Isn't it wonderful...

... that when someone shows you how to re-interpret a mystery that all the records you couldn't find are now easily found!

Midi popped out of the woodwork to let me know the fruits of the research that she, and a very helpful Devon Online Parish Clerk (OPC), had put together in the search for her 3*great grandmother, one Thomasin aka Tammay aka Thomazin aka Tamson etc etc etc YEOMAN.
During that research she happened upon the 1861 census entry showing one of Tammay's married daughters, Jane WALTERS, in the family of Nathaniel DAWE and wife Tammay, in Plymouth, showing as a daughter of Nathaniel's.
Not that I'd searched particularly concertedly, but on the information shown I'd never managed to find Jane DAW(E)'s marriage to WALTERS, nor her birth, nor the marriage for Nathaniel and Tammay.
Knowing what I now know, out they popped:

• "daughter" Jane's 1848 marriage as Jane COTTON to William WALTERS (at least the husband had been correct all along thankfully)
• Jane's 1817 baptism in Plymouth Charles, father Sampson COTTON a miller at Lipson Mill

both images now being available on FindMyPast. 

Midi supplied both of Thomasin's marriages (which images I've not yet managed to find on FindMyPast):

• firstly to Sampson COTTON in May 1816 at Charles the Martyr, Plymouth
• secondly to Nathaniel DAWE in May 1824, Stoke Damerel.

Adding that Sampson had died in 1822 and was buried at/from the Ebeneezer Methodist Chapel in Plymouth, aged 34. And that son Samuel COTTON was a witness to the marriage of Nathaniel DAWE junior's marriage in 1855.
In my defence, I did have a note that possibly the marriage to Nathaniel might be around 1825 rather than 1816 given that's when the next children arrived, but I'd obviously not searched hard enough back when I had access to the Plymouth/Stoke Damerel parish records.

Jane WALTER's family will continue to be included in my WorldConnect database LornaHenderson, so that the research that has been shared  by/with me over the years down that line still shows, but they are now COTTON, not DAWE, descendents.
In the process a few other COTTONs in the database have had their dates checked and approximations now match reality, the family of James COTTON (b. Sth Africa) and Hannah Emma Jones BROOKING. Also added three more children into the family from the 1911 census, which included a 1 month old mite Emmie Violet, crossed out, who turned out to have been born and died the year before.

The database has been reloaded to reflect all of the above, along with the recent activity on the family of Alexander HENDERSON of the P.O. Buildings, Biggar - although several of the newly identified twigs are amongst the living and thus not shown in this extracted database. Would love to hear from the children of Alexander's son Alexander in California.

Apr 19, 2008: Less ROWEs?

Having fun working through my photographs of Marion's treasure trove of ROWE and DAWE letters.
Interesting to see that the KING family get a mention in 1902 (Walter had just died and James was at Hatchell), and that the Williamstown Melbourne DAW contingent (David, son of Isaac, and brother to Honour and Thirza) appear to have been in regular contact with the Melbourne BROOKINGs, even though they weren't related, the connection being via the ROWEs.

But more importantly, I think I've just subtracted one from the family of William & Honour (DAWE) ROWE. I've never managed to find corroboration of the Fanny I'd ascribed to the family, born 25 Aug 1863, and also never managed to find corroboration of her brother Henry's birth. A scrap of paper amongst the letters may have solved this, as it gives Henry's birth as 25 Aug 1863. So either I've misread Fanny from my original source, or the original source was wrong. At the moment I'm tending to the idea that Fanny is a figment of my imagination.

The same scrap of paper has my Matthias' birth as 19th September 1852, instead of the 9th Oct I had. What do others have?

Oct, 29, 2007: BROOKING corrections, Canadian McGREGORs ++

Daniel McGREGOR is hereby brought back to life - at least for a while. The death in the BC index of the right age turns out not to be him. Noreen checked, and also supplied several other updates to the McGREGOR pile from the films, ta muchly.
With my findmypast voyager sub about to expire I've been chasing around looking for any likely emigration candidates in my database. Don't think I've found (m)any as yet, but in doing the checking I have managed to find several other bits and bobs, eg the Archibald FAIRBAIRN that I lost in 1891 and assumed was dead because he wasn't with his wife Isabella, nee DAVIDSON, and their children. Archibald, Isabella and dtr Isabella turn up in Glasgow (were in London), with several "visitors" that looked like they might actually be relations. Sure enough, one was dtr Elizabeth now married to a Thomas CRAWFORD, the other was Isabella's niece Johan DAVIDSON now married to a Joseph Ellis MORRIS.
Also some corrections to a BROOKING/ROWE area of my database. Found Doris Phyllis BROOKING on a ship to Canada in 1920 with her brothers and either her mother or father (listed as Mr I M BROOKING, engineer, counted in the Males column, but I M are Mum's initials and Dad was Walter Rowe BROOKING, was already in Canada).
Along with the emigration data I kept digging and have corrected Walter's death information. He appears to have died in St Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota in 1947, not the May 1959 Exeter Devon I had previously.
Rest of family also updated with a few items.