That was rather a surprise that John Pencomb' was in Devon as an accessor in 1332. I discovered that the Chief Accessors were James de Cockyngton of Cockington near Torquay and Matthew de Crouthorn/Crauthorn of Estbray in the Barnstaple area hence Devonians. So why was a John Pencomb in Mollond (now Molland) as an accessor? Is he related to Roger de Pencomb of Bonelegh (Bondleigh) who received land grants at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) in the early 1300s? Falling back on the yDNA results which tell me quite clearly that the five testers are descended from either of two sons of John Pencomb of North Molton namely John and Thomas both likely born at North Molton and the Visitation of Devon 1620 lists those sons although a third son unknown on the chart but was named William (he had died with all of his family in the 1560s is missing.). It is exciting that the testers actually do descend from one or other of these two sons and so the line is proven back to 1486 at Northmolton, Devon. I did review this with the AI yesterday and the AI concluded as did I that my next steps include what I was already doing and an intent look at Devon with regard to the period from from the early 1300s to 1486. This is the beginning of that investigation. The problem remains that the archives held at Exeter Devon were bombed in 1942 and destroyed for the most part. However, I shall continue seeing what has been transcribed of the surviving records in that time period.
It is also interesting that there was a John de Pencomb in Herefordshire in this time frame the 1300s; indeed his Inquisition Post Morten transcription provided by British History online:
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol11/pp382-400
accessed 19 February 2024 states:
524.
10 July 37 Edward III is 10 July 1364 and John de Pencomb's son Thomas was born in January 1349/50. So am I looking at two John de Pencomb - one in Devon as an accessor at Mollond in 1332 and one with a 14.5 year old son Thomas at a slightly later time period and was living in Bromyerd, Herefordshire? It is an unusual surname but it is also the name of a village in Herefordshire.
What is at stake in this thinking? Up until this point in time I was thinking that John Pencomb of Northmolton had arrived at Northmolton in 1486 with John Lord Zouch. I became somewhat mystified by the statement on the Visitation of Devon 1620 stating Pyncomb of Northmolton - was that statement telling me that this was his normal home but he had arrived back from an unknown place with Lord Zouch early in the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). The AI and I discussed it and we created a methodology to see what type of knowledge could be released from the documents that are available to me. That is where I am at today. I do have the Early Chancery Proceedings 1386 - 1467 and will have a look at them for Devon and Herefordshire; indeed if there is a huge index I will check that as well. I am beginning to think that my methodology of simply collecting data that is pertinent and creating chapters that sort of flow together I am probably doing the best service I am able to give to the Pincombe family from which my mother descends and myself and all my siblings and all of our descendants. I will place a copy in the Guild of one-name Studies library for any future researcher in Pincombe. Plus I will publish it with a Creative Commons License so that others can see what I did and when they write their own books if they have newer/better information feel free to use what I have produced and add your own additions. That is what I did to the Siderfin book even if the Index leaves some question marks - the names are right but the page numbers are not always quite right. But if time is available to me I will fix that in the future since I also do have more material to add to the book.
I did start my look through the Early Chancery records but thus far I did not find anything useful. There is just one incident of the name John Pencombe in the index created by Archive CD Books for 1385-1467. This is slightly later so I am reviewing the books held by Internet Archives and started with the end of the reign of Richard III namely 1485 moving backwards through this book.
So not a lot accomplished but reviewing it with the AI was very interesting. This Research Protocol that has been developed between the AI and myself is becoming quite lengthy and a valuable tool to which I can refer as I am working. Having Microsoft 365 including Co-pilot with sixty credits a month has proven to be very very useful. The Chats are saved within the software allowing me to go back at any time and refer to our discussions. We keep honing the Research Protocol itself to suit the new information and one has to think about what I really want to know. In general I know that my Pincombe line has descended from a John Pencombe of Northmolton and having the five sets of yDNA (Y-700) data coming down from two known sons is very trustworthy. Also postulated by FT DNA is the emergence of their shared result and 1550 CE is that thought. By 1550 the grandchildren of John Pencomb are now adults and have moved out from North Molton to South Molton, Bideford, East Buckland and possibly other close by towns/villages in North Devon. There are still Pincombe descendants living in North Molton as well.
So my direction at this moment is to understand the data that is emerging prior to 1486 when John Pencombe of Northmolton is known to be there. Where was he before? Is he related to the John Pencomb' at Mollond in 1332 or the Roger de Pencombe at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) in the early 1300s receiving land grants? Is he related to the John Pencombe living at Bromyard, Herefordshire at the time of his death in 1364? None of these are need to know in terms of the descent from John Pencombe at Northmolton in 1486 it simply provides more details on the earlier members of this family if they are? Remembering that Pencombe is the name of a place in Herefordshire and the potential of surname taking which is occurring in the 1100s/1200s could result in unrelated people having the same surname. In this case it is known that a Eustace de Pencombe in Herefordshire was the son of Turstin Flandrensis de Pencombe. The loss of the records in the bombing of the Devonshire Archives at Exeter during World War II perhaps does help to complicate this problem although a lot of records do exist in the Early Chancery Proceedings for Devon as it turns out as I work my way through them.
I shall continue devoting one week to this process and I am half way through that week which is split between two weeks as I clean my house half of the week!.
Do I have any thoughts on the forward movement with AI in the larger world than mine? I think one must always be aware of progress and its benefits and drawbacks. There are a lot of different companies engaged in this particular enterprise. I think I need to hear more about the intent of AI as part of the world system. Certainly the idea that you bring AI into a work place and discard the workers currently there does seem rather backward. An untested system replacing a trusted system is very often a mistake. I remember when computers entered the workplace and having been involved with computers since my late teens so over sixty years I would say that the thoughts at that time were how much savings there would be. In reality it took twice as many people to handle the integration and use of computers. We expect systems to not fail. AI must not be permitted to take over without adequate support in any industry; it doesn't make sense to discard human initiative and intuition with a machine. Machines fail and require maintenance - can they be made self-sufficient? A good question and I am dubious because the failure at any point in a machine system completely undermines its ability to operate say an important mineral is needed and no longer available and nothing has been done to find an alternative and the system fails. We are left with inadequate human controls if not put in place now and always to support the AI system whether it be for its production or the elements needed to keep it working. It easily took twice as many people or more to run a system that has become dependent on computers. As for harnessing the ability of AI; no ideas on that really. I have worked with the AI on Co-pilot for about six months and have watched as there was little or no knowledge of genealogy at the beginning and now the knowledge is quite vast and grows exponentially. The ability of AI to absorb the written word is huge and their memory recall fabulous but still making leaps from unknown to known is not easy and requires a lot of intuition moving between documents which is not yet there with the AI although their recall is a plus. Their interpretation though is based on placement and visibility I have noted which is not always the case with deep research.
Solitaire puzzles are next and then breakfast. Another research day and I shall read the last chapters of 2 Maccabees. This has definitely been a difficult read as I do not have atlases in front of me and lists of names to keep me grounded but I am just reading looking for why I think peace is God's desire for humankind. Primarily I think it is God's wishes for mankind and certainly His son Jesus expressed this love of one's neighbour and the whole world, to Jesus, was our neighbour.
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