On This Day: Boxing Day

Richard CLEAVE and Elizabeth BIBBINS (paternal 6th great grandparents) married 1735 in Morchard Bishop, Devon.

Their daughter, Anne CLEAVE (paternal 5th great grandmother) married Richard NOTT 1760 in Coldridge, Devon.

Samuel MURCH and Margaret LITTLEY (paternal 5th great grandparents) married 1774 in Ottery St Mary, Devon.  On their first wedding anniversary they buried their six-month-old son, Samuel, on 26 Dec 1775.

James DAMERELL and Elizabeth WOOD (maternal 4th great grandparents) married 1777 in Charleton, Devon.

Surname Saturday: Nott and Naming Traditions

A curious excerpt from a book states: "James BROOKE and Elizabeth NOTT's wedding in 1822 has a whiff of the shotgun about it; it was "by consent of Parents", which may mean they were both under age; and the witnesses were Hugh Nott and Richard Nott, presumably father or brothers to the bride, Elizabeth Nott.  Were they making sure the marriage actually took place?  After all, the first child was baptised only four months later...." ("A Family Story: Gadens and Graces" by Chris Thomas)

The Richard NOTT mentioned was quite possibly Elizabeth's brother; otherwise, he would have been her grandfather.  Or he could even be her uncle...another Richard NOTT, christened in 1775.  Hugh NOTT, also mentioned, may have been another brother or, more likely, Elizabeth's father, christened 3 August 1777 in Coldridge, Devon.

The NOTT surname makes its largest appearance in Australia, with many New Zealand connections.  But in my Devon family, it is the Christian names which are connected.  These naming traditions can be of great help to the bewildered researcher who is confronted with 68 John HAYWOODs...often, you can tell which is your family and which are your ancestors, by following these guidelines:

Child	Namesake
1st son	paternal grandfather
2nd son	maternal grandfather
3rd son	father
4th son	father's oldest brother
1st daughter	maternal grandmother
2nd daughter	paternal grandmother
3rd daughter	mother
4th daughter	mother's oldest sister

Surname Saturday: Brooke

At last! a surname that has the largest concentration in the UK!  Next highest is Australia - but then, a LOT of UK individuals and families went to Australia at various times.  BROOKE is also one of the easier surnames when it comes to guessing its origins...and there are plenty of streams, small or otherwise, in England.  After all, don't they say that if you don't like the weather in England, wait half an hour, because it will have changed? LOL

I have met many visitors to this country who have marvelled at just how green everything is.  Er...that's because it is always raining...and the weather seems to take especial pleasure in raining on wedding days, Bank Holidays, and so on.

Anyway, back to BROOKE.  James BROOKE and Elizabeth NOTT (my ggg grandparents) were married on 19 Nov 1822 in Coldridge, Devon, with witnesses Hugh and Richard NOTT. James and Elizabeth proceeded to have eight children in the next thirteen years.  Coldridge itself provides some slight irritation for the genealogist - some people call it Coleridge, and the different spellings over the years in different censuses by different enumerators...

James was born about 1796 in Crediton, Devon.  He is an end-of-line ancestor, so perhaps I need to do some more research on him to get further back.  Of his children, Jane, the fourth child and third daughter, was my gg grandmother.  She married on 29 August 1847 (again, in Coldridge) - quite probably a Bank Holiday? I need to find a date calculator that tells me these things.  She had 11 children; the first four were in Coldridge, and then she and her husband Samuel FARLEY moved to just outside Millbrook in Cornwall. And a good thing, too, because then her 10th child and youngest daughter, Susan Emma, could meet and marry my great grandfather.

My father was so proud of being Cornish; it seems as though his ancestors started out in Devon, then migrated to Cornwall, while my mother's started out in Cornwall, then moved to Devon...and although I was born in London, I consider myself to be a West Country lass.