My Mabbot family from Lincolnshire isn't too remarkable -- most of them stayed in Lincolnshire, worked the land and had lots of kids. So, as I was going back through some of the family research that I had done long, checking for new records -- I stumbled across an Ancestry hint for John Mabbot, for a Divorce in London in 1874.
Divorce? In 1874? And in London? This seemed like it couldn't possibly be my family......
Turned out it was a VERY interesting story! He was living in London in 1871, where he was a Horse Keeper, but his wife is listed as Jane. The divorce document was filed by his wife, Mary in 1874, and details some pretty appalling behavior on his part --- drinking, physical abuse (including trying to strangle her in bed), desertion,in 1862, etc.
But the real shocker was that he had "habitually committed incestuous adultery" with Jane Gaby, Mary's niece.
Hard to say what the real story was -- but ultimately John and Jane had 5 children and married in 1875 after the divorce was final. Four of their children were born before the marriage, and one after. John lived on to the age of 76, and Jane to age 80......so maybe they ultimately had a happy life.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
A Civil War Soldier in MY TREE????? But I'm Irish and English!
I'm a 2nd generation American, with all four of my Grandparents emigrating from England and Ireland just before World War One. I have many Cornish ancestors who emigrated to Australia for the Gold Rush, and some Irish ancestors who emigrated after the Famine, but in general it seems my people tended to stay "home". I've only found a few of my Lincolnshire ancestors that left the UK for Canada or the US.
So, imagine my surprise to run across an Ancestry tree for my ancestor Isaac Lindsey. They had all sorts of exotic information (and photos) for this man. Seemed hard to believe at first, but it all is well documented with sources to back it up.
He emigrated from England in 1854 or so, from Liverpool to New York, listed as a Farmer. He then shows up in Minnesota in 1870 Census. Perhaps he was attracted by the advertisements for free land that appeared in England, to entice emigrants to the frontier.
His wife followed, and she must have perished, he joins the Union Army as a 40 year old Private in 1862, and is discharged for disability in 1863, and then returns to Minnesota and marries a widow with 3 children in 1869. He and his new wife Louisa Jane Culver go on to have 9 children (the final child was born when Isaac was 69 years old).
And for some unknown reason, the entire family relocates sometime between 1885 and 1900 to Louisiana!
I think this just proves, you never know who in your family may have "up and left"!! I have many an ancestor that just seem to disappear off the face of the earth, without leaving a death record, and maybe it's because I'm not looking broadly enough!
Isaac Lindsey left a huge number of descendents, and thankfully some of them have put his family tree online for me to discover my 2nd cousin 4 x removed!!!
So, imagine my surprise to run across an Ancestry tree for my ancestor Isaac Lindsey. They had all sorts of exotic information (and photos) for this man. Seemed hard to believe at first, but it all is well documented with sources to back it up.
He emigrated from England in 1854 or so, from Liverpool to New York, listed as a Farmer. He then shows up in Minnesota in 1870 Census. Perhaps he was attracted by the advertisements for free land that appeared in England, to entice emigrants to the frontier.
His wife followed, and she must have perished, he joins the Union Army as a 40 year old Private in 1862, and is discharged for disability in 1863, and then returns to Minnesota and marries a widow with 3 children in 1869. He and his new wife Louisa Jane Culver go on to have 9 children (the final child was born when Isaac was 69 years old).
And for some unknown reason, the entire family relocates sometime between 1885 and 1900 to Louisiana!
I think this just proves, you never know who in your family may have "up and left"!! I have many an ancestor that just seem to disappear off the face of the earth, without leaving a death record, and maybe it's because I'm not looking broadly enough!
Isaac Lindsey left a huge number of descendents, and thankfully some of them have put his family tree online for me to discover my 2nd cousin 4 x removed!!!
Friday, February 20, 2015
Finding my 10th Great Grandparents ---- and OMG, a SMITH!!
In my rush to fill in my Devon ancestors, now that the Parish Registers are on Findmypast -- I've been busy finding grandparents right and left. Today, I had a big breakthrough on the Luscombe line, and took it back 3 more generations ---and found, the genealogist's nightmare, a SMITH!
Oh, Lord......I've always had some pretty unusual surnames in my research, without too many common names --- until now. The only saving grace is that her first name is Wilmoth.
So, my 10th Great Grandparents are:
WILMOTH SMITH and WILLIAM HINGESTON. Married in 1571 in Charleton, Devon, England.
I added some other unusual names: Winchelsey or Winchelsea and Neele.
More research needed on these lines, but for now I'm pretty happy to have taken my Devon roots back into the mid 1500's!!!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Irish DNA Soup!!!
On to my Irish side of the family.........oh, what a tangled web!
Most people throw their hands up when faced with Irish ancestors, and say "all the records were burned", and give up! This is so not true!!! Yes, researching your Irish ancestors can be challenging, but it is possible, there are plenty of records, and you just need to hone your skills even further and dig in.
The advent of DNA testing, has been a huge help in my research and it has helped tie up some of my loose ends and prove some of my suppositions, that I couldn't prove through traditional records.
Irish research also requires the use of "oral history", since the records don't go back much further than 1800 or so. I am lucky in that my Grandparents emigrated in the early 1900's, and several of their siblings stayed behind in Ireland, leaving many cousins still living in the area.
My roots are in Connemara, the rugged area west of the City of Galway. Irish is the native tongue, and many people still speak it today. Local nicknames are important, as it is often a mini-family tree in a name! To identify people with common names (Mary Walsh, for example), people are often referred to by their first name, their father's first name, and even his father's name. So someone might be called Mary Bill, or Mike Tony, or Martin Seamus Padraig. This helps distinguish families in conversation and oral history, but not in the written records. So the written records say Mary Walsh, father Patrick --- which isn't helpful, when trying to sort out your family tree! Occasionally you may see a name written in parentheses on a record (i.e. Griffith's Valuation) to distinguish the Father of 2 landholders with the same name. Another record source that I've used, is the cemetery inscription book --- in these, the nicknames are listed, as well as a bit of the the family line.
I've DNA tested with both Ancestry.com and FamilyTree DNA. Since I'm a female, I've only been able to do autosomnal testing, but I had a 2nd cousin test our male line (surname CONNOLLY/CONNEELY). Since so many Irish emigrated, there are plenty of researchers here in the USA who've tested, to try and find their Irish roots. Thus, leading to LOTS of matches. Sorting them all through is a challenge, which is compounded by the fact that there was a lot of inter-marriage between cousins (both close and distant), and the isolated nature of Connemara, means the gene pool was small and families tended to marry amongst their local area.
Update: Not sure what the point of this blog post was originally, other than my utter confusion!! I am still busy working, so only able to dip in and out of my genealogy research, and I feel like DNA requires my full concentration!! Maybe by the time I retire, I will have lots of close matches and it will all be sorted out for me! Ha!
Most people throw their hands up when faced with Irish ancestors, and say "all the records were burned", and give up! This is so not true!!! Yes, researching your Irish ancestors can be challenging, but it is possible, there are plenty of records, and you just need to hone your skills even further and dig in.
The advent of DNA testing, has been a huge help in my research and it has helped tie up some of my loose ends and prove some of my suppositions, that I couldn't prove through traditional records.
Irish research also requires the use of "oral history", since the records don't go back much further than 1800 or so. I am lucky in that my Grandparents emigrated in the early 1900's, and several of their siblings stayed behind in Ireland, leaving many cousins still living in the area.
My roots are in Connemara, the rugged area west of the City of Galway. Irish is the native tongue, and many people still speak it today. Local nicknames are important, as it is often a mini-family tree in a name! To identify people with common names (Mary Walsh, for example), people are often referred to by their first name, their father's first name, and even his father's name. So someone might be called Mary Bill, or Mike Tony, or Martin Seamus Padraig. This helps distinguish families in conversation and oral history, but not in the written records. So the written records say Mary Walsh, father Patrick --- which isn't helpful, when trying to sort out your family tree! Occasionally you may see a name written in parentheses on a record (i.e. Griffith's Valuation) to distinguish the Father of 2 landholders with the same name. Another record source that I've used, is the cemetery inscription book --- in these, the nicknames are listed, as well as a bit of the the family line.
I've DNA tested with both Ancestry.com and FamilyTree DNA. Since I'm a female, I've only been able to do autosomnal testing, but I had a 2nd cousin test our male line (surname CONNOLLY/CONNEELY). Since so many Irish emigrated, there are plenty of researchers here in the USA who've tested, to try and find their Irish roots. Thus, leading to LOTS of matches. Sorting them all through is a challenge, which is compounded by the fact that there was a lot of inter-marriage between cousins (both close and distant), and the isolated nature of Connemara, means the gene pool was small and families tended to marry amongst their local area.
Update: Not sure what the point of this blog post was originally, other than my utter confusion!! I am still busy working, so only able to dip in and out of my genealogy research, and I feel like DNA requires my full concentration!! Maybe by the time I retire, I will have lots of close matches and it will all be sorted out for me! Ha!
Monday, February 2, 2015
Parish Records at the National Library of Ireland
Ah, another quick trip to Dublin to consult the Roman Catholic Parish Registers......
Currently the only place these records can be viewed are at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. This is all due to change in the Summer of 2015, when Ireland will enter the digital age and put these up online for the public to consult at their leisure! What a day that will be! I will hold my breath until that actually happens, knowing that things move SLOWLY in the genealogy world of Irish records. And there won't be an index, so even online you will have to slog through the records (albeit at your leisure).
I have looked at these records on several trips to Dublin, but always in short bursts, since the Library's opening hours are limited, and one's vision can only take so much of peering at bad handwriting and faded, torn and stained pages.
The first few times I looked at the registers I was only looking for specific names in specific villages. I took down those in a spreadsheet and have consulted that initial file countless times, but as my research has progressed I've found new names and new villages that are connected, so it's been back to Dublin, once again.
This trip I was concentrating on the surnames: Nee, Conroy, Cannavin/Cannavan, with the assorted Toole, Conneely, and Walsh's I missed the first time around. I was looking exclusively at the Rosmuc Parish Register, which only has baptisms (no marriages or burials) from 1840-1880.
The early 1840's have plenty of births, and then there is a pronounced decrease as the Famine occurs. By late 1850's into early 1860's the baptisms pick up again as would be expected. The shear number of names and villages can be overwhelming, but the most amazing thing is that the Mother's maiden name is listed, so that you can get a "defacto" marriage record from the baptisms. The sponsor names also give you other possible family members (brothers, sisters, parents, etc).
Most of the names are incredibly common: Mary, Bridget, Patrick, Michael, etc. There are the occasional wild cards, some Irish names like Thadg (Thady) and Saints names like Colman/Coleman occur. Then there are the varieties of names: Honor, Honoria, Nora; Penelope, Penny, Nuala; John, Sean; Bridget, Bridie, Biddy, Delia, etc.
A mystery I've been trying to solve is where my Great Great Grandmother, Mary Nee comes from. She marries Patrick Walsh of the small village of Muckanaghkillew, but I suspect she may be from the Rosmuc area, as there are Nee's there. In looking at her children's baptismal sponsors I'm trying to establish that connection. It's still to be determined whether this will help.....
Currently the only place these records can be viewed are at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. This is all due to change in the Summer of 2015, when Ireland will enter the digital age and put these up online for the public to consult at their leisure! What a day that will be! I will hold my breath until that actually happens, knowing that things move SLOWLY in the genealogy world of Irish records. And there won't be an index, so even online you will have to slog through the records (albeit at your leisure).
I have looked at these records on several trips to Dublin, but always in short bursts, since the Library's opening hours are limited, and one's vision can only take so much of peering at bad handwriting and faded, torn and stained pages.
The first few times I looked at the registers I was only looking for specific names in specific villages. I took down those in a spreadsheet and have consulted that initial file countless times, but as my research has progressed I've found new names and new villages that are connected, so it's been back to Dublin, once again.
This trip I was concentrating on the surnames: Nee, Conroy, Cannavin/Cannavan, with the assorted Toole, Conneely, and Walsh's I missed the first time around. I was looking exclusively at the Rosmuc Parish Register, which only has baptisms (no marriages or burials) from 1840-1880.
The early 1840's have plenty of births, and then there is a pronounced decrease as the Famine occurs. By late 1850's into early 1860's the baptisms pick up again as would be expected. The shear number of names and villages can be overwhelming, but the most amazing thing is that the Mother's maiden name is listed, so that you can get a "defacto" marriage record from the baptisms. The sponsor names also give you other possible family members (brothers, sisters, parents, etc).
Most of the names are incredibly common: Mary, Bridget, Patrick, Michael, etc. There are the occasional wild cards, some Irish names like Thadg (Thady) and Saints names like Colman/Coleman occur. Then there are the varieties of names: Honor, Honoria, Nora; Penelope, Penny, Nuala; John, Sean; Bridget, Bridie, Biddy, Delia, etc.
A mystery I've been trying to solve is where my Great Great Grandmother, Mary Nee comes from. She marries Patrick Walsh of the small village of Muckanaghkillew, but I suspect she may be from the Rosmuc area, as there are Nee's there. In looking at her children's baptismal sponsors I'm trying to establish that connection. It's still to be determined whether this will help.....
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Elusive Aunt......the mystery of Aunt Mallard
For years I have struggled to find an Aunt ____ Mallard, listed in my Gt Gt Grandmother Mary Shepherd Hurrell's will dated 1812 in Stokenham, Devon. There was no first name listed, just a line. The name Mallard was also curious, it isn't common in the area and I couldn't find any Mallard marrying a Shepherd.
Turns out I was making some classic genealogical mistakes....I was assuming it was HER Aunt, so looking at the Shepherd line. Turns out that in fact it was her late husband's Aunt. The will states that her children should take up the legacy left by their Aunt (in fact Great Aunt), so I hadn't read carefully enough to look at both the children's father and mother to find the Aunt.
After some recent work on the Hurrell family, I had found some additional siblings for William Hurrell, and one was a Dorothy Hurrell. I did some cursory searching and couldn't find a marriage for Dorothy, but possibly a death. I put her to the side and didn't look further for a few days. Then by chance in some other searches I found that by leaving out the final L in the surname Hurrell, (so spelling it Hurrel), I got some additional hits. So, I tried Dorothy Hurrel in the search box of Findmypast, and lo and behold what came up?
Dorothy Hurrel married Edward Mallard 19 Oct 1745 in Totnes
And to further establish that I had the correct couple, it listed her as "of Sherford" and he "of East Allington" -- so definitely the right villages. Not sure why they married in Totnes, but that's another mystery to solve.
Then the challenge of seeing if I could find anything further on the couple -- children, death dates, and MAYBE a will?!!
I found their death dates, and no children, and then tried finding a will. No luck in finding anything for Edward Mallard, but lo and behold there was a will for Dorothy Mallard in 1801. BINGO!!!! Now to see if it was available online (fingers crossed). I found an entry on Findmypast under Devon Wills, but it was just the name and date. After some searching on The National Archives site I still couldn't find it, despite knowing the date and name. I then tried some Google searching and it seemed to show it was on the National Archives site, but the last name was misspelled as Matland. Eventually I found it and was able to purchase and download.
Turns out I was making some classic genealogical mistakes....I was assuming it was HER Aunt, so looking at the Shepherd line. Turns out that in fact it was her late husband's Aunt. The will states that her children should take up the legacy left by their Aunt (in fact Great Aunt), so I hadn't read carefully enough to look at both the children's father and mother to find the Aunt.
After some recent work on the Hurrell family, I had found some additional siblings for William Hurrell, and one was a Dorothy Hurrell. I did some cursory searching and couldn't find a marriage for Dorothy, but possibly a death. I put her to the side and didn't look further for a few days. Then by chance in some other searches I found that by leaving out the final L in the surname Hurrell, (so spelling it Hurrel), I got some additional hits. So, I tried Dorothy Hurrel in the search box of Findmypast, and lo and behold what came up?
Dorothy Hurrel married Edward Mallard 19 Oct 1745 in Totnes
And to further establish that I had the correct couple, it listed her as "of Sherford" and he "of East Allington" -- so definitely the right villages. Not sure why they married in Totnes, but that's another mystery to solve.
Then the challenge of seeing if I could find anything further on the couple -- children, death dates, and MAYBE a will?!!
I found their death dates, and no children, and then tried finding a will. No luck in finding anything for Edward Mallard, but lo and behold there was a will for Dorothy Mallard in 1801. BINGO!!!! Now to see if it was available online (fingers crossed). I found an entry on Findmypast under Devon Wills, but it was just the name and date. After some searching on The National Archives site I still couldn't find it, despite knowing the date and name. I then tried some Google searching and it seemed to show it was on the National Archives site, but the last name was misspelled as Matland. Eventually I found it and was able to purchase and download.
Wow!!! What a bonanza of names!! She names Richard Hardy (her nephew) as her sole executor. She leaves 20 pounds to Dorothy, wife of Phillip Hinston. She is noted as no relation (which isn't exactly true, she is a great niece). Then she goes on to leave 10 pounds each to her nieces and nephews: Richard Hurrell, John Hardy, Elizabeth (Hardy) Cranch, Priscilla (Hardy) Lidstone, Sarah (Hardy) Webb, Elizabeth (Hurrell) Morris(h), and Mary (Hurrell) Goodman.
I didn't have Priscilla, Sarah or Elizabeth Hardy in my tree, as these were additional siblings to Dorothy's sister Elizabeth and husband Richard Hardy. The Hurrell's have me confounded as Mary Richard, and Elizabeth could be from either of Dorothy's 3 brothers (Richard, William and John). So, more research needed there. I suspect they are from East Allington, and those records aren't online for the period needed.
I've found descendents for Priscilla Lidstone, and Elizabeth Cranch, and found marriages and children for Mary Hurrell (Philip Goodman) and Elizabeth Hurrell (William Morris or Morrish).
Just proves that patience is a virtue for a genealogist.....I've been searching for YEARS for this Aunt and trying to piece this family together, and now that patience has been rewarded with a plethora of new names and lines to follow!
Friday, January 16, 2015
Hurrell family of Devon
Oh, the Hurrell family.......
a long source of frustration and confusion in my Family Tree!!! Most confounding for years has been the fact that Devon records were so elusive. Most Parish Registers were not filmed and available online, necessitating trips to Exeter or the Society of Genealogists in London to actually view them!! Rather a long trip from the West Coast of the US! This was the early dark days of genealogy, but I became a better researcher for having to do the hard work!
For years I collected as much information as possible about the Hurrell family of Stokenham, Devon. This is where I could trace my 3rd Gt Grandfather Thomas Hurrell's birth to. Luckily his parents names (William ad Mary) were found on a headstone at the Parish Church, which gave me some dates and names to go on.
Headstone for William Hurrell d. 2 Feb 1800 and wife Mary Shepherd Hurrell d. 25 April 1816 - Stokenham, Devon (my 4th Gt Grandparents)
By chance, Mary Hurrell also left a will with lots of information on downstream ancestors, and a puzzling clue about an Aunt, who left a legacy (that's another story!)
There were multiple Hurrell families in the general area, scattered in neighboring Parish's, but in my limited time in Exeter and London, I wasn't able to research EVERY surrounding Parish manually (no digital images or indexes to help!!). Thus, I couldn't put the families together and try and work out their relationships or travel up the tree from my 4th Gt Grandparents William and Mary Hurrell.
So, for several years I've put the Hurrell's aside and worked on easier lines, where I could search Parish Registers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or online.
The long drought of Hurrell information has finally come to an end, with the release of Devon Parish Registers on Findmypast earlier this year!! This has led to MANY late nights researching and putting the puzzle together! It was like going back to the early days of joy and discovery with each new ancestor I found.
I am now back to 6th and 7th Gt Grandparents in the mid 1600's on this line, and have added countless downstream ancestors. Using Findmypast in conjunction with Ancestry I've discovered whole new branches of the family, Royal Naval ancestors, and emigration to Canada.and Australia.
Baptism of William Hurrell 1713 in the Parish of Sherford, Devon (my 5th Gt Grandfather), showing his parents William and Elizbaeth (my 6th Gt Grandparents)
a long source of frustration and confusion in my Family Tree!!! Most confounding for years has been the fact that Devon records were so elusive. Most Parish Registers were not filmed and available online, necessitating trips to Exeter or the Society of Genealogists in London to actually view them!! Rather a long trip from the West Coast of the US! This was the early dark days of genealogy, but I became a better researcher for having to do the hard work!
For years I collected as much information as possible about the Hurrell family of Stokenham, Devon. This is where I could trace my 3rd Gt Grandfather Thomas Hurrell's birth to. Luckily his parents names (William ad Mary) were found on a headstone at the Parish Church, which gave me some dates and names to go on.
Headstone for William Hurrell d. 2 Feb 1800 and wife Mary Shepherd Hurrell d. 25 April 1816 - Stokenham, Devon (my 4th Gt Grandparents)
By chance, Mary Hurrell also left a will with lots of information on downstream ancestors, and a puzzling clue about an Aunt, who left a legacy (that's another story!)
There were multiple Hurrell families in the general area, scattered in neighboring Parish's, but in my limited time in Exeter and London, I wasn't able to research EVERY surrounding Parish manually (no digital images or indexes to help!!). Thus, I couldn't put the families together and try and work out their relationships or travel up the tree from my 4th Gt Grandparents William and Mary Hurrell.
So, for several years I've put the Hurrell's aside and worked on easier lines, where I could search Parish Registers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or online.
The long drought of Hurrell information has finally come to an end, with the release of Devon Parish Registers on Findmypast earlier this year!! This has led to MANY late nights researching and putting the puzzle together! It was like going back to the early days of joy and discovery with each new ancestor I found.
I am now back to 6th and 7th Gt Grandparents in the mid 1600's on this line, and have added countless downstream ancestors. Using Findmypast in conjunction with Ancestry I've discovered whole new branches of the family, Royal Naval ancestors, and emigration to Canada.and Australia.
Baptism of William Hurrell 1713 in the Parish of Sherford, Devon (my 5th Gt Grandfather), showing his parents William and Elizbaeth (my 6th Gt Grandparents)
I hope that other researchers will now start working on their Devon lines, so there will be more collaboration. At present the few family trees with Hurrell's are often full of wrong information due to the limitations of records in the past.
And now I'm on to further Devon research on the PEARSE family of South Brent.......stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)