Living DNA results for my brother

Living DNA results came in for my brother. We are the least alike thus far of us seven siblings and fortunately for me he has been willing to be tested here and everywhere (and I have done so!). I expect his results to show a strong southern England setting and good percentages along the eastern coast of England. That was completely fulfilled but I was surprised not to see any Scotland but he does have a Cumbria component which is our Routledge line and they are far removed from the Scottish Highlands having come to the Cumbria area in the 1400s. I also thought he would have a north western European component that would be Germanic rather than Scandinavian. His results follow and I compare them to my results.

 Area                                                       my brother             me

Europe                                                      98.9%                100%

Great Britain and Ireland                         95.9%                   96.5%

South Central England                            23.9%                   31.7%

Southeast England                                  18.8%                      7.2%

Devon                                                      13.4%                     14.6%

Central England                                       0%                          14.6%

North Yorkshire                                     11.6%                         3.5%

South England                                       11.5%                         2.7%

Lincolnshire                                            7.7%                         2%

Northumbria                                             5.5%                         4%

North West England                                  0%                           3.5%

Cumbria                                                  2.2%                           0%

South Yorkshire                                      1.2%                           5.4%

Southwest Scotland and Northern Ireland   0%                        4.8%

Northwest England                                  0%                             3.5%

Aberdeenshire                                         0%                             2.5% 


Europe (North and West)                        3%                              3.5%

Germanic                                                  3%                             0%

Scandinavia                                              0%                             3.5%

 Asia (South)                                         1.1%                            0%

Southern Central Asia                           1.1%                            0%


The first item that pretty much defines our family is the Great Britain and Ireland percentage. My result is 96.5% and my brother's result is 95.9%. Given that our father, three of our grandparents and all of their known ancestors were born and lived in England probably not surprising. Our fourth grandparent - maternal grandfather  John Routledge Pincombe - was born in Canada but his father William Robert Pincombe was born in England (Devon) and his mother Grace Gray was born in Canada and she was our first born Canadian ancestor. However both of her parents (Robert Gray and Elizabeth Mary Ann Routledge) were born in England (father in East Riding of Yorkshire and mother in Cumberland).

The North and West Europe component that each of us have remains somewhat of a mystery. I have 3.5% Scandinavian and my brother has 3% Germanic. Looking at 3% of our DNA the rough estimate would be a 3x great grandparent or 2 4x great grandparents. This is an interesting thought actually. For most of our lines I know the 3x great grandparent's place of birth, who they married and when/where they died. But there are a few exceptions - one is my maternal grandmother's father's grandfather - Christopher Buller. I think he is English but I have no proof. His death registration/burial registration does not give any clues in 1832. I have never found his birth/baptism in London, England where he lived his entire life (actually Bermondsey just south of the Thames in his adulthood). His wife Mary Beard I can trace back a number of generations in the Bermondsey area. The other exception is my maternal grandmother's mother's parents and grandparents. But this line is more likely to be Irish/Scot than Scandinavian or Germanic. We do have a number of matches with people who currently live in Germany and always have and I must have a look to see if my brother actually has more of these matches than I do. In general though these matches are with people having a Jewish ancestry and endogamy is probably playing a part in all of that as I suspect our possible Jewish ancestor converted to Church of England back in the 1400s (first appears in Anglican Church records) or earlier. 

The Devon results for both of us at 13.4% for my brother and 14.6% for me are very reasonable given the matches to our Pincombe lines that we share in common. We have been most fortunate to have half a dozen and more of our Pincombe cousins test ranging from 3rd cousin to 4th cousin. Their testing has enabled the phasing of our grandparents DNA which is progressing and helpful with new matches. Our Pincombe line was at Bishops Nympton from the late 1590s to the present and prior to that the line was at North Molton (East Buckland and Filleigh) back to 1485. Prior to that is not firmly proven although some researchers have placed this family in western Cornwall and others in Herefordshire. They came to North Molton with Lord de la Zouche following the Battle of Bosworth Field in which Lord Zouche was attainted for supporting Richard III.

The South Central England results with 23.9% for my brother and 31.7% for me were also an expected result. South Central England includes Wiltshire and Somerset (as well as Hampshire) and the matches which we have thus far point to my having inherited strongly from my paternal grandmother whose lines were from Wiltshire predominantly although she, herself, was born in Kimpton, Hampshire. Plus I have strong matches with my 2x great grandmother (my maternal side) who was born at Selworthy, Elizabeth Rew (daughter of John Rew and Elizabeth Siderfin) but married her Pincombe husband at Bishops Nympton and my brother does not match the Somerset cousins for the most part. My brother inherited strongly from his paternal grandfather which is primarily Hampshire and perhaps gives some evidence with his South eastern percentage that the Blake families at Andover were indeed all related as one line of this family went to Surrey and then London in the latter part of the 1600s.

Southeast England which includes London and Surrey was the home of my 3x great grandfather Christopher Buller's wife Mary Beard. The Beard family can be found back into the 1600s in the Bermondsey area. Henry Beard (Mary's father) was a tanner and he had married Elizabeth Hemsley and her family is likely from the North Yorkshire/Northumberland area back a couple of generations (Elizabeth was born in 1742 at St Mary Newington daughter of Matthew Hemsley and Mary Coal. But my brother's portion at 18.8% is much larger than would be expected from 4x great grandparents and the only other London line is of course Christopher Buller himself. Hence I am suspicious that Blake is also showing up in this area with its roots in Andover.

No Central England for my brother and again not a surprise as he has very few matches with our Buller and Welch cousins. Henry Christopher Buller married Anne Welch in 1838 at Edgbaston, Warwickshire. He the son of Christopher Buller and Mary Beard and Anne the daughter of William Welch and Sarah Cheatle. In this choice he received more Pincombe-Gray then Buller-Taylor from our mother. William Robert Pincombe having married Grace Gray (family from East Riding of Yorkshire and Cumberland) my maternal great grandparents.

North Yorkshire was 11.6% for my brother and only 3.5% for me. Our Sproxton family likely hailed from North Yorkshire (Ann Sproxton (daughter of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland married 1753 Great Driffield) married John Cobb 1782 at Lund and they were the parents of Elizabeth Cobb who married Robert Gray 1806 at Lund and their son Robert Junior emigrated to Canada and was the father of Grace Gray. The percentage is high however and I suspect there is also Hemsley in that mix.

South England is primarily Hampshire where our father was born (Ernest Blake born 1904 at Eastleigh) and all of his Blake line mostly from Upper Clatford and all pretty much within a few kilometres of Andover going back in time although Elizabeth Lambden (Elizabeth married Isaac Farmer 1789 at Andover; Ann Farmer married John Blake also at Andover in 1823 (parents of Edward Blake my great grandfather)'s father was likely from Berkshire. For the most part though the Blake line and the families that married into Blake were from Andover or closeby. My brother inherited strongly from my paternal grandfather and that shows up strongly in his matches. He is at 11.5% and I am at 2.7% and I suspect some of mine is from the Dorset area where our great grandmother Maria Jane Knight was born (she married Edward Blake at Upper Clatford in 1870) as I have very good Knight matches.

As with myself, Lincolnshire is partly an unknown. Close to London as I get back into the 1700s there are some unknowns in my lines. My brother was 7.7% and myself at 2%. Certainly he inherited strongly from the Gray family and as I work my way back in the East Riding of Yorkshire there are lines coming in that I have not yet discovered.

Northumbria at 5.5% for my brother and 4% for me is perhaps some of our Routledge ancestry (2 of my 3x great grandparents Thomas Routledge and Elizabeth Routledge (2nd cousins) married in 1785 at Bewcastle Cumberland). There is also my Hemsley family likely from this area and 5x to 6x great grandparents.

Cumbria at 2.2% for my brother and 0% for me is very likely this Routledge family as well. Although I do have matches with our Routledge cousins and my brother does not thus far only two have tested.

South Yorkshire at 1.2% for my brother and 5.4% for me is perhaps again the Gray family who lived at Etton and places within about a 10 kilometre radius of Etton.

Not unexpected, my brother shows no Irish or Scottish. He does not have a lot of matches compared to a multitude of Irish/Scot matches for myself. Northwest England at 0% for my brother and 3.5% for myself, Southwest Scotland and Northern Ireland and 0% for my brother and 4.8% for myself, and Aberdeenshire at 0% for my brother and 2.5% all point to our possible Irish/Planter Scot ancestry. He has very few matches with people of known Irish/Scot ancestry. This is of course our unknown line. My maternal grandmother's mother was Ellen Taylor born at Birmingham and we of course share her mitochondrial DNA (H11a2a1, relatively uncommon although there are probably slightly less than one million people who share it on the planet today!) which does point to Ayrshire/Argyllshire Scotland in the Blood of the Isles Database. Matches with the colony in the Carolinas founded by the Rev William Martin and his six shiploads of colonists in 1772 was from County Antrim and a number of matches with our mitochondrial DNA are found with people who descend from this group of colonists.

Scandinavian (3.5% for myself) and Germanic (3% for my brother) are somewhat mysterious as I do not have any known ancestors born in these two areas. But I have many many Scandinavian matches (and some German). My brother has few Scandinavian but many German matches. Perhaps it is fairly ancient and has just managed to be passed down through the ages relatively intact but through whom is the question and one which I look at in depth with each new close match that is from Scandinavia or the Germanic Countries.

Very pleased with these results as well from Living DNA. Looking forward to their matching. I have also shared one set of another brother's results and one set of another sister's results for the matching. Now that I have these results I will do a write up for Living DNA as they have requested feedback.

Ann Sproxton (1760 - 1838)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 4

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, unknown, Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent,  Butt, Durnford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Ann (unknown), Sherwood, unknown, Habberfield, Collings, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Canham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

I have now reached the fourth week of the 52 Ancestor Challenge and still reporting in a timely fashion. My lecture now complete, my back very much on the mend, I can now settle back into my daily research pattern with one exception. Sitting is apparently the new smoking so I will get up every thirty minutes or so and do some exercise. Being a bit of an exercise fanatic anyway, that is not a problem! But coming up with so many exercise routines will be an interesting challenge in itself.

This week Ann Sproxton is my 4x great grandmother as are all the individuals in this 52 Ancestor Challenge. Ann was baptized 14 Sep 1760 at Great Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire. The knowledge of Ann goes back to our first time at Salt Lake City Family History Library and indeed our only time there thus far. The marriage registration for John Cobb and Ann Sproxton is dated 24 Nov 1782 at Lund, East Riding of Yorkshire and the priest obligingly wrote that Ann was born at Great Driffield and John born at Kilnwick (East Riding of Yorkshire).  I attach an image of their marriage registration:

 

Interestingly enough the x is written in such a way that it looks like a w and transcriptions of this marriage registration have read John Cobb and Ann Sprowston. This is the only Sprowston that I have ever found and it wasn't util I saw this marriage registration and realized that it read Sproxton that I was able to move back in time with Ann. The witnesses are John Wilson and Benjamin Cobb. Benjamin is likely the brother of John Cobb. 

Going to the Great Driffield parish registers which I could readily do at the FHL in Salt Lake City I found the baptism of Ann Sproxton 14 Sep 1760 and the daughter of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland. Richard and Ann had been married 24 Dec 1753 at Great Driffield. They baptized four children at Great Driffield:

Daniel baptized 12 Mar 1754 (and about whom I know nothing more at the moment)
Richard baptized 10 Oct 1756 (married Frances Dent 12 Apr 1790 at Tunstall, ERY and they have three children Richard 1791, Francis 1794, and Ann 1797)
Ann baptized 14 Sep 1760
 Dyna baptized 22 Jun 1765

Richard was buried 3 May 1770 at Great Driffield and Ann 17 May 1797 was buried at Great Driffield. I continued following both lines back in the registers at the Family History Library and I will show this information at the bottom of the post.

Ann Sproxton and John Cobb baptized three children at Lund:

Elizabeth 24 Aug 1783 (my ancestor)
Ann 18 Mar 1791
John 18 Jan 1793

I have not been able to learn anything to date about Ann and John but will take a few moments now to look them up in Find My Past as I have not examined this family in a few years.

However, Elizabeth married Robert Gray 13 Jan 1806 at Lund and more on the Gray family another day but they baptized 9 children at Etton. Three of these children emigrated to Canada and one of them, Robert junior, is my 2x great grandfather and my second emigrant ancestor to come to Canada from England. He married a daughter of the first emigrants (and she herself was also an emigrant). One of their daughters, Grace Gray, was my first Canadian born ancestor. This is a very thin line as her son was my second Canadian born ancestor and my mother was my third Canadian born ancestor.

Back to John Cobb and Ann Sproxton and especially Ann. Ann was buried 21 May 1838 at Lund near Beverley (she outlived her daughter Elizabeth by 7 years and also lived long enough to see my ancestor Robert and his brother William depart for Canada around 1832). Realizing that I feel even more compelled to see about the other two children Ann and John siblings of Elizabeth.

This partial map of the East Riding of Yorkshire lets you see the location of the various parishes mentioned above and can be seen on the Genuki webpages:

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Maps/ERYParishes.gif

I know from the Land Records that John Cobb farmed and paid rent of  5.5 pence to the Parish Church at Lund. His brother Benjamin had an ale house. John is in the land records into the 1830s at Lund although by 1837 the rent is paid for the late John Cobb perhaps by his wife as she is still alive at this time and this is of course Ann (Sproxton) Cobb.

In the burials for Lund, I found John son of John Cobb, labourer, buried 16 Jan 1803. Ann is  baptised as the daughter of John Cobb, Yeoman, 18 Mar 1791. There are a number of marriages for an Ann Cobb but difficult to determine if one of them is this Ann.

 Ahnentafel Chart for Ann Sproxton (abbreviated):
1 Ann Sproxton (1760-1838)

2 Richard Sproxton (1721-1770)
3 Ann Harland (1731-1797)

4 Richard Sproxton (1691-1768)
5 Dorothy English (1692-1772)
6 Timothy Harland (1674-1776)
7 Ann Wilkinson (-1761)

8 Richard Sproxton (1663-1774)
9 Margaret Garrit/Garratt (-1720)
10
11
12  John Harland
13
14
15

16 John Sproxton (c1630-1714)
17 Ann Simpson (-1708)
18
.....

33 John Sproxton (-1663)
34 Isobel (-1650)


Ann is my 4x great grandmother:

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. Grace GRAY (b 22 Mar 1839) - London Township Middlesex County Ontario Canada
5. Robert GRAY (b 3 Nov 1810) - Etton Yorkshire England
6. Elizabeth COBB (b 24 Aug 1783) - Lund near Beverley Yorkshire England
7. Ann SPROXTON (b 14 Sep 1760) - Great Driffield Yorkshire England
8. Richard SPROXTON (b 10 Oct 1721) - Hutton Cranswick Yorkshire England
9. Richard SPROXTON (b 2 Oct 1691) - Hutton Cranswick Yorkshire England
10. Richard SPROXTON (b 2 Aug 1663) - Hutton Cranswick Yorkshire England
11. John SPROXTON
12. John SPROXTON (d 21 Jul 1663) - Hutton Cranswick Yorkshire England


Prior to 1663 I do not have any information on this Sproxton family. In the records at Kew C 135/104/7 there is mention of a Post Mortem for William Sproxton or de Sproxton Yorkshire and 23 Edw III is 25 Jan 1349 to 24 Jan 1350. Three hundred years earlier there was a Sproxton in Yorkshire so all rather interesting but is this the same family? There was also a Sproxton Leicestershire which occurs in the records and could this family have taken their name from that place. A mystery and perhaps next time at Salt Lake City will have a look.

Also in the reign of Edward I, Robert de Sproxton Post Mortem C 133/88/3.

According to the National Archives there are 4 records 1000-1099, 9 records 1200-1299 and 11 records 1300-1399. With the earliest records being in the Domesday Book. Sprostune being in North Yorkshire in the Domesday Book.

Sproxton Family of Great Driffield and the Parish Registers of Great Driffield - Baptisms 1556 - 1582

I have written at length about my Sproxton family of Great Driffield and I have managed to trace them as far back as it is possible in the Parish Registers at Hutton Cranswick - at least I think I have. I need to transcribe the years before the mid to early 1600s to have a better look for my Sproxton family. Richard Sproxton married to Ann Harland was the first of the Sproxton family to live at Great Driffield and prior to that the Sproxton family was at Hutton Cranswick.

Since I collected hundreds of images of the parish registers of Great Driffield I mentioned two years ago that I would transcribe them as I was able and that would be the use of my Sproxton Research day. I also have hundreds of images of the parish registers of Hutton Cranswick. The debate is on in my mind which would be the most valuable to me for these families. I have uncovered all the Great Driffield records for the Sproxton family. However, the Harland family were at Great Driffield back into the mid 1600s and I have not yet pulled all their records. Consequently, although drawn to doing Hutton Cranswick first I have pulled all the information from Hutton Cranswick back into the mid to earlier 1600s I will continue with Great Driffield repeating the beginning because my ability to transcribe has improved and I left off with Baptisms to begin with the year 1570. 

Great Driffield

Baptisms

1556
John T__________n
Margaret S______sarbly
Steven Pal_____
John May___esse
Agnes Storcke
Alice Runton   Nov
Willyam Perkyn  Jan
Willyam Thorley  Jan
John Gyles  Feb 1
John Gardiner  Feb 4
Elizabeth B_ade   Feb 23
Willyam __alles   Mar 4
George Johnson   Mar 18
Peter Gardiner    Mar 20
Joanne Robinson    Mar 22

1557
Thomas Bonnocke 3 Apr
Susann Taylor 3 Apr

Robert Skudleake __
Leonard Gardiner __
Gilberte Sonley Apr 26
Isabell Vounton May 7
John Mutson May 23
Joanne Hobkinson May 27

1558
Alice Gardner 4 Jun
Willyam Runton 18 Jun

1559
John Ducke 10 Oct
Mabell D_ile 10 Oct
Willyam Hobson 13 Oct
Elizabeth Hobkinson 25 Oct
Thomas Ducke __ Nov
Sharon Perkin __ Nov

1561
Margret Hewson ____
Richard Clarke __
Richard Gyles  __
Agnes ______ __
Willyam ____ __
Elizabeth _______  ____
_______
Andrew ________ton ___
Agnes Si ______ow  _____
Jo: _________ge ___
John _____ooxe _____
John Puttyson Jan __
Robert Manson Feb __
Isabell Benne Feb __
Francis Spence Feb __
Susseliy Gardiner Feb __

1562
John Appleby 12 Oct
Thomas Smyth 20 Oct
Agnes Browne 30 Oct
_______________
William Taller 12 Nov
Robert Bugge 3 Dec
John Ducke 23 Dec
Isabell More 9 Jan
Leonard Bonwicke 26 Jan

1563
John Baridge 20 Nov
Elisbeth Byrde  6 Dec

1564
Isabell Etherington __ Mar
George Etherington __ Apr
Richard Nicholson __ Apr
Elisabeth Gardner __ May
Bridget Etherington _ May
Ellin Mayson  _ Jul
John Mary_rpresse  __ Jul
John Bossel__Dec
_____ Starcke  __ Dec
_____ Smythe  __  Dec
______ Etherington

1565
________________
_______Clark  __ May
_______  ____ile
_______________

1566


Joanne Etherington ____
Agnes Toolier ____
George Thorley _____
Marmaducke Etherington ______
Agnes Wiathrill ________

1567

Ellice Welbourne  __ Apr
Ellin Forrest __  Apr
Ellice Bur___ __ May
Dorithie _____ __ May
Thomas ___ __ Oct
George ____  __ Oct
Richard W____t __  Nov
Thomas Oh _____an __ Nov
Thomas Clarke  __  Nov
Margaret Gardiner  __ Feb
Catherine Smyth __ Feb
Catherine Sendon __ Mar
Catherine Haytome  __ June
Ellice Sha_ke __ Jun
Catherine Perkin __ Jun
Thomas Maryeson   __ Jun
Isabell Edwarde  __ Sep-
Catherine Etherington __ Sep
John Smale  __ Sep
Anne Welson 18 Oct
George Corcker 12 Jan
Catherine Symson 18 Jan

1568

Christopher Young __ Apr
Willyam Barcker __ Apr
Andrew Bonbie  __ Apr
John Thorley 12 May
Dionis Haylome 13 Jul
Catherine Chrispin 4 Aug
George Hunter  12 Aug
John Milner  3 Sep
Willyam Essey  14 Sep
Richard Bonwicke 24 Sep
Dionis Hopkinson  26 Sep


1569

John Rounton  17 Apr
Randall Alkinson 18 Apr
John Byrde  __ Apr
Dorithie Gardiner  __ Apr
Anne Walker __ May
Catherine Goodwine  __
John Byrde  __
Willyam Weeke  ___


1570

Bartholomew ______art ______
______________________
______________________

1571

____ct H__y_e  ______
Ellice Slor__t__ ____
 Hughe Russle _____
Joanne Goodwill  ____
Franncis Etherington  _____
Willyam Sharpe ____
Thomas Barcker  __ Jun
Richard Milner ___
Margaret Bonwick  __ Dec
Richard S___yle  __ Dec
Catherine Barcker __ Mar

1572

Henrye Bryde __ Apr
Richard Bonbey __ May
Margaret Hodgson __ May
Alise Barter __ Jun
Richard Idle  __ Aug
Willyam Haylome __ Sep
John Welbourne __ Nov
Robert Etherington __ Dec
John Newton __ Dec
Richard Sharpe __ Dec
Michaell Younge __ Feb
___abell Newton __ Feb

 1573

Richard Pressey __ Mar
Elizabeth Gardiner __ Mar

1574

______ Willbart __
John Simson __ Dec
Hugh Roper __ Feb
Thomas Racke __
Feb
Dorithie Barker __ Feb

1575

Alse Etherington  __ Jun
John Wilson __ Jul

1576

Thomas Laytome __ Sep
John Tomson __ Sep
Thomas Hessey __ Mar
Michaell Idle __ Mar
Willyam M_____ __ Mar
Catherine _____ __ Mar

1577

Agnis _______ _____
Barbara ________ _____
Willyam _______ ______
Elizabeth _______ ______
Richard _______le  _______
Thomas ______e  _____

1578

Roger Elson ______
Joanne Hol_____
Elizabeth Hanter __ Nov
Elizabeth Barcker __ Nov
George Simson  __ Dec
John Haborne __ Dec
Willyam __nowke  __ Jan
Catherine Bonwick 12 Mar]

1579

George Hayenell 11 Oct
 Bridget Newton __ Oct
Alse Storcke 6 Nov
Richard Walker 25 Nov
Elizabeth Wilberte __ Mar

1580
Willyam Matthewe 21 May
Hughe Forest __ Jul
John Newson __ Jul
Elizabeth Wilbert __ Jul
Hughe Dayle __ Jul
 Agnes Watson __ Jul
Elizabeth Weatherill   __ Jul
Barbara Gylls  __ Aug
John Hatchinson __ Aug
Robert Pryer __ Aug
Bryan Morris __ Sep
Willyam Sleckton __ Sep
Richard Watson __  Oct
Agnes Bonwicke __ Oct
Barbara Bysset __ Oct
Catherne Sa__e_t __ Oct
Thomas Dlyotte __ Oct
Bridget Wright  __ Dec
Margery Byrde  __ Feb
Thomas Pratte  __ Feb

1581

Bridget Gardiner __ Mar
Lawrence Foston 13 Jun
Elizabeth Winson 3 Nov
Thomas Daylot  6 Nov
Margret Storcke  11 Nov
Elizabeth Sk_were __ Nov
Isacke Symson __ Nov
Charles Jewitson _ Dec
Gylbert Haxewell __ Feb

1582

Margret Messewece __ Mar
Ellin Newton __ Mar
Willyam Ingland  __ May
Willyam Bryde __ May
John Barcker _____
___son Gardiner ______
James Poye ______

Image 5638 to continue on the next Sproxton Research Day.

Sproxton family of Great Driffield, Lund, East Riding of Yorkshire

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for about a year so decided to post it in case the burials are of interest to anyone from the Parish Registers of Great Driffield.

My interest in Great Driffield stems from Ann Sproxton who married John Cobb 24 Nov 1782 at Lund (near Beverley) East Yorkshire Riding and she was the daughter of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland who were themselves married 24 Dec 1753 at Great Driffield. Ann Sproxton was identified on her wedding registration as being born at Great Driffield. This priest is to be highly commended for efficiently providing the information which unequivocably relates Ann back to her family at Great Driffield. Ann Sproxton was baptized 14 Sep 1760 at Great Driffield.


I have accumulated a number of scans of the Parish Registers of Great Driffield and will transcribe them to see if there is anything helpful to me in them. Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland baptized only four children at Great Driffield where they married


Daniel baptized 12 Mar 1754

Richard baptized 10 Oct 1756

Ann (as above)

Dyna baptized 22 Jun 1765


Richard was baptized 10 Oct 1721 the son of Richard Sproxton and Dorothy English at Hutton Cranswick and I have a number of scans for this parish as well to transcribe. Richard was buried 3 May 1770 at Great Driffield (Ann was only ten years old). Ann Harland was baptized 1 Aug 1731 at Great Driffield the daughter of Timothy Harland and Ann Wilkinson who were themselves married 24 Jun 1723 at Great Driffield. The Sproxton family continues back at Hutton Cranswick to Richard Sproxton married to Margaret Garrit (parents of Richard baptized 10 Oct 1721) 30 Sep 1688 (first marriage for Richard). This Richard was the son of John Sproxton and Ann Simpson who married 5 Jan 1659 at Hutton Cranswick. This John was the son of John Sproxton and Isobel who may have married at Hutton Cranswick (both are buried there) but no marriage found to date. Where this Sproxton family lived prior to the 1600s is unknown at this time.


Great Driffield Parish Registers (list is not continuous as some scans were not the entire page and entries are omitted that were incomplete)


Burial 6 Dec 1737 Thomas Larel buried

Burial 14 Jan 1737 Ann Spakeman buried

Burial 14 Jan 1737 Thomas the son of John Tovey

Burial 20 Jan 1737 Jane wife of John Tovey

Burial 1 Feb 1737 James son of William Eeles

Burial 19 Feb 1737 Mary Piper widow

Burial 20 Feb 1737 Farmer John Hanson

Burial 26 Feb 1737 Thomas the son of John Louch

Burial 22 Mar 1737 Elizabeth daughter of John Mascal

Burial 1 Apr 1738 wife of William Eeles

Burial 20 May 1738 Elizabeth wife of Farmer William Hocklay

Burial 24 Jun 1738 Samuel son of John Tovey

Burial 4 Aug 1738 Joseph Pilsey

Burial 17 Sep 1738 Francis _usher

Burial 18 Nov 1738 Sarah daughter of William Tadgrove

Burial 25 Dec 1738 John Lamden

Burial 16 Jan 1738 William Eeles

Burial 12 Feb 1738 Margaret Welman

Burial 30 Apr 1739 James Ricson


Burial 19 Sep 1739 William Aubery

Burial 16 Dec 1739 John Marshall


Burial 10 Sep 1742 John Hawkes

Burial 5 Oct 1742 William Clarke

Burial 19 Oct 1742 Stephen Blandy


I will continue with this transcription the next research day.

Guild Talk and queries

The talk at BIFHSGO is completed and a surprisingly larger audience than I expected. The questions at the end were most interesting. For surname studies yDNA has become a very interesting tool and has proven to upset some surname studies of long standing that had thought a relationship existed between  them in a direct yDNA fashion. But yDNA studies have proven that no such relationship in a direct line pattern exists. Of course there is always the possibility that the son of a daughter has taken his mother's surname (perhaps for inheritance purposes) and hence the yDNA will not match. Looking back from the distance of a couple of hundred years has the difficulty of not knowing the day to day events that may have occurred.

I had one query about a Cheatle ancestor which is very interesting and I shall have a look at my Loughborough Cheatle families to see if I can place the young woman. The Cheatle family greatly interests me and it tends to be a Leicestershire family name and in specific areas of Leicestershire. However, taking on this rather interesting surname as a one name study is simply not possible. I must admit that if I were ever to take on another study then Sproxton would be the surname that I would investigate.

That was my last lecture although my family says that I have said that before. It is the problem of taking on Regional Co-ordinator of the Guild of One Name Studies. When asked to explain the Guild I would be obliged to speak about it. Fortunately slide packages have been prepared by the Guild which I can use altering them to fit my study approach.

I shall now begin work on cleaning up the data for my eventual charting of the Blake marriages. It will take me some time to ensure that I have removed all the double keyed entries. But once completed it will be an interesting set of data.

Another query was on finding wills and whether there are any particularly good websites. This is actually a full lecture in itself but I did mention Kew (The National Archives UK) where you can purchase wills for 3 pound 50 pence each. It is a very reasonable site and I have purchased close to 200 wills over my eight years in genealogy. I downloaded another large set whilst we were there at Kew and when I go again I want to acquire the rest of the blake wills. I am already building my excel file to do that. There are a number of other sites of wills after 1858. Occasionally one might find a surname site for wills and this is the case with my Arnold family. My blog contains about two thirds of the Pincombe wills that have survived and will eventually contain all of the wills.

Yet another question was on the use of software to store data and I mentioned excel which is my preferred and also that of other members of the guild. However, other members use other programs to store their data. The Master Genealogist is a favourite.

All in all an interesting question period. I tend to enjoy the question periods as it often stirs other thoughts in my mind. One sets of questions often leads to other sets of questions. I think that is perhaps the greatest unknown in genealogy - one new piece of information  often produces several questions or even more. Perhaps that is what makes genealogy very exciting - not so much the successful conclusions but the pursuit of those conclusions.

Hearth Tax - Roehampton University project

The Hearth Tax project at the Roehampton University has now added East Yorkshire information. This is an incredible resource for looking at East Yorkshire Riding in 1672. The Hearth Tax is a listing of householders in England of the 1660s and 1670s and provides an insight into the status of individuals (i.e. their property).

http://www.hearthtax.org.uk/

All of my East Yorkshire Riding people can be found in the hundred / wapentake of Harthill Bainton Beacon and specifically the Constabularies / Wards of Great Driffield and Little Driffield, Etton, Hutton Cranswick, Holme on the Wolds, Cherry Burton, Lund near Beverley, Kilnwick, Skerne, Watton, and Barmby on the Moor.

The lists also reveal to me that some of my surnames were indeed somewhat unique with only a couple of members listed for each particular surname. In particular Sproxton, Beilby, English, and Garratt belong to this group. My other surnames of Grey/Gray, Cobb, Harland, Wilkinson, Hilton, Constable, and Stephenson are also listed although in greater numbers.

I have found a Robert English at Barmby on the Moor who may be my ancient ancestor. Dorothy English married Richard Sproxton 15 Nov 1716 at Hutton Cranswick. Her parentage is unknown to me.

Cobb at Lund and Kilnwick, East Yorkshire Riding

Elizabeth Cobb married Robert Gray 13 Jan 1806 at Lund (near Beverley), East Yorkshire Riding. Elizabeth was baptized 24 Aug 1783 at Lund near Beverley the daughter of John Cobb and Ann Sproxton who were themselves married  24 Nov 1782 at Lund near Beverley.


The Cobb/Sproxton family information was one of my great finds at the Family Search Library in Salt Lake City. Although the information does appear on the IGI the surname Sproxton was listed as Sprowston and solving this error lead me other records which were very helpful in sorting out my Cobb line.


Today, I want to transcribe the records that I collected in 2008 (yikes it has been that long) for this family.


I collected a list of the Churchwardens and did not find any Cobb families listed at Lund before the 1780s. in 1786 Benjamin Cobb was a Churchwarden (and in 1787). The Cobb family are not listed on the Tax Assessment before this time. John Cobb farms continuously in this area from the 1780s until his death in 1837 at which time Benjamin Cobb takes over his land.


Prior to living at Lund the Cobb family were at Kilnwick, identified by the priest at the marriage of John Cobb and Ann Sproxton as his parish.


Robert Gray was described as of the parish of Etton in 1806 when he married Elizabeth Cobb who was described as of the parish of Lund (indeed she was baptized there).


Parish Registers for Lund near Beverley


Baptism of Elizabeth daughter of John Cobb yeoman 24 Aug  1783

Baptism of Benjamin son of Benjamin Cobb shopkeeper 22 Feb 1788

Baptism Ann daughter of John Cobb yeoman 13 Mar 1791

Baptism John son of John Cobb yeoman 18 Jan 1793

Baptism Jonathan Marshall son of Benjamin and Jane Cobb labourer 20 Sep 1815

Baptism Benjamin son of Benjamin and Jane Cobb publican 18 Aug 1817

Baptism Jane daughter of Benjamin and Jane Cobb publican 11 Oct 1821

Baptism Thomas son of Benjamin and Jane Cobb inkeeper 5 Nov 1823

Baptism Mary Ann daughter of Benjamin and Jane Cobb publican 21 Nov 1825

Baptism John son of Benjamin and Jane Cobb publican 16 Sep 1827

Baptism Sarah daughter of Benjamin and Jane Cobb publican 7 Feb 1830

Baptism Ann Emma daughter of Benjamin and Ellen Cobb tailor 18 Apr 1846

Baptism Charles Arthur son of Benjamin and Ellen Cobb tailor 3 June 1849

Baptism Jane Elizabeth daughter of Thomas and Frances Cobb wheelwright 18 Jun 1854


Marriage of Benjamin Cobb of this parish batchelor and Ann Harrison of this parish spinster married in this church by banns on the twelfth day of February in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty one by me William Mosey Vicar. This marriage was solemnized between us Benjamin Cobb (signed) and Ann Harrison (signed) in the presence of William Bonwer and Thomas Holdsworth.


Marriage of John Cobb of this parish (born at Kilnwick) and Ann Sproxton of this parish born at Great Driffield married in this church by banns the twenty fourth day of November in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty two by me William Mosey Minister. This marriage was solemnized between us John Cobb (signed) and Ann Sproxton (signed) In the presence of John Wilson and Benjamin Cobb.


Marriage of Benjamin Cobb of this parish batchelor and Jane Marshall of this parish spinster were married in this church by banns this tenth day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred a fourteen by me F Lundy Vicar. This marriage was solemnized between us Benjamin Cobb and Jane Marshall. In the presence of Thomas Parkin and Thomas Holdsworth.


Marriage solemnized in the Parish Church of Lund 24 Dec 1847 between Thomas Cobb and Frances Ullyott both of full age, batchelor and spinster, wheelwright and  none, Benjamin Cobb father publican and Mark Morton father labourer witnesses William Kirby and Elizabeth Vary.


Burial of Jane Cobb 6 Apr 1878 aged 60 years

Burial Benjamin Cobb 14 Oct 1878 14 months

Burial Benjamin Cobb 10 May 1822 68 years

Burial Robert Cobb 29 Apr 1826 91 years

Burial John Cobb 5 May 1837 87 years

Burial Ann Cobb (wife of John Cobb) 21 May 1838 77 years

Burial Jonathan Marshall Cobb at Driffield 8 Aug 1850 35 years

Burial Jane Cobb 24 May 1852 64 years


Benjamin Cobb and John Cobb above were brothers and children of John Cobb and Sarah Beilby who were married 14 Nov 1745 at Lund near Beverley (IGI). Their family


From the IGI

Elizabeth baptized 22 Feb 1746 at Kilnwick

John baptized 29 Jul 1750 at Kilnwick; buried 5 May 1837 at Lund near Beverley

Benjamin baptized 16 Feb 1757 at Kilnwick; buried 10 May 1822 at Lund near Beverley


These were the only children that I found baptized to John and Sarah Cobb at Kilnwick. Why they baptized children at Kilnwick and married at Lund is a mystery as I have still not located the area in which they farmed since John is referred to as a yeoman.


I should have carried on looking back into the registers at Lund to find this marriage but will do that another time.


Kilnwick Parish Registers

Baptism Elizabeth the daughter of John Cobb 22 Feb 1746

Baptism John the son of John Cobb 29 Jul 1750

Baptism Benjamin Cobb the son of John Cobb 16 Feb 1757


Lund Parish Registers

Marriage John Cobb and Sarah Beilby both of this parish were married 14 Nov 1745


Great Driffield

Baptism Sarah Beilby daughter of John Beilby 6 Nov 1720


Benjamin Cobb had many many descendants whereas I think that Elizabeth Cobb was the only descendant of John Cobb his brother. I have not yet found any information on her younger brother John or her sister Ann.


Transcribe the land records the next time for Lund, Etton and Cherry Burton.

Sproxton Family of Great Driffield and Hutton Cranswick, East Yorkshire Riding

Ann Sproxton married John Cobb 24 Nov 1782 at Lund (near Beverley) East Riding of Yorkshire. The priest had given the birthplace of Ann as Great Driffield thus permitting me to readily trace this rather interesting surname back to Great Driffield where Ann Sproxton was baptized 14 Sep 1760 and the daughter of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland who themselves had married 24 Dec 1753 at Great Driffield. Richard was buried 3 May 1770 at Great Driffield (Ann his wife was buried 17 May 1797 at Great Driffield and so outlived her husband by 27 years).  This post too was lost in its draft state on 12 May 2011 (I was in a bit of a catch up mode at the time).

Their family consisted of

Daniel baptized 12 Mar 1754 at Great Driffield

Richard baptized 10 Oct 1756 at Great Driffield and married to Frances Dent 12 Apr 1790 at Tunstall. I have traced this family down a couple of generations if anyone is looking for that information.

Ann (as above)

Dyna baptized 22 Jun 1765 at Great Driffield

This family was one of my great finds and a true brickwall breaker at Salt Lake City in the Family History Library. The surname of Ann marrying John Cobb had been transcribed as Sprowston everywhere that I looked. Examining the marriage registration carefully though showed that indeed the ws was an x which had been elaborately written by the officiating priest and misunderstood by transcribers over the years. This single finding permitted me to take the Sproxton family back several generations. Because I had limited my time at Salt Lake City, I photographed pages of the records there and then later ordered in film which I also photographed. I have decided that I will transcribe this material when I am working on this research day. I will first do the Parish Registers of Great Driffield and then Hutton Cranswick. Because of the nature of the photography and in some instances I was looking only for my pertinent names there will be entries missing and I will attempt to leave a space when this is the case. It is, of course, necessary to check the original for yourself in order to determine whether or not an entry is yours or whether there is an entry not transcribed in a particular set of data and the recording of dates will be Old Style (i.e. year runs from 25 Mar to 24 Mar).

Great Driffield
Baptisms
1557
Thomas Bonnocke 3 Apr
Susann Taylor 3 Apr

Robert Skudleafe __
Leonard Gardmore __
Gilberte Souley __
Isabell Sounton __
John Wutson __
Joanne Hobkinson __

1558
Alice Gardner 4 Jun
Willyam Runton 18 Jun

1559
John Ducke 10 Oct
M_bell Ducke 10 Oct
Willyam Hobson 13 Oct
Elizabeth Hobkinson 25 Oct
Thomas Ducke __ Nov
Sharon Perkin __ Nov

1561
Margret ___son __
Richard Clarke __
Richard Gy_es  __

John Puttyson _
Robert Ma_son __
Isabell Bea_e Feb
Francis Spe__
S___y Gardner

1562
John Appleby 12 Oct
Thomas Smyth 20 Oct
A___ Browne 30 Oct

William Taller 12 Nov
Robert B___ 3 Dec
John Ducke 23 Dec
Isabell More 9 Jan
Leonard Bonwicke _ Jan

1563
John B_ridge 20 Nov
Elisbeth Byrde  6 Dec

1564
Isabell Etherington __ Mar
George Etherington __ Apr
Richard Nicholson __ Apr
Elisabeth Gardner __ May

E___ ____son   _ Jul
John ___
John Bosse__

[These entries follow 1565 but date can not be read by me)

Jo___ Etherington
Agnes Tooli_
George Tharley
Marmaducke Etherington
Agnes W__thrill
Ellice Welbourne
Ellin Forrese
Ellice Bur___
Dorithie [obliterated]
Thomas [obliterated]
George [obliterated]
Richard W______
Thomas [obliterated]
Thomas Clarke
Margaret Gardiner
Catherine Smyth
Catherine Sendon
Catherine H__tome
Ellice Sh__ke
Catherine Perkin
Thomas M_r_eson
Isabell Edwarde
Catherine Etherington
John Sw_il_
Anne _elson
George Corck__
Catherine Symson
Christopher Young
Willyam Barcker
Andrew Bonbie
John Thorley
Dionis H__ome
Catherine Chrispin
George Hunter
John Milner
Willyam Essey
Richard Bonwicke
Dionis Hopkinson
John Ro__ton
Randall Alkinson
John Byrde
Dorithie Gardiner
Anne Walker
Catherine Goodwine
John Byrde
Willyam __eeke

The next set appears to be 1570s so will carry on with that next time.

Harland family

I am still working my way through my email of the last week or so and received a note on Genes Reunited about the Harland family. I realized that I hadn't responded to the receipt of the Harland information that I had had by email. I then worked up a chart to send off to my correspondent for my Harland line. I am working with the IGI and my correspondent's notes to add to my Legacy file. Amazingly, one of the descendants of the Leonard Harland line (brother to my Ann Harland married to Richard Sproxton) moved to Guelph Ontario Canada (I grew up at London about 1.5 hours away). It would appear though that Ann Harland was "lost" after she married Richard Sproxton. Ann's daughter Ann Sproxton married John Cobb at Lund and likely the families simply lost contact.

I continued working through the new data that had been sent to me entering it into Legacy as I checked it against the census and parish registers. The family is medium sized and surprisingly a line of Harland emigrated to Guelph, Ontario, Canada in the late 1800s! I wonder if they knew that Robert Gray had emigrated to Canada (London Township, Middlesex County) in the 1830s. They would have been second cousins. I can never remember anyone mentioning that we had relatives in Guelph so I suspect that they did not know of each other.

My legacy file is 11797 members with 3399 families and I am up to 79 sources for the proofs of my ancestors back to my 3x great grandparents. I will soon begin to enter the proofs for my 4x great grandparents. I am gradually accumulating all the information before I begin. My Blake line is easy as is my King line but I decided that I would look at all of them before I start to enter proofs. That way I can just work continuously on the four x great grandparents in order to retain consistency.

Today I will continue to look at the Harland family but will also be working on my lecture as it is on Sunday next. It is running around 60 minutes (I have 75 minutes which includes questions). I expect I will run to about 65 minutes leaving 10 minutes for questions but I am going to have lunch with the group so that people can drop by my table and ask questions one on one if they wish. It will be my last talk and I am looking forward to that. I find it simply takes up too much of my time and energy preparing for talks. There are also lots of people speaking on DNA now and my reason for becoming involved initially was to help advertise DNA as a genealogical research tool.

Ancestry has now made the registers for Greater London available and my day was spent looking at them. More details tomorrow on my Buller/Beard finds. I never expected to find Henry Christopher Buller's first wife and the children from his first marriage. Christopher Buller appears to have married a second time after his wife Mary Beard Buller died in 1806.

Great Driffield

I spent the morning looking at the Great Driffield parish registers at the Family History Centre. Most of my names there are from my Gray line (my great grandmother Grace Gray's ancestors). The Gray family was from the East Riding of Yorkshire and from the parishes of Lund, Hutton Cranswick, Great Driffield, Cherry Burton, Holme on the Wolds, Etton and Kilnwick on the Wolds. This group of parishes all lie together about 15 miles from the North Sea in a parallel fashion. I have also looked at the parishes of Skerne and Watton which are part of this group and have not yet looked at Lockington and South Dalton mostly because I do not have even one entry thus far from those two parishes.

The Great Driffield parish registers go back to 1556 and will be very interesting if I find my Harland and Wilkinson (and possibly other lines) lines in this parish back that far. I photographed from the beginning of the registers to 1612 (baptisms, marriages and burials). I will have a look at them to see the names that are found in these early registers - I did note that there are several Gray families and I need to locate my Gray family prior to 1708 at Cherry Burton. My husband photographed the early Hutton Cranswick registers complete from 1657 (when they begin) up to 1747. I had not checked for my Gray family there and must do so now given the information that I learned on the East Yorkshire Listserv.

In all I took 174 images and my husband took 403. I will have a busy time going through all of those images. We are both waiting for one more film from Salt Lake City - Warrin for my husband (in Germany) and St Mary Bourne (Hampshire UK) for me. We do not expect them to arrive for another couple of weeks. I will see how much I go through tomorrow on my images and then decide whether I will go to the FHS Friday or next Monday. I found all the baptisms, marriages and burials I was looking for including Timothy and Ann Harland, Richard and Ann Sproxton burials. I also photographed a few Harland burials and a few Wilkinson burials that looked interesting.

A cursory glance such as I was using today did not reveal if my Harland and Wilkinson families were of the parish. Indeed the marriage between Timothy Harland and Ann Wilkinson was almost illegible. I am going to try to lighten that image to see if I am able to read the text. Unfortunately it is still quite illegible. I am thinking that the IGI entry must be from the Bishops Transcripts.

Tomorrow I will continue reviewing the images of Great Driffield as I want to go back and takes images of 1612 to 1720 of the baptisms, marriages and burials.

Back to Work

Three days pretty much lost to genealogy - nothing done at all! However, the days were most interesting and very family oriented which is not a usual thing with us in that our children are grown adults with their own lives. We enjoy our time with our children but also enjoy our time on our own probably because we were married for eight years before children and my mind goes back to those days of wild flower searching, birding, canoeing and hiking remembering them fondly. Our children always have first priority on our time but the rest of the time is all ours and mostly spent on genealogy. Why spend it on genealogy? Mostly because of this incredible desire borne of my trip to England in 2001 to understand my ancestral past.

I never experienced any "need to know" before 2001 and was quite content to let my various cousins write up the different lines. But now I would like to fit their work altogether along with my work and see where it takes me back in time. In the back of my mind I remember what my Grandfather told me about his Blake family (and his Knight family as he knew them quite well considering the distance apart and the dates involved) and I remember what my Grandmother said about her family which she mentioned more at the end of her life then when I was young.

I can remember after my grandfather died when I was eight years old that my grandmother said I didn't really love her until my grandfather died. He had lived with us until the last year or so and was a part of my daily life whereas my grandmother lived about a 20 minute bicycle ride away and I was too young to visit her. I can remember the first time I biked to her house. I didn't tell anyone I was going that far and it was just kind of a spontaneous decision. I knew that I had to travel down Windsor Avenue and cross over Wortley to get to her house but I was a bit lost and then I remembered the large Roman Catholic Church that was just down the street from her house and I was soon at 82 Dutchess Avenue.

The last time we were in London I went to look at her house and was shocked to see the overgrown weeds and the house looking much the worse for wear. It was immaculate when I was a child. She would be sad to see her wonderful garden all gone to weeds. But I digress. From the time I was turning nine I used to bike regularly to my grandmother's house and she would tell me stories at first about my grandfather (he had died when my mother was just eight years old) and then about my Canadian ancestors - little things that she knew. Then we talked about her English ancestors and some days she would say a lot and some days not a great deal. She was orphaned at 14 years when her father died and her mother had died when she was 11. The children were scooped up and put into Marston Green Cottage Homes (perhaps because her father was in the military or maybe just everyone was - I am unclear on that point). They were well taken care of and eventually the decision was made (I suspect that it was a mutual one on the part of the four children that were in the care of the Birmingham Union) that the four siblings of my grandmother would go to Canada.

My grandmother was by then working as a dressmaker having completed her apprenticeship as such and living with her Aunt Kate. She had an offer to stay with her father's three sisters who were by then living together (all widows) but decided to go to Canada since her siblings would all be there. Because one of my great aunts was too old to be placed my grandmother took charge of her in Canada and they lived together. It is a very long story that I must recite another time for my blog record but she would talk about that initially and then gradually she talked about her parents as she remembered them and their parents. She was vague on anything before that other than that her maternal grandfather and his ancestors were all shoemakers. The name Taylor and being a shoemaker was not an easy lookup in Birmingham but I have played away at that the last couple of years and once I find the marriage registration for Edwin Denner Buller and Ellen Taylor I will be able to prove the line that I obtained using family lore.

Today looks to be a sunny one here and perhaps less humid. The last two weeks have been warm with high humidity. Since this has been our first warm spell of the summer one doesn't like to complain at the oppressive humidity and it simply does not compare to real humidity that you find on Long Island!

I need to sit back a bit and think about what I am going to work on today. I have a number of need to do items but especially I need to be prepared to look at Great Driffield Parish Registers as they are now in at the Family History Centre. I am quite excited to have this film as it should help me with my Harland family there. Ann Harland married Richard Sproxton (of Hutton Cranswick) at Great Driffield 24 Dec 1753. Ann Harland was perhaps baptized 1 August 1731 at Great Driffield. She was the only Ann Harland baptized in a reasonable time frame and the daughter of Timothy Harland and Ann Wilkinson. Timothy and Ann had married at Great Driffield 24 Jun 1723. That much I learned at Salt Lake City but I did not pursue it further back when we were there as I was being firm not to go back further than 5x great grandparents in order to accomplish all of my goals. They were actually my 6x great grandparents so I exceeded the goal just that amount! Now I can have a look at the register and see if I can learn anything about the Harland and Wilkinson families. I will also look forward as the Sproxton family continued at Great Driffield for several generations.

Tomorrow we are going to make our Fruit Chili Sauce - 3 hours of boiling down all the vegetables fruit and we make about six jars at a time. We will do two lots. Later in the week I hope to get back to genealogy and will have a look at my Great Driffield parish register film at the Family History Centre. I will be looking at the Sproxton, Harland and Wilkinson families. I am back quite a ways now with these lines (5 x and 6x great grandparents). I hope to explore back to the beginning of this Parish Register. I am most fortunate in that it begins in 1566 so will be able to pursue these lines back 150 years if they were at Great Driffield. Of course Sproxton was not but Harland and Wilkinson may have been.

Gray-Cobb-Hilton-Sproxton and others

I did receive an email from one of the Gray family descendants searching his line and belonging to the East Yorkshire Mailing List. I do not see a link between our lines in the 1700s and 1800s but perhaps earlier. He is still working his way back as am I. I hadn't really done anything with all the images that I brought back from Salt Lake City for East Yorkshire. Mostly because I am still working on my images from the 2nd and 3rd day and Yorkshire was the 5th and 6th day of research there.

I did determine that the Robert Gray at Cherry Burton in the late 1700s was the father of Robert Gray baptized at Holme on the Wolds (although I am not sure why he was baptized there). The burial registers for Etton and Cherry Burton revealed that Robert Gray who was baptized at Cherry Burton 4 Oct 1739 was the same Robert Gray who farmed at Cherry Burton into the early 1800s and who died at Etton and was buried at Cherry Burton 20 May 1808. There is only one Gray family at Etton in the Parish Registers. Robert Gray baptized at Holme on the Wolds 4 Aug 1774 was the Robert Gray who farmed at Etton from 1807 on from the Land Tax Records. He is still there well into the 1830s and I will give a more accurate picture of that once I review the Etton Land Tax Records which I filmed (every year although some of the images are somewhat blurry). My 2x great grandfather Robert Gray (aka Robert Gray Junior) also farmed at Etton before he emigrated to Canada in 1832. His prime reason for emigration was the lack of land for farming in his area and the abundance of it in London Township where he emigrated. His knowledge of this would have come from the Carling family who were brewers at Etton and whose son Thomas had emigrated to London Township in 1819 (he was a Talbot settler). Thomas married Margaret Routledge and in 1835 Robert Gray married Mary Routledge (her youngest sister). With Robert came his younger brother William and much later in the 1850s James their youngest brother emigrated to Canada - Richard and John remained in England as did their sisters Ann (never married) and Eliza who married Richard Hart Guy.

Having established the connection back to Cherry Burton I also was able to find the marriage of the parents of Robert Gray (Robert Gray and Jane Hilton who married 6 Jun 1771 at Cherry Burton). This would appear to be the Jane Hilton who was baptized 1 Aug 1739 at St Mary and St Nicholas, Beverley as one of the witnesses to the wedding was Robert Constable junior. The parents of Jane from the baptism were Thomas Hilton and Mary Constable. Robert could be Mary's brother. There only appears to be one child (Jane) in their family and Mary could be the Mary Constable baptized at Cherry Burton 14 Feb 1700 with father Robert. This Robert Gray's parents were Robert Gray and Ann Stephenson who married 2 Jul 1734 and I need to determine their other children hopefully from my images although I remember having difficulty with these years in the register. Robert Gray was baptized 28 May 1708 at Cherry Burton and was the son of another Robert Gray and it is at this point that I have difficulty. I am not sure who his father was in terms of where he was baptized. He does not appear to have been baptized at Cherry Burton. There is a Robert Gray baptized at Kilnwick in 1686 (28 May) who could be the Robert Gray buried 8 Aug 1736 at Cherry Burton. But this will require another long look at the registers.

I will now extract the Gray family from Hutton Cranswick given the information which I received from another researcher on his Gray family which is at Hutton Cranswick. I shall give a glance at the images that I took of the parish register when I did my initial run through.

An email from the Siderfin researchers that I was speaking of earlier on Genes Reunited came in today. I responded that we had chatted. I must admit that I do not mind turning over the Siderfin one name study to him if he wishes to take it on. He is advertising for people to send him their information and he will put together a family tree which is an excellent idea and I will wait to see what emerges. I have quite a bit of information that I have pulled out of the census which I had thought about putting up on a webpage (up to 1890) along with the images of the book on the Siderfin family by Sanders. I have already put up a Legacy file of the information in James Hooper Sanders book. There are errors and I have put in a note showing the correction to my line. I am not sure that I agree with the researchers thoughts on James not knowing his own great grandfather. I think that his family being inlaws with the Clark family does make sense but will wait and see what evolves in that regard. I do not have the advantage of all the records at Taunton with respect to the family.

Tomorrow I need to work on the cake for the engagement party. I decided that I would make the Wedding cake, this will be a trial run and I will see how I like doing that. I will use fondant icing for the engagement cake. Otherwise I will have a cake made for their wedding. I could bake the cake and cupcakes and just have everything iced. Other than that everything is ordered or purchased. Just the punch to make on Friday and cook the meatballs in sauce. My ability to do a great deal of preparation and then actually appear at a party is limited! I can do one or the other. Usually I choose to do the former and pass on the celebration but this is my daughter's party and I can not disappoint her.

Hinxman Wills - 15 August 2009

I tackled the most difficult of the Hinxman wills that I received to transcribe first. It is certainly a challenge although it is helpful that he is quite repetitive in his bequests to his children. I believe I have all the children now and this was a large family: William (eldest son it would appear), Joseph, Christopher and John are the sons and Elizabeth, Jane, Joane, and Joyes are the daughters. Kinsman/kinswoman are Andrew Henxman and Joane Hinxman and possibly Edward Henxman. A number of friends are listed as well. William appears to be fairly comfortable as he has a lot of household possessions. None of his children appear to be married. Very little money is mentioned nor property. It is more than 59 lines in length. I have done a first run through of page 1 and have text in the first 32 lines. It will likely be slow going but I shall send it off to a fellow researcher towards the end of the week as a rough draft.

I will leave the will for a while now and continue entering in my Sproxton data in case the next films come in more quickly than anticipated. I await Great Driffield and St Mary Bourne. The St Mary Bourne will be an easy read (I think!) because it is a typewritten transcription of the register. I shall extract all of the Lambden entries back as far as they go in the document. That way I will have it at hand in case Nathanael is actually a descendant of this Lambden family that quite early arrives in the St Mary Bourne area possibly from Berkshire where the Lambden family is most commonly found in the 1500s and early 1600s. The Great Driffield will be quite exciting when it arrives as it will have information on the Harland family. Ann Harland (my 5x great grandmother) married Richard Sproxton 24 Jun 1753 at Great Driffield. She was the youngest child of Timothy Harland and his wife Anne Wilkinson - marriage extraction on IGI). I have not yet been able to determine baptismal information for either of these two people although there was a Harland family at Great Driffield. Timothy Harland married Ann Wilkinson 24 Jun 1723 at Great Driffield.

I returned to working on the Hinxman will and made a couple of good breakthroughs with the text. It is moving along and I hope to finish it by the end of next week.

Tomorrow we have company for dinner and hope to get in a short canoeing trip. I will likely get some transcription done now that it is flowing a little better.

Sproxton - Watton and Skerne

I returned to the Family History Library yesterday to continue imaging the pertinent details for the Sproxton family at Hutton Cranswick up to 1800 and also to collect images of the Skerne and Watton Parish Registers. I took 394 images in total and will now start to look at these two parishes with respect to my family lines. This has proven to be an interesting search back in time as I have verified my line back to John Sproxton (the elder) married to Isobel and they had three known children: John Sproxton (the younger or junior) married to Ann Simpson 5 Jan 1659 at Hutton Cranswick and who was buried 8 Apr 1714 at Hutton Cranswick, Margarett married to Marmaduke Huwbanke12 May 1668 at Hutton Cranswick, and Francis who was buried 2 Sep 1657 at Hutton Cranswick (impossible to determine his age at that time).

Margaret Garrit (wife of Richard Sproxton (the elder)) was from Rotsea - from Genuki: "ROTSEA, in the parish of Hutton Cranswick, and wapentake of Harthill; 2¾ miles E. of Hutton Cranswick, 6 miles SE. of Driffield. Pop. 23."

I reviewed the entries for Sproxton in the parish registers for Hutton Cranswick and can firmly say that Richard Sproxton junior married Dorothy English and that Elizabeth and Dorothy baptized in 1717 and 1719 respectively are their first two children.

I copied the parish registers for Skerne and Watton to look further at on my computer where I can zoom in and the reading is a little easier. The early registers are in latin. I am hoping to find some of my lines - Garrit, English, Sproxton, Simpson - perhaps there. Time will tell.

We went for an 11 K bike ride this morning and then I was off shopping for the items needed for the engagement party for your youngest daughter. It will be very pleasant I am sure and then the preparations for the wedding in mid-December. A very busy time ahead for all of us. My eldest is off to Wisconsin to begin her assistant professorship there and we will miss her of course. But it is exciting to see her heading off into her academic career that she has worked so hard to achieve. The defense of her thesis being the final step (and its submission to the Faculty all accomplished) and now she can head into her interesting research and teaching portfolio.

Now I need to get back to my transcriptions and work on my lecture to update it although that will not be a rush. Closer to the beginning of September to produce my handouts from my already prepared slides and then do the updates right at the end before the lecture so that it is timely. I am looking forward to giving it as it is my last and I shan't have to do that again!

Sproxton - Interesting puzzle

Examining the images further for Richard Sproxton and the marriages has given me further details. Grace Sarum married Marmaduke Wiles in 1703 and Marmaduke was buried in 1719 leaving her a widow. Richard Sproxton married Grace Wiles in 1720. The priest does not note that she is a widow unfortunately but the earlier priest had added Richard Sproxton junior to the marriage of Richard Sproxton and Dorothy English adding further proof to the marriage being the correct one and Richard Sproxton's parents being Richard Sproxton and Dorothy English. I haven't been able to discover anything about Dorothy English but will cotinue checking into that family line.

I continued working with the John Sproxton line (although not mine I decided I might as well figure it out for the 1600s and early 1700s). The use of senior, junior and younger is helpful and I was able to separate all the families and put them into legacy under the appropriate parent. The John line is a much larger one in the early 1700s and is the line that remains at Hutton Cranswick into the early 1800s. The Richard line moves to Great Driffield where my Richard marries Ann Harland and when the Great Driffield film arrives I will be able to sort them out I am hoping.

We went for a two hour canoe ride in the bayou of the Ottawa River which is around Petrie Island. It is a most pleasant canoe ride and with three of us paddling we were able to traverse quite a distance in the two hours. We had marvelous views of yellow and white water lillies. We will try to get out again for a few more rides before the summer is past. No time for a bike ride these past few days with all the film viewing. I will just do one more day on Hutton Cranswick and also looking at Watton, Skerne and Beswick. I want to have a fresh eye to look at Watton and Beswick as I think that there may be a few entries there that might interest me. The Skern registers are badly damaged and I did not really see anything that would be helpful.

We are into the first really warm spell of the summer but you can tell that the cooler days are soon to come as the evenings cool off quite quickly. This is the coolest summer that I can remember for awhile. In some ways it is nice but the ripening is slower in the garden. So although our tomatoes are quite lovely they are still very green.

No time spent on the will today but I shall get back to it once I have finished with the Hutton Cranswick film. The Great Driffield film will be awhile as it had to be created from the master copy and it is possible that St Mary Bourne film will come first. It is a transcription and if it doesn't help me then I will buy the fiche for the parish registers from the Hampshire Record Office.

Getting ready for the FHS Library

Today I continued transcribing the William Hinxman will from 1579 and it is becoming less spotty but will be a little while completing. The Inventory should also be interesting and I found an inventory from the late 1500s that I shall use as an aid for the terminology in this inventory. Household effects are fairly standard so should be a good aid. It is quite an interesting will as William names many of his relatives as well as his own family. The Hinxman family at Andover is, I think, a rather small one in the 1500s and finding son Joseph there was quite rewarding as well as a son William. It does mean that the Hinxman families that I have found at Andover are related which is always helpful.

I also want to get ready to go to the Family History Library tomorrow morning to continue looking at the Hutton Cranswick Parish Registers. I will now start at the beginning and take images of the pertinent entries for the Sproxton/Simpson/Garrit/Wiles families. It would appear that John Sproxton Junior married Ann Simpson 5 Jan 1659 and that it was another John Sproxton who married Anne Huser in August 1659. It will be interesting to see if I can determine if this was John Sproxton Senior in a new marriage. I want to work my way through the register up to the late 1700s to ensure that I find all the BMBs for these families. In 1753 my Richard Sproxton married Ann Harland at Great Driffield and my Sproxton family is found there after that time.

If I complete all of that then I will look at the other Parish Registers on this microfilm (a bonus for me) which include: Skerne, Watton, Beswick which are all lying beside my parishes of Hutton Cranswick and Kilnwick on the Wolds. The other two parishes Burton Agnes and Bridlington Quay are somewhat away but I do have a couple of entries for Bridlington so will also look at them later.

Another full day spent working away on items plus a 14 km bike ride. I did a little more on the will and a little more on the Sproxton family.

Hinxman Wills

My husband had a meeting in Morrisburg today so I drove along with him and took a Hinxman will with me that I am transcribing. It will be a challenge as it is from 1579. I set up my template and captured the phrases that I recognized quickly. I like to transcribe on the computer and this I was doing from a paper copy. It was a good start and I am starting to become familiar with the writing.

I continued looking at Sproxton and heard back from one of the people who has Sproxton at both GeneTree and Ancestry. She mentioned that the furtherest back John Sproxton was married to Ann Simpson so I checked out my images and discovered that John Sproxton junior married Ann Simpson 6 Jan 1659 and the marriage that I found between John Sproxton and Anne Huser was perhaps his father marrying a second time although I need to go back to the register and have another look. This is very near the beginning of the register so may not be able to solve that. But in the meantime I can not quite make out the parish for Ann Simpson so will check that out on Tuesday to see if I can read it on the original.

Tomorrow I will continue listing all the images that I have made thus far and the records that I should be able to find on the Hutton Cranswick film. Then I shall be ready on Tuesday to continue working on the film. I haven't heard yet if Great Driffield is in but perhaps later this week or early next week. I am also going to order St Mary Bourne Hampshire film in as my husband has another one to order in for his German ancestors. He has done very well with his film and found his great grandmother quite readily and has traced her back to her grandparents. A very good research time for his microfilm. I have also found quite a bit so am very pleased. Too bad that the film only goes back to 1653 as it would be interesting to see if I could trace John Sproxton back to Wakefield Yorkshire.

Canoeing

Yesterday, we decided to take the canoe out and for me this was the first time I have been out canoeing in seven years. A little stiff today but we had a good trip around the bayou at Pelee Island.

My accomplishments yesterday on family tree research were very low although I had a response from my query on the Sproxton family to a member of Genes Reunited and Ancestry (I believe it was the same person). She is descended from the brother of Ann (both children of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland Sproxton). That would make us sixth cousins. It is the first time that I have tried to locate descendants of that line (especially as the spelling I had for Ann's surname was Sprowston (incorrectly transcribed from the register). Having read the register I can see how the error occurred!

I did not start the wills transcription but will do so either today or tomorrow. I need to read away at them for a couple of days before I start to transcribe if they are a bit faint or blurry. Sometimes I can directly read one as soon as I download it but usually they are very old copy and have areas of lightness and blurriness.

We are still busy watching JAG and All Creatures Great and Small. We are into the 7th season of JAG and the 3rd season of All Creatures Great and Small. We managed to watch for nearly 4 hours yesterday. I guess we were tired of working away on our family trees and my husband has been putting together his two journals.

Today I shall read on the wills and perhaps do some more extracting of Sproxton from the various databases. It is a most interesting family and they are primarily found in Yorkshire well into the 1800s. My branch (Elizabeth Cobb daughter of John Cobb and Ann Sproxton Cobb was the mother of Robert Gray junior) emigrated to Canada in 1832 from Yorkshire where Robert Gray junior had been a farmer but was having problems renting farmland and so decided to try his luck in Canada. He farmed here successfully until his death in 1876 and the farm that he was on still continues to be farmed by Gray descendants here in Middlesex County (London Township) although the City of London is growing outwards creeping forward towards the farm lands of my Gray and Routledge ancestors. It has already absorbed the farmland that my Pincombe family was on although it is still farmland but very much part of the City of London. The Gray family is interesting and three sons emigrated, two sons stayed as did the two daughters. One son became a clergyman and I need to glance at the others once again but they were all quite successful in their vocation. I think perhaps farming was just difficult with enclosure.

Sproxton - BMDs, Census

I have a project in mind that involves me reading old text so I am reading that intermittently and extracting Sproxton members from FreeBMD, IGI and the Census. I have both Ancestry and FindMyPast so I use them together to find my people and then save them to my computer for future family assembly. This will be the first time that I have selected a name and decided on collecting all the information on that name for a one name study from scratch. Both my Pincombe and my Siderfin study had a lot of material assembled when I took them on at the Guild of one name Studies. I will wait awhile to take on Sproxton (if I ever actually do a one name study on this surname). Free BMD has 146 births in almost a 100 year interval, 88 marriages (that is less than 2 births to a marriage!), and 82 deaths. At least the births are exceeding the deaths by a good percentage. On the other hand this was a very small family in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s so not so many people who are old actually. From the IGI I found 104 baptisms between 1686 and 1890 (13 are patron entries which I usually ignore but in this case I have entered them and marked them as such since this is a very small family), 60 marriages between 1605 and 1892 (11 are patron entries and six between 1837 and 1892 are likely duplicates), and 3 burials all patron entries. I will be adding the data from the parish registers that I have extracted as well. The baptisms go back to 1653 at Hutton Cranswick and are missing from the IGI. All in all a very interesting sideline while I work on the wills.

We went shopping and found some interesting DVDs to watch and then took a 10K bicycle ride.

Tomorrow I hope to start transcribing the wills and continuing to extract data for the Sproxton family.

Sproxton - Hutton Cranswick

I expect that the Sproxton family will occupy me for a little while in my blog. I updated my legacy file with all the Sproxton entries in the IGI so that I can check them against the Hutton Cranswick film on Tuesday next. I printed off a map of the East Riding of Yorkshire which includes my pertinent parishes - Cherry Burton, Etton, Holme on the Wolds, Lund, Kilnwick on the Wolds, Hutton Cranswick, and Great Driffield. Interesting they all touch on corners or share borders. The Gray, Cobb, Hilton, Sproxton, Stephenson, Aly, Beilby, Harland, Todd, Wiles, Wilkinson, Garrit, Huser, and Cooper lines all live in one or other of these parishes. They form an interesting tree stretching back from Robert Gray Junior with parents Robert Gray Senior and Elizabeth Cobb (my emigrant ancestor who arrived in London Township by 1832). Looking at the other parishes on the Hutton Cranswick microfilm (Beswick, Watton, Skerne, Burton Agnes and Bridlington Quay) may be quite helpful to me with respect to marriages that I can not locate in the other parishes or baptisms - less so Burton Agnes and Bridlington Quay since they do not touch on the other parishes but I will give them a glance anyway :).

I am also starting to read through the three wills from the 1500s that I am going to transcribe. I am looking forward to reading them as they are on the Hinxman family. Although they are from an earlier time period than Eleanor Blake Hinxman they will none the less bring some light to bear on this family in Andover in the 16th century.

We were off for an 11 km bicycle ride early this morning just to start our day off. It was cool for an early August morning actually but our weather this summer has been very wet and cooler than usual. However, I will not complain - the gardens and lawns are beautiful this year.

I also did my short research note for the BIFHSGO journal which was due last week but we were away and then I forgot when I got back home. Thank goodness for email reminders. Today my first publication in an English genealogical journal was published (Cumbria Journal) and it is the Protestation Returns for Lanercost. I actually have transcribed every parish in the Eskdale Ward and will eventually get them proofread and can publish them if they want or simply give them to the Cumbria Record Office.

This evening we had everyone over for a barbeque and to plan the engagement party for our youngest and her husband to be. We have that all done and just need to put in our order. The dogs had a great time and enjoyed their steak.

My sister pointed out a possible error in the Carling tree. I had put this together about five years ago when I first started genealogy and had the material from another researcher. The tombstone says that Hannah Carling Beverley's parents were John and Ann not Thomas and Elizabeth as I had understood. I do find a patron entry for parents of Hannah Carling Beverley of John Carling and Ann Hodgson from Rowley (three parishes below Cherry Burton). I really have no idea on that. Thomas and Elizabeth married at Etton just 10 months before Hannah was born but her baptism isn't recorded at Etton so somewhat suspicious. I will put that one on the back burner for when we return to Salt Lake City. I have a lower interest these days in the Carling line as it is a collateral line to my own and I was researching it to see if I could learn more about the Gray family through it but actually I uncovered all the details directly at Salt Lake City and didn't need the assistance of a collateral line.

Tomorrow I shall work on the will transcriptions and finish preparing to go into the LDS on Tuesday. I want to have a list of all the Sproxton and collateral entries that I have not yet verified. I was very pleased to get back another two generations at Hutton Cranswick and would like to find the information for Grace Wiles, Margaret Garrit and Anne Huser and their parents/grandparents if possible. This microfilm has certainly provided a number of interesting pieces of information.