines of Routledge but I actually think that I am not descended from this one :) although it is likely a collateral line to one of one of my lines.

I have continued with the North Molton Parish Registers. I am determined to finish them quickly and I have now completed 1644. There are 2749 baptisms, 440 marriages, 1200 burials and 103 banns. There may still be time to do 1645 this evening as I am fighting the desire to look at Routledge some more :)

Routledge family of Bewcastle Cumberland

My mother, when she was talking about family, would often refer to our Routledge family and most of what I know about this family (other than my researching of the last few years) has come down directly from her. Her father was John Routledge Pincombe and thus named for his mother's six uncles/ five of whom she knew as a child. Although the emigrant Thomas Routledge was still alive when she was a child that particular memory was not passed down to my mother (her grandmother would have been only five years old when Thomas died). Although Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Routledge had six sons only one of them married. The passing down of the Routledge name did not continue into the next generation of my line.

My Routledge family of Bewcastle Cumberland appears to be readily traced backwards due to them being known as the "Oakshaw" Routledge family. This family tended to marry 1st, 2nd, 3rd cousins in order to keep all of the property that they had accumulated by the 1700s in their hands. They were very efficient at doing so in actual fact. In my Routledge line I have at least six lines and in all likelihood quite a few more before they eventually descend back to a likely singleton ancestor for these lines back in the 1400s.

My cousin Thomas Routledge, thus far cousin several times over on both the Routledge and Tweddle lines) has done an enormous research on the Routledge lines and his webpage for anyone interested is:

http://www.everymansprey.com/

To him I have left the accumulation of information prior to the early 1700s.

My great grandmother Grace Pincombe (née Gray)'s mother was Elizabeth Mary Ann Routledge. Her older sisters Margaret and Grace received only one forename but Elizabeth was the eighth child with four brothers before her so perhaps the parents decided to give to her the remainder of the names which they wished to use for their daughters. This family appears to have obeyed the naming custom often found in Scotland.

Elizabeth Mary Ann Routledge was baptized 14 Feb 1804 at the Scotch Church in Bewcastle and she was born at Parkhead, the family farm. She emigrated to Canada with her parents in the summer of 1818 likely as the family were still on their property at the beginning of 1818. Her older sister Grace and her husband Robert Kennedy had their last child born in Bewcastle baptized 28 Jan 1818 at the Scotch Church. This family is known to have come with them to Canada. We know they are in London Township by the fall of 1818 as Thomas Routledge is named Poundkeeper in the Minutes of the London Township meeting in January 1819.

Mary Ann (as she was known) was married to Robert Gray around 1835 at St Paul's Church (now St Paul's Cathedral) London, Ontario. She was buried 28 Aug 1875 at St John the Divine in Arva. This is close to where they farmed.

The parents of Mary Ann were Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Routledge who were married 23 Jun 1785 at Bewcastle Cumberland. Family lore from my mother said there were three first cousin marriages in the Routledge family through the generations back. However, Thomas and Elizabeth were not first cousins although their fathers were both of Oakshaw (Henry and George); they do not appear to be brothers. It is more likely that they were third cousins and I have not yet found that connection. Again, it is before 1700 and I have left that research, for the moment, to my cousin Thomas. I need to go to the Carlisle Record Office to sort these families out back into the 1600s.

Thomas and Elizabeth had a large family - seven sons and three daughters. One son (a twin) died shortly after birth (buried the same day).

Margaret baptized 12 Jul 1786 at Bewcastle and married to Thomas Carling Oct 1820 in London Township, Middlesex County, Upper Canada. Now that I have learned about the Upper Canada Society, I shall join it for my Routledge ancestors and my Gray ancestor since he too arrived in Canada before 1841. Sir John Carling was one of their sons.

Henry baptized 24 Oct 1787 at Bewcastle; he never married.

Grace baptized 17 Nov 1789 at Bewcastle and married to George Arthur Kennedy 14 Jun 1810 at Bewcastle.

George baptized 30 May 1792 at Bewcastle and married to Jane Summer in 1821 in London Township, Middlesex County, Upper Canada.

William baptized 20 Mar 1795 at Bewcastle; he never married.

Thomas baptized 31 Jan 1798 at Bewcastle; he never married.

Allen (twin to Elizabeth Mary Ann and baptism missing)

Elizabeth Mary Ann (above)

Joseph baptized 4 Jan 1809 at Bewcastle; he never married

John baptized 23 Oct 1808 at Bewcastle; buried 23 Oct 1808 at Bewcastle

The naming convention generally followed in Scotland is as follows:

The 1st son named after the father's father. (1st son Henry named after Thomas' father)

The 2nd son named after the mother's father. (2nd son George named after Elizabeth's father)

The 3rd son named after the father or uncle. (3rd son William named after Thomas' brother)

The 1st daughter named after the mother's mother. (1st daughter named after Thomas' mother)

The 2nd daughter named after the father's mother. (2nd daughter named after Elizabeth's mother)

The 3rd daughter named after the mother or an aunt. (3rd daughter named after Elizabeth's grandmother Mary perhaps; after herself perhaps with the name Elizabeth)

That left me with a number of names to work with looking at the family as they tended to always name children after family members.

Thomas was the name of both Thomas and Elizabeth's grandfather. Joseph and Allen are the names of two of Elizabeth's half brothers. John is a mystery still not yet solved.

I do hope to learn more about the Routledge family when we next visit England.

The parents of Thomas Routledge (baptized 1763) were Henry Routledge and Margaret Tweddle who were themselves married 3 Oct 1759 at Lanercost.

The parents of Elizabeth Routledge were George Routledge and Grace Routledge who were themselves married  16 Jun 1763 at Bewcastle. The parents of Grace Routledge were Thomas Routledge and Mary Routledge who were married 18 Nov 1733 at Bewcastle.

This last was proven by this will abstract recorded at the Cumberland Record Office in Carlisle:

Carlisle Record Office Will of Archibald FORRESTER of Cleughside, Bewcastle [Bc] 1767, pg 63.    [I’ve included this one since it names many Routledges with places]

Grace Forrester, deceased poss. The mother of John Routledge

John Forrester, Wit

Adam Routledge s o Mary, Wid

George Routledge, of Oakshaw, Bc, father of 2 children

Grace Routledge, daughter of [d o ] Mary Routledge, Wid

Henry Routledge, s o Mary R*

Henry Routledge of Borderrigg, dec., father of 3 children

John Routledge s o Mary R*, Wid

John Routledge, my “sister’s son, possibly s o Grace

Leondard Routledge of Oakshaw

Mary Routledge of Crossgreens or Strandsheads, Wid, mother of Grace, Mary, Adam, John & Henry

Mary Routledge, d o Mary, Wid

William Routledge of Oakshaw, deceased, father of William R*

William Routledge of Oakshaw s o late William Routledge

Francis Armstrong, Wit

Catherine Dowglass of Ash w o Thomas Douglas

Thomas Dowglass [sic Douglas] of Ash husband of Catherine

Catherine Henderson d o Robert & Helenor Henderson

Helenor Henderson wife of Robert and mother of Catherine

Robert Henderson husband of Helenor & father of Catherine

Alexander Kennedie  of Cleughside, Friend husband of Sibella

Catherine Kennedie of Cleughside, d o Alexander

Elizabeth Kennedie of Cleughside

John Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander

Sibella Kennedie of Cleughside w o Alexander

William Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander

This will thus links George back to Oakshaw, Henry already being linked back to Oakshaw by other documents which I shall add later. I found the Kennedy family being mentioned rather interesting in that Grace Routledge (daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth) married a Kennedy.

Next session I will start to transcribe the Routledge wills that I have at hand - a project that has been hanging for several years and would add greatly to our Routledge research group which consists of a number of Routledge descendants.

Dresses and trancription

My life has been so incredibly busy this past year but none the less I have found time for some really good transcription. Today though we helped at the OGS Library sorting through the reference books. After that we decided to go out for lunch and on the way we went to the fabric shop so that I could look at dress patterns. I found the exact pattern that I liked and debated between satin and velvet for the dress. I believe that velvet has won out because it is a winter wedding. I think that I will have a burgundy velvet and I would be able to wear the dress again because velvet is so versatile. Satin would always have the problem of not being overly friendly as a material although it looks fantastic. Now that the really tough part is done - deciding on the pattern I can purchase the material and get the dress sewn up. Then I will let my daughter decide if it suits her to have me wear that for her wedding and if not I will go and buy one of those beaded dresses that I really loathe but they do look like wedding fare.

I am not sure if I will have any trimming on it as I really do not care for trimming and I do not think I will make the puffed sleeve in chiffon although that would look very nice. I think I will stick with all velvet and it will be floor length. If we really take to dancing then we can occasionally perhaps go and dance and the dress will be suitable for that. I have low heeled pumps to wear with the dress already (black) and I will use makeup and my hair will be done in some sort of a style that will suit. I will not colour my hair as I like it the way that it is - salt and pepper it is called for the moment although becoming more salt than pepper these days.

I need to decide on the lining material and I rather think I will use a fine cotton rather than a nylon lining. The fine cotton will be quite nice and they have lots of colour. I will shrink the cotton first though I think just to be on the safe side. These days velvet is quite washable but some times the preshrunk cotton are best shrunk at home as well. I will have to get my steamer going to do the best job on the seams. I will be nice and warm in velvet as well and can wear one of my shawls to keep me quite warm.

This morning I had an interesting email from one of the Routledge researchers:

Carlisle Record Office Will of Archibald FORRESTER of Cleughside, Bewcastle [Bc] 1767, pg 63.

Grace Forrester, deceased poss. The mother of John Routledge

John Forrester, Wit

Adam Routledge s o Mary, Wid

George Routledge, of Oakshaw , Bc , father of 2 children

Grace Routledge, daughter of [d o ] Mary Routledge, Wid

Henry Routledge, s o Mary R*

Henry Routledge of Borderrigg, dec., father of 3 children

John Routledge s o Mary R*, Wid

John Routledge, my “sister’s son, s o Grace Forrester (sister of testator?)

Leondard Routledge of Oakshaw

Mary Routledge of Crossgreens or Strandsheads, Wid, mother of Grace, Mary, Adam, John & Henry

Mary Routledge, d o Mary, Wid

William Routledge of Oakshaw, deceased, father of William R*

William Routledge of Oakshaw s o late William Routledge

Francis Armstrong, Wit

Catherine Dowglass of Ash w o Thomas Douglas

Thomas Dowglass [sic Douglas ] of Ash husband of Catherine

Catherine Henderson d o Robert & Helenor Henderson

Helenor Henderson wife of Robert and mother of Catherine

Robert Henderson husband of Helenor & father of Catherine

Alexander Kennedie of Cleughside, Friend husband of Sibella

Catherine Kennedie of Cleughside, d o Alexander

Elizabeth Kennedie of Cleughside

John Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander

Sibella Kennedie of Cleughside w o Alexander

William Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander

The bolded items make this will abstract especially interesting as George and Grace, and Henry (of Broderrigg) are my 4x great grandparents. Finding that Mary Routledge (widow, husband was Thomas Routledge of Hill) of Kirkbeckstown was Grace's mother was a real surprise as I tentatively had her as the daughter of Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Storye (this Thomas being of Oakshaw and brother to Henry of Broderrigg). The Kennedy family included may also prove to be interesting as Grace Routledge (daughter of my 3x great grandparents Thomas Routledge (son of Henry above) and Elizabeth Routledge (daughter of George and Grace above)) married George Arthur Kennedy in 1810 at Bewcastle. I was a little led astray as my mother remembered there were a number of close cousin marriages in her Routledge ancestry. Mind you Thomas Routledge of Hill could be related; I still need to work on that. I also do not know the relationship between the Routledge family of Oakshaw and the Routledge family of Kirkbeckstown. Henry at Broderrigg was born at Oakshaw.

Tomorrow I want to look at material - my daughter suggested an embossed velvet so will have a look at that. I want to purchase the material right away and get the dress finished so no rush at the end.