Connections, Connections!

For publishing genealogy data on my webpages I use SecondSite, which is an extremely flexible, and very well supported add-on to my genealogy software of choice, The Master Genealogist (TMG).

However, I also use The Next Generation (TNG) for some smaller projects, which can be used directly as an online genealogy database,  and thus shared with others interested in the same families - sort of WikiTree but under local control.
It also is very well supported.

Both have dedicated, active,  user communities and I belong to mailing lists for both.
Some of you may be aware that About.com are running an online survey at the moment about the best genealogy software, online trees etc etc.
It is of course extremely selective, unscientific, and ballot box stuffing readily occurs.
Some on the TNG list were wondering what this SecondSite program was that was creeping up the votes.
Comments were a little ill-informed so I piped up and gave a link to a couple of my websites.

Didn't expect what happened next.
A private email turned up from Teresa saying we were 8th cousins!
Her website has a number of families of interest to me, and has allowed me to reduce the number of parentless South West Devon people in my database.  Of particular interest was the 1654 will of Walter NARRAMORE whose children are named as NORTHMORE.
Not that this helped me find my Elizabeth NORTHMORE.
Many of the NORTHOMOREs in my database are descendants of this Walter.

Walter lived at Ideford, but states in his will "I purchased of John Elford of Shister Esquire these Messuages Lands and Tenements called Chubstone otherwise Scotland lyin in Shutstor aforesaid for nynty and nyne yeares".

All of which was completely incidental to our relationship which is back at James BARTER of Lower Dittisham, Teresa descending from his daughter Mary, who married William LIGHT.

With the string of names in her tree from around this area of Devon, our trees probably interconnect many times over.

Making doubly sure?

Still plugging away on the DAWE families of Sth West Devon, many descendants of whom are descendants of my KING and BARTER ancestors.
Many of the KING/BARTER rellies have now been better documented as a result of this exercise, which has highlighted, yet again, how inter-related many of these families are!

Today's intriguing find is a couple who appear to have married twice within a month - and no it doesn't look like banns in both parishes.

Mary Maria Pitt GILES and William SPURRELL are indexed as marrying in Devonport, with the FindMyPast transcription showing this was 22 Oct 1913 at St John's.
FamilySearch has the image of a marriage licence in Cook Co., Illinois of a 36 yr old William SPURRELL of Chicago marrying a 33 yrs Mary Maria Pitt GILES on 11th Nov 1913!
In between there's an passenger list into Montreal on 5th Nov 1913 showing William, 36, and Mary,  33, as SPURRELL, both "married", with William's children, William and Joseph, from his prior marriage (which children are with their grandparents in Wembury in the 1911 census).
 

Fewer DAWEs

Well, fewer DAWE trees on my DAWE page anyway.
Some of the Buckland Monachorum DAWEs were kind enough to leave wills that have survived.
One is that of Betty DAWE nee SCOBEL, widow of William DAWE of Dunwood, Tamerton Foliott, to whom I had assigned the William married to Joanna ATWILL, at least until I received my copy of said will and found that by 1843 Betty was referring to her son William as "late", but kindly left his widow Hannah a bequest.
The latter hint brought the family of William & Joanna/Hannah (HUNT) DAWE in from the cold, but shifted the William married to Joanna ATWILL to the family of William & Elizabeth (WILLOCKS) DAWE instead - the Williams had both been baptized in Meavy, a few short months apart, one to William & Betty, the other to William & Elizabeth.
The William married to Joanna/Hannah had to belong to Sampson and Marina somewhere given these names featured in their children.
We now know where.
Their daughter Marina has long been in my tree as wife of Henry DAWE, a descendant of both my BARTER and KING lines from the area. I calculate that this new connection makes them 3rd cousins.

From Australia back to Devon

The activity on the Australian DAWE descendants of the Buckland Monachorum family of Sampson & Joan (BLANCHARD) DAWE reminded me of my trip to Devon in 2006.
Many photos were taken, many still await processing, most are of headstones, not scenic spots.
Those from Buckland Monachorum were the DAWE headstones in that churchyard, and have now been incorporated on my website.
To access them, go to the Places tab, scroll down to DEV, Buckland Monachorum and click on the little information icon

At the time I was probably taking the photos on spec rather than in the knowledge of where, or, they fitted into my family tree.
Some do, some don't, as it turned out, none are known to be from my direct DAWE line, despite what some online trees say (see prior post about his topic, enthusiasm vs accuracy), but are mostly descendants of James BARTER, or married to them.

CREBER vs CREBER

I shouldn't be getting sidetracked from assorted annual accounts, but this is so much more interesting.

Ancestry told me that someone had saved a record I'd used to someone in their tree.
That started me off on quite an update binge (still incomplete) of two lines of my very extended and extensive Devon families.
As both husband and wife were CREBERs, chances are they were related, but it was soon apparent that this brought together descendants of both my BARTER/KING and PIKE families.
I'd not got round to tracing either beyond the 1861 census, so hadn't worked out they'd married, thank you to bonsaitree's Green aka Creber tree on ancestry and his/her work there.

Husband Thomas CREBER and wife Mary CREBER were 1st cousins once removed, 3rd cousins and 4th cousins once removed.
And as I then documented their children, noticed that a daughter, Annie Elizabeth, had married a George PEARSE, so further lights started flashing.
Sure enough, he was already in my database, with a CREBER mother, so they were 1st cousins, 1st cousins once removed, and 4th cousins.

Stray George Henry WARE - Jeweller anyone?

With all the Devon families getting a bit of a look in at the moment, one that got more attention was that of Nicholas WARE and Margaret King CREBER (those darn rabbit farmers). I'd "parked" a mysterious May WARE, grddtr with Margaret in 1881.
With the arrival on ancestry of a heap of London records I went searching, and found a marriage for her (to Alfred Edward GRIMES), which told me that her father was George Henry WARE, jeweller. Not a known (to me) son for Nicholas to either wife.
However, he can well fit in between Richard and Margaret Annie. But I can't as yet find him anywhere to confirm this.
The relevant Devon descendant charts have been updated: BARTER, KING, DAWE, CREBER

13th: Let me count the ways

How many variants can there be for finding the surname CREBER in the indexes?
A couple of marriage certs for Richard CREBERs turned up today, ordered after I got confused about the identification in 1841 of who Eliza was with.
(Eliza is the one from the other day's entry, who married Robert PEARCE, and sister of Henry CREBER, all of whom ended up in Ontario).
The best 1841 candidate was of a 21 yr old Eliza with a Richard (34) and Mary (35) at Yealamade, Sheepstor.
However, that Richard doesn't exactly look like her brother Richard, as he is more likely to be with wife Mary (GILES) at Welltown, Walkhampton.
The next most likely candidate, a cousin Richard, son of James CREBER and Agnes SPRY was married to 1st wife Margaret at the time (2nd wife Mary BALL didn't come along until 1844) and they appear at Huckworthy Bridge, Sampford Spiney as expected.
Looking at the other Richards in the timeframe led me to the 1801 Richard son of Richard CREBER and Elizabeth SPRY and I noticed that some ancestry trees provide him with a wife and family in London.
Took me a while to verify this, beyond the easily found, but inconclusive, marriage record to Elizabeth WARE.
Census data indexed them as CREBO (1851), ALBER (1861), COLBER (1871), and yes, one states he was born Walkhampton.
Yet another musical CREBER family, as Richard, and son Samuel are both enumerated as pianoforte makers.
Son Samuel added to the count, by being enumerated as CREVER (1861) but indexed as BREVER.
However, that didn't solve my mystery of the Sheepstor 1841 census Richard and Mary.

Creber, Barter and King descendant charts has been updated to include a few more twigs, as has the DAWE descendant chart, and a page for Honor DAWE (marr. to Nicholas/Henry COMBELLACK) has been added.

Aug 25, 2008: TOOP update

BARTER descendant chart updated to include all of the TOOP descendants I already had in my database but not published. Most have had their basic birth/death/marriage data confirmed where I was able, and in checking this, and some census data off, one or two other extended family members were found and updated, mostly CREBERs.
This newfound connection makes Sarah Ann KING and her husband Robert John Newcombe TOOP related as both 1st, 3rd and 5th cousins!
NB some online trees have the John TOOP who married Sarah WILLCOCK as dying 19 Apr 1836. He was buried at Buckland Monachorum, the burial entry of 23 Apr 1834 showing him as aged 68, of Whitchurch. I therefore suspect that the day and month might be correct, but a couple of years out.

Feb 19, 2008: What happens when someone chats to a neighbour!!!

Updated Ernest with the latest on the HAMLEY family, and he remembered that some years ago when he started investigating his family tree he mentioned this to his neighbour, who surprised him by replying that her ancestors were also from Bere Ferrers, called FUGE and that there was a connection to the ROWEs by marriage, with children named Sarah Rowe Hamley FUGE and others with HAMLEY in their names.
Wasn't hard to dig out that connection. Mary Elizabeth, dtr of Hugh and Elizabeth (ROWE) HAMLEY, married William FUGE, bargeman of Bere Ferrers. Someone else is obviously working on the tree as there's a post-em against the marriage entry on FreeBMD with the details of the marriage cert!
ROWE descendants chart updated, yet again.
As is the Barter Descendants chart as a few more twigs were found/updated.

Pays to advertise

A Feb 2007 posting about ANDREWS/COATH has elicited a response from a 2*great grdson with some updates. Mind you, the relationship does rather depend on the right Ann BARTER being selected from the records as another contender has been found. They have an old family tree drawn up some years ago, which I wont get an update from until after a return from holiday. Hope it matches my diggings.