December 2006

31st: LornaHenderson database on Rootsweb's WorldConnect updated to include the lastest LUSCOMBE updates, and a few other bits and bobs. All the best for 2007 everyone, especially to those that have helped document my family tree. Oh how this year has flown.

29th: Yet more of the LUSCOMBE lot tracked down, including a butler to the LOPES family, both Massey and Henry, albeit with a break to serve a couple of Navy types and be a licensed victualler living in Bickleigh.
28th: More of the BARTER/CREBER BICKELL descendants of George MOSES/Ann CREBER. Then to the LUSCOMBE lot, same branch.
27th: Brief flurry on some of the modern day(ish) MANSON clan in NZ with some updates from 6th cuz Grant.
26th: Documented a few more of the BARTER/CREBER lot, this time the BICKELL descendants of George MOSES/Ann CREBER.
23rd: On with the BARTER/CREBER connections. The latest getting my attention were that of the CREBER descendants of Elizabeth BARTER, among whom were a family connected by marriage to the GLANVILLEs who farmed at Hele. Added a heap of MOSES to the tree this update and connected in some loose ends that have checked out, down from John CREBER and Ann BUTLER. BARTER charts updated at left, along with my GenCircles database.
20th: FAIRBAIRNs unite. A descendant of Walter's son Walter has been in touch. And in checking out that line, I also extended that of Walter son of John when I happened across a census entry for him. LornaHenderson database on Rootsweb's WorldConnect updated with these FAIRBAIRNs, along with current status of the BARTER/WILLCOCK descendants. And the FAIRBAIRN and BARTER charts at left. Also a rather overdue update to the Paradise Homepages version of the web pages.

18th: Details now to hand of what happened to a lost branch of the HENDERSON/SMITH family. We've been contacted by an Australian descendant of Robert SMITH, son of Robert & Margaret (HENDERSON). Wonderful to hear from you Betty, that was the only son of Robert and Margaret that we didn't know anything much about at all. Not that we'll probably ever find out what happened to Robert himself, but great to make contact with Australian cousins. GenCircles database updated.

16/7th: Back to documenting/checking WILLCOCK/BARTER descendants. Some of whom ended up in NZ in the early 1900s (ta Chris/Linda).
11th: Updated LornaHenderson database on Rootsweb WorldConnect to include the latest LILLICRAP findings.
5th: Not sure what actually sidetracked me from CREBER to HELSON, but probably it was finding the Marystowe transcripts on GenUKi (thank you Luke). Anyway, a heap of HELSON descendants have been found and updated, including the PEEK chart. I'm assuming that James and Arscott METHERELL will turn out to be related.
4th: Rethink on George HELSON and family. I'd previously left the George who married Mary Ann YEO as belonging to Richard and Jenny (WEEKS) HELSON where another researcher/relative had him. However, I've come to the conclusion that the George who married Mary Ann YEO in 1828 is the George c 1803 s/o Thomas and Elizabeth, NOT the George son of Thomas/Elizabeth's son Richard. All census data I've found points to an 1803 birth date, not the 1812 for George son of Richard. Even if there isn't a baptism for him in Broadwoodwidger, if the marriage date is right, 1828, the grdson George would only be 16, or a very late baptism. We know the son of Thomas was still alive in 1826 as he's mentioned in the will, and all the dates I've found fit this scenario better. Database and chart pdates will follow in due course. 2nd: Updated KING chart to include the LILLICRAP descendants. And both GenCircles databases which will include the assorted inter-relationships to other families.
1st: Still chugging thru checking off Devon relations. More SPURR/CREBER/GILES ones popped out of the woodwork today after Jack pointed me in the direction of Nick's LILLICRAP/SPURR connection. Richard Henry LILLICRAP married Elizabeth Jane SPURR. Their respective families lived near each other for decades (Coombhill, By the Down and Whimmington at Sampford Spiney). Richard's mother was Mary Ann SPURR, dtr of William SPURR and Elizabeth CREBER and Elizabeth Jane's parents were John SPURR and Mary GILES. Most of these people were already in the database and, together with those that weren't, they'll appear online shortly.
Had a rethink about the children of William SPURR and Elizabeth CREBER. The 3 younger children I had there were just too much of a gap from the other known child, however well the place and occupations etc gelled. I've split Ann, Henry and Maryann off to a separate William and Elizabeth pending further info and shifted them into LornaPotential instead, where they'll show up next update, and added another dtr Ann.

November 2006

27th: Wow, more Devon connections. Found that the WILLCOCKS that married DAWEs and the ones that married into the KINGs belong to the one family, and connect back to the WILLCOCK(S) that married Ann BARTER (thanks Chris and Linda). Preliminary data on these linkages has been loaded onto GenCircles db LornaHenderson. I also updated the "might or will probably link up" LornaPotential databases on both Rootsweb WorldConnect and GenCircles. Unsurprisingly, there's even more CREBER connections in there too.

26th: Darn CREBERs. Tried sorting out a few of the many Williams today. Which I did, mostly, but got sidetracked onto the family of a John KING, miller of Horrabridge who may or may not have married both an Elizabeth PEEK and a Susanna CLEMENTS. Still trying to work that one out.
Revised KING and BARTER charts on the web, and I've updated my LornaHenderson database on Rootsweb's WorldConnect to make several corrections, and bring a few more of the loose ends into the extended family.

24th: Finally convinced myself that the Elizabeth CREBER who married William SPURR is the dtr of John Huggins CREBER and Ann KING. I had the answer all along, just needed to reread one of the manor surveys. Revised the KING chart.
22nd: Oh those darn CREBERs, there are soooo many of them. Think I've sorted out John son of John Huggins CREBER (although there may well be a couple more children yet, at least some other researchers believe so). Have shifted Walter King CREBER out from that family pending further investigation. Different Walter. He'll fit somewhere, just not yet convinced where.
"Holiday" edits to be checked off down to 900, current rate of progress appears to be, check someone out, add in a heap of new relations as a result of the checking, take one off the list. Part of that checking recently included several i's crossed and t's dotted from the Bickleigh burial registers.
Also incorporated the Heriots paid data from the Dartmoor Press web pages.
Updated GenCircles db LornaHenderson and the KING chart. This latter will include Ann KING, wife of John Huggins CREBER, whom I've decided is the dtr of Richard and Elizabeth BONE, now that I've found her baptism.

19th: And that John Edmund GILES' dtr Mary married John SPURR of Higher Ditsham (next door to Lower Ditsham of the BARTER and KING families). John SPURR's grdmother being Mary Ann PORCH, the foundling mentioned on the Dartmoor Press Walkhampton web pages.
Rootsweb WorldConnect db updated, which will include several updates to the Devon baptisms, marriages and burials that I've been slowly checking off against the Parish registers.
17th: Back to the CREBERs, GILES, SPURRs et al. Figured out that John Edmunds GILES, father of the two GILES siblings who married DAWE siblings, is the son of Abraham GILES of Leathertor, and therefore also the brother of the Mary GILES who married Richard CREBER, a descendant of both John CREBER and Elizabeth BARTER, and of Richard KING and Margaret DAWE. Everything goes round that comes round, not that I've linked these two DAWE families as yet. Several other additions to the KING and BARTER trees as a result of identifying where some of the strays I had actually fitted in, so I've updated both the KING and BARTER charts as a result.

16th: Have decided that John METTERS' cousin Emma CLIFTON isn't a blood relation of mine. Mother turns out to be Susanna CUDLIP (mar. William CLIFTON) and sister to the Mary CUDLIP who married Joseph MATTERS. Heaps of inter-connections down the CLIFTONs, including to another ROWE family with possible connections to both a Dorothy HORN and May CLIFTON who marry into the EGGINS and KINGs in the 1900s, not yet fully proven though.
Some additions/corrections to PITTAR data courtesy of a great granddtr of Alva Bobs (thanks Jaimee).
Updated GenCircles db LornaHenderson with everything to date.

15th: Sorted out a John METTERS Mary J KERSLAKE uncle/niece relationship noted from 1861 census. John KERSLAKE and Mary MATTERS, were both working for William & Elizabeth ROWE of Frog St Bere Ferris in 1841. Elizabeth probably a relation (sister?) of Mary's mother Mary CUDLIP and William being the 1st cousin of Mary's aunt's 2nd husband William ROWE. Mary's aunt being Bettsey METTERS/DAWE/ROWE, my 2 greats. Mary turned out to be the 1822 Mary baptised to Joseph and Mary MATTERS/METTERS in Bere Ferrers, and yet another of the h/stones I photographed in Devon on spec!
Also chased around a few of the connected CHANNON and BORROWMAN families in this lot, and have almost convinced myself that Fanny Barfoot METTERS is one and the same as Fanny BORROWMAN (c 1847/8), dtr of Ann Margaret MATTERS later BORROWMAN. And that Sampson C METTERS, the other grdchild with Richard and Elizabeth METTERS in 1851 is one and the same as Sampson CHANNON, with them in 1841, the illegitimate son of Mary MATTERS. Can't for the life of me find him between 1851 and 1901 when he pops back up into view with a wife Elizabeth b Streatham, Surrey, with father John living with them in Little Dartmouth. But even that's a dubious sighting as the age is well out. I guess he could have lost count of about 8 years over 50 and decided to revert to CHANNON as his surname.

12th: Included Florence KING nee BOOTEL on the web pages, and updated the KING descendant chart (there's a Roger KING in the family, albeit briefly). Probably a few additions to assorted dates and descendants elsewhere as I continue checking data off against Parish registers etc. Having fun sorting out the Buckland Monachorum DAWEs at the moment. Far too many of them.
8th: Woops, the Walkhampton Webpages have got the KING dynasty a tad wrong. I've just read the Sampford Spiney marriages and John KING and fflorance BOOTEL weren't married in 1625 at all, it was 1675. I don't yet know who the Robert/Ann couple are that Mike B. of Dartmoor Press puts between John and Elizabeth (NORTHMORE) KING and John and fflorence (BOOTEL) KING, but he can't be the son of John and fflorence. I'll have more of a look, a think, and revise the charts and web pages asap.
I see that whoever Robert and Ann KING were, they were having children baptized in Walkhampton in the 1690s (two dtrs, Anne & Elizabeth). Possibly Robert is another son of John and fflorance? Although Robert isn't a name I've found in later generations of our lot. Rootsweb pages updated.
6th: I think that's the children of Richard and Jenny (WEEKS) HELSON documented to the best of my current ability. Found most of them in assorted census data with a few stubborn exceptions. Rootsweb LornaHenderson about to be updated to show the geographic spread from Devon to Ontario to Michigan to Nebraska to Saskatchewan, and I suspect to British Columbia as well, with a bit of Florida Colorada and Texas thrown in for good measure. This will also include some updates to the STRANG descendants of Archibald HENDERSON and Margaret COOPER/COWPER.
4th: George, son of Richard & Jenny (WEEKS) HELSON documented from English census and BDM records. Darned if I can find his brother Robert (and wife Maria nee YEO) anywhere in England in 1841. he should still be there, dtr Charlotte born Devon 1840, son Richard in 1845, still Devon, and they weren't in Canada till 1847. Anyone got any hints? I've not yet scanned the images for likely districts.
3rd: Included the descendants of Richard HELSON (son of Thomas HELSON and Elizabeth PEEK) into the db (from Harry's data), not yet checked off nor published. Broadwoodwidger to Ontario Canada and a few points West and South.
2nd: HENDERSONs of the world unite. I've been found by yet another 4th cousin (Hi John), this one a descendant of Archibald H, brother of my James who emigrated to NZ. Nowhere particularly exotic, his lot seem to have moved from Fife to Glasgow.
Checking of Devon families continues. Mostly Walkhampton, but also some Bere Ferrers, given I've recently received the will of Matthias ROWE, blacksmith, brother of my Joseph who married Elizabeth CROSS. Haven't finished analysing it yet, but he left a lot of freehold property in both Bere Ferris and Calstock to his children (LUKEMAN/LAKENHAM, HORNBROOK and of course ROWE) and a grandchild, Elizabeth WINDSOR. Not having much luck tracking down the LUKEMAN branch, although they were obviously living when he wrote the will in 1836.

October 2006

29th: Updated GenCircles db LornaPotential with the OXENHAM/PEARSE descendants in the States. Related names: PEARSE, GEORGE, SYMLER/SWIMELY, LAMBIE/HAIGHT, GULICK, BURNS, GROSS, FOOT, WHEELER, RUSSELL, MEREDITH, SMITH (every country has to have one), MILLS, SLOCUM. I did this update to GenCircles as Rootsweb has only just finished indexing the last update.

27th: Well that was yet another voyage and a half. I've been tracing one of the descendants of Mary HELSON and Richard PEARSE, not that I've fully proved that Betsy OXENHAM is their grddtr yet, but circumstantial evidence points to this. Betsy and her parents and siblings all ended up in Michigan, emigrating c 1850. It rather looks like Betsy ended up with a KEAGLE aunt and uncle (haven't figured out this relationship yet), initially with her sister Grace in 1850, then by 1870 the aunt had died, and a Grace PEARSE (not to be confused with Grace OXENHAM) and what looks like her son Richard H PEARSE (b Canada 1849) are with them. This Grace PEARSE then marries John KEAGLE (bef 1870), both Richard and Betsy still on the farm with them, then in 1883 Richard marries Betsy. By 1910 Betsy has died and he's now a boarder with her sister Mary! No idea how this Richard and Grace PEARSE connect as yet, but I'm sure they will.
See Recent changes for updates, particularly to bring info on the PEEKEs up to date. Also included a PEEK chart. Lots of small details in the background info have been checked off against Parish records, particularly Walkhampton data. ("Holiday" edits left to check: 918)

25th: No PIKEING here! Have been found by a PIKE/PEEKE descendant in Ontario. The recent addition of Thomas HELSON to the tree (husband of 4greats Sarah PIKE's sister Elizabeth) caught the attention of another researcher who didn't know Elizabeth's surname until recently. They moved to Broadwoodwidger, but one dtr moved back to Walkhampton, having married Richard PEARSE. You've no doubt guessed the next bit by now, extensive inter-relationships with HAMLYN, CREBER and KING. At least it is giving me a certain economy of effort on census lookups as I find I already have them in the db, just without realising the spouse was connected. Thomas left a will, which I'd ordered the day before. Hopefully the Devon RO will swap it out of the list for another one, as I now have a transcript - shades of Shakespeare, he left his wife their bed! One grandchild I've found so far was a WESTLAKE born in Queenstown, Sth Africa, but back in Devon by 1891. Not sure who her parents are yet (mother a PEARSE).
22nd: A wet Labour Day holiday weekend. Checked off a few more of the "holiday" edits against available info. Mostly DAWE descendants: MADDICK line updated. 930 left. Anyone own an Alice S DAWE, 3 yr old in 1901? She shows up as "visitor" with the single Walter DAWE at Elburton (and his sisters Elizabeth, Henrietta Grace and Annie). Seem to have found a Samuel Southey SNAWDON marrying firstly in 1893 Emma, d/o Henry DAWE and Sarah CREBER, then in 1911 Emma's cousin Lucy Beatrice DAWE, Emma having died 1910.
The major find for the day however was that of Robert GILES and Elizabeth CREBER, in Marldon in 1841, or at least that's what I think I've found. The image is very very faint. On the facing page is their son James and his Marldon family, so I've spent the afternoon chasing them around Devon and Guernsay (Robert was a widower with son James and family in 1851).
The KING chart has been reloaded to include the above changes.

21st: Rootsweb db LornaHenderson updated. Main additions are the inter-related Devon families of DAWE, CREBER and SPURR, amongst others. More to come! KING and BARTER charts at left also updated.

18th: Trying to concentrate on sorting the complicated cross relationships between CREBER and KING/BARTER, I've got sidetracked into following some of the DAWE families of Buckland Monachorum. Turned out to be not a sidetrack at all. At least one of the DAWE families of Hellingtown in Buckland Monachorum are CREBER and BARTER descendants. Again, I just knew I had to take photos of their headstones in the churchyard at Buckland Monachorum for a reason.
16th: While following the family of Philip PEARSE and Elizabeth KING around in the census data I've just identified that their granddtr Elizabeth WALTER(S), is a servant with John & Elizabeth COLLINGS in Plymouth in 1861, and therefore Elizabeth COLLINGS, nee ROWE's, 1st cousin once removed.

15th: Freepages web site updated, includes a couple more of the early generation of KING ancestors, updated KING chart with a heap of newfound descendants (OYNS being one of the new names, just knew I'd noted that Whitchurch headstone for a reason). Thanks to a kind soul on the Rootsweb Devon message board I've figured out where the Horrabridge millers fitted, so that's several Richards identified and tied in, leaving several loose end Georges as the next main puzzle, and I've still to finish working through the DAWE and CREBER interconnections, which are many and varied.
Main exciting news is the will (written 1807) of John KING, 2nd husband of Ann KING nee BARTER. I'm still working through it, so what is on the web isn't all there is, and every name I find does rather mean a lot of digging around in what I already had as he often doesn't specifically mention how the people mentioned are related. Anyone know of a George KING, cordwainer, in the Borough of Plymouth, nephew to this John, an adult in 1807?
14th: I just knew that all those DAWEs variously associating with KING, CREBER etc would match up somewhere. Missing links found, courtesy of a GenesReunited tree of Will SPRY, who answered a query of mine about SPRYs. Rootsweb db will be updated shortly. (Judith, this includes your WILLCOCKS lot). Continuing untangling KING/CREBER linkages, nearly had two children linked to a mother who had died some 5 years earlier - and haven't yet fully convinced myself exactly where they do belong, just that they do, somewhere!
12th: HENDERSON descendant updates down the Fife/Kincardine/Aberdeen branches of Janet HENDERSON and William STRANG (thank you Stuart and Olive for the transcripts). It appears I'm now looking for MITCHELL in Castleton, Fordoun, Kincardineshire, probably modern day ones at that.
Devon wills for James Barter, John and Walter KING turned up today, haven't had time to fully digest their contents, but from a brief glance it looks like John's 1815 one has lots of juicy genealogical detail in it which links in the Horrabridge KING family, as well as the Ann KING who married John Huggins CREBER. The unravelling of the CREBER/KING relationships continues. What a tangled web. So many called the same names around the same times. No web updates as yet, but close.
9th: I've changed my mind about the parents of Sarah PIKE/PEEK who married James Barter KING. I think she belongs to a Richard, not John & Margaret. Web updates will follow in due course.
Back on HENDERSONs briefly. Thought I might have found someone who could tell me about Theta Roberta MACDUFF. Tracked down her step-son, if that's what you call a son of your divorced and remarried husband. Unfortunately, he didn't know his father had been married before, and from what he did know, it seems unlikely there were any children of this wartime marriage. Back to square 1.5. At least I now know a smidgeon more.
6th: Ignore all the apparent "recent changes" dated 6th Oct - I was tidying up some background things in the database, not adding new information - apart from Sarah KING nee PEEK.
Updated both Rootsweb databases LornaHenderson and LornaPotential. Still plugging away at the "holiday" edited people, 947 left to check off against other info and see what else is available!
5th: Still on a roll here. Added in some of the Manor Survey notes for the KING and PEEK families of Walkhampton Parish, corrected a duplicated dtr Elizabeth that I had for Richard and Grace KING on the charts.
3rd: Made more progress on connecting up KINGs, including shifting the Richard mar. to Ann CREBER to his father's 1st wife, Elizabeth BONE, and several new theories being formulated re Walter KING/Margaret WILLCOCKS to be tested out! Selected pages on Freepages updated as per Recent changes along with KING chart at left
2nd: Rootsweb Freepages updated, yet again. With John's help I've managed to connect up most of my BARTER loose ends, and many of the KINGs, so the charts for both these families show a few more people. Having had a quick look at the CREBER family, and seen how often it connects in with these two, I suddenly felt tired, there's just so many of them. Actually, looking at the data I've found so far, what it mostly does is shift people from the category of "married in" to BARTER or KING descendants, many I already had, just didn't realise they were also related.
1st: Addenda: Subsequent updates today, adding in info received via John in Indiana re Ann BARTER and Sarah PIKE/PEEK, and including John KING on the web pages, Ann's 2nd husband and Richard KING, brother of Walter, along with expanded charts for BARTER and KING. The site has been re-indexed as well, so the search on the main page should be more up to date.

October already, how time flies when you're having fun doing genealogy. I've finally achieved a sufficiently tidy set of my recent data updates to republish both the Rootsweb Freepages and the Paradise Homepages version (no pics, reduced charts) narrative pages in full. Main updates are in the newfound data on Archibald HENDERSON, and the KING and ROWE families of Walkampton.
For the Paradise hosted smaller version of my pages, I also took the opportunity of replacing the front photo with one that is definitely James and Amelia HENDERSON, the other having had nasturtiums caste upon it by a descendant of Margaret SMITH nee HENDERSON who thought it was Margaret's daughter, not Amelia.
Now to work through my photos and add the headstones, and the rest of my notes to try and sort out the KING family rather more than I have so far. There are a lot more of them than shown to date - AND I've just tracked down the chap in Indiana mentioned by Mike Brown on his Dartmoor Press web pages, poor chap, I'm not sure he knows what he's letting himself in for here.

September 2006

28th: Have managed to confirm a lot of the HENDERSON data in the States, mainly California, but in some census years this is proving VERY difficult as they've gone and hidden somewhere. Gave up on Archibald son of Archibald, can't find him anywhere beyond 1861. Rootsweb database LornaHenderson updated, as is the HENDERSON descendant chart linked at left. And with all this activity on James' siblings, the guilt finally got to me and I've popped my 2xgreat grandfather James HENDERSON up on the web too. I have more info, but it's not in a publishable state and would take forever to tidy up. It was a piecemeal web page update, so the Recent changes list hasn't been updated, but you can should be able to get at him from the HENDERSON chart. A couple of the ROWE headstones should also now appear against their entries.
Preliminary info from the Devon Record Office on poor Joseph MATTERS sounds rather tragic.
27th: Continuing checking off those updated while I was away - found that one of the MATTERS clan was in the Devon County Lunatic Asylum in 1891 (at Exminster) - engine driver, "imbecile". Still checking for new info down from Archibald HENDERSON, son of Archibald. Related names in Fife: COOPER/COWPER/COUPER, BROWN, WILSON, NEILSON, STRANG, HOWIE, MITCHELL, and in California: CRAWFORD, McDONALD, HERR, PARKER, FAYLE, BOGGS, HAUCK and HAWLEY.
, 26th: HENDERSON descendant chart (link at left) updated with findings to date, not all confirmed as yet. Not only have we the shock of grocers in the family, but at least some of them went to California. The Arizona branch is as yet unconfirmed, can't find them in the census where & when they're supposed to be.
25th: BINGO. Thanks to Linda looking for her husband's Margaret McGREGOR, nee HENDERSON, whom we'd not been able to find in 1841 no how (no wonder - she was with her brother Archibald and recorded as HENDERSON, not McGREGOR, but all the children with her fit the also missing McGREGOR children, despite the surname change), we've now found Archibald HENDERSON, younger brother of my James and her husband's Margaret. We've a grocer in the family, must have come as a bit of a shock after all the blacksmiths. Urgency has been added to my checking off the web page updates. He died in Glasgow 1869. Perhaps John will now also pop out of the woodwork, and maybe even William?
23rd: Both Rootsweb databases LornaHenderson and LornaPotential updated. I've had a fair go at sorting out the KING data from both my notes, and the Walkhampton Parish pages from Dartmoor Press. Still a few puzzleds which I will work on, and quite a few notes to go yet. 953 people editted while I was away left to check - progress slowing!
21st: Filing some ROWE info I came across some old research on a Joseph ROWE. In 1851 he was a licensed victualler at the George Inn, Tavistock, wife Mary, dtr Elizabeth. Elizabeth married a Thomas TAYLOR and they lived Torquay. A mysterious grandson, Henry J GRAY born Newton Abbot c 1852 pops up with them in 1861 and 1871. Joseph looks like a match as the son of John ROWE and Charity BLAGDON. Long lived chap, he died in Tavistock, aged 100 according to the dth index, but I make him "only" 98. Will pop them into the Potential rellies db on Rootsweb next update.
20th: Finally got round to checking, and correcting, the marriage date for Margaret BAIN and David Sinclair Weymss McADIE, it really is 1866 not 1869! Should have believed the IGI, it was afterall an extracted record. Wonder why they went to Edinburgh to marry?
19th: Some updates to McADIE following visit from 5th cousin 1x removed Noel from Darwin. Also updates to Bere Ferrers ROWE family as I've confirmed that Richard ROWE, s/o William married his cousin Elizabeth ROWE d/o Richard. Working on this family I've found son Stanley and wife Elizabeth STAPLIN with their son Hedley emigrated to Wisconsin. I also suspect son William emigrated given Stanley and Elizabeth have a 7 yr old nephew Richard b. Illinois with them in 1930, but haven't yet proven that. 975 people left to check from my "holiday". Surname charts (links at left) updated on Freepages.
12th: Next Rootsweb db update will have some small additions (to dates and middle names) to the Sth African RUNCIMAN contingent down the STUART line.
And a complete new branch of the Bere Ferrers ROWE family in the form of an Australian contingent now called HANNAFORD, descended from Elizabeth d/o James ROWE and Elizabeth COLMAN.
Down to 989 people edited during my "holiday" to check against available info - currently working on the KING descendants, the WOTTONS. One seems to have married a ROWE, whom I cannot prove is connected to the earlier KING/ROWE inter-connected families.

9th: William Meikle WATT wasn't as easily found as I thought he might have been. Seems to have been in Huntly from 1969 to 1979, married to an Edith Mabel. Not in dth index to 1990, couldn't find either of them in the 1990 Electoral Rolls (checked most of the north of the North Island electorates). No longer in Auck phone book unless he had remarried. Anyone with any information on a retired William Meikle WATT around Huntly/Takapuna areas 1969 thru 1984 at least?
Continued updating/checking Bere Ferrers ROWE families, resulting in a few more loose ends in my db. Thanks also to Ernest (descendant of Henry Colman ROWE) for a couple of h/stones in Bere Ferrers that I didn't manage to see. Both Rootsweb databases now updated, LornaHenderson and LornaPotential, this latter holding more of the as yet unconfirmed family members. Only 1002 more to check!
6th: Two Edwards solved that mystery (see 4th). A few more snippets have been added to the descendants of Margaret HENDERSON and Duncan McGREGOR, thanks to Linda, and also to her Rootsweb db.
Continuing to check those I updated during my recent trip to see what else I can find. The family of John WILSON and Jeanie RICHARDSON has been extended a bit with the additons of some HOOKs and ROWANs. Only 1020 more names to check!!

4th: A brief interlude from Devon to catch up on the HENDERSON happenings whilst I've been holidaying. Turns out that a descendant of James' sister Margaret lived in NZ (1973 Huntly, 1983 Takapuna), one William Meikle WATT. The hunt is on for descendants. Now if I just went on holiday again perhaps Linda could come up with some more exciting things, like photos? Actually, although this above is true, I seem to have tied up a few generations wrongly on that part of the tree, corrections will be made to the WATTs shortly, particularly Edward who is William's brother, not son!
3rd: Finished checking off the EGGINS data against available BMD indexes and as many census records as I could find. Must have missed one or two though by the look of it. A lot of these were to the more recent generations, so wont necessarily show up on Rootsweb. The update to the db includes assorted ROWE families down from Joseph's siblings Matthias and John still in the process of being checked.
1st: Wow, when you put revised trees out on the web new rellies pop out of the woodwork fast! Another ROWE descendant has surfaced, down from Henry Colman ROWE, descendant of the other Matthias. Looks like this will result in a reduction of the number of descendants as he has pointed out that William and Ernest both c 1870 are one and the same person, as may be Mary Jane and Mary A, although I'm not as convinced about this latter as yet.

August 2006

30th: Gradually working thru my Devon information checking/correcting dates on the newly added twigs, mainly the EGGINS. Not quite ready to publish anything yet.
28th: Yet another RUNCIMAN descendant has surfaced, adding Australia to the list of places of known abodes for the descendants of the Rev David.
27th: Several updates to NZ marriage dates from the NZSG produced cd of Marriages 1836 to 1956 which will show up in the next Rootsweb db update. Also a few snippets to the family of John Walls GIBSON as a relation of his has popped out of the woodwork and is living in Christchurch. The FAULL/PETTIGREW families also have been updated a bit thanks to a cousin in Stratford.
26th: As I work thru the web page updates I'm reminded of some points to note:
- the mystery of the respective death dates of Peter and Robert SLATER has been solved, namely the informant for Robert's dth wasn't his father, who was indeed dead, but his grandfather, who obviously wasn't. His siblings Margaret and Peter Angus remain elusive.

25th: Well that's the ROWE family updated to include the new data on the elder Matthias. Only into LornaHenderson though, web narratives haven't been touched as yet as I want to wade thru my KING findings first.
24th: Forgot to highlight one of the main corrections - that to the family of Henry DAWE and Mary KING, this Mary is NOT the sister of the Ann KING who married Matthias ROWE. However she IS the sister of the Sarah KING who married Walter KING, and probably also the sister of the Grace KING who married John CREBER, parents of the Sarah CREBER who married the above Henry and Mary DAWE's son Henry. All we need to do now is prove that the ancestors of Mary, Sarah and probably Grace, KING, namely Walter KING and Margaret WILLCOCK, Walter being the son of Richard KING and Grace GLOIN fit into "our" KNGs somewhere. Nearly ready to post an updated Rootsweb file.
20th: What a coincidence! A lady I had swapped Caithness information with over the years turns out to have a ROWE of Bere Ferrers (Devon) connection. Nothing online updated yet, but "her" Matthias is believed to be my Matthias' uncle, family connections to the Duchy Hotel in Princetown.
18th: Well I made it home again. What a wonderful time I've had in the UK researching, meeting up with a lot of my genealogy correspondents & relations and meeting newfound relations. My Worldconnect database LornaHenderson has been updated to bring those interested up to date. The main updates will be in the Australian descendants of the McADIE line and the KING and ROWE families of Devon. A heap of other bits and pieces have also been found, corrected, updated during the month in the UK.
To indicate likely areas of update: I spent a day at New Register House in Scotland, visited relations on the Scottish and the Northumberland side of the Borders, and ended up by spending a fortnight in Plymouth, including several visits to the Records Office there. I also spent some time in the territory of the Rev Robert TURNBULL over in Shropshire, and a bit of time in the Shrewsbury archives researching the rather sad case of poor little Thomas Alfred GOLLINS (a DAWE descendant).
Just some of the highlights were:
- finally finding James Barter KING's baptism (in yet another Parish to those I'd searched so far, obviously) and confirming where the BARTER came from in his name
- actually visiting both Lower Ditsham where he farmed back in the late 1700s (the house has a very long history, with the rafters dating it as probably medieval apparently), and the Walkhampton church where he married in 1780
- finding the ROWE graves at Bickleigh and actually being able to get to them (and to see Hele where they had lived)
- exploring an awful lot of tiny little lanes and churchyards in Sth West Devon
Web page updates will be some time away. Even the Worldconnect db should be treated with a tad more caution than usual as I've not had a great deal of time to spend cross checking what I found (or have received from others) during this period as yet.
It wasn't all just genealogical fun. The first 6 weeks of the trip was spent with friends with World Cup tickets, so we gadded around Europe, mainly in France, Italy but with a bit of Austria and Germany thrown in. What a sauna that was in June/July - coming home to a winter just starting to turn into spring is a bit of a shock.

May 2006

28th: Despite a red herring of another researcher disagreeing with me as to Daniel's parents, he did indeed prove to be the son of Margaret HENDERSON, I didn't think of looking in Berwickshire for that Fifeshire chap, but thankfully an ADDISON researcher whose interest I've obviously piqued, did. Linda found a likely match for his brother Duncan which we've since proved, sister Ann died young. Archibald is proving elusive however. Anyone got an Archibald McGREGOR outwith Scotland beyond 1861? HENDERSON web chart updated, as were Rootsweb databases LornaHenderson and LornaPotential. These latter updates also include a few twigs on the Buenos Aires RUNCIMAN tree, but they are mostly to the living branches and wont show up much.

27th: Have been trying to find descendants of Duncan & Margaret (nee HENDERSON) McGREGOR. Think I might have found son Daniel (chr. Logie 1828) married to a Margaret ADDISON, but can't prove the connection yet as his dth cert is proving elusive ( if anyone else is looking for dths of a Daniel born around this time I have an assortment of the wrong certs to date to share!!). Tracing the couple thru 1861 up to 1891 was easy enough, finding them in 1901 looks like a non event for either, haven't yet plunged in trying to find any of their children in 1901 as there are too many options. Have loaded the McGREGOR/ADDISON family into my Rootsweb db LornaPotential in the hope of someone finding me (although it wont be indexed for a day or two, so you'll need to use the "jump to database" option to get to it).

25th: WOW: after all these years I now know what happened to a sibling of my 2greats granddad James HENDERSON. I've been contacted by the wife of a descendant of James' sister Margaret. Don't yet know how come they ended up in California, but with the data provided to date I've managed to find one son ( William Mc Gregor) in Ontario. And then Linda updated me with the perigrinations of a dtr between Dunfermline, Fife, Quebec c 1906, Kansas, Quebec then Long Beach, California between 1920 and 1930. Worldconnect database LornaHenderson updated.

23rd: With a bit of help from the webmaster of the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society found Robert McAdie's dth cert (indexed as Robt). Dtr Jessie predeceased him, so I checked her dth as well, which showed four BROTHERTON children, 3 of whom survived her death from tyhpoid at age 37. Still wondering if the Harold Henderson McADIE birth reg. in Ararat in 1874 to mother Jessie aged 22, informant grandmother Ann McADIE at the house of a Wm McADIE is this Jessie or not. Birthplace right (Melbourne), age wrong, 22 not 16, and who on earth is William? Robert's brother? I haven't spotted any obvious BDM events in Victoria to a William as yet.
And with this spurt of activity on the McADIE family, I decided to try, once again, to find the mysterious Joseph, brother of Margaret (mar. to William ROSIE), who was the informant for her death. Downloaded a copy of her dth cert to check the transcript I'd received. I read the informant as George, not the Joseph I'd been told, which could account for why I could find no sign of his existance anywhere else. One of two other snippets added to the McADIE information, and Freepages updated again, at long last.

22nd: Contact with a McADIE researcher via GenesReunited led me astray from concentrating on what to research in Devon. Spent the day fossicking around the descendants of George McADIE and Elizabeth ROSIE. Think I've found son Robert in Ararat, Victoria, Australia, having emigrated with wife Ann (shown as Nancy on ships passenger list) and son George (who was a 1 yr old grandchild with George and Elizabeth on 30 Mar 1851 in Hillhead, Wick, and a 1 yr old passenger with Robert and Nancy from Caithness on a boat that left London 24 Apr or Plymouth 2 May, for Adelaide. Can't, as yet, find Robert's dth cert to prove the relationship though.
Both Rootsweb databases have been updated, LornaPotential and LornaHenderson.
21st: Used up some remaining Scotland's People credits on extending the family of George RANKIN(E) and Isabella LAIDLAW up to the 1891 census, and in doing so, noticed on same page of 1901 census a family of James & Isabella WIGHT, who were also near George and Isabella in 1881. Bit much of a coincidence I thought given George's mother was Margaret WIGHT. Turns out James was the son of Robert WIGHT and Mabel MILLS, and Robert turned out to be a previously unknown son of James WIGHT and Cecilia LAING, yet another tenous link between the families. One day I'll connect them into my lot!.
20th: Helped a fellow FAIRBAIRN researcher unravel the family of James FAIRBAIRN and 1) Elizabeth LAIDLAW 2) Mary BRYDON (See GenForum FAIRBAIRN pages). Don't think it helped me connect them up to "my" James at all as yet.
19th: EGGINS updates, yes I'd found some 4th cousins, whom I hope to meet up with in August.
13th: Where has all my time gone these last weeks? Delighted to find that when I was searching for accommodation in Devon I happened on a farm cottage let by a couple that sound like they'll turn out be relations!! Sue EGGINS also put me in touch with a fellow researcher in Auckland. The family certainly seems to have several connections with places my KING and ROWE family lived, as well as marrying at least two of the descendants, cousins Mary Elizabeth and Emlin Sarah KING married brothers William Lillicrap & Thomas EGGINS.
6th: Finished reading "Portrait of an Architect" by Raglan Squire, haven't yet updated the family tree with any snippets gleaned from it though, been too busy.

Apr 2006

25th: Finished reading "The Way to Wexford", George Baker's autobiography, which resulted in several SQUIRE family updates. Also received some updates re the family of Robert CAIRNS and Janet nee WIGHT which added a George SILVER into the tree and showed a move from the Borders to Forfar. Also found the 1920 marriage of the grdson James GILROY to a Lizzie Jane CLARK nee WARDEN in Montrose.
Ancestry have announced that the 1841 census is now available. Found Elizabeth ROWE nee CROSS where expected, living with dtr Mary BROOKING nee ROWE at Belliver farm. no wonder I couldn't find her in the index, she's indexed as a 20 yr old Elizabeth BOWE, not a 90 yr old ROWE
23rd: WorldConnect db updated. Includes some additions/updates to the family of Robert & Janet (nee WIGHT) CAIRNS whom I found in 1891. Darned if I can find them in 1871 however, England or Scotland. Expanded the family by addition of a grdson James GILROY (turned out to be son of Jane). And of course all updates since I last published the (dead) rellies.
20th: Some snippets on the family of Albert and Ada HARRIS found and updated (Venna = Ada Venna, Irene = Caroline Irene, and they married one after the other in 1923, not that I can find Irene's husband in the index under his supposed name).
16-19th: found by a descendant of Emma TOOP nee BIDGOOD (see Guestbook), who supplied a copy of a Toop booklet published 1984. Added some more descendants of Emma I had missed last time I worked on that area of the database. Even found a few more of them in the Canadian 1911 census with some very lateral thinking re surnames, eg Camble for Campbell.
5th: 1891 Liverpool dth cert of William THOMSON received, adds a cousin Peter Clarke to the THOMSON/WIGHT mix, yet to be identified.
4th: Dth cert of Elizabeth ROWE nee CROSS received and will be included on web next update. She must be somewhere in the 1841 census - possibly Belliver, Tamerton Folliot (it's coming onto Ancestry soon)? Looking at husband Joseph's family, I've realised that I had his brother Matthias' 1837 burial, just not made the connection by place and age.

Mar 2006

29th Chris' web pages shifted to her own web space - or will be when I get the file names right!
22nd: Doesn't time fly. Nearly a month since the last web pages update. Main additions of note are an unidentified DAWE photo from Marion and some rewriting of Anthony BROOKING's details after reading Peter's book "The Lure of New Lands", plus all the bits noted below since 25th Feb.
19th: Links page updated to include link to Chris' family tree (PARKHILL, TEMPLE, CAMERON, McKINNON, McLEAN - Tyree and Ireland, which I've put on the web for her after adding some details to the sum of her knowledge.)
14th: Some WIGHT/McLEAN descendants found in Par. of Barony in 1891, but where was Mum Helen with son Robert and t'other dtr?
4-6th: Changed dth date for James ROWE, s/o Joseph ROWE and Elizabeth CROSS to 1867 from 1852 - ta Jean. Also found I had him in 1861 after all, although indexed as a 23 yr old instead of the 83 you can make out on the images if you look closely. Living with niece Sarah DAVEY and her husband. Several ANDREWS family snippets added as a side effect of A. Grace's 90th birthday party which resulted in several cousins and aunts getting together - probably too modern to show up on my updated Rootsweb db LornaHenderson.
2nd: Found an interesting site on Plymouth Mills, don't think the George and Richard DAW(E) mentioned are ours.
1st: A few BMD lookups for the Lancashire BROOMFIELDs resulted in some likely birth years/quarters.

Feb 2006

28th: Welcomed Ellen DAWE into the family of Isaac and Amy (FOLLETT) DAWE as her birth cert confirms my suppositions. Wonder why she was always away from home on census nights?
27th: Rather belatedly entering/updating descendants of Francis Lang BROOKING into my db from info supplied by Peter and Jean some time ago. Also SINTON/WIGHT updates down tree from Peter Sinton WIGHT.
25th: Found by a descendant of Margaret WIGHT and James RANKINE, the first living rellie down that line (I'm sure there are others, just that I dont know of them).
24th: Anthony BROOKING's marriage to Honor DAWE: Considered opinion, BROOKING Society included, is that the cert is incorrect about his father being George. Son William Francis' birth cert shows his mother as Honor formerly DAWE and no other contradictory evidence has yet been found, I certainly couldn't find Honor in 1851 anywhere, or any George and Anthony combinations.

22nd: Rootsweb updated. William MASTERS rejected as possible husband for Jane DAWE dtr of Isaac.
Next WorldConnect update will disconnet the Anthony BROOKING/Honor DAWE marriage from the children of Anthony BROOKING and Mary ROWE as the one that married Honor DAWE (25 Dec 1841 Plymouth Charles) was the son of a carpenter George, not Anthony. (Honor was the dtr of a labourer John DAWE.)
Wills rcvd for Ellen BOLTON (nee TURNBULL) and her husband Frederick, which added a few TURNBULL snippets to the web here and there. Rev Robert TURNBULL's St John's College Cambridge biographical details rcvd, which included details of his baptism and showed his mother as Eleanor.
Several of the 22nd Feb "recent changes" on the web were merely sentence adjusting as I'd mucked up how some of my census sentences read.
21st: Ann ROWE nee KING's dth cert rcvd, and hubby Matthias will be included on the web next update.
Marr. cert of Margaret A WIGHT nee RICHARDSON to Jacob RAPP rcvd. His mother was a ZIPF and hers a PRESTON, not that this gets me any closer to proving a connection between this RICHARDSON family and my Borders one.
Few more snippets/twigs found on the USA MATTERS in Fargo, Cass Cty, Nth Dakota, including bringing them much closer to modern day - Spokane, Washington & Lodi, California. We appear to have a 6'3" ex basketballer in the family (he died in 2004).

19th: WorldConnect db updated, as were my Rootsweb and Paradise web pages
Main bits include (back to 6th): another son added to family of James SINTON and Dorothy Robson LOCKIE. Alexander RICHARDSON's supposed dtr Margaret shifted to just being that of his wife. A few dates added to descendants of Peter Sinton WIGHT and Jessie DAVIDSON. GILES family updates. Tidied up more of the METTERS/MATTERS families. Welcomed Henrietta DAWE to the family officially as her grandmother was indeed a Mary KING.
16/17/18th: MATTERS/METTERS baptsims Bickleigh mostly found, few new twigs, more accurate dates for existing, some wives' surnames added. A lot of the people whose events happened in Beer Ferrers, Bickleigh, Buckland, Walkhampton, Sampford Spinney have been updated (Ta Val). Convinced myself that William MATTERS with wife Mary, in Houghton Cty, Michigan was the brother of Isaac, son of Joseph METTERS and Mary CUDLIP of Beer Ferrers, as was the John, Sergeant of Police below. American family of William and Mary traced over Nth Dakota, Michigan, Washington.
14th: Grace, mother of Sarah CREBER who married Henry DAWE, turns out to be a Grace KING, d/o Walter KING, Yeoman, can't yet see any connection to the Hele and Walkhampton KING families, but it could be that her sister Sarah is the one who married Walter KING, right age, sort of right place. Jane DAW, who married John MATTERS, Sergeant of Police, found to be the d/o a Charles, farmer of Quethiock, with, as yet, no obvious connection to the other DAW(E) tribe.
13th: SPEAKMAN family updates (Thomas who married Ellen TURNBULL)
12th: Joseph WILLS finally found in all census records prior to his marriage to Julia Trimble BROOKING. Few more details on the twigs of the Rev Robert TURNBULL's tree, namely dtr Ellen's dth and will and husband Frederick Richard Thomas BOLTON's dth (teacher of West Kirby, Cheshire but dth reg. Church Stretton, Shropshire) and will found. Corrected typo on birth yr for Robert TURNBULL s/o James and Jane (GRAHAM)
11th: SINTON/LOCKIE tree detail expanded. Confirmed my suspicions about Alexander RICHARDSON giving his grandparents as his parents on his marriage cert - his dth cert clearly shows his mother as their dtr Isabella. Found a few more twigs on that part of the RICHARDSON tree. 10th: Census snippets brought some of the family of Isabella LAURENCE nee SINTON up 10 yrs to 1891, hubby James having died between 1881 and 1891.

6th: WorldConnect db updated, as were my Rootsweb pages (I fiddled with quite a few of my sentences, so not all of the apparent changes are actual data updates). Found John DAVIDSON on the Canadian 1911 census - still can't find his Mum Jessie nee McIntyre, although I did find her dth cert, as well as that of John's wife Edith. Can't yet hit the right search condidtions for Walter, Amy and family in 1911, nor Robert, nor an awful lot of others who are supposedly alive and kicking in Canada in 1911.
Also added some details to descendants of the Nathaniel DAW(E) who emig. to Canada, although if I've found Nathaniel with wife Charlotte in 1901 they've suddenly found the elixir of youth and taken 10 yrs off their ages. Can't read his occupation so am unsure it's really them.
Ta Jean for 1871 for one of the missing BROOKING family, Wales indeed! Still 2 to find, Julia and Alfred.
5th: Finally found Henry DAVEY son of Henry DAVEY and Sarah Peek ROWE in 1891 (St James Westminster as Hy Chas), and possibly in 1881 in barracks in Kent, although I suspect this latter is Harry Cecil, not Henry Charles, both born Exeter, around the same time. Tidied/checked/changed family of Julia Trimble BROOKING and Joseph WILLS. Tried finding Julia and her missing siblings in 1871, to no avail. Added COTTON descendants to Hannah BROOKING, Albert's dtr.

3rd: Henrietta DAWE, cousin of the KING family at Hele Barton - how? Twigs added to family of Joseph Francis HUTCHINGS and Georgina HARRIS (his late wife's niece!! ta for that lead Pat), ditto for Joseph ROWE and Elizabeth BLAKE, including figuring out how come Sarah THOMSON was Elizabeth's niece - from the BLAKE side, not the ROWEs (ta for the GenUKI Plympton St Mary 1841 lead Val). You'll notice a George DAW, miller, in there, and a William and Grace ROWE with a son Joseph, neither family I've fitted in to any of my others as yet. WC not yet updated, but web charts etc have been, as has LornaPotential, my db of those likely to connect, or whom I've researched but not yet been able to make the link.

1st: Continued checking and updating the KING tree. Highlights to date include final confirmation (thanks to Val and the Walkhampton OPC) that I'd found a new KING branch in Margaret KING, married to a William Snell GILES, Margaret being Ann's niece via her brother Walter. Also finding that EGGINS brothers married KING cousins, and yet another link to the TOOP family. The earlier connection was via Joan Smith DAWE's dtr Emma BIDGOOD who married Sampson TOOP and emigrated to Canada. Sampson had a brother Richard Atwell TOOP, whose son Robert John Newcombe married Sarah Ann KING, grddtr of Walter and Sarah KING, Walter being brother to the Ann/Elizabeth KING who married Matthias ROWE. With me? WorldConnect updated, check it out here.

Jan 2006

30th: Found a site with transcripts of Ontario marriages on it, including Joseph George ROWE's marriage to Maggie KAVANA(U)GH, as a barber, in 1900. Then Joseph George vanished again. Likely match in Niagara, New York Cty, USA 1920 and 1930 but with now Marie J not Maggie, although other details match. Likely dths on SSDI for both Joseph George and son Joseph K. Added quite a few twigs details to the KING relations of the Ann/Elizabeth who married Matthias ROWE (prompted by the King middle name being carried down Joseph's line to present day relations still living in Hamilton ONT). One new twig was a poor chap called William Lillicrap EGGINS who married Emlin Sarah KING another brought in a line of WOTTONs via a marriage for Elizabeth KING to William James WOTTON.

29th: WorldConnect updated, in addition to those changes mentioned below since the last WC update: family of James SINTON (son of Robert SINTON and Jane PARK) has had some twigs added, dates confirmed etc; the Tasmanian DAW(E) branch likewise has had some places added from a cd on Tasmanian Families that I found in the National Library (NZ); and I've become thoroughly confused about a clutch of Alexander RICHARDSONs from the Borders c 1880, one of whom seems convinced his grdparents were his parents. If I've identified him correctly he's a link between my WIGHT/RICHARDSON families and my SINTONs (the only one I've found to date other than my great grandmother Helen SINTON)
Val pointed me to ancestry's free access to the images of the English BMD index, which added a few birth and marriage dates to the BIDGOOD family of Joan Smith DAWE. The Ontario births 1869 to 1907 added some details to the family of Joseph ROWE, son of Joseph King ROWE and Thirza DAWE, as did the 1911 Canadian census and a ROWE message board posting on Rootsweb by Peter, grdson of William Garfield ROWE.
Web pages and charts also updated to include the above and Joseph King ROWE and some of his immediate family.

27th: DAWE family updates following arrival of dth certs for Joan Smith BIDGOOD and Sarah Smith WALTERS and birth cert of Abraham Bidgood TURNER (see Joan's page in particular). Also updated SINCLAIR twigs with info re John SINCLAIR, Lord Lieutenant for Caithness 1963 to 1975, cousin of Ryan's grandfather William STRATTON (ta Bobby). WorldConnect not yet updated.

25th: Few more twigs on the GEORGESON/SMITH tree after a SMITH lead from Kris D. GEORGESON Desc. chart now included on web.

24th: WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updated with more bits under Fred HARRISON and Ellen Maria BISHOP (ta Ken) and assorted GRAY families (confirmed my suspicion that Ann and Janet/Jean McLEOD who married GRAY brothers, were indeed sisters); GRAY descendants charts have been updated, not just the family of Thomas SINCLAIR and Johan GRAY (ta Robert for the lead re Jane STRATTON nee SINCLAIR, and Ryan for access to his GenesReunited db).

21st: Descendants of Robert BISHOP and Elizabeth ANDREWS traced thru USA 1900-1930 census records. Couldn't find all known ones, removed some suspect descendants (children of Harold BISHOP and what looks like his non-existant wife Ivy, a PIDDINGTON who turned out to be a CHAPPELL). and added a few more here and there. Also some updates from the 1911 Canadian Census. Some corrections and updates for Alice Louise COOK / RAVEY / GOLLINS and descendants. WorldConnect updated, and John ANDREWS/Rebekah WINES descendant chart

19th: WorldConnect & GenCircles updated - mainly to incorporate descendants of Isaac and Elizabeth MATTERS' American descendants.

18th: Freepages updated: Val sent me a copy of a page (among others) of the Beer Ferris 1841 census with Mary DAWE on it (one of at least 2 possibilities for the dtr of Isaac Smith and Betsy (METTERS) DAWE). At the bottom of the rhs of the page was a 10 yr old Isaac MATTERS, whom I believe to be the son of Joseph and Mary MATTERS/METTERS. Joseph is the brother of the above Betsy, and Isaac had been the subject of correspondence with Janice of Kansas back in 2001 - inconclusive as to whether or not the Isaac, father of her gt gramdmother Jane was one and the same Isaac, even though the English one had disappeared from England after the 1851 census, and the Michigan one appeared in the 1870 USA census, and no others. Today I found the dth entry for Isaac MATTERS of Portage, Michigan which showed his parents as Joseph and Mary MATTERS of England, QED.
Also found a possibility for Margaret Ann WIGHT nee RICHARDSON in the 1920 census as a Margaret RAPP. Found a matching marriage of a Margaret A WIGHT to a Jacob RAPP, and finally proved it by finding Jacob and Margaret in the Cleveland Necrology File. WorldConnect db not yet updated with these, nor the few other small additions from assorted census and BMD records (one will be the correction to where John Courtis SKEWES married Ann, dtr of Thirza DAWE and Joseph King ROWE. (I'd been advised they married nr Windsor, but the marriage was registered East Stonehouse). Another will be to NOT kill off Donald Bain STEWART in 1905 as he was the informant for his father's dth in 1929.

17th: WorldConnect db & Rootsweb freepages updated: some of the changes include: found Charles & Betsy (GALE) MARTYN and children in a few more census records (in one they were living next to a Thomas METTERS with Lewtrenchard and Thrushelton connections, which made me think of the family of Jane METTERS who married Jacob BIDGOOD, son of Joan Smith DAWE - can't spot any immediate connection as yet; Also found out more about the fate of Betsy DAWE's dtr Sarah CREBER beyond 1861 - what an international lot. Included the immediate family of Emma BIDGOOD and Sampson TOOP in WorldConnect, but not all of the descendants (from Andrew's WC db) yet.

15th: I've now worked thru as much of the census data available for the Abraham and Joan Smith (DAWE) BIDGOOD lines in both England and the States that I can find, and have also checked all I can against FreeBMD, and some against the BC indexes and WWI USA Draft cards. (Interested to find that one of the sons married a Jane METTERS). Worldconnect has now been reloaded. Haven't yet included data from the TOOP tree on WorldConnect that Val found (last updated 2003). (Emma BIDGOOD married a Sampson TOOP and emigrated to NY then Canada, her father Abraham followed and a couple of brothers, one of whom has to be Isaac, but the emigration dates for the other two who ended up in the States don't match Emma's)

14th: Updated DAWE descendant charts. Also included Joan Smith DAWE or TURNER or BIDGOOD on the web, and updated sister Sarah's husband's details (thanks Wendy). Wont update WorldConnect db until have finished hunting out the rest of the descendants and checking them off against FreeBMD and Ancestry census data, just felt I needed to get the corrections out there.

Val pointed me in the (change of) direction for Joan Smith DAWE, another dtr of Isaac and Sarah (SMITH) DAWE. Previous info had Joan as marrying Abraham TURNER 1834, and no further info could be found. Val suggested she was acutally the Joan showing in 1851 at Newton with Abraham BIDGOOD. I sure hope she is as I've done a heap of chasing on that name since finding that. Val also pointed out a rather confusing birth reg. on FreeBMD for their son Abraham, indexed as TURNER, Abraham Bidgood. My WorldConnect db LornaHenderson has been updated with findings to date.

Jill contacted me to say I had her 2*greats in my tree (Alice Louisa COOK and John George RAVEY). Alice is the grddtr of Isaac Smith DAWE and Betsy METTERS/MATTERS via their dtr Mary. Updates in progress, incomplete as yet.

Found what looks like Sarah , dtr of Isaac and Sarah (SMITH) DAWE in the 1851 census. ID clinched for me by finding her with her sister Betsy CREBER in 1861, even though she only shows as a "Visitor".

In the Kelso Rosebank Cem. MIs (from the BFHS), I found a few more twigs on the SINTON descendants of Robert SINTON and Jane PARK, namely what happened to son James of James SINTON and Margaret RUTHERFORD. Worldconnect updated.

1844 marr. cert for John TURNBULL and Isabella MARTIN arrived, finally proving that Rose's John in London with son Robert and dtr Ellen really was the "missing" (well, unaccounted for) son of Robert TURNBULL and Eleanor SCOTT. SInce Rose originally made contact back in 2003 I'd "felt" that this family would turn out to be connected, particularly after I also finally proved that the family rumour re "a cousin" in London Sir Robert TURNBULL wasn't an unfounded rumour, but fact.  
one name study pages:
surname pages: