Fearless Females 9: Minda's Baptismal Certificate

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month. 

March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.

My maternal grandmother, Minda Mary Edgcombe BALL, was born 7 July 1894 in Ringmore, Devon, and christened on 11 November 1894 in South Milton (also Devon).  Below is her baptismal certificate:

Baptismal Certificate of Minda Mary EDGCOMBE: price one penny in 1915

She was born in 1894, she was baptised in 1894 - so why was the certificate issued in 1915?  Could this have been her 21st birthday present - the key to her own identity and a sign that she was now a 'real person'?  Certainly, there were no incidents - that I know of - like a marriage which would require it.  And this is one of those times when a genealogist groans "I wish I'd asked her when she was still alive!"

Surname Saturday: Edgcombe

EDGCOMBE has probably the highest number of variants in my family tree.  I never discount any EDGCOMBE I find, since the spelling varied so hugely. The family legend was that we were descended from the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe.  I have never dare tell my family that that was wishful thinking, and we are in fact descended from the peasants who worked the land belonging to the Earl... although, if you go far enough back, I suppose we might well interlink somehow...

The closest EDGCOMBE to me was my maternal grandma, Minda Mary Edgcombe BALL, born in 1894 and christened in Ringmore, Devon.

Here she is as a young married woman.  I can see my mother in her (my mother, Audrey BALL, was the youngest of seven).  In a photo I have of Minda before she changed from EDGCOMBE to BALL, I can see myself in her.  I have already posted this photo on this blog, but I have yet to learn how to link from one post to another.  If I find out, I will come back here and do the linking.  Minda lived until 1985, and to me she was the epitome of what it means to be 'a lady'.

Minda's mother was Annie Marian BUCKINGHAM (1873-1961).  Both Minda's parents (Annie Marian and John Samuel EDGCOMBE) died in Australia; several of her brothers and sisters emigrated from the UK to Australia, and several years ago I was sent details of over 600 EDGCOMBEs of our family who live there.  Some of the older generation still liked to be sent traditional Christmas cards with snow and robins, because they remembered them from childhood, and Australia seems rather devoid of snow and robins.  I wonder if the EDGCOMBEs in Australia think of themselves as Australian through-and-through?

Surname Saturday: Edgcombe

Many, if not most families have a legend that stretches far back linking today's descendants to a noble (or royal) ancestor.  When I began researching my family history, it was the Edgcombe family that was my 'noble' link.  Stories abounded about lords and owners of the Eddystone Lighthouse and surrounding land.

I couldn't find a single link to these mysterious lords, and when I contacted the Edgcombe Family History Society, they had never heard of my branch of Edgcombes either!  I have the sneaking suspicion that I am the product of...well...I'm really not sure.  All I know is that Jephtha Edgcombe, born about 1647 in Ringmore, worked the land at Ringmore and Kingston near Ivybridge, and his sons, and his sons' sons, until my great grandfather became a coastguard (like the family he married into).  Most of great-grandfather John Samuel's children were born in Ireland while he was stationed there - and several of them emigrated to Australia later in life.

Now there are hundreds of Edgcombes in Australia - so our family is truly worldwide.