Newfoundland and Dorset/Devon

My siblings and myself (5 in total thus far) have quite a few matches with people whose families emigrated to Newfoundland in the past 300 years from Dorset and Devon. Some of these matches end up looking like 2nd to 4th cousin but in reality are more distant than that since I can not match them up with my known lines. As it turns out, I know my lines in Dorset and Devon back at least to my 4x and 5x great grandparents and further in quite a few of these lines.

Some of these surnames Butt, Jeanes and others are showing up on a regular basis. The Butt line I find especially interesting as a Butt researcher (research below attributed to this researcher for the most part) has traced our mutual lines back to Robert Butt who married Susan Cantrell (baptized 18 Aug 1585 at Winterborne Stickland) 13 Apr 1607 at Winterbourne Stickland, Dorset. This couple baptized eight children at Winterborne Stickland or other as mentioned below:

William Butt baptized Sep 1610
Jane Butt baptized 17 Dec 1611
Francis Butt baptized 27 Feb 1613 and buried 13 June 1623 at Winterborne Stickland
Robert Butt baptized 22 Sep 1616
Simon Butt baptized 27 Jun 1619
Thomas Butt baptized 31 Mar 1622 at Winterborne Houghton
John Butt baptized 28 Nov 1624
Francis Butt baptized 18 Feb 1626

Thomas Butt appears to be my ancestor and he married Elizabeth (unknown). Thomas was buried 16 Jun 1668 at Winterborne Stickland and his wife was buried 15 May 1687 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized two sons at Winterborne Stickland:

William baptized 24 Aug 1665
Thomas baptized 10 Dec 1667

William, my likely ancestor, married Elizabeth Lemon 27 Jul 1696 at Winterborne Houghton and they baptized five children at Winterborne Houghton:

William Butt baptized 28 May 1697
Mary Butt baptized 15 Nov 1700
Elizabeth Butt baptized 3 Jun 1702 and buried 3 Jun 1702 at Winterborne Houghton
Thomas Butt baptized 5 Nov 1704 and buried 6 Nov 1704 at Winterborne Houghton
 John Butt baptized 14 Apr 1707

My likely ancestor William married Susanna Foster (baptized 10 Dec 1696 at Winterborne Stickland) 31 Jan 1729 at Winterborne Stickland. William Butt was buried 29 Jun 1774 at Winterborne Stickland and Susanna (Foster) Butt was buried 17 Feb 1775 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized five children at Winterborne Stickland:

Robert Butt baptized 15 Feb 1731 and buried 3 Mar 1731 at Winterborne Stickland
William Butt baptized 6 Jan 1732
Susanna Butt baptized 6 Sep 1734
John Butt baptized 6 May 1736
Martha Butt baptized 16 Jun 1738

My likely ancestor John Butt married Mary Rolles (baptized 15 Apr 1740 at Wimbourne Minster) 9 Aug 1762 at Winterborne Clenstone. John Butt was buried 6 Jan 1820 at Winterborne Stickland and Mary (Rolles) Butt was buried 4 Mar 1811 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized six children at Winterborne Stickland or other as mentioned below:

Sarah Butt baptized 19 Nov 1765
Joseph Butt baptized 24 Jun 1766
John Butt was baptized 11 Dec 1771 and buried 15 Sep 1772 at Winterborne Stickland
John Butt baptized 10 May 1776 at Winterborne Clenstone
Deborah Butt baptized 8 Jun 1783
William Butt baptized 18 Nov 1786

At this point my research is added into the research of this earlier researcher (and indeed I have verified all the dates above in the records now available online). My ancestor John Butt (baptized 10 May 1776) married Jean O'Ford (baptized 27 Jun 1773 at Milton Abbas) 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland. John Butt was buried 6 Jan 1850 at Winterborne Stickland and Jean (O'Ford) Butt was buried 3 Feb 1848 at Winterborne Stickland. They baptized seven children at Winterborne Stickland or other as noted below:

Charles Butt baptized 25 Dec 1801
George Butt baptized 16 Oct 1803
Joseph Butt baptized 11 Aug 1805 at Winterborne Clenstone
Robert Butt baptism not located
Maria Butt baptized 18 Feb 1810 at Winterborne Clenstone
Bethaniah Butt baptized 5 Apr 1811 and buried 26 Nov 1811 at Winterborne Stickland
Stephen Butt baptized 12 Oct 1815

All of the lines of these siblings have been traced down by me mostly well into the 1900s thus leading me to deduce that the Butt family which we (my siblings and I) match in Newfoundland must be descended from the earlier branches of this family.

The Winterborne villages in Dorset all lie within a few kilometres of each other. It is a very quiet beautiful piece of Dorset and when we visited there was a low hanging haze over the valley looking down from the Church of St Nicholas at Winterborne Clenstone. Rolling fields stretched away in all directions from this high point. Has it changed very much? I suspect a good deal in some ways as there were more people in this area when my ancestors were there in the 1700s and 1800s and into the early 1900s. The wars perhaps changed that a lot but along with that the mechanization of agriculture rendered all those workers to be no longer needed in the agricultural industries of this area.

Maybe one of these days I will be able to discover our matches with the many Newfoundland families in our kits. Endogamy probably plays a part making the matches seem closer.

Charles Butt was a Methodist Preacher along with his agricultural duties. My grandfather knew this great grandfather of his but mostly from a distance as Charles lived at Turnworth near the end of his life. He did however spend some time with his then over 80 year old great grandfather and shared with me a little of this man who was born in 1801. Amazing the span of years that represents. My grandfather was born in 1875 and I was born in 1945 so I had the opportunity as a child of 8 years of age (the year my grandfather passed away) to listen to stories of a man who lived at the beginning of the 1800s (144 years before I was born). My grandfather liked to talk about how life had changed from then to when he died in 1953.

The ARNOLD family of Milton Abbas, Dorset

A flurry of emails back and forth discussing the Arnold family at Milton Abbas between myself and Jill Morley who has been collecting Arnold material for over 30 years. She runs an active Facebook group on the Arnold family.

Likely Jill and I are related but she is unable to find earlier material on her direct line.

My Arnold line has fallen neatly into place back into the 1600s at Milton Abbas but I am stuck there with James Arnold married to Sibyl unknown. Sibyl was buried at Milton Abbas 28 Jul 1673. This couple baptized six children at Milton Abbas.

Henry baptized 4 Jan 1651
Mary baptized 12 Sep 1654
unmamed baptized 18 Nov 1657; buried 19 Nov 1657
Ann baptized 27 Mar 1661
James baptized 4 Oct 1663 (married Mary Hardy 1 Nov 1694 at Milton Abbas)
John baptized 4 Oct 1663 (married Melionor Leave 17 Oct 1692 at Milton Abbas)

These two younger sons trace their line down at Milton Abbas with my line being James Arnold married to Mary Hardy. They baptized six children at Milton Abbas.

Mary baptized 8 Mar 1694
James baptized 25 Feb 1697 (married Honor Lovell 26 Jun 1721 at MIlton Abbas)
John baptized 21 Apr 1702 (married Susannah (unknown) circa 1725)
Ann baptized 19 Oct 1704 (married Peter Hause)
Jane baptized 13 Apr 1712; buried 18 Aug 1712 at Milton Abbas
Jinny (Jane) baptized 4 Mar 1714

MA/4 1742 = this is the will of James ARNOLD of Milton Abbas dated 25 June 1742 Proved 8 August 1743 Mentions Wife: Mary ARNOLD Son: John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House. Daughter: Jinny Appoints wife Mary as Executor

MA/3 1744 = this is the will of Mary ARNOLD (wife of the above) of Milton Abbas Mentions: son John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House Grand daughter: Honor Daughter: Jinny executor

http://www.dorset-opc.com/Miscellaneous/ArnoldWills.htm

My ancestor was John Arnold married to Susannah and they baptized seven children at Milton Abbas.

John baptized 4 Aug 1725 (married to Hannah Norris 7 Jul 1751 at Milton Abbas)
James baptized 1 Feb 1726
Jane baptized 29 Jan 1728
Mary born circa 1730 at MIlton Abbas
William baptized 26 Jan 1732 (married to Ann Riggs 4 May 1755 at Cheselbourne)
Susannah baptized 19 Mar 1734
Thomas baptized 21 May 1737

My line is John Arnold married to Hannah Norris and they baptized eight children at Milton Abbas.

Mary baptized 8 Apr 1752 (married to Stephen Elford 27 Apr 1780 at Milton Abbas)
John baptized 17 Mar 1754
Jane baptized 20 Oct 1756
Joseph baptized 24 Oct 1759 (married to Susanna Best 18 Jul 1781)
Hannah baptized 18 Aug 1762 (married to John Hooper 21 Mar 1791 at Milton Abbas)
Susannah baptized 2 Oct 1765
William baptized 21 Feb 1770 (married to Elizabeth Molton 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas)
Ann born circa 1773 at Milton Abbas (married James Vacher 26 Jul 1796 at MIlton Abbas)

My line is William Arnold married to Elizabeth Molton and they baptized six children at Winterborne Whitchurch and three or four children at Winterborne Clenstone

Thyrsa baptized 25 Mar 1791 (married Robert Tuffin 3 May 1814 at Winterborne Stickland)
Abel baptized 11 Mar 1792 (married Mary Lewis 6 Feb 1816 at Winterborne Clenstone)
Charles baptized 1 Dec 1793
Hannah baptized 18 Jan 1795 (married Charles Butt 26 Dec 1820 at Winterborne Clenstone)
Jane baptized 10 Jul 1796
Mark baptized 25 Mar 1798
Sarah baptized 15 Sep 1799 (married Joseph Butt 7 Jun 1824 at Winterborne Clenstone)
Elim baptized 11 Jan 1801 (married Mary Ann Cuff 24 Apr 1821 at Winterborne Whitchurch)
Ann baptized 8 May 1802

Mark baptized 15 Jul 1821 at Winterborne Clenstone (married Emma Hook)
This last baptism was said to be the son of William and Elizabeth Arnold but it is 19 years after the baptism of Ann. Not impossible Elizabeth would have been 55 years of age.

My line continues down from Charles Butt and Hannah Arnold. They baptized seven children at Winterborne Stickland.

Thurza baptized 11 Mar 1821 (married Thomas Knight 10 Nov 1844 at Turnworth)
Abel baptized 15 Feb 1823 (married Martha Knight 8 Feb 1850 at Turnworth)
Josiah baptized 15 Jan 1826; buried 24 Jan 1826 at Winterborne Stickland
Louisa baptized 27 Jan 1827 (married Samuel Knight 7 Sep 1849 at Winterborne Stickland)
John born circa 1830 at Winterborne Stickland (married Jane Gumbleton 13 Apr 1857 at Winterborne Stickland)
Arthur baptized 5 Jan 1834 (married Jane Cross sep quarter 1853 in Blandford RD)
Nehemiah baptized 15 May 1836

Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt are my ancestors. Interesting that three Knight siblings married three Butt siblings. Samuel and Louisa baptized eleven children at Turnworth including their eldest Maria Jane.

Maria Jane baptized 27 Jan 1850 (married Edward Blake 29 Oct 1870 at Upper Clatford)

This couple were my great grandparents and their son Samuel George Blake my grandfather. I have traced these lines down and only my grandfather and his younger brother Henry came to Canada with the rest of the family remaining in England. This family has kept in contact into the 2000s with my husband and I visiting the grandchildren of the youngest son of Edward Blake and Maria Jane Knight in 2008.

I did know from childhood that Charles Butt had married Hannah Arnold and that this family lived in the Winterborne area of Dorset. Going back from Hannah involved research on my part along with a cousin of mine Robert Arnold.

William Knight ( - 1827)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 15

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

William Knight is the more elusive of my two Knight 4x great grandfathers.  There are two possibilities that he was the son of William Knight baptized 6 Jan 1735 at Spetisbury or he was that William Knight and simply waited until he was older to marry Sarah Ellis but indeed William Knight married Sarah Ellis 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland. Since he has died before the census of 1841/1851 I do not know for sure where or when he was born/baptized unless he is the William Knight baptized at Spetisbury. I have left the option open even yet.

That William might not be one of these two has also occurred to me but I am unable to discover a reasonable "other William Knight" that resembles this William Knight. Others have said that he is the William Knight baptized  5 Aug 1739 at St James Shaftesbury son of George Knight and Mary Long who married 2 Oct 1735 in Shaftesbury and this record can be found at Ancestry.com. Indeed he does name one of his sons George. My grandfather though did think that his 2 Knight great grandparents were related and I can not find any relationship between these two families. So hovering in the background in my mind is the possibility that he was incorrect.

William and Sarah went on to have eight children (one daughter Sarah 1792) and seven sons William 1776, Elias 1779-1779, Ellis 1783-1851 (and my ancestor), George 1785, Samuel 1788, Stephen 1798 (others have 1790 but this baptism is missing), Joseph 1799. Most of this information I have from Robert Knight a cousin of mine who lives still in Dorset and has ready access to the record office in Dorchester. Hence my having had this information since 2007 or so. I have since verified it with the records on Ancestry. Another cousin of mine lives in Australia (Keith Ford) and he made the trek back to Dorset before I did and photographed the pages of the relevant registers in Turnworth which I also received from him in 2007. Thanks to both of these cousins for sorting out the Knight lines in Winterborne Stickland/Spetisbury for me.

William Knight could either be the William baptized 6 Jan 1735 at Spetisbury or the William baptized at Shaftesbury. No one can say for sure. But William baptized 1735 is the son of Henry Knight and Mary Oliver. They married 25 Dec 1727 at Spetisbury and had 15 children Henry 1729-1788, Sarah 1730-1730, Thomas 1732-1794, Mary 1733-1734, William 1735-, David 1736-aft 1771, John 1738-1738, John 1740-1740, Ann 1741-1741, Mary 1742-1742, John 1744-1744, John 1745-1745, John 1746-1747, John 1748-1750, and Mary 1749-1750. Henry Knight was the Parish Clerk at Spetisbury and he was buried 25 Sep 1778 at Spetisbury. I have not yet found a burial for Mary. The place of birth/baptism for Henry Knight and Mary Oliver is not known to me and they represent the top of my Knight tree. Imagine burying six children all named John. No child survived after David

Many of the men in this family were stone masons. There was a Knight family at Cann who were stone masons and some link this family back to this area. The thought is that they came down to the Blandford area following the great fire in that city to help rebuild it. The fire occurred Friday 4 Jun 1731. One notes that Henry Knight was already at Spetisbury as he married Mary Oliver 25 Dec 1727 so do question this notion. The George Knight at Shaftesbury could be from the Knight family at Cann but I do not know his occupation.

There was a Mary Oliver baptized 12 Oct 1709 at Tarrant Rushton (3 miles from Spetisbury) and the daughter of Thomas Oliver and Sarah his wife. Given the naming in this family Henry first son, Sarah  first daughter, then Thomas second son and Mary second daughter one could ponder the possibility that this is Mary Oliver married to Henry Knight 1727 at Spetisbury. I could not find a marriage for Thomas Oliver and Sarah but did find a baptism of William Oliver son of Thomas and Sarah 17 Jun 1705 at Tarrant Rushton. There was also a Mary baptized 1 May 1704 (buried 30 Jul 1704) all at Tarrant Rushton.

There was a Henry Knight son of Thomas Knight junior and Julian baptized 2 Feb 1701 at Mapperton (3 miles from Spetisbury and 5 miles from Tarrant Rushton).  Again I did not find a marriage but did find a number of siblings for Henry:

Sarah baptized 15 Nov 1691 at Mapperton
Peter baptized 21 May 1693 at Mapperton
Susanna baptized 10 Feb 1694/95 at Mapperton
Ann baptized 27 Oct 1696 at Mapperton
Anne baptized 29 Jan 1698 at Mapperton
Henry baptized 2 Feb 1701 at Mapperton
Christian baptized 22 Mar 1703 at Mapperton (service 11 Nov 1705 at Mapperton, buried at Netherbury)
Thomas baptized 7 Jul 1706 at Mapperton
John baptized 26 Jun 1709 at Mapperton

Looking at the burials for Mapperton and noting that in some instances (baptisms) Thomas Knight junior is recorded as being from Meith there is a Thomas Knight senior of Meith buried  23 Apr 1723. He was buried from Mapperton at Netherbury. Also buried at Netherbury from Mieth, Henry Knight, clerk of the parish 13 Oct 1714. Also buried from Meith at Netherbury Anne Knight 7 Feb 1724, and Edith Knight 29 Jul 1716. (Henry and Edith were married.) Have I perhaps using Ancestry uncovered my Knight family. This is the first time I have looked at Henry Knight and Mary Oliver in several years.

Netherbury is just south of Beaminster and three miles from another Mapperton. Interesting and must pursue this another time. But for the moment I will list this baptism at Mapperton, as this is the village that is listed on Genuki rather than the one south of Beaminster, as the baptism for Henry with his father Thomas and his possible grandfather Thomas.

I should also list the other possible ancestry but will mention it only in this paragraph because I remain somewhat convinced that my grandfather was right and Eleanor and Ellis were related. George Knight (married to Mary Long),  I can not find a baptism for him although other researchers have his father as Richard Knight who married Mary (unknown) and was the father of Henry, George and Ann. One notes the forename Henry in this and the individual who created this family tree does have the family of Henry at Spetisbury descendant of this line. I am not convinced that this is correct although does then give credence to the thought that Eleanor and Ellis would then be related. As records come online it will be easier to determine the correct Knight line for my two 4x great grandfathers Knight!.

Ancestry of William Knight:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Samuel KNIGHT (b 25 May 1828) - Turnworth Dorset England
6. Ellis KNIGHT (b 17 Jan 1783) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
7. William KNIGHT
8. William KNIGHT (b 6 Jan 1734/35) - Spetisbury Dorset England
9. Henry KNIGHT ( possibly b 2 Feb 1701) - Mapperton Dorset England
10. Thomas KNIGHT (junior)
possibly
11. Thomas KNIGHT (senior)

 It has certainly been an interesting tour through the records for the Knight family and I shall repeat it once again when I look at John Knight my other Knight 4x great grandfather. Perhaps I will be right after all that this Knight family, although some were stone masons, were not descendant of the Knight family at Cann unless they traveled southward earlier than the Blandford fire of 1731. Some have the father of William as George as mentioned. George is not a name found in the Knight family (other than William) until much much later so have always felt that that direction lacked credence but on the other hand Henry does occur 15 times in the Knight family although in a later time period there are 16 Georges. The Henry forename is used on a regular basis from 1700 on.

John Butt (1776 - 1850)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 7

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

John Butt is one of my ancestors that I knew for quite a long time and possibly for much longer than I really realize. His eldest son Charles was known to my grandfather as a child. Charles was a Methodist Lay Preacher and an agricultural labourer. He lived to be 86 years old and it was his 80th birthday party at Turnworth that my grandfather remembered. Quite likely this was the furtherest that my grandfather had ever been away from home at Upper Clatford. He never really mentioned that but he remembered his great grandfather Charles who could tell him about life in England from the early 1800s on.

John Butt was baptized 10 May 1776 at Winterborne Clenstone. That was the main reason that I took on OPC for Winterborne Clenstone way back in 2007. He was the son of John Butt and Mary Rolles who were themselves married 9 Aug 1762 at Winterborne Clenstone. This John had been baptized 6 May 1736 at Winterborne Stickland and was the son of William Butt and Susanna Foster and they had been married 31 Jan 1729 at Winterborne Stickland. I was unable to trace back further from this point until I met a cousin at Genes Reunited and she had been into the Dorset Record Office and traced the family back much further. The father of this William Butt was also a William Butt and he was married to Elizabeth Lemon. They were married at Winterborne Houghton 27 Jul 1696 and their eldest son William had been baptized 28 May 1697 at Winterborne Houghton. The father William had been baptized 24 Aug 1665 at Winterborne Stickland the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Butt.  Thomas was baptized 31 Mar 1622 at Winterborne Houghton the son of Robert Butt and Susan Cantrell who were themselves married 13 Apr 1607 at Winterborne Stickland. Richard Cantrell the father of Susan had been buried 15 Dec 1591 Winterborne Stickland.

We traveled through the Winterborne Valley when we visited England in 2008. There was a light mist over the valley and the hills roll away from you into valleys. It was a beautiful sight standing on the knoll where the church of St Nicholas stands in Winterborne Clenstone. I was too new to genealogy to really learn as much as I would now from such a visit. I did photograph a number of the memorial stones in the small cemetery just above the Winterborne (a small river) and at the base of the hill away from the Church. The Church is a Heritage building and used for services only a couple of times a year. It is in beautiful condition and looks out loftily over the valleys and hills that surround it.

Richard Cantrell is my 10th great grandfather and the furtherest I have information for this line back.  No ideas on the father of Robert Butt my 9x great grandfather. I do not know a lot about this family although I believe they were always agricultural labourers working in this Winterborne Valley. Robert and Susan had eight children - 7 sons and 1 daughter. I have trace downs for several of the sons - Simon, Thomas and John. They remained in this beautiful valley until the mills of Lancashire beckoned some of them away in the mid 1800s and Charles (my 3x great grandfather)'s brothers went off to Australia (George and Stephen and there are thousands of descendants there) and Canada (Joseph and there are thousands of descendants here). Charles and Robert remained in England and I have lately met an ancestor of Robert's line on My Heritage. Charles had two sisters with Bethaniah dying as an infant and Maria married to James Vacher.

John Butt (1776-1850) married Jean Durnford 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland. Jean was the daughter of Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball and for me this line remains a brickwall. Jean was baptized at Winterborne Stickland 29 Sep 1771.

There isn't a lot of information on this Butt family other than my small bit of family lore but they have spread far around the world. Surprisingly one of my mother's best friends Teresa Butt was actually my father's third cousin but he didn't know that although may have suspected it from the surname. Joseph Butt had emigrated to Canada with his wife Sarah Arnold (Charles and Joseph had married Arnold sisters). Then three of Charles' children married three Knight siblings making this quite a combination of double and triple cousins! No one, other than myself, though have tested their atDNA to my knowledge thus far. Although I do have five people on my Family Finder with the Arnold surname but none with the Butt surname.

Charles' daughter Louisa was one of my known ancestors as my father knew of Louisa (she died before he was born) probably from his great grandfather Samuel Knight whom he knew as a child. Samuel and Louisa were married 7 Sep 1849 at Winterborne Stickland and I visited their memorial stone in 2008 at St Mary the Virgin parish Church in Turnworth Dorset. Their eldest daughter Maria Jane was my great grandmother and she married Edward Blake at Upper Clatford. They had twelve children and the eldest daughter Louisa Mary lived with her grandparents at Turnworth, married there and looked after Samuel until he died. My grandfather Samuel was Maria Jane's second son.

Ancestry of John Butt

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George BLAKE (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Louisa BUTT (b 27 Jan 1827) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
6. Charles BUTT (b 21 Dec 1801) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
7. John BUTT (b 10 May 1776) - Winterborne Clenstone Dorset England
8. John BUTT (b 6 May 1736) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
9. William BUTT (b 10 Dec 1696) - Winterborne Houghton Dorset England
10. William BUTT (b 24 Aug 1665) - Winterborne Houghton Dorset England
11. Thomas BUTT (b 31 Mar 1622) - Winterborne Houghton Dorset England
12. Robert BUTT (b c 1570) 

It does seem like a long way to go back in an agricultural labourer's family and I really have no ideas on this family back into the 1600s. Were they always labourers or did they at one time farm and being younger sons did not inherit any leases or the like so had to make their own way in the world? They did it very well and the Butt family is huge around the world. A couple of years before I started into genealogy (2001 I think) there was a Butt family reunion in England. I would dearly have loved to attend that reunion and perhaps one day there will be another!

Sarah Ellis (1756 - 1844)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 5

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

Sarah Ellis is one of my people I found near the beginning of my research. I knew that their son Ellis Knight was my 3x great grandfather and although not known to my grandfather personally he knew of this family.  Ellis Knight married Eleanor Knight 29 May 1804 at Spetisbury and Spetisbury was a village name ingrained in my memory from earliest day. The name had a ring to it and just stuck in there. I knew that this couple had had 13 children (referred to as a baker's dozen!) and that my father's great grandfather Samuel Knight, known to him as a child and already mentioned earlier in my blogs, was their son. Samuel Knight married Louisa Butt and she was born at Spetisbury and so the name was known to me as my grandfather talked about his grandmother Louisa born at Spetisbury and that her mother Eleanor not quite known to him as she died five years before he was born was also born at Spetisbury.

I had a good handle on this Ellis family probably because the surname was used as a forename in the family. But back to Sarah and she was baptized 5 Aug 1756 at Winterborne Stickland. Sarah married William Knight 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland and seven of their eight children were baptized at Winterborne Stickland, namely:

William baptized 21 Jul 1776 (born 15 Jul 1776)
Elias baptized 24 Feb 1779 (born 22 Feb 1779), buried there 24 Feb 1779
Ellis baptized 17 Jan 1783
George baptized 6 Mar 1785
Samuel baptized 4 May 1788
Sarah baptized 27 Dec 1792 (married George Morris 1 Mar 1824 at Winterborne Stickland)
Stephen baptized ?
Joseph baptized 9 May 1799

Stephen is somewhat of a mystery as I can not find his baptism but there appears to be enough proof that they indeed had a son Stephen.

Sarah Ellis died 9 Jun 1844 at Winterborne Stickland and was buried there 13 Jun 1844. Sarah was the daughter of Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring. The name Ellis Ellis quite intrigued me and I could not find his baptism for a long time actually until the Dorset records came up on Ancestry. Then I found that he was baptized 22 Jul 1719 at Winterborne Stickland and married to Sarah Wellspring 7 Mar 1738 at Winterborne Stickland. This couple had seven children all baptized at Winterborne Stickland, namely:

William baptized 29 Jan 1739 (married Mary Arnold 23 Mar 1761 at Blandford St Mary)
Jane baptized 28 Sep 1742 (married Melchizedek Pitman 2 Jul 1762 at Winterborne Stickland)
Elizabeth baptized 3 Feb 1744 (married John Upshall 16 Apr 1770 at Winterborne Stickland)
John baptized 18 Jun 1745, buried 18 Jun 1745
John baptized 14 Jun 1747
Susanna baptized 8 Dec 1751 (married Thomas Cocks 16 Jul 1772 at Winterborne Stickland)
Sarah baptized 5 Aug 1756 (married William Knight 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland)

 I have found 29 grandchildren thus far for this couple (I have not yet located any children for John).

Continuing to look at the Ellis family Ellis Ellis was the son of Thomas Ellis and Mary Bound and they married 27 Dec 1703 at Winterborne Stickland. This couple baptized 6 children at Winterborne Stickland, namely:

Elizabeth  baptized 12 Nov 1704 (born 16 Oct 1704), buried 2 Mar 1705 at Winterborne Stickland
Mary baptized 29 Jun 1706 (born 17 Jun 1706)
John baptized 20 Mar 1708 (born 18 Feb 1708)
Thomas baptized 27 Jul 1712 (born 9 Jul 1712), buried 29 Aug 1712 at Winterborne Stickland
William baptized 29 Aug 1715 (born 24 Aug 1715), buried 2 Apr 1721 at Winterborne Stickland
Ellis baptized 22 Jul 1719

Their story was certainly one of loss as only three children appear to have survived although I have not yet found any details for Mary and John beyond their baptisms as there are too many marriages for Mary Ellis/John Ellis and not close enough to Winterborne Stickland.

When we visited the valley of the Winterbourn in 2008 I found it to be rather a beautiful setting. There was a slight mist over the rolling hills although you could see for miles. All farmland and possibly that was what it looked like then as well. What did Thomas Ellis do at Winterborne Stickland and where did he live before Winterborne Stickland? Both are mysteries to me. There are baptisms for a Thomas Ellis in the right time frame but all are in the Dorchester area. Because he named his first son John could he be the Thomas Ellis baptized 11 Nov 1687 at Longbredy although would have only been 16 at marriage? Could he be the Thomas son of Thomas baptized 5 Dec 1662 at Rampisham? He named his second son Thomas. A mystery not yet solved.

Ancestry of Sarah Ellis (including my line down to me)

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Samuel KNIGHT (b 25 May 1828) - Turnworth Dorset England
6. Ellis KNIGHT (b 17 Jan 1783) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
7. Sarah ELLIS (b 5 Aug 1756) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
8. Ellis ELLIS (b 22 Jul 1719) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
9. Thomas Ellis

It would be exciting to find more about Thomas and his grand daughter Sarah and perhaps in time that may happen.

Durnford/Dunford family of Winterborne Stickland

Jean/Jane Durnford married John Butt 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland. Jane and John appear on the 1841 Census at Winterborne Stickland with their daughter Maria and her three children Ann 10, Elizabeth 7 and Martha 5. She has however died by 1848 and was buried 3 Feb 1848 at Winterborne Stickland.

There is a baptism 29 Sep 1771 at Winterborne Stickland for a Jane Dunford daughter of Thomas and Mary Dunford. I would like to attempt to find more information for this particular family on Ancestry now that the Dorset Parish Registers are available there. The original records shows Jane was born 22nd of September and baptized 29th September the daughter of Thomas Dunford and Mary his wife. Is this the same Jane/Jean who married John Butt? Interestingly there is the birth of John the son of John Butt and Mary his wife and he was born 29 Nov and baptized 11th December also in 1771 at Winterborne Stickland. As it turns out this is the same family into which a Jane Durnford/Dunford married. But the first John Butt was buried 15 Sep 1772 at Winterborne Stickland. She married the second John baptized by John and Mary Butt 10 May 1776.

Just checking the marriage lines for John Butt and Jean/Jane Durnford:

John Butt of this parish and Jean Durnford of this Parish were married in this Church by Banns the fourteenth day of October in the year One thousand Eight hundred by me James Dowland, Minister, This marriage was solemnized between us John Butt, the mark of Jean Durnford, In the presence of William Elford and William Tizzard.

Both of these men are witnesses on occasion so does not perhaps point out any family information for these two people. I will need to check for Durnford/Dunford entries in the parish registers of Winterborne Stickland to learn more about Jean/Jane Dunford/Durnford.

Children of Thomas and Mary Dunford
 John Dunford baptized 13 June 1777
Jane Dunford baptized  29 September 1771
Sarah Dunford baptized 10 December 1769
Mary Dunford baptized 2 November 1767
Chatherine Dunford baptized 19 Oct 1762
Susanna Dunford baptized 22 Mar 1761

Children of Thomas and Chatherine Dunford (Chatherine perhaps an error and should have been Mary)

Robert Dunford baptized 15 Nov 1764

Children of Joseph and Elizabeth Dunford

John Dunford baptized 15 June 1752 (born 14 Jun 1752)


Burials
Joseph Dunford was buried 8 May (affidavit made) 1760

There is on the Family Search website the burial of Thomas Durnford 20 Mar 1811 at Winterborne Stickland and he was 76 years of age giving him an approximate birth date of 1735. Is the name Dunford and Durnford used interchangeably?

There was a Thomas Dunford baptized 16 Sep 1736 at Fifehead Magdalen son of Robert and Jane Dunford on Family Search.  Checking the original parish registers this is actually James and Thomas sons of Robert and Jane Durnford baptized 16 Sep 1736. No other information is given.

Robert Dunford was baptized Jul 1731 son of Robert and Jane Dunford
John son of Robert and Jane Dunford buried 19 May 1732
John son of Robert and Jane Dunford baptized 11 Aug 1734
John Durnford buried 23 Apr 1734
James son of Robert and Jane Durnford buried 4 Mar 1738
 Elizabetha uxor Joanis Durnford buried 7 Oct 1722

It does appear at least within the parish register of Fifehead Magdalen that Dunford and Durnford are used interchangeably. Fifehead Magdalen is in North Dorset and about 11 miles NNW of Winterborne Stickland. Have I quite accidentally found the family that I am looking for? The name Robert occurs with the marriage of Robert and Jane Dunford some time prior to 1731 and their first son was named Robert. Thomas and his wife Mary likely named a son Robert. There was at Fifehead Magdalen a couple named John and Elizabeth Durnford with Elizabeth buried as a wife of John in 1722. Could they be the parents of Robert baptizing children at Fifehead Magdalen?

Not an overly common name Durnford/Dunford with the British Isles profiler showing that Durnford is a Wiltshire surname but spreading southward into Dorset as well as being found in the London area. Dunford on the other hand is found principally in the Dorset area but also up into Wiltshire. The frequency of Durnford in 1881 was 319 with 12 occurrences per million names and that of Dunford 1806 with 67 occurrences per million names.  Hence the more common spelling is Dunford at least by 1881 and especially in Dorset.

Interesting foray into the Dunford/Durnford surname but not really much further ahead until I can determine that Jean Durnford who married John Butt was actually Jane Dunford daughter of Thomas and Mary Dunford. Thus far I have not found marriages for any of these Dunford/Durnford families - Thomas and Mary, Robert and Jane, John and Elizabeth, and Joseph and Elizabeth.

Butt family at Winterborne Stickland, Winterborne Clenstone and Spetisbury

My grandfather knew his great grandfather Charles Butt when he was a young boy. Charles was baptized 25 Dec 1801 at Winterborne Stickland and he was buried 7 Dec 1886 at Turnworth (both in Dorset). He was 85 years of age when he died and he had an 80th birthday party according to my Grandfather at Turnworth as my Grandfather attended it as a child. His memory was still fairly vivid as he remembered this white haired man who was the center of attention for his six living children and fourty four grandchildren. Josiah Butt (his second eldest son) had died as an infant and I have not yet discovered what happened to Nehemiah Butt the youngest son. Three of his children married three siblings of the Ellis and Eleanor Knight family (namely Thurza married Thomas, Abel married Martha and Louisa married Samuel).

What I didn't ask my grandfather when he talked about his Butt family was how he got to Turnworth from Upper Clatford but I guess it was probably by train. My grandfather loved trains and he worked as a blacksmith for the Southeastern Railway in England (lived at Eastleigh) and then for the Grand Trunk (later CNR) here in Canada (London, Ontario) from 1914 on.

Louisa Butt was my two times great grandmother and my father remembered the stories about Louisa except he thought she was born at Spetisbury. It was actually her mother Eleanor Knight that was born at Spetisbury and Louisa was born at Winterborne Stickland.  I think that my grandfather mentioned Eleanor Knight being from Spetisbury and he thought that his great grandparents Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight were cousins. I still haven't been able to prove that conclusively but the search of the parish registers might help me with that.

Louisa Butt married Samuel Knight 7 Sep 1849 at Winterborne Stickland. They had eleven children including two sets of twins and buried all but four of them as infants and very young children. My great grandmother Maria Jane was their eldest child. The next daughter was Elizabeth baptized 24 Dec 1851 at Turnworth and she married Charles Swyer 30 Nov 1874 and they had one son Edward Brice Swyer who was born circa 1883 in London from the census. Mary Ann baptized 20 Oct 1853 at Turnworth was the next child and I do not have any further details for her. The next child was Eliza and she died as a young child less than two years of age. The last child to survive was Samuel Knight and he was baptized 5 Feb 1858 at Turnworth and married Catherine Crankshaw december quarter 1878 at Chorley, Lancashire. They had only one son Samuel born june quarter 1880 at Withnell, Lancashire. Maria Jane and her husband Edward Blake had twelve children of whom ten survived to adulthood. My grandfather was their third eldest.

Charles (father to Louisa Butt) married Hannah Arnold 26 Dec 1820 at Winterborne Clenstone. He was just 19 years of age and Hannah was almost 25 years of age. Charles was the son of John Butt and Jean Durnford who married 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland. They had seven children which included five sons and two daughters with Bethaniah the youngest daughter dying as an infant. Charles was the eldest and along with his brother Robert they remained in England whilst the other three brothers emigrated with George and Stephen going to Australia and Joseph going to Canada. Most Butt families in Ontario and all the way west to British Columbia are descendant of Joseph Butt and his first wife Sarah Arnold  or his second wife Ann Trewin. Sarah died in childbirth shortly after they emigrated to Canada in 1841. Joseph and Sarah had eleven children (the last child also died) and Joseph and Ann had eight children. George Butt married Charlotte Barnes and they had nine children (first six born in England and the last three born in Australia). Stephen Butt married Martha Corke and they had ten children all born in Australia (five sons and five daughters). The Butt family is very large in Australia.

John (father of Charles Butt) was baptized 10 May 1776 at Winterborne Clenstone and the son of John Butt and Mary Rolles who were themselves married 9 Aug 1762 at Winterborne Clenstone and they had six children (four sons and two daughters with one son dying as an infant). I have only traced down John (my ancestor). John Butt was baptized 6 May 1736 at Winterborne Stickland and the son of William Butt and Susanna Foster who were themselves married 31 Jan 1728 at Winterborne Stickland. They had five children (three sons and two daughters with one son dying as an infant). William was baptized 28 May 1697 at Winterborne Houghton and the son of William Butt and Elizabeth Lemon who were themselves married 27 Jul 1696 at Winterborne Houghton. William was baptized 24 Aug 1665 at Winterborne Stickland and the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Butt. I do not have a marriage for this couple and that will be my project to go through the parish registers of Winterborne Houghton where Thomas was baptized 31 Mar 1622 the son of Robert Butt and Susan Cantrell who were married 13 Apr 1607 at Winterborne Stickland. That is as far back as I am able to go with the Butt line and I need to do both Winterborne Houghton and Winterborne Stickland as they lived at both places as well as Winterborne Clenstone. These places are all close to each other as we traveled to see all of them in 2008.

The Parish Registers are available on ancestry for Winterborne Houghton from 1550 to  1812. Probably working backwards is still the best way to look for Butt family entries.

Banns
1770. Banns of marriage between John New and Mary But both of this parish were published on the three Sundays underwritten: That is to say, On Sunday, the 29 of April, On Sunday the 6 of May, On Sunday the 13th of May by me Richard Lawrence Rector.

Marriages
John New of this Parish and Mary Butt of the same married in this Church by Banns this 17th day of May in the year One thousand 7 hundred and 70 by me Richard Lawrence Rector This Marriage was solemnized between us John New, The mark of Mary Butt, In the presence of Jno Eford, Mary Seamane
John New and Frances Butt were married 20 Nov 1744
Robert Wellspring of the parish of Dewlish and Eliz: Butt of the parish of ___nton were married 25 Jul 1734
John But of Stickland and Elizabeth Thomas were married September 12th, 1719
William Butt and Elizabeth Lemon were married 27 Jul 1696

Burials
23 May 1786 Martha Butt, 74 years of age, buried Northwest side of the Church yard
1773 Mar 23 Elizabeth daughter of John and Mary New was buried
1777 19 Jun Mary, wife of John New was buried
1769 Frances New wife of John New buried
1748 Jan 14 William Butt was buried
1744 5 Dec Elizabeth Butt was buried
Susanna daughter of Francis But was buried 29 February 1714
Thomas son of William But was buried 6 Nov 1704
Elizabeth daughter of William and Elizabeth But was buried 3 Jun 1702
Elizabeth Butt widow was buried 15 May 1697


Baptisms
28 Dec 1777 John son of John and Mary New was baptized
24 Apr 1774 John, son of John and Mary New was baptized
4 Aug 1771 Elizabeth daughter of John and Mary New was baptized
1737 John son of John and Frances Butt was baptized June 6
Martha daughter of William Butt was baptized 8 June 1712
Susanna daughter of Francis But was baptized 15 Feb 1714
John son of William and Elizabeth Butt was baptized 14 Sep 1707
John son of Francis and Mary But was baptized 21 May 1705
Thomas son of William But was baptized 5 Nov 1704
Elizabeth daughter of William and Elizabeth But baptized 3 Jun 1702
Mary daughter of William and Elizabeth Butt was baptized 10 Sep 1700
William son of William and Elizabeth Butt baptized 28 May 1697

Extraction done from 1690 to 1812. Some part of the register are difficult to read. A few new items acquired.

Research for the Vincent Family

The Vincent family of Shapwick is still somewhat of a mystery:  I believe that Ann Vincent (married to John Knight and the mother of Eleanor Knight married to Ellis Knight) was born/baptized at Dewlish 26 Oct 1755. If this is correct then her parents were James Vincent and Ann Moulam who married at Dewlish 28 Nov 1733 and Ann must have been one of their last children. Their first daughter named Ann died in 1752.

John Knight and Ann Vincent married 9 Jun 1783 at Shapwick but a check of the parish registers at Shapwick does not reveal a Vincent family although the priest notes that Ann Vincent was of the parish and reports John Knight to be of Spetisbury parish which is correct.

Possible reasons for Ann being in Shapwick (both signed the marriage registration) she was perhaps employed or living with relatives. Her parents were elderly by 1783 as they married in 1733 so both could have been in their early 70s or older if still living in 1783. Finding their burials would be handy and  I did check the parish registers for Shapwick burials but did not find anything between 1750 and 1790. Ann would have been 28 years of age when she married the 26 year old John Knight. Although Dewlish is not close to Spetisbury it is only 3 miles from Milton Abbas, 4 miles from winterbourne Whitchurch, 5 miles from Winterbourne Clenstone where a number of my other relatives lived and in particular only 6 miles from Winterborne Stickland where William Knight and Sarah Ellis were married just eight years earlier. It is their son Ellis who married Eleanor the daughter of John Knight and Ann Vincent.

Another interesting item found whilst searching the Dewlish parish registers was the Wellspring family. Ellis Ellis married Sarah Wellspring 7 Mar 1737 at Winterborne Stickland and I have not yet discovered the parents of Sarah Wellspring.

My next research day I will continue to hunt out references to the Vincent family. I shall perhaps check My Heritage and Genes Reunited for matches and email these if found.

Ellis family of Winterborne Stickland

Talking about Family Finder brought me to the Ellis family in a discussion on the autosomal list serv. I decided to verify something about Ellis Ellis my 5x great grandfather and ended up discovering that Winterborne Stickland early parish records are now on Ancestry. An hour passed quickly!

Ellis Ellis's parents were Thomas Ellis and Mary Bound and they married 27 Dec 1703 at Winterborne Stickland, Dorset, England. I haven't found any information on this couple at Winterborne Stickland yet. There are a lot of members of the Bound family there but few Ellis members. Thomas and Mary had six children of whom only three appear to have survived to adulthood with Ellis being the youngest child. Their children were Elizabeth, Mary, John, Thomas, William and Ellis (with Mary, John and Ellis appearing to survive to adulthood). I have not yet looked at Mary and John with regard to marriage or children but Ellis married Sarah Wellspring 7 Mar 1738 at Winterborne Stickland and they had seven children according to some family trees. I have not yet found a baptism for a William baptized around 1739 but I do have the information on Jane, Elizabeth, John, Susanna and Sarah (my ancestress). All survived to adulthood and I have marriages for Jane, Elizabeth and Susanna sisters of Sarah but not yet one for William or John.  I shall spend more time looking at the records on Ancestry.

Sarah married William Knight 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland and their son Ellis Knight married Eleanor Knight (they may have been 2nd or 3rd cousins). Their son Samuel Knight married Louisa Butt and my father remembered his great grandparents very well and actually knew Samuel when he was a child. They used to visit him at Turnworth Dorset where he lived. Samuel died in 1912 and was 83 years old ( his wife had died twelve years earlier but my grandfather's oldest sister Louisa lived with her grandparents and eventually married at Turnworth and stayed there thus providing them with good support in their old age since only four of their eleven children survived to adulthood).

For anyone related to this Ellis line there is quite a bit of information on them in the parish registers.

Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring married 7 Mar 1738 at Winterborne Stickland

Ancestry now has the Dorset parish registers online and a quick search brought up the marriage of Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring. They are one set of my 5x great grandparents and I really hadn't expected to find out more about them until I made a trip to the Dorset Record Office in Dorchester and that was rather on the bottom of my list of things to do in Dorset. I had found the Ellis family in Andover and began to wonder if they had moved on from there but evidently not.

The parents of Ellis Ellis turned out to be Thomas Ellis and Mary Bound who were themselves married 27 Dec 1703 at Winterborne Stickland. The Ellis family has been in Winterborne Stickland for quite a while prior to this date so I may, when I read the register, find a baptism for Thomas and his parents. The Bound family is also found in Winterborne Stickland and a quick search did not locate Mary's baptism or parents but I will leave that for the Ellis research day once I am back into the schedule once again.

The youngest daughter of Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring was Sarah Ellis who married William Knight 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland. I may now be able to settle which of the eight children attributed to William and Sarah are actually theirs. I am in somewhat of a debate on the results which were given to me for the Knight family that I descend from and what I am finding. But I shall save all of that register reading for my research day.

I rather believe that my Dorset line are primarily agricultural labourers and skilled tradesmen as far as I can tell thus far. They all lived in the Winterborne Valley within about ten miles of Blandford Forum. A large number of them suddenly moved to Lancashire in the mid 1800s for work but they seemed to find their roots in Dorset coming back in their old age.

I am very happy that the Dorset parish registers and wills are now scanned and available on Ancestry. I will make very good use of that material. When I visit Dorset I really would like to drive about and see everything. It is a very rural area and quite full of history as we discovered when we were there in 2008. I would have been sad to spend days in the Registry Office with all the goodness of Dorset beckoning to me. It is also the home of a number of my husband's ancestors; they having left in the 1630s to go to America. His roots are a whole lot further back but he rather enjoyed visiting St Mary's Beaminster Church where his 10x great grandparents John Nyle and Johane Paviot were married in 1605. We had a great visit to that Church.

Knight families at Spetisbury

Following yesterday's revelations on the Knight families at Spetisbury I decided to separate the families out from the transcription of the Knight family in the Spetisbury Parish Registers. I did not actually do this transcription but hope to be able to see the Spetisbury Parish Registers once Ancestry has added the earlier Dorset records to their site.

Using the extracted Parish Register information for Spetisbury and the OPC Dorset website for earlier marriages in the Knight family there I will build the family groupings.

Henry Knight married Mary Oliver 25 Dec 1727 at Spetisbury

Thomas Knight 
Henry Knight
David Knight baptized 2 May 1736

Henry Knight (Junior)  married Ann Holloway 6 Jun 1754 (father Henry Knight)
(data likely missing)
Henry Knight baptized 21 Mar 1764; buried 20 Sep 1773
Sarah Knight baptized 2 Feb 1766
Elizabeth Knight baptized 24 Feb 1768; buried 26 Feb 1768
David Knight baptized 20 May 1770
Henry Knight baptized 3 Apr 1774
David Knight baptized 27 Dec 1777

David Knight married Martha Butler 17 Feb 1756 (father Henry Knight)
John Knight baptized 2 Oct 1757
(Data likely missing)
William Knight baptized 5 Feb 1764
Thomas Knight baptized 13 Dec 1772
Henry Knight baptized 21 Nov 1773
Mary Knight baptized 26 Jan 1777
George Knight baptized 1 Oct 1778

Thomas Knight married Martha
Henry Knight baptized 26 Jan 1777
George Knight baptized 1 Oct 1778

John Knight married Elizabeth
Joseph Knight baptized ?; buried 4 Sep 1785
David Knight baptized 2 May 1784; buried 19 Jan 1786
Jane Knight baptized 1 Jan 1786; buried 31 Jan 1787
David Knight baptized 16 Dec 1787
Henry Knight baptized 1 Dec 1789; buried 21 Apr 1791
Jane Knight baptized 21 Apr 1791
Charlotte Knight baptized 3 Jun 1792
Mary Ann Knight baptized 7 Oct 1792
Harriet Knight baptized 3 Mar 1794; buried 13 Jan 1796
Henry Knight baptized 17 Sep 1795; buried 5 Jan 1796
Henry Knight baptized 25 Sep 1798


John Knight  married Ann Vincent 9 Jun 1783 (at Shapwick)

Joseph Knight baptized 24 Aug 1785
Eleanor Knight baptized 12 Dec 1786
Sophia Knight baptized 25 Sep 1789
Martha Knight baptized 8 Oct 1796
Maria Knight baptized Jan 1797 ?
John Knight baptized 30 Nov 1800

William Knight married Ann Ballet 23 Oct 1786 (Thomas Knight witness)
Charles Knight baptized 28 Jun 1789
Elizabeth Anne baptized 16 Oct 1791
James Knight baptized 3 Jul 1794
Jemima Knight baptized 13 Nov 1797

Thomas Knight married Elizabeth
Mary Ann Knight baptized 3 Jun 1792

Thomas Knight married Ann
Mary Knight baptized 30 Jan 1794
Ann Knight baptized 15 Dec 1795
Joseph Knight baptized 29 Apr 1798

William Knight (widower) married Sarah Loader 3 Nov 1798 (Henry Knight witness)
William Knight baptized 22 Sep 1799
James Knight baptized 11 May 1802
Hannah Knight baptized 22 Mar 1807
George Knight baptized 20 Aug 1809
Harry Knight baptized 24 May 1812

Henry Knight married Ann Holloway 13 Apr 1799
Benjamin Knight baptized 22 Mar 1799
Henrietta Knight baptized 11 Jan 1801
Mary Ann Knight baptized 26 Dec 1802
Eliza Knight baptized 21 Oct 1804
Eliz Knight baptized 25 Feb 1807
Jane Knight baptized 30 Oct 1808
George Knight baptized 1 Oct 1810

William Knight (widower) married Elizabeth Mitchell 8 Apr 1804 (Henry Knight witness)
David Knight baptized 16 Aug 1807
William Knight baptized 8 Oct 1810; buried 8 Oct 1810


Ellis Knight married Eleanor Knight 29 May 1804 (William Knight witness)
Ellis Knight baptized 27 Jul 1806
George Knight baptized 28 Jun 1808
Mary Ann Knight baptized 26 Nov 1809
Samuel Knight baptized 8 Nov 1811; buried 14 Jul 1823 (at Turnworth)
Maria Knight baptized 16 Feb 1814
Henry Knight baptized 28 Jan 1816
Elizabeth Knight baptized 30 Aug 1818 (at Turnworth)
Edward Knight baptized 12 Nov 1820 (at Turnworth); buried 8 Nov 1841 (at Turnworth)
John Knight baptized 18 May 1823 (at Turnworth)
Thomas Knight baptized 24 Apr 1825 (at Turnworth)
Samuel Knight baptized 25 May 1828 (at Turnworth and my 2x great grandfather)
Martha Knight baptized 21 Nov 1830 (at Turnworth)
George Knight b c 1831 (at Turnworth)

From the Militia Rolls of 1787 at Spetisbury there are the following Knight males listed:

John KNIGHT  bricklayer  1 child

John  KNIGHT  ?servant, bricklayer
   
Willm.  KNIGHT  bricklayer
   
There are two John Knight families at Spetisbury in 1787. John Knight married to Ann Vincent has two children (Eleanor was born at the end of 1786) and John Knight married to Elizabeth has buried all of their children with one born near the end of 1787. More evidence would be nice but it would appear perhaps that John Knight bricklayer with 1 child is the John Knight married to Ann Vincent. William Knight bricklayer would appear to be William married to Ann Ballet and later Sarah  Loader. William and Ann were married in Oct 1786 and did not have a child until after 1787.

This charting has been somewhat helpful but I still do not have a clear line back before John Knight since there are two John Knight families at Spetisbury in this time interval. Going through the burials might be helpful to see when these two men died - one John Knight was buried 17 Nov 1826 and by his age at death he is likely the John Knight baptized 2 Oct 1757 and the son of David Knight and Martha Butler but was he the husband of Ann Vincent. I shall need to re-examine the burial records for Spetisbury.

The other interesting item is my other 4x great grandfather William Knight married to Sarah Ellis 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland. There really isn't any evidence to prove that this William Knight was ever living at Spetisbury. There was a William Knight son of David Knight and Martha Butler baptized 5 Feb 1764 but he is likely the William Knight who married Ann Ballet and then Sarah Loader and was a bricklayer at Spetisbury. Looking at the Winterborne Stickland records will be most interesting once they are available on Ancestry before 1813.

But again I do not know the history of the Knight family at Spetisbury prior to 1727 when Henry Knight married  Mary Oliver. My suspicion is that these two families are linked but I have no idea how far back - the naming of the 13 children of Ellis and Eleanor Knight is most interesting.

There was a John Knight who married Elizabeth Kebble 31 May 1778 at St Peters Shaftesbury Dorset. This is the location for the William Knight/Mary Dashwood marriage as well. There is a family lore that the Knight family were stone masons/bricklayers in Cann and gradually moved down to the Blandford Forum area from the mid 1600s on.

Knight family of Spetisbury, Winterborne Stickland and Turnworth

An interesting email and a number of images from an Australian correspondent on the Butt family has led me back once again to my Knight family. I haven't been able to agree with other Knight researchers on our mutual ancestors before William Knight (married to Sarah Ellis) and John Knight (married to Ann Vincent). I have a vague recollection of my Grandfather mentioning that he had grandparents that were cousins and that they had 18 children. It does appear that it was a set of his great grandparents who had 13 children but I was only eight when he died so could easily have misunderstood that. I haven't been able to find the cousin relationship although Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight certainly shared the same surname (they were my grandfather's great grandparents). There is at least one cousin marriage though that I do know about now and my grandfather could have been confused in that regard now that I have put the Carter/Blake/King family puzzle together with Joseph Blake and Joanna King (one set of my 4x great grandparents) being first cousins.

As I was going through the Winterborne Stickland Parish Registers I noted a marriage with John Vincent of Dewlish and so I had a look at that parish and discovered many Vincent entries including Ann baptized 26 Oct 1755 at Dewlish and the daughter of James Vincent and Ann Moulam. Ann Vincent married John Knight 9 Jun 1783 at Shapwick (2 miles from Spetisbury) and I have been trying to find information on this couple for quite a while. Why do they marry at Shapwick and not Spetisbury? Dewlish is 11 miles from Shapwick as well; why not Dewlish if that is her birthplace? James Vincent and Ann Moulam married 28 Nov 1733 at Dewlish and their first daughter Ann died young. However, when I check the OPC Dorset site for Shapwick the marriage registration is there for John Knight and Ann Vincent but no baptisms at Shapwick for the Knight family. Also they are the only Knight marriage at Shapwick between 1731 and 1813.

Also in the Winterborne Stickland Parish Registers I found the burial of John Knight 17 Nov 1826 and his age was listed as 69 years giving him a likely year of birth of 1757 and there is a christening 2 Oct 1757 at Spetisbury of John son of David Knight and Martha Buller (married 17 Feb 1756 at Spetisbury). I had discarded this couple as the parents of John because John and Ann did not name one of their sons David. Nor did they name one of their sons Henry and David is known to be the son of Henry Knight and Mary Oliver (married 25 Dec 1727 at Spetisbury). But as I worked my way through these thoughts I am remembering that I did not find the children of John Knight and Ann Vincent - they were given to me early on in my genealogy work. I did not touch the Knight family when we went to Salt Lake City so in fact I have not really looked at this family beyond doubting the connections that other researchers have found between William and John Knight (both are my 4x great grandfathers) and the ancestors of these two.

Looking at the IGI since the baptisms are not yet online at Ancestry in the Dorset records, I find

Eleanor baptized 12 Dec 1786 at Silton
Martha baptized 28 Oct 1796 at Silton

I know from the census that Eleanor always says she was born at Spetisbury so the Silton is somewhat confusing and as well 19 miles from Spetisbury. Is this an error of transcription? Once the registers are online prior to 1813 I will have an answer to that question. Looking at the OPC Dorset website, Silton Bishop Transcripts do not list any Knight baptisms between 1731 and 1880 so it is an error but in favour of which village? That remains to be discovered.

Did they have only the two children? There are seven other children listed for this couple by other researchers: Elizabeth Ann, Thomas, Jemima, Benjamin, Joseph, James and Samuel. No baptisms are listed by other researchers for these children; dates given are from the census when available otherwise they would appear to be subjective.A great deal is known about Eleanor and she was 83 years of age when she died. She lived with my grandfather's grandfather and died just before the marriage of my great grandparents Blake 25 Sep 1870 at Turnworth (Edward Blake married Maria Jane Knight 29 Oct 1870 at Upper Clatford).

Eleanor Knight married Ellis Knight 29 May 1804 at Spetisbury but their marriage in the IGI is listed as Silton. This Knight marriage does not appear on the Silton Parish Records on the OPC site.

From another researcher I have but not verified by me:

Spetisbury Parish Records
FHL Film # 1239228

Baptisms
1812  May 24    Harry  s/o William & Sarah Knight 
1811  Nov 8      Samuel s/o Ellis & Eleanor Knight
1810  Oct 1       George s/o Henry & Anne Knight
1810  Oct 8       William s/o William & Eliz Knight
1809  Aug 20    George s/o William & Sarah Knight
1809  Nov 26    Mary Ann d/o Ellis & Eleanor Knight
1808  Jun 28     George s/o Ellis & Eleanor Knight
1808  Oct 30     Jane d/o Henry & Ann Knight
1807  Feb 25    Eliz d/o Henry & Ann Knight
1807  Mar 22    Hannah d/o William & Sarah Knight
1807  Aug 16    David s/o William & Eliz Knight
1806  Jul 27      Ellis s/o Ellis & Eleanor Knight
1804  Jan 22    Charles s/o William & Sarah Knight
1804  Oct 21    Eliza d/o Henry & Ann Knight
1802  May 11   James s/o William & Sarah Knight
1802  Dec 26   Mary Ann d/o Henry & Ann Knight
1801  Jan 11    Henrietta d/o Henry & Ann Knight
1800  Nov 30   John s/o John & Ann Knight
1799  Mar 22    Benjamin s/o Henry & Ann Knight
1799  Sep 22   William s/o William & Sarah Knight
1798  Apr 29    Joseph s/o Thomas & Ann Knight
1798  Sep 25   Henry s/o John & Eliz Knight
1797  Jan ?      Maria d/o John & ?? Knight (bef Jan 10)
1797  Nov 13   Jemima d/o William & Ann Knight
1796  Oct 8      Martha d/o John & Ann Knight
1795  Sep 17  Henry s/o John & Eliz Knight
1795  Oct 4      George s/o Sarah Knight
1795  Dec 15   Ann d/o Thomas & Ann Knight
1794  Jan 30    Mary d/o Thomas & Ann Knight
1794  Mar 3      Harriet d/o John & Eliz Knight
1794  Jul 6        James s/o William & Ann Knight
1792  Jun 3       Charlotte c/o John & Eliz Knight
1792  Aug 9      Mary Ann d/o Thomas & Eliz Knight
1792  Oct 7       Mary Ann d/o John & Eliz Knight
1791  Apr 21    Jane d/o John & Eliz Knight
1791  Oct 16    Elizabeth Anne d/o William & Ann Knight
1789  Jun 28   Charles s/o William & Ann Knight
1789  Sep 25   Sophia d/o Jo & Anne Knight
1789  Dec 1     Henry s/o John & Eliz Knight
1787  Dec 16   David s/o John & Eliz Knight
1786  Jan 1      Jane d/o John & Eliz Knight
1786  Dec 12   Eleanor d/o John & Ann Knight
1785  Aug 24   Joseph s/o Joh & Anne Knight
1784  May 2      David s/o J & Eliz Knight
1778  Oct 1       George s/o Thomas & Martha Knight
1777  Jan 26     Mary d/o Thomas & Martha Knight
1777  Dec 27    David s/o Henry & Ann Knight
1774  Apr 3        Henry s/o Henry & Ann Knight
1773  Nov 21     Henry s/o Thomas & Martha Knight
1772  Dec 13    Thomas s/o David & Martha Knight
1770  May 20     David s/o Henry & Ann Knight
1768  Feb 24     Elizabeth d/o Henry & Ann Knight
1766  Feb 2       Sarah d/o Henry  & Ann Knight
1764  Feb 5      William s/o David & Martha Knight
1764  Mar 21    Henry s/o Henry & Ann Knight

Marriages
1804  Apr 8     William Knight & Eliz Mitchel
1804  May 29  Ellis Knight & Eleanor Knight
1799  Apr 13    Henry Knight & Ann Holloway
1798  Nov ?     William Knight & Sarah Loader
1793  Nov 7      James Collins & Ann Knight
1791  Jan 17     John Smith of Blandford Forum & Mary Knight
1786  Oct 23     William Knight, b & Ann Ballet, s, both OTP

Burials

1810  Oct 8      William s/o William & Eliz Knight
1806  Jan 1      Martha Knight
1801  Feb 3     Henry Knight
1801  Jun 10    Elizabeth Knight
1801  Sep 14   Charles Knight
1801  Sep 14   James Knight
1799  Feb 15   John Knight
1798  May 8     Ann Knight
1796  Jan 5      Henry s/o John & Eliz Knight
1796  Jan 13    Harriet d/o John & Eliz Knight
1793  Oct 19    Miriam Knight
1791  Apr 21   Henry s/o John & Eliz Knight
1788  Jun 2      Henry Knight
1788  Jun 11    Ann widow of Henry Knight
1787  Jan 31    Jane d/o John & Eliz Knight
1786  Jan 19    David s/o John & Eliz Knight
1786  Aug 16    Mary Knight
1785  Sep 4      Joseph s/o John & Eliz Knight
1778  Sep 28   Henry Knight, parish clerk
1773  Sep 20   Henry s/o Henry & Ann Knight
1768  Feb 26   Eliz infant d/o Henry & Ann Knight


From this list I have as children of John and Ann Knight:

1800  Nov 30   John s/o John & Ann Knight
1796  Oct 8      Martha d/o John & Ann Knight
1789  Sep 25   Sophia d/o Jo & Anne Knight
1786  Dec 12   Eleanor d/o John & Ann Knight
1785  Aug 24   Joseph s/o Joh & Anne Knight

I am noticing that Elizabeth Ann, Thomas, Jemima, Benjamin, James and Samuel belong to different parents namely William and Ann Knight. David, Henry and Thomas are all brothers and sons of Henry Knight and Mary Oliver. The big question to me at this point is who is Henry Knight married to Mary Oliver. He was Parish Clerk at Spetisbury and buried 28 Sep 1778.

I shall check the Spetisbury records on Ancestry now to see if I can find any marriages for these children and I did not find anything conclusive for Sophia, Martha, Joseph or John siblings of Eleanor.

I do have one part of my question answered with respect to John and William Knight. They are not brothers. Probably they are not first cousins but beyond that I have no idea. I am not sure of the parents of William Knight and Sarah Ellis. Sarah does appear on the census so I know that she was born around 1756 which fits with the data that I have. But were the parents of William Knight as thought? Were they William Knight and Mary Dashwood who married 9 Aug 1760 at St Peter Shaftesbury Dorset?

Ellis at Winterborne Stickland

Working on the Andover Parish Registers I found an Ellis family there which was rather interesting given the later marriage of Sarah Ellis and William Knight and then their son William Knight and Eleanor Knight followed by Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt and their daughter Maria Jane Knight and Edward Blake. Coincidence or did this Ellis family which appears at Winterborne Stickland in the early 1770s spend time in the Andover area?

Baptisms
Ellice    Richard    son    Ellice    Robert    Simmons    Sarah    1695    May    13
Ellice    John    son    Ellice    Robert        Sarah    1700    November    17
Ellis    John    son    Ellis    Robert        Ann    1732    April    25
Ellis alias Simons    Robert    son    Ellis alias Simons    Robert        Ann    1720    May    6
Ellis alias Simons    Elisha    son    Ellis alias Simons    Elias        Mary    1720    December    18

Marriages
Thorneton    John        Ellis    Margaret                1604    October    29    widow
White    Samuel        Ellis    Mary                1740    January    14   
Thurman    Thomas    East Wood    Ellise    Dina    East Wood            1655    July    14

Burials
Eles    James                        1731    May    23   
Ellice    Robert                        1710    October    8    senior, woollen
Ellis    Elizabeth    daughter            Ellis    Joan    1715    November    26    woollen
Ellis    Joan                        1723    February    20    woollen, widow
Ellis    John                        1732    May    5   
Ellis    Dorothy                        1742    April    1

The family I am looking for is Ellis Ellis who married Sarah Wellspring 7 Mar 1738 at Winterborne Stickland; I have no information on Ellis and Sarah was buried 25 Jan 1780 at Winterborne Stickland (no age given). They baptized four daughters and probably one son at Winterborne Stickland:

Jane baptized 28 Sep 1742 married Atman Melchizedek 2 Jul 1762 at Winterborne Stickland.

Elizabeth baptized 3 Feb 1744 married John Upshall 16 Apr 1770 at Winterborne Stickland.

John baptized 14 Jun 1747 (although the parents are listed as John Ellis and Sarah this is perhaps a transcription error and I am eagerly awaiting Ancestry having the earlier Dorset records online)

Susanna (no baptism found yet) married Thomas Cocks 16 Jul 1772 at Winterborne Stickland.

Sarah baptized 5 Aug 1756 married William Knight 7 Aug 1775 at Winterborne Stickland and they had 8 children according to a number of researchers. I will look at these children in another Knight research blog.

After I found the Ellis records at Andover I did wonder if Elisha Ellis was called Ellis Ellis as the date of birth/baptism would fit very nicely into this family grouping. I have not found the Ellis family at Winterborne Stickland before 1738. Proving/disproving that will be interesting I suspect.

Investigating to see if the Ellis family lived nearby Winterborne Stickland it is possible to search the OPC Dorset website and I do find Ellis families in this area. I will continue to investigate the Ellis family in Dorset on my next research day

Widow Blake buried 1734

Widow Blake was buried in 1734. Possibly the wife of Robert Blake as he was buried 1729 and his wife was Elizabeth and no record of her being buried yet. The last Blake burial in this time period was 1736 and this was Elizabeth Blake (no other notation). I can not really begin to guess whether Mary Blake is one of the burials (widow of Thomas Blake and mother of Thomas Blake (b 1709)). The priest stopped noting anything other than the names from 1735 on. It is a new priest once again and he is not overly familiar with the names.

The burials at Andover have taken a sudden spike in the late 1730s and early 1740s. There are probably three to four times as many burials but amazingly there are no Blake burials after 1736 with the exception of Joseph son of Joseph and Mary Blake who is buried in 1746. Initially I had this Joseph on the list as my ancestor so finding his burial was a further confirmation that I should not look at this particular Blake line.

Has the Blake family gone to Penton Mewsey? Interesting thought all of that as they also suddenly appear at Abbots Ann in this time period (marriage of Charles Blake and Mary Prince in 1736). In this time period the death rate is quite horrendous. I will do a calculation when I am finished this register just to see the increased percentage. There are 9928 burials up to 1746 at Andover and only 11078 baptisms in the same time period. All the gained growth of the last hundred years was lost in seven years of massive deaths at Andover. I shall have to check on epidemics.

Found on line for England:

1727-1729 Great febrile epidemic in London, relapsing fever and some typhus, fatal anginas, cholera, epidemic agues and ‘influenzas’, fever, convulsions and griping, dysentery (amongst others), smallpox in London

1731 Smallpox in London

1733 Measles followed an influenza epidemic in same year, scarlet fever, influenza

1734 Scarlet fever, convulsions, ‘milatary fever’ (eruption of red and purple and white vesicles), smallpox in London

1735 ‘Milatary fever’ (eruption of red and purple and white vesicles)

1736 ‘Milatary fever’ (eruption of red and purple and white vesicles), smallpox in London

1737 Influenza, smallpox in London

1739 Typhus

1740 Typhus and smallpox

1741 Smallpox, great epidemic of fever, great typhus epidemic, fever

1742 Smallpox, great epidemic of fever, great typhus epidemic

1743 Dysentery followed influenza

Always remembering that Andover is not really that far from London (by car it is only 30 minutes) and not an entire day's journey by horse in those days or by coach. Diseases would have spread quickly from the capital area I rather expect. I do not know if Andover was heavily bombed in the war my cousins lived at Upper Clatford with our Aunt Sarah Smallbones and her husband. Sarah was teaching at the school and took in the children as their parents lived near the coast (Weymouth) and he didn't remember any bombs dropping in their area.

There are still Lambden families there (they are unfortunately also victims of this sudden death) as well as Durnford and Farmer families. These also interest me very much at Andover. I may yet discover the channel through which my great grandfather ended up marrying Maria Jane Knight from the Blandford Forum Dorset area. Certainly the Durnford family are there in the later part of the 1700s with my ancestor being baptized there in 1770. I have not yet read the registers in Winterborne Stickland where she was baptized so do not know if the Durnford family was already there for a long time before that date.

More Blake Burials at Andover

Continuing with the Andover Parish Register and I have reached 4865 burials by December 1692. There are several Blake burials that I would have expected to find here and do. I have their wills and need to transcribe them but will wait until I reach the mid 1700s in the Andover Register so that I have all the Blake names in these registers.

Many of the old families are still here but there are new names and Durnford is an interesting one. My 4x great grandmother married to John Butt was Jane Durnford. She was born at Winterborne Clenstone in 1771 according to another researcher. This Durnford family is not found commonly in this Dorset area prior to this time but could they have come from the Andover area? It is an intriguing thought.

These families are tied to the land as farmers/agricultural labourers in the mid 1700s but remembering how manors work they could have been moved by the lord of the manor between his estates. The time period between 1771 and 1845 when my Edward Blake is born is not that great in terms of people remembering each other and I may just extract the Durnford entries into a chart to see if I can discover any interesting marriages. I do not know where the parents of Jane Durnford (Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball) married. As far as I can tell it was not at Winterborne Clenstone and Jane was baptized at Winterborne Stickland. Unfortunately the records for Winterborne Stickland are still not on the OPC page (I do Winterborne Clenstone for the OPC Dorset site).

I will continue transcribing the Andover Parish Registers and I am currently on the 3rd fiche of the 4th register (all burials). I should finish all four fiche by mid-week. Then I begin parish register 5 and that is the christenings and marriages from 1685 to 1701. The burial register in this case goes to 1714.

At some point in the past I thought I found the burial of a Thomas Blake in this burial register. Now that I have just two candidates in this register it would be interesting to see if I am remembering correctly. Now that I am reconsidering Thomas Blake I am realizing that Thomas b 1761 could be my ancestor and that he married when he was older so that his death in 1714 does seem somewhat more reasonable (53 years) than the death of Thomas Blake b 1785 at 29 years of age. Finding the burial again could be most interesting as sudden death at 29 years of age was not that unusual. Joseph Blake was only 37 when he died (my 4x great grandfather). Both he and his eldest son died within 11 days of each other (the father and then the son). The register doesn't say that it was an accident in either case but Joseph was a farmer and his son Thomas would have been old enough to be helping him. My ancestor, also named Thomas, was born posthumously five months later.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 13 April 2008

I completed the story for my husband to use in the next issue of the Branch Journal on researching at Salt Lake City. We wanted to express the necessity of being prepared before going to do research there. The need to follow your plans when you do start researching as there is just so much material there to look at that you can easily become distracted. Having goals in mind helps to keep you focused and, I think, yields you better results for the overall time spent there.

I then continued with the Poor Law Records for Turnworth working on 1751 for the Poor Law Rate. The remainder of the records are "snapshots" that refer to my ancestors. My 3x great grandmother Ellen Knight was paid for cleaning the Church and her brother in law (and first cousin) was paid as Parish Clerk. The Knight family at Turnworth was involved with care of the Church from the mid 1820s to the early 1900s. When we visited Turnworth the lady across from the Church was most kind to us and we saw inside the Church and the font where my 2x great grandfather was baptized. The key to the Church I held in my hand and it was a memory maker as I am sure that 150 years ago my Samuel probably held that same key in his hands and nearly 200 years ago my 3x great grandparents Ellis and Ellen Knight also held likely that same key in their hands. It gives one a warm fuzzy feeling to experience the continuum of time through such objects that exist before we are born and are still there after we die. My Knight family before 1820 lived at Spetisbury where Ellen was born and baptized. Their first six children were all born and baptized at Spetisbury and the last seven were all born and baptized at Turnworth. Why they moved from Spetisbury to Turnworth is a mystery which I had hoped to solve with records. It eludes me at the moment but perhaps in the future.

I also continued drawing out people on the 1911 Census at Turnworth and I am now missing only 18 of the 128 people which is really great. I will have to wait until Ancestry has them online or I am thinking of subscribing to FindMyPast once they have it available. I have a number of items to look up on FindMyPast which would make a membership quite practical. Because Ancestry offers American, Canadian and British records it is most practical for me to have a membership with them for both my husband and I since he has so much American and Canadian ancestry plus they are getting records for French, Dutch and German which date back into his earlier time periods. But FindMyPast will likely have far more English records. So eventually I can see that I will want a subscription with them as well.

Tomorrow I will continue with the Family Library images completing the Turnworth and then moving on to Winterborne Stickland (I do not have a lot of images for this village). I will transcribe the graveyard records for Selworthy Somerset and then move on to records for Wiltshire which I acquired at the Family History Library. But tomorrow I will likely only complete to the end of the graveyard records for Selworthy. Plus I need to get my hair cut!

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 10 April 2008

I completed the census to the end of 1871 and started 1881 for Turnworth. I am wondering who Anna Arnold, schoolmistress in 1871, is. She is from Stickland so is perhaps related to Hannah's family. The 1881 census is part of the Blandford and not listed separately. The Okedon family was enormous on the 1861 and 1871 census pushing the population of Turnworth up to 150 people from its usual 120 or so.

It was a busy day and I worked on a couple of other projects. We went to a concert at Church last night. It was my first time back at Church for nearly a year. The concert was very well attended which is good to see. We will go to a service Saturday night - not the Great Vigil of Easter but rather a Labyrinth service. It sounds interesting and perhaps very indicative of where I am at - pondering my Church and how it will survive in the 21st century. That in essence is what we must do - all of us - find a way for the work of Jesus Christ to continue to be relevant and to keep the Church as a strong part of society in the years to come.

Results of Research at Salt Lake City - 4 April 2009

Back to working on my Salt Lake City images and I decided to move to Dorset and work on the Protestation Returns for my villages there in the Winterbourne Valley - Winterborne Clenstone, Winterborne Stickland, Milton Abbas, Turnworth, Winterborne Houghton, etc. I have the Poor Rate for these villages and I have a mixture of people from here - agricultural labourers, stone masons, carpenters, and land owners. I shall transcribe the records and see what I can learn about all of them. My great grandmother Blake was Maria Jane Knight and she was born at Turnworth early in January 1850 but I am still trying to find her death date. I have her picture and she has a quiet smile in 1898. Usually people were shy or very stiff in their pictures but she stares forthrightly at the camera with just the hint of a smile in her face. She is wearing her blond braided hair like a coronet around her head, her black dress looking neat and tidy and her shoes are highly polished. My father adored his father's mother and he stayed with them at Upper Clatford a number of times as a child. My father remembered that she had come from close to Blandford Forum (Turnworth is just to the northwest of Blandford) and the name quite intrigued him I rather think.

Maria Jane Knight's parents were Samuel Knight and Louisa Butt and two of her aunts and uncles Knight married two of her aunts and uncles Butt. They were a closely knit family and my father knew his great grandfather Samuel Knight fairly well. They used to visit him every summer by traveling through the New Forest which quite stuck in his memory. Samuel died in 1912 when my father was eight. He was a tall thin white haired man who lived with his eldest granddaughter (my grandfather's oldest sister). The Knight family were stone masons and carpenters, the Butt family were agricultural labourers (Charles (Samuel's father) was a Wesleyan Methodist Lay Preacher) mostly as far back as I can tell, the Arnolds were land owners and other surnames were: Ball, Dashwood, Durnford, Ellis, Foster, Gantrell, Lemon, Long, Malton, Norris, Rolles, Sandle, Vincent and Wellspring. Unfortunately, I am unable to purchase these parish registers and the Bishops Transcripts are quite incomplete. One day I hope to spend a few days at Dorchester reading through the register copies although, to be honest, I would rather be out visiting where they lived.

Tomorrow I shall continue with the Poor Law Rates of these little villages. It is good to be back to the Salt Lake City Records. I would like to carry on through them now until I finish.