Continuing with Early Chancery Proceedings

 I did spend yesterday reviewing all of my datasets that pertain to the Pencombe/Pincomb/Pyncomb family of North Devon to ensure that I had added in all occurrences of the surname in the Devon area and not ignoring individual Devon references that were out of the North Devon area that I do tend to concentrate on. In fact I had collected all of them. But it was a good idea to check. 

I remain with my thought which I shared with the AI that the reference to John Lord Zouch in the 1620 Visitation of Devon was primarily to say where and when their Pencombe/Pincomb/Pyncomb family line originated in Devon and attaching it to John Lord Zouch a not unusual designation given the presence of the Zouch family as Lord of the Manor in days past which was probably considered to be a recognized individual. By stating that they arrived with Lord Zouch that supported their ability to settle in this area at this time. I suspect if one thinks it is difficult to emigrate to a new place in this time period it was very difficult in 1486 I strongly suspect. It is possible that John Pencombe arriving at North Molton in 1486 had no idea that a Roger de Pencombe had lived at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) in the early 1300s or that a John de Pencomb' had been an Assessor for the 1332 Lay Subsidy of Devon for Mollond (Molland)  (this is 150 to 200 years later).  England now has a Tudor King having defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. It was the AI that suggested (and I agree actually) that I should observe if there is a continuous line of Pencombe/Pencomb' in Devon since I did find this surname in the times mentioned above. It is good research to eliminate possibilities. Therefore I continue in these days to read through the Early Chancery Proceedings working backward from the end of the reign of Richard III. I will read forward into Henry VII but first I want to get back to the 1100s and see if there is anything that would add to the information I already have on the Pencomb family in Herefordshire mostly living at Bromyard although also Pencombe much earlier. I will have then done due diligence such as I can and feel satisfied with my result. 

The intent on my part was always to start the genealogical tree at John Pencombe in 1486 living in North Molton; however finding some of this earlier information told me that I should consider looking at this material not so much to trace the line back further but rather to clarify perhaps if this is actually the same family. We are in a time of change as the English did not have surnames when the Normans arrived in England with William the Conqueror and selection of a surname could have been duplicated by unrelated people quite readily. I do have a good chapter on the Pencombe family of Herefordshire but for completeness I should attempt to find all the information that is available to me readily. I do need to complete the latin transcription of the Inquisition Postmortem for John de Pencomb with a son Thomas born circa 1350 and Thomas appears later in other documents in the 1390s as mentioned. I do not however have a link to a John Pencombe descendant of this Thomas and arriving at Northmolton in 1486 - one notes he would likely be a grandson or great grandson of this Thomas. But it is interesting that this family uses the forenames John, Thomas, William over the time period that I have found them in Herefordshire (very common in the early Pincombe family but also common in the rest of England for sure) whereas a Roger de Pencombe is at Bonelegh (Bondleigh) Devon in the early 1300s. 

Another aspect of this yDNA study aside from the excitement gained from having five members all matching and known to be descendant of the two sons of John Pencomb (1486 arriving in Northmolton), is the Pincombe one-name Study actually includes the spellings Pincombe and Pinkham. Members of the very large American Pinkham family do not match the yDNA results of the Pincombe family which includes one of my third cousins who lives in the United States and one of my fifth cousins who lives in Australia (matches but not part of the yDNA study).  The other four members of the study that do match my third cousin are descendant of Thomas Pencombe or John Pencombe sons of John Pencombe. Indeed the two individuals who started up this study are both surnamed Pinkham and unfortunately the one member from England did not test his yDNA before he passed away. My thought on this I will share at a later date because I think the answer may well lie in Roger de Pencombe at Bonelegh (Bondleigh)  and his selection of the surname in his line was pure chance that he chose Pencombe perhaps or an ancestor did that. Dr. Richard Pinkham, the other member of the original Pincombe study lived in Gloucestershire but his work as a physician did take him into Devon where he interviewed many Pincombe members and they shared their family trees with him. I have all of that work that he did. He did not know his line fitting into the other lines in Devon/Somerset/Gloucestershire and London/Surrey where the Pincombe family still does live. 

Continuing with my reading as I hope to get through this Book 2 and into Book 1 which takes me back as far as those records exist. I will then pick up Book 3 and read forward to see if there are any records in that section. The index which I have is from 1385-1467 and has one Pencomb listed in this index so I thought I would try to locate it. It is a slow process although the scanning of the books is excellent on Internet Archive. My Pincombe family was in general from Devon for the most part but also Somerset but going back through the generations in Devon with surnames: Rowcliffe, Charley, Pearse, Manning, Harvey, Hobbs, Stanbury, Quythers, Vicary, Tapp, Blackmoore, Upcott, Thomas, Saunders, Bray, Whetstone, Snow, Burges so am taking advantage of all the Devon results as I move my way back. I am also looking at Hereford. I find that I need to just concentrate on one line though when I do something like this and the odds of having to repeat for another county; hard to tell but I am a here and now person.  

Although the idea of a combined book was discussed the main problem is the size of the Pinkham family in the United States and I am not going to do that research as an earlier book would need to be brought up to date. But the Pinkham family would definitely be a huge section of a combined book so I think it is better to do two books and I hope that over time that does happen with the Pinkham family of the United States. My Pincombe line did not arrive in Canada until 1850/51 with my ancestor's brother arriving at Genesee New York in 1835 and his descendants still live in the United States but in other areas of the United States. The other difficulty is the Pincombe family in north west Devon did use the Pinkham spelling when they moved to London some of them and also it was used in West Devon adding that complication to the mix although in general the surname tends to be spelled Pincombe these days and Pinkham is much less common than it was in the late 1700s and early 1800s in England.  There is at least one other tester in this line that came to the United States in the 1700s and is one of the matches with my cousin (his line is known and he does fit into the descendants of the North Molton line as far as can be determined (yDNA results)). 

 Woke up in the night contemplating the records that I have reviewed and still have to do. A quick walk about and back to bed. Still need another few hours of sleep before contemplating a new day. It is Sunday now and Church in the morning. 

Dear Father hear and bless thy beasts and singing birds and guard with tenderness small things that have no word. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Heavy snowfall

 We are having a heavy snowfall but only 10 cm predicted but at the moment it is fairly thick coming down although not so much that the distance vision is limited. Just a lovely white snowfall on this beautiful world that the Creator produced and gave to us at a later time to protect and cherish.

Yesterday finished the cleaning and worked on the matches for chromosome 7. This one is very interesting as there is a length that is inherited by pretty much all of my close cousins that I have found testing all the way back to John Pincombe and Mary Charly who married at Bishops Nympton, Devon  8 Nov 1767. Their six children with their descendants are the progenitors of many of the Pincombe families in the Bishops Nympton area. Although John had a brother William (both sons of John Pincombe and Grace Manning who married 20 Mar 1725 at Bishops Nympton) William's only child, a son, William died at the age of 21 (his parents William Pincombe married Grace Smyth 13 Jun 1758 at North Molton). John and William also had a sister Grace who married John Butcher 31 Mar 1755 at Bishops Nympton But I have yet to trace their two surviving daughters beyond their baptism (another daughter and only son died as infants/young children). John (married to Grace Manning) was the only son of William Pincombe and Mary Vicary who married 17 Jun 1685 at Bishops Nympton. The only other sibling was Joan who was buried in 1726 at Bishops Nympton. This William traces back to John Pincombe and Johane Blackmoore who married 25 Sep 1655 at Bishops Nympton and of their other five children Thomas married Christian (unknown) and their single surviving child John Pincombe married Catharine Bryer at Bishops Nympton 3 Nov 1732 and their five children are the other Pincombe grouping in the Bishops Nympton area and are the progenitors of many of the Pincombe families also in the Bishops Nympton area. Another son of John Pincombe and Johane Blackmoore, Hugh married Sarah (unknown) likely at Swimbridge, Devon and the Pincombe families found in the Landkey, Devon area are their descendants. Working through this Chromosome 7 I may spot some of the descendants of these lines in the Living DNA matches or others that I have not noted before. 

There does look to be a potential for a lot of snow if it keeps up at the present rate. Although I have had fun skiing I am pretty tired from all that fun and will be putting the skis away for the rest of the month or two. It is not something that I generally would go out on my own and do at 80 years of age. Although I could go around the backyard but I have not done a lot of research these past couple of weeks and need to get back to that. Plus I really do enjoy my research just as I enjoy skiing and there is a time and place for everything especially at this age for sure.  

Continuing with Chromosome 7 today and I am about one quarter of the way through the matches. Thus far I have separated out Rawlings, Blake, Knight, Cotterill (coming down from my 4x great grandparents), and Pincombe. Half of my great grandparents in the first quarter of matches is  not too bad. I am not likely to locate Taylor from the Buller/Taylor grandparents and perhaps not Cotterill from the possible father of my paternal grandmother but likely Gray is a possibility. 

Drinking tea and must move to the solitaire puzzles and then begin my extractions of data.  

"Elbows up" and on our way but the route is heavy going

 One thing I am sure about any one who can live in Canada through the winters is up to the job of "Elbows Up" to get the jobs done here in Canada to bring our country to its glory as a producing nation but in a kindly way that we have learned from the First Nations. The land is our wealth and our security and our life and we must protect it as much as one can but it will give up its goodness to support the people of the land. We just have to find the best ways to do that and those best ways must fit into a business plan. I note that Enbridge is supporting the pipeline from Edmonton to Houston, Texas which is a straight through flow of crude to the south and allows for a healthy increase in that shipment. Although I would love to see an eastern pipeline to Ontario and the East it is  highly likely that Ontario would be the only province that had an actual pipeline built in the east and that the St Lawrence Seaway would have to be the conduit for any going further east. Does Ontario use enough crude to justify a pipeline? That becomes the great question although shipments to Quebec for their usage (which is also significant) are possible by road and by the seaway. Probably those in the know are putting those numbers together to determine if re-establishing our refineries to save the 3x the cost of buying it back is a good business case. 

The Nickle mine I find to be such a good idea and so long in the  making - I believe it dates back to the early 2000s although I am not that knowledgeable. Governments have just ignored Northern Ontario and the wealth there for her people is huge in terms of jobs and actual second job creation effects by the mine itself. Once one mine is effectively created under this new attitude then others will follow in their season because the support will be there. In a way that compliments Northern Ontario creating jobs and the consequential offshoots of better educational facilities (more funding for them), housing and all sorts of good things for the people. 

Monday is coming and it is Budget Day. An election would cost a fortune and I hope that is on everyone's mind as the House sits in debate and then votes. There is no value in an election at this time; criticism without constructive plans is useless. We can not live in the past; the past has changed very radically in just this short time. One doesn't fight tariff - how one country does their business should not be allowed to put us into a crisis ever again. Time to come to our greatness as a producer. We already lived through a past Conservative government whose answer to a downturn was panic and balance the budget no matter what. We do not need to experience that again. The debt level at the end of the 1800s in Canada was huge when we built the railway and we survived and we will again. I prefer careful cautious finance but with opportunity underwriting it I can loosen up those thoughts and this is the time; it is Canada's time to blossom. It is a must; our youth need jobs that uses their skill sets or if they do not have the specific ones then they can retrain and quickly. Their minds are fast and alert. Canada is an extremely wealthy country both in natural products and in the ability of all her people. Yes it will be hard; young families may have to live with their parents for a longer time but that is life and for children exciting and wonderful. They have been doing it in Europe for centuries! My children were welcomed to stay as long as they wanted and we were blessed to have them stay as long as they did including all sorts of wonderful extras that made our life much richer. Edward certainly took advantage of that as we traveled so extensively when our children were living with us long into their adulthood. Life moved very fast in those days when I first retired as there were so many places he wanted to go.  

Worked on Chromosome 4 and probably one third of the way through the matches. Thus far eight crossover points are proven and eleven to go. This chromosome has fewer matches and they tend to be clumped over particular lengths particularly Pincombe (both older and more recent). It always give me pause to think about the breaking up of these lengths into Pincombe, Gray, Rew, Rowcliffe, Charly, Manning, Vicary and Blackmoore. With the Living DNA data I am probably finding lengths that reach much further back into the past to make their connection but only rarely as far back as Blackmoore and Vicary (6x and 7x great grandparents).  Occasionally I do see autosomal back that far but it is rare. They could be especially back to Manning and Charly. When I see Australia and New Zealand in the country of location then I know that Manning and Charly are a possibility for them. In the United States it is more likely Pincombe/Rowcliffe but also Pincombe/Charly. But these small glimpses on occasion of a match that is definitely Pincombe related the possibility of Vicary and Blackmoore is there. Thus far I would say more than 50% of the matches have been Pincombe (I haven't tallied it). 

This morning at just past 5 the sky was clear and the moon now in slipper mode accompanied by Venus shining brightly high in the sky.  What a gorgeous sight and it always reminds me of the early morning when Edward and I were camping years and years ago in the north waking up to the beauty of the morning sky. I was just in my early twenties and Edward in his mid twenties and time was ahead of us and we grabbed hold of it and ran with it all over the northern province of Ontario enjoying the goodness of the land and seeing so much in our cedar strip canoe. 

Time to get some work done. Tea drank and solitaire puzzles to do. First breakfast eaten a while ago now and starting to feel hungry for the second breakfast. One pound up and three to go. For me it is more of a need to eat as I get hungry rather than a fascination with eating.  

Wills still remaining to be transcribed

25 August 2013 I blogged the total number of wills that I still have remaining to be transcribed. I am going to do an update just to remind me of wills that I have promised to do over time and the remaining Blake wills that I am hoping to complete by the end of the year. 

Blake 486 (includes 7 only for which no place is indicated)
Abbs 1
King 17
Kingdon 1
Kip 3
Locke 7
Burges 1
Butt 1
Carter 3
Chorley-Churley-Charley 15
Coffin 3
Kent 10
Knight 2
Lambden 5
Lywood 4
Millin 3
Moggeridge-Modridg-Moggridge 12
Question 3
Quirke 1
Rawlings-Rawlins 12
Robson 2
Rolles 3
Routledge 5
Rowcliffe 6
Siderfin 3
Snowe 5
Tapp 1
Thomas 3
Upcott 3
Vicary 6

I have since then acquired a number of new wills including:

Blake at Record Offices not PCC which all the above Blake are

namely from Dorset, Hampshire, London, Westminster, Gloucestershire Record Offices

482 wills

Family Search I still have 21 wills to transcribe

Total number of wills is an amazing number:  1109 wills

A busy job ahead for me still but I remain dedicated to complete all the Blake wills that I am able to transcribe but with summer coming on I can see my time will be shortened somewhat as I have a couple of other projects that I want to complete so finishing by the end of December for the PCC wills might work but definitely not for all the new wills that I have acquired.

Will of Hugh Blackmore, yeoman, of Bishops Nympton - The National Archives PROB 11/173/434, probated 20 Mar 1636/37

Hugh Blackmore the testator of the following will is my 9x great grandfather and he was married to Johan Whetstone (daughter of Walter Whetstone). They married 23 Oct 1586 at Bishops Nympton. I think he was baptized at Bishops Nympton and the son of Thomas Blackmoore and Honor Snow. It is the Snow family that links together the Blackmoore and the Pincombe family. Unknown Snowe baptized two children at West Anstey - William (father of Honor Snow) and Emotte (wife of William Pincombe my 10x great grandfather) thus making Thomas Blackmoore (son of Hugh) and John Pincombe mentioned in the will of Thomas cousins (third).

I did not read through this entire will prior to transcribing it. I skimmed through it quickly and thought I had discovered everything there was to be found but wills can have surprises. The big surprise is that Anthony's wife Johane is deceased by 1636 so that rather leaves me with just one Johane Blackmoore daughter of Thomas as my ancestor. A surprise find in this will of Hugh Blackmoore actually.

Hugh mentions his daughters Peternell, Elizabeth and Frances. Joan the youngest daughter died as an infant in 1600 and Susanne died as an infant in 1588. He mentions all of his sons except for Hugh who died as a young child in 1603 with Thomas being the eldest and then Edward followed  then Anthonie and Bartholomew.

Hugh put a lot of emphasis on education it would appear as his two younger sons were sent to Oxford with Anthony trained in the law and Bartholomew to be a priest. All in all a very satisfying bit of transcription. Hugh would have been somewhat elderly for the times - over 65 years of age at his death. His sons did not survive long after him, Thomas died in 1648, Bartholomew in late 1636, Anthony by 1651 and Edward I have not yet filled in his date. Will have to look for that in the parish registers.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 24 Jan 2013
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/173/434
Testator: Hugh Blackmore, yeoman
Place: Bishops Nympton, Devon, England
Date of document: 15 Oct 1636, probated 20 Mar 1636/37
Read: Electronic copy images
Document quality: 17th century English, legible copy

[Margin]: T[estament]Hugonis
[Margin]: Blackmore

1    In the name of God Amen The fyfteenth
2    day of October in the twelfe yeare of the raigne of our Soveraigne Lord
3    Charles over England etc Anno d[omi]ni 1636 I Hugh Blackmore of
4    Bishops Nympton in the countie of Devon yeoman the unprofitable servant
5    of God revokeing hereby every former will by me heretofore made doe
6    for the certaine disposing of those goodes and chattells which God of his
7    goodnes hath given mee make this my last will and Testament in manner
8    and forme followeing First I bequeath my soule unto almightie God
9    hopeing that by the bloudy death and passion of his sonne Christ Jesus to have
10    remission for all my sinnes; And for my body being but dust and meate for
11    wormes I comitt unto the earth from whence it first was taken, And first for
12    Johane my wife with whome I have lived in the holy estate of Matrimony I
13    doe devise and leave unto her all such estate and interest as I have of and in
14    all those fyve tenements in Crosse with the appurtenances Item I give and
15    bequeath unto her fower oxen and two steeres ready for labour seaven kyne
16    two weaneing calves three younge bullocks of one yeare old or more Fortie
17    Ewe sheepe fortie Lambes or hoggs tenn weathers and rammes two mares or colts
18    fitt or able for labour with saddles and furniture one mayneing colte All my swyne
19    hoggs piggs and poultrie att Crosse aforesaid, All  my silver spoones my bedstead bedd and furniture in the chamber over the winter parlor, the twoe tables livery tables standing in the said parlor and chamber over the same, and all my corne growinge or being in feildes barne or graners there, all my hay goodes and similar at Crosse aforesaid, All my bedding with sheets and
20    furniture excepting one viz[ a vi]t the bedsted with bed and furniture in the chamber
21    over the little parlour, Item I give unto her all my potts of brasse except my
22    least pott, all my candlesticks one half of all my pannes and pewter Vessells, the
23    one half of my wooll and of my Tumber or wooding Vessells, Alsoe I give unto
24    her my silver Tankerd partie quilted  my cupbord standing in the hall, All my
25    tablebords and livery Table, Alsoe I give unto her all my napery and carpets
26    the one half of all my chaires formes and stooles, my settle and seeting in the hall,
27    All my chests and cofferrs excepting fower my musket and furniture for warr'
28    All my provision of Butter Cheese and meate in salt or salted the greate
29    presse in the wring chamber, one Trunke all my spitts w[i]th drepping and fryeing
30    panns twoe paire of Andyrons one yron Barr, all my other tooles of husbandry,
31    all sackes windeing stuffe and chimney stuffe one great corne chest or Garner
32    to keepe corne in, All my wood and ladders at Crosse my Apple pound and wring
33    belonging thereunto and alsoe one Gowne of blacke to be provided for her against
34    the daie of my buriall, And whereas Anthony Blackmore my sonne and Joane
35    his wife sometyme by the name of Joane Heale thence deceased did by their
36    deed of obliga[t]ion beareing date the twelfe day of November Anno d[omi]ni 1633
37    become bounden unto mee in the forme of three hundred pounds condi[t]ioned
38    that if the said Anthony Blackmore and Joane his wife shall at all tymes
39    from henceforth p[er]mit and suffer me the said Hugh Blackmore and Joane
40    my nowe wife to have hould and enioy all that messuage called Crosse
41    aforesaid, And all that five ten[emen]ts belonging thereunto for and dureing the
42    life of mee the said Hughe and the widdowhood of Joane my wife one lower
43    or ground room and the chamber over the same and one orchard plott only
44    excepted that then the obliga[t]ion to be voyd, Now my will and meaneing is
45    and I doe hereby devise ordaine and appoint that my executor in this my
46    Testament nominated shall w[i]thin twentie dayes next after my decease
47    make over the said bond by sufficient letter of Attorney unto the said Johan
48    my wife, And if it happen that the said Anthony or his assignes shall make
49    my clayme or entrie in or to the five said messuage or ten[emen]ts or any p[ar]te thereof
50    other then is excepted as aforesaid or shall disturbe or molest my said wife
    [Page 2]
51    of the quiet enioyeing thereof w[i]thout her good likeing or consent, That then I
52    straightly charge and com[m]and my said executor to be assistant and helpfull
53    unto my said wife for serveing com[m]enceing and prosecuteing of a suite against the
54    said Anthony his executors or assignes for recovery of the penaltie of the said bond,
55    Item I give and bequeath unto Thomas my sonne my Ring or Signet of gould which
56    I use to seale w[i[thall and one paire of _irg_ulls and alsoe one silver salt
57    guilted, Item I give and bequeath unto Joane his wife my great chest in the
58    chamber over the little parlour, Item I doe devise give and bequeath unto
59    Edward my sonne all such interest terme of yeares clayme and demand
60    whatsoever I have or clayme to have of in or to all those closes of land
61    pasture and wood knowne by the name of Furse Parke al[ia]s Furse Parks with
62    the appurtenances lyeing and being in Bishops Nympton aforesayd and sometime
63    parcell of the Barton or demeasne lands of the man[n]or there Provided allwaies
64    and nevertheles my will and meaneing is that yf the said Anthony Blackmore
65    one other of my sonnes shall within two yeares next after my death well and
66    truly paye or cause to be payed unto the said Edward my sonne the some of
67    threescore pounds lawfull money of England That then the sayd Edward shall
68    upon receit thereof forthwith assigne assure make over and convey by good and
69    lawfull assurance and conveyance in lawe unto the said Anthony his brother
70    all such right interest and clayme as he the said Edward shall have of in or
71    to the said closes and p[ar]cells of land pasture and wood with the appurtenances
72    by force of theis p[re]sents, And my will and meaneing is that my executor
73    hereafter nominated shall keepe the conveyance which I have for enioying
74    thereof untill the said Terme of two yeares be fully expired and then to
75    deliver the same unto such of the sayd two brothers as the same shall of right
76    belong unto or app[er]taine And alsoe I give and bequeath unto the said Edward my
77    greatest silver balle guilted one hand gunn or fowling peece And alsoe
78    thirtie pounds of lawfull money of England to be payed within one yeare
79    next after my death Item I doe give and bequeath unto Frances Blackmoore
80    my daughter in lawe my best Cofferr Item I doe give and bequeath unto
81    my sonne Anthony my bed and furniture in the chamber over the little parlour
82    at Crosse, And whereas the right wor[shipfu]ll Sir John Stawell of the honourable
83    order of the Bath Knight hath by his deed indented bearing date the first
84    daye of February in the eight yeare of the raigne of our Sov[er]aigne Lord
85    King Charles given granted and made over unto mee and my assignes the
86    first and next avodance and assenta[t]ion of in and to the Patronage and
87    Church of Sutcombe alias Suttacombe in the Countie aforesaid for one
88    turne onely next and im[m]ediately ensueing the nowe p[re]sent incumbrance of the
89    said Church as by and in the said deed at large appeareth Nowe my will and
90    meaneing is and I doe hereby devise ordaine and appoint that my executor
91    in this my testament nominated to go ther with Edward and Anthony my said sonnes
92    or one of them their or one of their executors or assignes shall forthwith upon
93    the death resignation or depriva[t]ion w[hi]ch shall first happen of Myles Phaire
94    Clarke nowe p[re]sent Rector or member of the said Church of Sutcombe
95    present unto the Lord Bishop of the dioces of Exon for the tyme then being as
96    Clarke for the said Church of Sutcombe Bartholomewe my youngest sonne
97    yf he shal[l ]be then liveing Alsoe I doe give and bequeath unto the sayd
98    Bartholomewe one annuitye or yearly rent of tenn pounds of lawfull mony of England
    [Page 3]
99    to be yssueing or goeing forth and to be had levied pieaved and taken out
100    of all that part of the farme or barten of hayne lyeing on the south side of the
101    king's highwaye leading from Southmolton toward Dulverton in Bishops
102    Nympton aforesaid or out of my part or parcell thereof To have levey receave
103    and take the said anuitye or yearly rent of tenn pounds from the daye of my death
104    unto the end and terme and for and dureing the terme of threescore yeares if
105    he the said Bartholomewe shall soe long happen to lyve, and shall not in the meane
106    while be lawfullie instituted and inducted to the parrish charge of Sutcombe aforesaid to
107    be payable at the fower most usuall terms of the yeare by even and equall por[t]ions
108    Alsoe I doe give unto the said Bartholmewe one Trunke and desk and one cloke
109    of black to be provided for him against my buriall Item I doe give unto
110    Petronell my daughter one little chest standing in the chamber over the great
111    parlor aforesaid and one Gowne of blacke against my buriall Item I doe give
112    and bequeath unto Elizabeth my daughter five pounds in money one panne of brasse
113    two dishes of pewter p[er]formed one coffer and one Gowne of blacke against the
114    daye of my buriall Item I doe give and bequeath unto Frances my daughter
115    tenn pounds in money a little silver bolle guilted one panne and one pott of brasse
116    two dishes of pewter p[er]formed and alsoe one gowne of blacke against the daye of
117    my buriall. Item I doe give and bequeath unto each of the children of Elizabeth
118    my daughter which shee had by her first husband John White fower pounds a
119    peece to be payed within two yeares next after my death and to be put to some
120    proffit and advantage for them Item I doe give unto all the rest of my Grand-
121    children twentie shillings a peece Item I doe give to each of my Godchildren unmarried
122    twelve pence a peece Item I doe give unto the poore of the parrish of B[isho]ps
123    Nympton twentie shillings Item I doe give unto each of my houshould s[er]vants
124    fyve shillings a peece And to George Blackmoore my servant fyve pounds
125    Item I give unto John Vicary the sonne of George Vicary twentie shillings Item
126    I doe give unto the Ringers of my knill and Grave makers for their paines tenn
127    shillings Item I doe give unto the preacher that shall preach my fun[er]all s[er]mon
128    tenn shillings All the residue of my goods and chattles I doe give and bequeath
129    unto Thomas Blackmore my sonne whome I doe hereby make and ordaine
130    to be my sole executor of this my said Testament And I doe appoint my beloved
131    sonnes in lawe John Vicary the younger and Richard Comme and my abovesaid
132    sonnes Edward and Anthony to be Overseers of this my Testament and doe give
133    each of them for their paines a cloake of black against my buriall And soe
134    humbly craveing of God's pardon for my offences I committ my self to his
135    protection hopeing that after this painfull life ended I shall have a resting
136    place with him in his everlasting kingdome which I hope he will grant me for
137    his infinite mercies sake In witnes whereof I have hereunto put my hand
138    and seale even the daye and yeare first above written Hugh Blackmoore Sealed
139    Signed by the within named Hugh Blackmore and alsoe by him published and declared
140    to be his last will and testam[en]t in the p[rese]nce of us Thomas Skyner sign Giles Skyner

Transcription of old, middle and modern English records

Does transcription of old, middle and modern English records provide me with extra material for my genealogical studies? The overwhelming answer to this question is absolutely yes. There is so much hidden in these ancient, middle and modern records that can tell us about our ancestors, the times that they lived in, what they ate, what they wore and how they felt about the world around them.

How easy is it to decipher and extract all of this information about our ancestors? Initially when I took up Palaeography (the study of the writing in records earlier than our time period), I was struck by how similar the writing was to my grandparent's writing. Mind you I was mostly looking at documents from 1825 on initially. I was writing up the Pincombe Profile for my cousin George DeKay. I had a number of wills for my Pincombe family that had been collected by another cousin (married to my 3rd cousin Pincombe) plus wills that I had found in the Talman Room at the University of Western Ontario for my great grandparents Pincombe/ grandfather Pincombe. The reading of these was fairly straightforward for me as they were all written in that marvelous script that was taught to children in English schools especially from the 1840s on.

The wills told me so much about all of these people. There was always the religious section at the beginning of the wills which told me of their faith which they had passed on down to my generation. Church before self was deeply ingrained in me from early childhood. And that Church was the Church of England for I do not have any ancestors who were not born and raised Church of England. As adults a few became Methodist but they were rare most lived and died Anglicans with just one lone line exception - my maternal grandmother was educated in Roman Catholic schools in Birmingham and I still have to determine if her parents were married in the Roman Catholic Church there - no marriage has been found thus far. But that was found much later and has little to do with transcription and more to do with family lore. Her father was Church of England but a family story of disownment travels with the family lore.

The census and the parish records that I diligently went through looking for my Pincombe family all had that most exciting script style and I found the perfection of the writing to be such a joy to read. As time passed and the Pincombe Profile could be accomplished I started to move to other lines of my family that had only been glanced at in order to show how they combined with the Pincombe family and add to the Profile that bit of old knowledge to inspire people to look for more and to provide the best story that I could. All the while I was doing that, I was taking courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. But it wasn't until the advanced courses that I studied Palaeography. My husband had taken the course about ten years earlier and had warned me that it was a difficult course and needed my full attention for the two months.

The time for the course coincided with a visit to our daughter (I usually stayed with her for 10 days to 2 weeks when I went) and I was able to devote the entire day to my studies. I did the exercises many times working on the middle English and Old English style of writing. For indeed some of the letters actually changed in how they were written going back in time. Writing them time after time gave me a fluency with both writing and reading the writings of this earlier time period so I took on my first really large project of an old will written in 1615 and probated in 1624 for Sir Francis Bayldon (a possibly ancestor of my husband). This ten page will took me days to transcribe and there were blanks! Because of the will I also searched out all the families he mentioned and put together the genealogy of this family. That is really what transcription is all about; gleaning from the early writings every scrap of information that you can about a family. The inventory that often accompanies the wills sometimes is done room by room giving you a glimpse into the contents of the individual rooms of their home. Often the wills would tell you exactly what they wore as they handed their garments on to their descendants, collateral relatives and others. The ten page document was my first real introduction to Palaeography. I worked on it for hours but still it had blanks. I would take some of the words that were around the blank and put them into Google and sometimes I was rewarded with a will that contained similar expressions that let me then look at the word with that thought in mind and discover that indeed it was that word.

Learning to transcribe is a product of my taking the course at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (but also the National Archives (UK) offers a course on line as well which is also very very good and we now have Pharos which offers online courses). Since my studies were with the National Institute and it is locally here in Toronto most of my comments tend to be about the National Institute. However, I have also done some of the course work on the National Archives website. But just doing the course work isn't enough. You need to transcribe and transcribe all different kinds of documents to become ":fluent" in the language of the times. The way that sentences are phrased and the meaning of those sentences is different from today. Luckily I grew up with my English grandparents so that I am comfortable with some of the English expressions (still in use today by the way) that were used.

Of course, once I had become very fluent in early writings, I started to buy wills at the National Archives and the results of my transcription of the Pincombe wills (and others) can be seen in my blog. Noting that I do mention that I have gone through my transcriptions of a couple of years ago and improved them greatly. I have spent the last two years doing a lot of transcription so that I am far more comfortable than even two years ago with many different kinds of hand writing. Each time through those older transcriptions I have found a few changes here and there; I have been able to transcribe words that were just partial before. It is a skill that grows with the frequency with which you do the transcriptions. Between 2005 and 2010 I purchased more than 100 wills on the National Archives website for my various family lines.

Using these wills I was able to piece together much of my family tree as it now appears. Each will produced more questions than it did answers. That is perhaps the most amazing treat to transcription. It often leads you down paths you wouldn't have followed without them.

Parish Registers, as well, can often  give you information that is totally hidden in the IGI records which do not add the extras that some priests added to their records. A good example is my Vicary line at Bishops Nympton. William Pincombe married Mary Vicary 17 Jun 1685 at Bishops Nympton. Their son, my ancestor, was baptized 12 Jul 1692 at Bishops Nympton. Sorting through these two families at Bishops Nympton proved to be a challenge. The earlier records produced by the first two researchers on the Pincombe one name study had linked my family to a line at Bishops Nympton but it deadended with that family.

Over a four year period I transcribed the Parish Registers of Bishops Nympton word for word. I was new to the idea of transcription and of transcribing parish registers. My thought to have a word for word transcription in a word file seemed to fit what I wanted to learn about Bishops Nympton and 985 pages later I had the records from the beginning in the mid 1500s all the way up to the 1980s. I can search it as a word file but can not sort it like I could an excel file. Since then all of my parish transcriptions are excel files. But back to Bishops Nympton. The priests at Bishops Nympton by and large provided interesting details on the people in the records. For instance the marriage lines for William Pincombe and Mary Vicary told me that Mary was of the parish of Rose Ash with father Christopher. That made a great difference in my family tree and allowed me to go back several generations at Rose Ash with my Vicary family. I could not have done that without the original parish registers. I also could not have put the Pincombe family together without the Parish Registers. By working from the past to the present I was able to put together the various Pincombe family lines and separate out my own specific line. Transcription is a wonderful tool which is absolutely essential to research in the past.

Be prepared to spend time learning the earlier style of writing and the rewards are great. John Reid asked if I would write a little about transcription. I hope that I have fulfilled his thoughts as to just what I might write. John did ask me about my numbering of my wills. I do this for myself. I do not number the original will (unless it is very tiny and that is the only way to really sort out the lines. Usually the will is fairly easily to read. The numbering I use as reference marks when I quote from the will in later blogs; in my notes in my family genealogy software (I use Legacy) and because I am that sort of methodical person. I have been known to number the lines of letters that I write much to the annoyance of some people receiving them. But then as a child once I learned to count; I simply counted everything beginning with dishes. I started to wash dishes when I was three years old. The numbering was particularly excruciating for those who dried I gather! My grandfather actually told me that when I am doing tasks I should keep track of them so that I know how much I have completed. It was a good idea and I have retained it throughout my life.

Moggeridge-Mogridge family of Porlock and Wootton Courtney, Somerset

The Moggeridge/Mogridge/Moggridge/Mogeridge family has quite a variety of spellings and the one name study for this family lists a few more: Muggeridge, Mockridge, Muggridge, Mugridge. My line is found thus far in the West Somerset area in the old hundred of Carhampton namely Porlock, Wootton Courtney, Timberscombe and Selworthy. Selworthy is two miles from Porlock, Wootton Courtney is four miles from Porlock, and Timberscombe is six miles from Porlock.

 The line back into Somerset begins with Elizabeth Rew who married John Pincombe 9 Jan 1834 at Bishops Nympton. Elizabeth was born a twin and she and Charlotte were baptized 20 Dec 1801 at Minehead (their parents John Rew and Elizabeth Siderfin were farming at Bratton). I have pictures of three of my 2x great grandparents and one of these pictures is of Elizabeth. It was taken by a photographer in London ON Canada probably in the mid 1870s. Elizabeth died 7 Apr 1876 at her home in Westminster Township. She was buried in Lambeth ON in the cemetery at Trinity Anglican Church along with her husband, her second eldest son, his wife, and two grandchildren (children of her second eldest son).

It was Elizabeth's father's line that leads back to the Moggridge family. John Rew was baptized 27 Feb 1766 at Selworthy and he died 16 Jan 1848 at Sheepwash Farm, near Bishops Nympton, Devon and he was buried 25 Jan 1848 at Selworthy, Somerset. I can scarcely imagine the trek back from Bishops Nympton through the Exmoor to Selworthy. Even now the roads are difficult and windy. Perhaps his coffin traveled up to the coast and by boat but in mid-winter that hardly seems likely. Always possible a sleigh was used if there was sufficient snow. John Rew's parents were John Rew and Sarah Moggridge who married 25 Jun 1761 at Selworthy. John and Sarah had six children and I have information beyond baptisms on only four of them thus far.

Mary baptized 26 Jul 1762 at Selworthy
Sarah baptized 7 Feb 1764 at Selworthy and married to William Bricknole 19 Sep 1778 at Selworthy
John (as above)
William baptized 13 Dec 1767 at Selworthy
Betty baptized 26 Dec 1769 at Selworthy and married to John Kent 1793
Thomas baptized 5 Apr 1772 at Selworthy married Ann Horn 25 Oct 1803

In order to tell the entire story of the Moggridge family I need to trace back the line of John Rew and Sarah Moggridge.

First John Rew who was baptized 1 Dec 1722 at Wootton Courtney and was buried 11 Sep 1771 at Minehead. His parents were John Rew and Mary Vicary who were married 30 Apr 1720 at Wootton Courtney. They had eight children

Mary baptized 25 Feb 1720 at Wootton Courtney
John (as above)
Joseph baptized 29 Dec 1724 at Wootton Courtney
Robert baptized 17 Aug 1727 at Wootton Courtney
Ann baptized 14 Feb 1729 at Wootton Courtney
Benjamin baptized 21 Oct 1733 at Wootton Courtney
Sarah baptized 12 Sep 1736 at Wootton Courtney
William baptized 15 Jun 1741 at Wootton Courtney

One of my plans is to collect all the Rew information from the Wootton Courtney parish registers which I have on fiche.

John Rew was himself baptized 12 Jul 1696 at Wootton Courtney and the son of Timothy Rew and Grace Moggeridge who were married 2 Nov 1695 at Wootton Courtney. Timothy was buried 20 Feb 1737 at Wootton Courtney. Grace Moggeridge was baptized 2 Dec 1668 at Porlock and she was buried 3 Dec 1732 at Wootton Courtney. I have not yet pulled out any other children for this couple.

The parents of Grace Moggeridge were Robert Moggeridge and Elizabeth Snow who were married 26 Nov 1659 at Porlock. Robert was buried 7 Aug 1720 at Porlock. Elizabeth was baptized 5 Mar 1635 at Porlock the daughter of John Snow and Margaret Marton who were married 30 Apr 1633 at Porlock. Robert was the son of David Moggeridge.

Robert Moggeridge and Elizabeth Snow had three children

David baptized 16 Dec 1661 at Porlock and married to Emot. Emot and David had two children Symon baptized 28 Mar 1686 at Culbone and married to Mary Phelp 9 Feb 1724 at Selworthy. They in turn had two daughters Mary baptized 31 Jan 1728 at Selworthy and Sarah baptized 28 Dec 1731 at Selworthy. This Sarah married John Rew 5 Jun 1761 at Selworthy and this brings these two families together. John's paternal grandmother Grace was the daughter of Robert and Sarah's paternal grandfather David was a son of Robert (i.e. their grandparents were siblings) and so John Rew and Sarah Moggridge were 2nd cousins.

I pulled this information out of the parish registers a few years back and now I wish to revisit them and pull out all the Moggridge, Rew, Kent information because Robert Siderfin married Grace Kent  5 Feb 1752 at Selworthy and their daughter Elizabeth married John Rew. I am curious to see if  the Kent family is also cousin to the Rew family in that Betty Rew (daughter of John Rew and Sarah Moggridge) married John Kent at Selworthy in 1793. Is this Grace Kent's family (i.e. was John Kent her nephew/cousin?).

The Rew family is eventually found at Sheepwash Farm near Bishops Nympton and there was a Moggridge family living there earlier. Were the Moggridge family in North Devon related to the Moggridge family at Porlock? It would explain why Thomas moved from Selworthy to Bishops Nympton and perhaps also explain why Elizabeth Rew who lived in Somerset ended up marrying John Pincombe at Bishops Nympton.

A number of questions that will occupy me for a while on my Moggridge days!

Full Genetic Scans on mitochondrial DNA

I continued working on the subgrouping of the T_FGS study group and completed the assignments to subgroups. I now need to add the mutations that belong to the particular subgroupings to the description and decide on a colour scheme. Although this isn't my mtDNA, the sample is my husband's line, it was an interesting couple of years spent looking at the grouping for T haplogroup.

 I think that if you are interested in testing your DNA and in particular the mitochondrial DNA the most practical and efficient way is to do the Full Genetic Scan. Overall the cost has diminished greatly and it is a very practical way to test in that there are no further tests in this area. My family finder results amazed me as I have a fourth cousin or greater match with someone whose family has always been in England. I still need to sort through the material which she sent to me. I suspect that the attachment is through my mother's Buller line - perhaps Christopher's mother was of German descent. Living in London as he did plus being executor of so many wills has left me wondering about who he was. My Buller day will look some more at the Buller records at St Olave where he buried his wife, two of his children and then himself although they attended St Mary Magdalene Bermondsey and baptized their children at St Mary Magdalene.

Now having published the paper, it has freed my mind up to look at the H11 mtDNA haplogroup which is my line. Having this likely "resting spot" for my mutations in Agryllshire Scotland has set my thoughts towards how my line ended up in the Midlands of England. I remember my mother talking about her thoughts on her ancestry and she suspected Irish but could that have been Scot-Irish! Would my ancestor have emigrated from Ireland to England looking for work at some time in the past? My grandmother's mother used to sing an Irish lullaby to the children. But it was a popular lilt and a lot of people could have sung that particular tune I suspect. I really have very little to go on with my great grandmother Ellen Taylor's family other than her father being a shoemaker in Birmingham. As far as I can ascertain none of Ellen's possible sisters had daughters so any matches would have to be more distant. Ellen's likely mother did not have any sisters so I am back to her mother Ellen Lawley who was born in 1819 in Wellington Shropshire England. Other than knowing that her father was Joseph I do not have any further information yet. I am  hoping that she might have had sisters with descendants.

The Devon Genuki pages updated with the index of wills prepared by Beckerlegge, J.J. (Ed.)  Index of the Wills and Administrations relating to the County of Devon proved in the Court of the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple, 1563-1858. Since my mother's paternal family comes from this area I pulled out my families from the index: Blackmore, Bray, Burges, Charley, Harvey, Hobbs, Manning, Moggridge, Pincombe, Pearse, Rew, Rowcliffe, Snow, Stanbury, Tapp, Thomas, Upcott, Vicary, Whetson.  I also pulled the Blake entries for the Blake one name study. It would be interesting to discover the ancestry of that particular Blake family in Devon - there appears to be a thought that it might be the Hampshire Blake family from Knights Enham.

I must get back to transcribing Abbotts Ann once again. I shall put a high priority on those parish registers to complete them.

Pincombe family at Landkey

I received an inquiry about the marriage of John Skinner and Mary Pincombe which is listed as a patron entry on the Family Search website. Unfortunately I do not have the parish registers for Warkleigh so I am unable to check out the entry. John Skinner is a freeholder at Warkleigh in the 1730s and could potentially be the father of the John Skinner who is said to have married Mary Pincombe 4 May 1749 at Warkleigh. There isn't a Pincombe family at Warkleigh in this time period to my knowledge. I do not have one listed on any of the 16 charts that I received from the earlier researchers. However, Warkleigh is located 5 miles south west of South Molton placing it is close proximity to Swimbridge and Landkey where there are known Pincombe families in this time period. Pincombe is my other one name study with the Guild of one name studies.

Stephen Pincombe married Elizabeth Darch 5 Jan 1714 at Swimbridge but I do not see any baptisms for this couple at Swimbridge although marriages at Lankey list:

Pincombe    John    Ridley    Mary    1737    April    29    groom of Swimbridge, bride of Barnstaple
Pincombe    Richard    Yolland    Mary    1746    May    6    both of Swimbridge

But both of these marriages are too late for them to have been the parents of a Mary Pincombe marrying in 1749 at Warkleigh. 

Hugh Pincombe married Sarah supposedly at Lankey according to a patron entry but I do not find this marriage at Landkey in the Parish Registers (nor is it at Bishops Nympton the home parish of Hugh Pincombe). Their son John married Elizabeth Leye at Landkey 28 Apr 1728 and they had a daughter Elizabeth for whom I have no further information yet.

Possibly Stephen Pincombe and Elizabeth Darch had a daughter Mary but I can not find baptisms for this couple.

Hugh Pincombe is the son of John Pincombe and Johane Blackmore who married 25 Sep 1655 at Bishops Nympton. He was baptized 2 Nov 1664 at Bishops Nympton and was their youngest child. His two older brothers remained at Bishops Nympton (William baptized 18 Oct 1656 married Mary Vicary 17 Jun 1685 at Bishops Nympton and Thomas married Christian ). This is my line as John Pincombe and Johane Blackmore are my 7x great grandparents. 

Eye strain has kept me away from my transcription of the Abbotts Ann Parish Registers but I am still doing a little. I am up to 1595 in the baptisms (325 baptisms from the commencement of the register in 1561). No more Blake entries but the IGI only lists the one in the 1500s.

I have also been in touch with Charlou who has done quite a bit of research on the Blake family. I sent her my Andover Parish Registers and at some point I have to decide whether I want to place them on the OPC Hampshire website not yet proofread. It goes against my thinking actually as there is enough wrong information out there without my introducing more of it. I shall make my mind up soon on that. It is really the early part of the register that is difficult to read. Any other errors would be typing errors mostly and I did try to go slowly enough to avoid those.

Pincombe and family, Visit to FHC

A two part post today as I am beginning the day by looking once again at my Pincombe family in Bishops Nympton and the families that married into the Pincombe family (I am sure that members of the other families see this exactly opposite :) ).

The Blackemoore family at Bishops Nympton and mine appears to have been there from the beginning of the Parish Registers was initially a puzzle for me. I had found the marriage of Johan Blackemore and John Pincombe and believed them to be the parents of William Pincombe who married Mary Vicary 17 Jun 1685 at Bishops Nympton and they were the parents of two children in as much as I am able to determine. John was baptized 12 Jul 1692 at Bishops Nympton and his sister Joan was buried 26 Mar 1726 but I do not have a baptism for her. Their mother was buried 5 Apr 1726 and all at Bishops Nympton.

Once I established that the chart that I had inherited from the earlier Pincombe researchers was incorrect - the marriage between Grace Manning and John Pincombe was a John Pincombe from a different line - then I was able to move backwards. I determined that the parents of my John Pincombe married to Mary Charley (Charlie) were indeed John Pincombe and Grace Manning since the John Pincombe that was a son of John Pincombe and Catherine Bryer was clearly someone else in the register.

I could then go back to the family of John Pincombe and Johane Blackemore and follow their children's lines which brought me to John Pincombe and Catherine Bryer through a different son. Then I had Johane Blackemore and which one was she. That proved to be quite straightforward that she was the daughter of Anthonie Blackemore (Anthonie was buried just three months before the wedding and the bride's mother is identified as Johane) and his father was Thomas Blackemore who appears on the Devon Visitation of 1620. This visitation lists the ARMS: Or, on a fess between three moors' heads side-faced, couped sable, three crescents argent and CREST: A moor's head erased sable, gorged or.

All these crests are very interesting and I think over time I will accumulate them just for "meat on the bones" of our ancestors. In this case I can trace directly back to the holder of this coat of arms (Thomas Blackemoore). Now that I have worked that through I will add it all to my Pincombe one name study Legacy tree which is slowly growing and will eventually be on my website.

I could photograph all the charts and put them up and may do that one day but for the moment I think they are confusing since I have found some of them inaccurate. They were put together by the earlier researchers using information gleaned first hand from informants. Although interesting, I feel more comfortable with the BMB, will and land information being used to reconstruct family lines. It is easy to mix lines!

My post will continue later with my observations from the Family History Centre as we will be off to there in another hour or so.

I spent the entire three hours on the Hutton Cranswick microfilm. I was able to find the marriage of John Sproxton and Anne Huser in 1659. I am not sure where this Sproxton line is going actually. I did some searching on the Internet last night (I only just learned about my Sproxton line last fall when we went to Salt Lake City and I could see the correct spelling - incorrectly spelled on the IGI) and there was a village called Sproxton in North Riding of Yorkshire which is in the Domesday Book as the King's Land. The Sproxton family seem to be quite old and they lived at Wakefield WRY in the 1500s. The next record to search is the Protestation Returns for Hutton Cranswick to see if the Sproxton family is there in 1641-42. The PRs only go back to the late 1650s. There are three Sproxton males baptizing children in the second quarter of the 1700s - Richard (my ancestor), Isaac and John. I need to keep reading the film to find all the Sproxton entries.

As well on the tape are the PRs for the villages of Skerne, Watton, Beswick, Christ Church - Bridlington Quay, and Burton-Agnes. All of these also interest me so I can see that I shall be quite busy with this tape until it has to go back 19 September 2009. I was unable to find baptisms for Grace Wiles, Margaret Garrit or Anne Husey who are my 6x, 7x and 8x great grandmothers respectively. I was feeling a bit impatient for Driffield PRs to come but I think that the wait will be quite advantageous to let me completely finish this microfilm first. The Bradfield PRs I will look at again before I send it back but there isn't anything in it that can help me to discover if this is my Nathanael Lambden.

Proofreading DNA study - 3

I completed my proofreading of the DNA study and spent a little time in organization. It is good to be finished and I will pass it on to my co-investigators. It has been a very interesting study. Since it will be published, I can not, of course, share it online.

I also got back to transcribing the Andover Parish Registers burial portion for the first register. I am up to September 1626 and 1594 entries. Another seven years to complete and then the first register will be complete.

It turns out that the LDS has supplied images for some of the Somerset parishes of which I am the online parish clerk. One of these is Timberscombe so I now have 36 scans to my fiche to work with but they are a good deal easier to read as I can blow them up to look for clarity. Ancestors of mine that lived at Timberscombe in Somerset included: Simon Moggridge, Grace Mogeridge, and Mary Vicary. I have the transcriptions by T. Stoate of the parish registers but it is always nice to look at them yourself to see if you can see something that he didn't. Plus I like to put the family lines together when it is possible.

Tomorrow I shall complete the Andover Parish Register for the burials and set that aside for a while. I will then begin the Timberscombe parish registers. I have also taken on transcription of the Birmingham Parish Records for FamilySearch. I have now done over 1200 records for Family Search. I may once again go back and do Free BMD after a year's absence. I found that reading from the old scans to proofread the work already done was really difficult. I need to have a feel for the names in particular areas to be of real help. I will try again to see if I can assist in completing this very fine task. I have entered more than 20,000 records into FreeBMD since I started.

Bishops Nympton Parish Register - 1 March 2009

I am continuing to work on the burials for Bishops Nympton and have now completed up to the middle of 1895. There was an interesting memorandum which listed all of the legacies given to the Church over a two hundred year period. I need to proofread the memorandum on the Church and Churchyard as I have one request for a copy of that.

I hope to complete the burials, as I am on the second last fiche now, by this evening. I can then turn my attention with regard to Bishops Nympton to extracting the census from 1851 (1841 is complete) to 1911 and proofreading of the parish register. At the same time I am creating an excel file that I can readily sort to look at the different families that lived there over the five hundred years.

My next extraction task will be the parish registers of Rose Ash which I have from the earliest registers up to the middle 1700s. I will be looking for my Vicary family there along with the Bray family that married into the Vicary family.

Landkey Parish Registers - 20 January 2009

Continuing on with the Landkey Parish Registers, I completed another six years bringing me up to 1636 completed. New names do enter about one to four per year with some names disappearing. I now have 486 baptisms, 151 marriages and 388 burials. I have found only a few discrepancies with the IGI online but there are about 30 baptisms missing. The marriages agree quite well but the priest has added in the parish of the individuals that are not "of Landkey parish" which can be very handy. The burials are the real plus though as the IGI only has the burials of young children for the most part. I am still not seeing my Manning family any too frequently but the Upcott family finally appeared there. I am not sure that Elizabeth Upcott is from Landkey - I rather suspect she is from Witheridge but will need to do those registers to find that answer! I will soon see my Pincombe family there and hope to sort them out as Hugh is a sibling to my William Pincombe (6x great grandfather). All of his children were baptized at Landkey and his marriage is supposed to be there to Sarah but I haven't located it on the fiche. Some part of the fiche are difficult to read and I may be missing it - hence my reason for transcribing the parish registers. A good method for small parishes but a real task with larger ones. I hope to do Andover Hampshire one of these days to sort out the period from 1550 to 1700 (I have the fiche up to the early 1900s).

More discussion with others on the Vicary family. I had an error on my webpage (innocent actually as I picked it up from worldconnect a while back). I have now removed that particular item and replaced it with Alexander Vicary senior as the father of Alexander Vicary junior. This is not proven and I have debated removing it as I either say that I have proof or give the reasons for picking the individual. This is still weak on my webpage. I have removed most items from my webpages now that I do not have proof for the link. My initial thought in including some of the items was that I had received them from another researcher and my pages are becoming more and more visible and people do contact me. It allows me to discuss the entry and see if they have any further proof than I have of the connection. I probably need to state the controversy though in my preamble for each of my ancestral lines and will do that where it is needed. For the most part I do not go past what I can prove.

We have watched the Inauguration of the new United States President today for a good part of the day. I liked his Inaugural address and did think that he had a few key phrases that are memorable but perhaps not quite the same as President Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you; but ask what you can do for your country." The people who came to see the ceremony were incredible. We have been to Washington DC in the area where the people were standing and it is an enormous area. There is so much hope being directed at President Obama and it was wonderful to see him so eager to accept the mantle of such a burden. The impact upon the black people of America will be a wondrous event to see in my lifetime. I can remember segregation and desegregation and how painful that was for the United States. God bless America and God bless President Obama, his family and his administration. God speed to them all.

Landkey Parish Registers - 19 January 2009

Another six years completed of the Parish Records for Landkey and they continue to be the same people with the occasional new person. No sign of the Manning family at the moment - between children as the young ones become adults and start their own families. I am getting to the point where I should start to see some of the Manning children as adults. The spelling of Manning developed through the years.

I spent a little time on Rose Ash looking at the Vicary family as per the request I had yesterday about Bishops Nympton and the author mentioning her connection to the Vicary family of Rose Ash. I sent off my records from the parish register which pretty much go against the usual reporting for this family. It is really necessary to check the parish registers in order to prove the connections in families. The IGI (which is quite good) nevertheless does not include some of the extra information found in the Parish Registers which helps to link families and there are some errors and omissions plus it does not include the burial registers other than for infant and young children.

We watched another episode of the History of England BBC series. They are quite exceptional and I highly recommend them. This evening I shall watch a movie; haven't decided which one yet. Six hours transcribing is enough for one day.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 6 Jan 2009

After concentrating on the Bishops Nympton records for a week and the discipline of it, yesterday was a day of catching up and looking at lots of interesting bits and pieces. I want to prove all of my 4x great grandparents and I am starting to work down the list. These are my grandparents 2x great grandparents so I will be proving up to 64 people over the next little while. I started with my paternal grandfather. That means sixteen people to prove their relationship to my grandfather's great grandparents and to their parents my five times great grandparents.

Starting with my grandfather's paternal ancestors, the first two: Joseph Blake and Joanna King are quite straightforward as I have all the information needed to show the two relationships. The next two: John Coleman and Elizabeth Pearce are straightforward for John Coleman but Elizabeth Pearce is more of a challenge. They marry at Abbots Ann (not Old Alresford as is found on the IGI) as I have the fiche of the original register. Unfortunately no parent details are found for this couple in the marriage registration. John was baptized at Upper Clatford as it would appear that the Coleman family found earlier at Goodworth Clatford is no longer running the Inn there and his parents are buried at Upper Clatford. The interesting part about the Pearce family is that they ran an Inn at Abbots Ann but I am not sure of the relationship between Peter Pearce who ran the Inn and William Pearce the possible father of Elizabeth. William Pearce married Elizabeth Habgood at Collingbourne Kingston where she was baptized (daughter of Thomas Habgood and Anne Farmer (interesting detail!)) and their children were baptized at Collingbourne Ducis. I haven't found a baptism for this William Pearce or parents. I have nothing to go on with regard to this Elizabeth being the wife of John Coleman other than proximity. There were four Pearce marriages at Abbots Ann in this time frame and none of them state other than that they were "of the parish."

I am ordering the parish register fiche for Collingbourne Ducis and Collingbourne Kingston. I did look at these two parishes in Salt Lake City and have copies of the Poor Rate there and registers at Kingston. I will continue looking at this information today. Proving Elizabeth may take a while so once I have ordered the registers I will move on to the next couple: and they are interestingly enough John Farmer and his wife Mary. Isaac Farmer (an unusual forename) signed his marriage registration with a good clear hand at Woodhouse in Andover 16 Aug 1789. The Isaac Farmer that marries at Andover (Elizabeth Lambden) was not baptized at Andover (I have the fiche and have studied them for Isaac). The only Isaac Farmer that I have found to date was baptized at Collingbourne Kingston 6 May 1764 (matches his age at burial of 44 years in 1808).

Clearly I have not proven the connection between this Isaac my 3x great grandfather and John Farmer who is baptizing an Isaac at Collingbourne Kingston which is why the marriage between Thomas Habgood and Anne Farmer is rather interesting (great grandparents of Sarah Coleman who is the wife of Thomas Blake (son of Joseph mentioned above). This Anne Farmer married Thomas at Collingbourne Kingston. John Blake who married Ann Farmer at Andover is the son of Sarah Coleman. One of the daughters of Elizabeth Lambden Farmer (wife of Isaac) married Thomas Hawkins of Collingbourne Kingston at Andover one year earlier than the marriage between John Blake and Ann Farmer at Andover. Clearly this is not proof of the relationship between Isaac Farmer married to Elizabeth Lambden and John Farmer baptizing an Isaac Farmer at Collingbourne Kingston but it is certainly an interesting happening.

To pursue an answer I again need to look more carefully at the records of Collingbourne Kingston which I will continue to do today as well as ordering the fiche. Mary, wife of John Farmer, was buried in 1761 so could not be the mother of Isaac. He must have remarried but he too was buried in 1771 at Collingbourne Kingston. I shall try family reconstuction on his other two sons as well John b 1756 and Joseph b 1759 to see if that will help to link these families.

Since the Lambden family is also involved I will be looking at the parents of Elizabeth (my 3x great grandmother): Nathanael Lambden and Sarah his wife (surname unknown). I tried to purchase the fiche for the two parishes of Thatcham and Bradfield in Berkshire where there is a Nathan(i or a)el Lambden baptized in the correct time frame but this is not possible. I may purchase the transcription of the Bradfield register transcription from the FHS there and that one is very interesting as it has the Nathanael spelling which is the one which Nathanael Lambden used when he signed the marriage register for Elizabeth marrying Isaac Farmer. Having now traveled the roads in the area around Andover I can see it is quite feasible to see Nathanael marrying in Bradfield Berkshire and then traveling to Andover with his family to work for the rest of his life at Woodhouse as a wheelwright. All of their children are baptized at Woodhouse.

Looking at my paternal grandfather's maternal ancestors I know the names of all eight and I have the parents for six of them. This is my Dorset family line which begins with my grandfather's mother Maria Jane Knight who was born at Turnworth Dorset in 1850. More about them when I complete looking at my paternal grandfather's paternal line. Having so much information on the Dorset line is great as I am unable to purchase the parish fiche for my Dorset parishes. For the two that I am missing it will take a fair amount of digging to work their lines back I rather suspect. This is one of my collapsing lines as two of my 3x great grandparents (married) were first cousins.

As well today I want to continue looking at the Rose Ash, Merton, Landkey and Molland parish register fiche. Landkey proved interesting with the Walter Manning family baptizing children in the 1630s when Thomas (father of John Manning baptized 1655 at Landkey) could have been born (married to Elizabeth Upcott at Landkey in 1653). I want to have a longer look at that time period as some of the entries are difficult to read and perhaps have not been transcribed into the IGI.

At Rose Ash I want to look at the Vicary family; at Merton the Rowcliffe family and at Molland I continue to look at the Pincombe family there both in the 1800s when John and Elizabeth (my 2x great grandparents) lived there and earlier to see if there are other Pincombe lines there.

Another snowfall and it continues to snow here with a good wind. We are supposed to have 25 centimetres so the buildup begins that only sees an end with the thaws of late March and early April. Last year when we went to England 19th of April, the snow was still about 4 feet high in the front yard. I love the snow actually and we will try snowshoeing or skiing this afternoon. When it snows heavy it is usually a little milder here and then we go into a deep freeze for a few days which compacts it and builds up the ice on the canal. If you have winter; this is by far the best kind where the snow gradually builds up and you do not have the severe flooding that comes with the freeze, thaw, freeze cycles to the south of us.

1911 English Census

Spent yesterday and today beta testing the 1911 English Census on Find My Past. It is quick and easy to use and once Hampshire was available I found my father and his parents and downloaded the original image (very good quality). I also opened the transcription of his Uncle Jack and family who lived next door to them and included my father's youngest uncle who was boarding with them. Downloaded all the Pincombe and Siderfin entries to a database for my one name studies. Worked my way through the Siderfin and only two of the eighteen have me still thinking. There are only 18 members of the Siderfin family on the census thus far but there are still a couple of counties to come (Somerset in particular although they were mostly gone from Selworthy by 1900). I was hoping to find the place of birth in the index and it will be missed although year of birth is there. The place was handy on the 1901 census when it first came up. I also sorted through some of the marriages for the Rew family that I couldn't determine before from Free BMD. I found three new children for my grandfather's oldest sister. My great grandparents Blake though are a bit confusing and I shall wait until later to open those entries. I know that he died at Goodworth Clatford in 1916 but do not have a death date for Maria Jane yet. I found Samuel Knight (my 2 x great grandfather at Turnworth) and he is the last of my father's great grandparents to be alive after 1911. All of his grandparents are alive on the 1911 census.

The stollen didn't get started yesterday so will be a today event once my husband and eldest daughter return from skiing. I am still a little under the weather and on medicine now so should soon be out there skiing with them! Present are all wrapped now and under the tree. There will be five of us plus the dogs and rabbit making eight. The turkey is thawing and we will have sausage and bread stuffing.

I bought fiche for myself and then when people asked what to give me I let them give me my fiche so haven't seen Molland, Merton or Landkey yet. I have had a look at Rose Ash though and quickly discovered that my Alexander Vicary was Alexander Vicary junior and his baptism was too early for the beginning of the register. His father was not John though since John married too late to be his father after all. His father must have been Alexander Vicary senior and I have his burial date and he was churchwarden at the time that Alexander junior was likely born. They were landowners though so can now go to the land records to learn more about the Vicary family. Finding their marriages though is not easy although have found that Mary was the wife of my Christopher Vicary from the burial records. His mother was Mary Bray but I am not sure if she was one of the Bray families at Rose Ash (there are two) or at North Molton where there are ten. Reading the register more closely might help with that.

Bishops Nympton Parish Register

Completed another three years of marriages in Bishops Nympton bringing me up to 1773. There are 33 more images on the microfiche to transcribe to 1812. Then I will have completed all the records from the earliest (mid 1500s) to 1812 for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials. I have done a word for word transcription and I am also converting that to an excel file for easy sorting and searching. I am the on line parish clerk for Bishops Nympton and use the file at least two or three times a week for individuals asking questions about the parish. For myself, I have a number of ancestors who lived in Bishops Nympton some for several hundred years and more - Pincombe, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Thomas, Manning, Snow, Charlie, Tapp, Vicary, and Blackmoore. Having an excel file would permit me to sort on these families and separate out the lines a little easier than straight reading of the text! Eventually I would like to do a one name study of the Village of Bishops Nympton beginning with the families that are found there in the 1500s and their descendants as they trace down in the village using tax rolls, oaths, freeman's lists, etc.

Getting ready for Christmas and must try and make my stollen today. Still shopping to do as well. I bought four sets of fiche that I wanted, a book on transcribing early latin from the National Archives, another couple of books on DNA and a book on Hampshire subsidies from the 1500s for people to give me for Christmas. I didn't look at them when they arrived although it was very very tempting. I shall be busy with all of that material after Christmas as well. I have also ordered another set of two parish registers from Leicestershire and have an order for Wiltshire and Hampshire ready to go after Christmas. My family used to ask me what I wanted for Christmas in the past and I could never think of anything - genealogy has certainly given me new sources for Christmas presents to myself!