Transported for chopping down the family tree

In Australia today it is a matter of pride that one of your ancestors came over as a convict in the 19^th century. Most of those transported were not hardened criminals but ordinary people on the poverty line trying to feed their families, for example by sheep rustling. Some were transported for the oddest of reasons. At Clixby in 1847, Joseph Frow, who was a tenant, chopped down 58 apple, 6 cherry, 3 pear and 6 plum trees and was given seven years transportation at the Lincoln Assizes. Not all who were given this sentence actually arrive in Australia but served their term on a hulk awaiting a ship to take them off to the colonies.

Sadly (some genealogists would say) Ian Seward, of Bracebridge Heath had an ancestor that went to Australia who was not a convict. Ian e-mailed me asking how to get information on his grandfather who emigrated from Lincoln in 1895 after the death of his wife. While it is not easy to find information on emigrants there are several avenues to explore from the UK. As Ian is on the Internet the easiest place to start is at www.rootsweb.com where many lists will be found that covers all interests throughout the world with many links to matters Australian. These range from Australian History through Military History to Genealogy in the various states of Australia. On the net is also the Lincoln list which has a number of subscribers from Australia who are searching for their Lincolnshire roots. Subscribing to a list gives you access to people all over the world on a similar search to yourself, and in the main they are very friendly and helpful.

At the Public Records Office , Kew Gardens, there are many documents concerning emigration including the census of convicts from 1788 to 1859, passport registers (bearing in mind that it was not necessary to have a passport in the 19th century) and passenger lists from 1890 to 1960.

Places to look a little closer to home are the school log books. The Head may have made an entry when the children were removed from school to emigrate and there could also be an item in the local newspapers such as this one from Clixby

Lincolnshire October 21st 1887

CAISTOR - Mr Edward Smith, son of Mr G W Smith, of Clixby Manor, near Caistor, set sail for Buenos Ayres, to take charge of a very large herd of shorthorns formed there by Mr Campbell, Mr Smith's family have been favourably known for several generations as breeders of shorthorns, principally of the highest dairy qualities,

A few entries for Australia can be found on the IGI but the numbers are small compared to the those for Britain. There are new compilations coming out from the LDS under the title Vital Records Index and there is I believe one for Australia which might hold more information and can be ordered in the UK.

And finally, your search could be carried forward by joining the Lincolnshire Family History Society who maintain a list of members interests and may put you in contact with someone who may have already traced the family in question. There are also many Australian members listed who might be willing to help in the search. When you join you have the opportunity of putting your names of interest into the magazine which is then sent to all members. In the magazine you can also find items such as At Sandhurst, Australia on 3/2/1868 Mr Richard Millhouse, harness maker, formerly of Spalding, which was in the September 1999 edition and is full of items of interest including an in-depth article on the Internet as a genealogical resource.

Bits and Bobs Nothing changes

Lincoln St Benedict - Burial Register - John Patrick, age 12, lost his life by fireworks being accidentally lighted in his pocket on 5^th November. Buried 19 November 1823

From FHS Magazine March 1996

No village too small

Having drawn up your family tree it looks a bit on the bare side with all those dates and little else. Its now time to start looking for the fruit on it. As well as for your own interest this will enable you to put some flesh onto the bones of any skeletons found in and out of the cupboard.

There are many sources available but the two main ones easily found at the Reference Library in Free School Lane and in the Lincoln Archives are Kelly's and Whites Directories. Depending on where you live governs the amount of information contained in each publication. For a large town or city such as Lincoln or Boston there may be a complete street by street index of all inhabitants but if you are unlucky enough to have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer and who lived in a village - and most of us are - then information is not so easily come by. The Directories normally only list the principal inhabitants such as landowners, farmers and those in trade. An entry which is quite typical is this one for Sotby of 1856 from White's Directory

Directory

Coote George, carpenter

Goddard Thomas, parish clerk

Tripp George, shoemaker

Tripp John, vict. Nag's Head

Weatherhog Joseph, shopkeeper & smith

Post from Wragby

Farmers

Baggerley Thomas

Borringham William

Curtois William

Scholey Edward

Scholey Thomas

Stovin George

Frederick Kelly published a Post Office Directory for Lincoln early in the 19^th century and it has carried on until recent years. Don't forget the point I made a few weeks ago that you can't believe all that is written without checking on the original source. As you look through the many years of directories you will notice that what is written does not change a great deal from year to year and with so many villages in Lincolnshire it was not easy for the publishers to check the data. One Kelly's Directory recorded that the was a church in the village of Grasby in 950AD. Over the years I have tried to find the original source of this information without success, but out there somewhere there could be a reference which someone found and putting two and two together came up with three. Information in one directory was sometimes found in a rival publication.

The majority of the population were of course, labourers working on the land and in the mam this multitude was not recorded. To be included one needed a trade or to own land. Reprints of some Directories are still available. Whites 1856 Directory of Lincolnshire and more recently Whites 1872 Directory both make interesting bedtime reading. For those in trade Pigots and Bennets are both good sources with reprints still coming out. Inside you can find adverts such as:-

Cross Keys inn - Grasby

George Roskilly - proprietor.

cyclists & parties catered for. also horsebreaker &

waggonette proprietor. runs to Brigg Thursday

waggonette & dog-cart for hire.

The information found in a directory will include the population taken at the last census, area of land and its rateable value, and items of interest about the village such as:-

SOTBY, an old village of thatched houses, on an acclivity, 5 miles east of Wragby, has in its parish 152 souls, and 1604 acres of land, mostly the property of Robert Vyner, Esq. Lord of the manor. The church (St Peter) is a discharged rectory, valued in the Kings Book at £9 0s l0d, and now at £193 per annum. The Lord Chancellor is patron, and the Rev, John Bainbridge Smith, of Ranby, is the incumbent.

Even the smallest of places gets a mention and they don't come much smaller than this:-

MORTON, in the vale of a rivulet, 9 miles S W by W of Lincoln, is an extra parochial house and estate, containing 6 souls and 710 acres of land belonging to Mrs Solly, and occupied by Thomas Pilgrim, farmer. It anciently belonged to the Knights Templar of Eagle Hall., and usually returned with Swinderby parish.

LDS Tops the Popularity Charts

Whatever your religious persuasion amongst genealogists one of the most popular groups of people are those of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, who have undertaken one of the largest projects ever conceived,.- to index and produce for use by genealogists everywhere, all the marriages and baptisms in the world - yes - all of them. The reason for this mammoth undertaking, and I apologise to LDS members for my simplicity, is to allow the retrospective baptisms of all Mormon family members whenever they were born.

The first product of their labours was the IGI or International Genealogical Index which is on microfiche. It is not complete by any means and there are a number of mistakes but it is of enormous value if you do not know the whereabouts of ancestors. Unfortunately not all Lincolnshire parishes are included and neither are all their registers. If however your search of the IGI does not produce the desired result at least, after checking those parishes and registers which are included, you can now concentrate your efforts on the excluded ones. The IGI has recently been updated with the new material being put onto a CD-ROM.

What can we find out by using the sources already mentioned? Let's look at the IGI and pick a name. Thomas Lilley the son of John and Mary Anne Lilley was baptised on the 12^th November 1820 at North Carlton. Other members of the family are also mentioned at North Carlton but we'll follow up on Thomas. By the time of the 1851 census Thomas, an agricultural labourer, aged 29, had married Sarah, who was born in St Pauls, Lincoln, and they live in North Carlton with their four children. In the preceding seven years or so they have moved around following the work. Moving from Carlton to Lincoln, St Nicholas then Nettleham and in the last couple of years back to Carlton where their youngest son George was born.

By the 1871 census Thomas and Sarah have settle permanently at North Carlton with five new members added to the family, the youngest being Thomas aged 4. Thomas senior is still an Ag Lab now aged 50. Twenty years later in 1891 Thomas is still at Carlton, but now on his own, a widower, with Elizabeth Wakefield from Scredington acting as his housekeeper. The final entry is from the North Carlton parish registers.

North Carlton Parish Register

30th August 1919

Thomas Lilley, of the Bede Houses in Burton by Lincoln buried. Aged 99 or 100.

Said he was born in the same year as Queen Victoria.

Baptised November l2th 1820.

You can see how easy it is from just these limited sources to build a picture of family life during the last century. Further investigation would unearth the maiden name of Sarah and her parents and more items of interest can be added using others sources such as the directories for Lincolnshire.

Bits & Bobs

Navenby Parish Register

Original Gabitus, Codder, buried August 10^th 1779.

A Codder was one who worked with leather such as a saddler; his name was Original,

2 - Great-Great-Granddad was a Cordwainer?

The census is one of the most useful tools available to the genealogist. Since its inception in 1801 it has been carried out every 10 years with only one exception -when the second world war got in the way. The first useful census for our purposes is that of 1841 but this is limited in its information. It holds the names and the ages of each person in the household with the ages of the adults rounded to the nearest five years. From 1851 it also lists the place of birth of each inhabitant and this is the information we are after.

We are very lucky in Lincolnshire as there is a very active Family History Society who, over the years, have indexed all the censuses (or should that be censii!!). This makes it very easy to find anyone of your surname at ten year intervals through the 19th century. Copies of the index are held at the Reference Library, Free School Lane, and at the Archives in St Rumbold St.. If you want to be able to work at home they can also be bought through the FHS. Be prepared though, while some of the enumerators had wonderful copperplate handwriting a few of them could spend their time today writing out doctors prescriptions!!

Census material is held at Lincoln Archives apart from the 1841 which is in the Reference Library. So, armed with the reference numbers from the index to the relevant census, it is an easy matter to check on the entry which interests you. Staff at both places are very helpful and will show you where the films/fiche are kept and how to use the viewers. It is advisable to book in advance as there is only limited space.

The poor of the 19th century were very suspicious of the census thinking that the information could be used against them. When asked the question by the enumerator they could be quite evasive in their answer. Sometimes of course they did not know the answer as the elderly then could be unsure of their age and occasionally the enumerator would 'guess-timate'. Great-Great-Great-Granddad, who moved to Branston from Great Hale when he was but a few months old would have given his place of birth as Branston as "I have always lived here". The moral to this is don't believe implicitly in all that is written. The enumerator and the residents are only human and mistakes are sometimes made.

Most of the Lincolnshire population in the 19th century were involved in farming and the majority of these are classed as Ag. Lab (Agricultural Labourer). Over the years old occupations disappear and new ones replace them. In 1881 William COOLING, aged 67, born in Branston, married and living with his family at Branston gives his occupation as Cordwainer. Later this is replaced by cobbler or shoemaker.
With the family information and census material, with luck, we should now have a line of ancestors back to the early 1800s. The next thing to do is to join all the pieces of information together and for that we will use the Parish Registers.

 

Bits & Bobs

Croxby Baptisms

5th May 1861 - Emma daughter of John & Emma Taylor of Croxby - Labourer.
In the margin    *God-Mother made a mistake and gave the wrong name — it was to have been Eliza.

Start at the beginning

Who, When and Where?

So you have decided that you want to draw up your Family Tree but you're unsure on the place to start? The answer is no former than your nearest elderly relatives, but is also happens to be one of the major snags with tracing a Family Tree. No matter when you start it always seems to be ten years too late. Remember Auntie Hilda from Hatcliffe? Passed away aged 98 - now she knew all the family members and what stories she used to tell. Each of our relations have a unique insight into the family most which is not written down. While we can draw up - if you are really lucky - the Family Tree all the way back to 1538, it will be as dry as dust if you are unable to add in some personal information of the ancestors.

We need information from our relatives to take us back to the last century. The magic date to aim for is that of the last census for which information is available (census information is not released for one hundred years) and at the moment this is 1891. To do this all that is needed - hopefully - is long chats with the family members. Genealogy suffers from reverse ageism. The older the relative the more important can be their contribution. Back to the heading - Who, When & Where? The line you are tracing - be it Mother's or Father's - you need to know - Who were they?. When were they born? Where did they live? Did they go on holiday and stay with a relative? What did they do for a living? The list is almost endless. The fact that they went on holiday and stayed with grandparents in Skegness may point you to the area they came from. A really good method of bringing the memories flooding back is to go through the old photograph albums with the person you are 'interviewing' and try to identify the subjects and who they were related to. Try never to ask a question which needs a yes or no answer; chatting on one subject can open up memories on a whole range of items which might be of interest and provide a key to linking in another family group.

Having got this far try to draw up a small tree for each family group. These can then be used like a jigsaw to connect each family together with the father/mother of one family are the son or daughter of another. There are forms available to help make it easier and these will be found advertised in the genealogical magazines. The Church of the Latter Day Saints also do a form to record family members and it can be bought from your local LDS Family History Centre.

Were you successful in getting the line back to 1891? Unsure of the dates? Never mind. Over the coming weeks I hope to cover all the main sources of information that can be consulted and used to make up the Family Tree. The information is out there and it is just a matter of finding it. It does help of course, if you know what is available and where it is kept.

Bits 'n Bobs - Don't forget your local newspaper is a source of information.

Clixby - December 7th 1837 On Saturday last an inquest was held at Clixby, before George Mams Gent. Coroner on the body of William Booth, a servant in husbandry to Mr M Jackson, late of that
place who was found dead in bed.
Verdict - Visitation of God.

Ag. Lab. or Pawnbrokers Apprentice

 

Peter HERRON has several questions to answer concerning his families of interest. The father was Albert Henry NICHOLLS who died in 1961 aged 77 was therefore born around the year 1884 and his wife was a BUTTERY who is believed to have originated from the Bourne area. The first of the children was born in 1912. With this information we can say that it is likely that Albert would have married not earlier than 1901 and before 1912. Albert's wife was younger than him by a few years so the marriage dates can be narrowed down to between 1904 and 1912. According to the 1901 census there are 30 individuals called Albert born between 1882 and 1886. Discarding those with an initial that is not 'H' and all those from 'down south' we end up with two people. Albert born 1882 in Leven who was a waggoner and Albert from York born 1886 who was a pawnbrokers apprentice. The most likely candidate here is Albert the waggoner as he ended life working on the land. Leven is not far from Beverley and Albert is living, according to the 1901 census at Durington. Could this be a mis-spelling for Dunnington which is less than 5 miles from Leven? Using FreeBMD to check out the births there is just the one Albert Henry registered in 1882 and this was in the Rotherham district. Just to make things a little more interesting there is a parish near Rotherham called Dinnington.

I think that the only thing to do is to try and find the marriage certificate which would answer so many of the questions and give that all important link back to the census materials. FreeBMD gives two possibles for the marriage one in Rotherham and one in York.

Another name that has come to light during the week is that of Howsley. Although this one does not turn up in the dictionary it does split nicely in two. The –LEY element is from the Old English leah, a wood or clearing while the first part HOW- can easily be the personal name of the owner which is a form of Hugh. Just as simple could the Old English hoh, a hill, spur of land etc.

One of the things that the LDS is famous for amongst the genealogical fraternity is the amount of data that is held by them. Many of the larger towns have a Family History Centre at the Mormon Church and here you can view virtually everything that they hold. But what do they hold? With a little spare time you could go to London and look through the catalogue at the Hyde Park Family History Centre. This is the largest centre outside North America. Luckily for us there is an on-line link to it at www.hydeparkfhc.org/home.php and you will find what can be ordered for viewing. There is also a list of all the talks on genealogy that will be given and in a number of instances the talks are available as an article to download and read at your leisure.

Bits and Bobs

Grimsby Guardian – 26^th August 1858 – William Appleby was charged by Samuel Parker Story with depasturing cattle in West Marsh Lane on the 24^th inst. Contrary to the Bye Laws of the Borough. It appeared that Appleby, who is an old offender, was watching his cows in the lane and Story had got secreted in a cart that was driving past and sprang out for the purpose of taking them to the pound, but the beasts were forced over a drain into a field. Fined 5s and costs

Lincoln Linx

Working with the Wolds Learning Network in Horncastle gives me the opportunity to go to their offices which is situated in Joseph BANKS House. The house has been totally rebuilt it appears from the outside but being staff I am able to root about in the top floor where the original parts of the house are still in view. This is a fascinating house. The name of the house tells of its claim to fame. Sir Joseph BANKS, 1st Baronet, (1743-1820) was an English naturalist, botanist and science patron. He took part in Captain James COOK'S first great voyage and around 80 species bear BANKS' name. He is credited with the introduction to the West of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa, and the genus named after him, Banksia. BANKS' father died in 1761, and when Joseph turned 21 he inherited the estate of Revesby Abbey, becoming the local Squire and Magistrate, and sharing his time between Lincolnshire and London. Pop in under any pretext to have a look at the house. Sympathetically renovated, modern and ancient building gives it a surprisingly welcoming feel to it. The abbey had had few owners in its lifetime. In 1142, William De ROMARA, Earl of Lincoln and lord of the manor at Revesby, founded an Abbey there for the Cistertian monks. In 1538 it was granted to Charles BRANDON, Duke of Suffolk, and it thence passed from his family to the HOWARDs, Dukes of Berkshire, and from them to the BANKS family.

This week the names I shall look at come from my visit to Horncastle and the Linx Housing Trust. The first name I shall look at is ALLENDER. There are very few examples of this in Lincolnshire. In general the name appears in the middle of the country with the highest concentration in 1881 being in Wolverhampton. By 1998 the centre has shifted to Sheffield and it is here that Jack ALLENDERs mother was born around 115 years ago with the maiden name HARRINGTON. Without research going back as far as the changes in spelling it is difficult to say what the origin of ALLENDER is. However a very similar name is that of ALLENDE and the Old Spanish allende meaning someone who lived some distance from the main habitation.

The name BRUCKSHAW is as you will have noticed a variation on BROOKSHAW. Again this is a name that is not originally from Lincolnshire. Mainly from the Crewe in 1881 we find the Lincolnshire variation BIRKENSHAW throughout the county. This comes from BRUKENSHAW and the two words have the Old English origin of bruc being a brook and scaga that became shaw and was a copse and so we get the dweller living by the copse near a brook. One interesting thing about the name is that when I put the surname into the census search engine it returned not one single Ag. Lab. I am sure that this was purely due to the places that the families lived. A few farmers were listed but in the main the occupations were town based and the type of thing that we now associate with a factory. Put in any Lincolnshire name and 90% would be returned as labouring on a farm.

 

Bits and Bobs

1341 Royal Inquest in Lincolnshire – Gilbert de LEDRED, sheriff of Lincolnshire, in 14 Edward III had a royal commission to collect wool and took 20s from Thomas de LEKYNGFELD of Barton upon Humber not to take his wool. Likewise on the same day similarly took 20s from Thomas del BANK. – Lincoln Record Society Vol 78.

There is very little today that is new. Shouts about sleaze are likely to go back to Noah building the ark and whether the timber bought was kosher.

Allis in Wonderland

 

This week it was my pleasure to attend the confirmation of a friend in Brigg. Amongst the couple of dozen or so candidates were the usual names that turn up everywhere such as MARSHALL and MILLER. There were also the few that are particular to local areas such as PETCH and BRUMBY plus those that originate with place names such as FEATHERSTONE, SHIPLEY and WALKEDON. The other main supply of surnames is from Christian names and these were well represented along with those such as MURCH which I recently wrote about.

Anyone who has looked through the really old registers will have seen my first name to look at. It would appear as Als or Allis and is to be found in Wonderland as Alice. The Brigg surname is ALLISS. In its original form of Adalhaidis it was then contracted down to Alis and a variation of its original form is to be found today as Adelaide.

The Christian name Giles may end up as a surname but this is an odd one with several very similar surnames having different roots. Taking it's start as the name of a saint and the hermit St Ǽgidius becomes Gile and Gille. However the surname GILL was to be found in the Domesday book but came from a dweller by the ravine and the word is still used today. A diminutive of GILL is GILLEAT which along with its numerous spellings is a name that can be found in this area of Lincolnshire.

The name PETCH is one of those local names and was listed by GUPPY as peculiar to Yorkshire. The name came from a nickname and was used, I feel, in a similar way that some one who was short would be called lofty. The word originates from the Latin peccatum evolved to the Old French peche and pechie, a sin. Way back in 1123 Robert PECCEO, the Bishop of Coventry, was nicknamed Peche; another name that comes from the same root is PEACHEY.

Those nice people the Latter Day Saints have a new website where you can say thank you for all their work that resulted in the IGI. If you sign up to do some indexing for them you will get a single page of work to transcribe along with a small program in which to type your transcript. All projects being administered by FamilySearch Indexing and participating genealogical and historical societies are listed. Each project is posted with a unique set of indexing guidelines and interesting facts. To do your bit visit http://labs.familysearch.org/ and say thank you. There are lists of the projects completed, underway and to come. These are mainly in the Americas but there are a few Irish items to work on and a Glamorgan that I couldn't access.

Bits and Bobs

LRSM - 23rd May 1800 - If the Legal Representatives of Charles FOWLER, Son of Joseph FOWLER, formerly of Goltho in the County of Lincoln. Gent, deceased and of Selina FOWLER, daughter of the same Joseph FOWLER, will apply to Mr BALDWIN, Attorney at Law in Lincoln, they will hear of something to their advantage. The said Charles FOWLER was bound Apprentice in the Year 1773 from Christ´s Hospital, London to a Captain RATCLIFFE, who then traded to Jamaica: was afterwards in the Year 1777, a Midshipman on Board one of His Majesty´s Ships then lying at Spithead; and in the month of February 1779, was in Quebec in Canada. The said Selina FOWLER married a Mr SPENCER, supposed to be a Sea-faring Man, and died about the Year 1769.

.

 

Sauce for the Goose

 

 

There was a recent exchange on the internet concerning the PERRIN surname. I, like many others, instantly think of LEA & PERRINS sauce when the surname is used and have often wondered who they were. The story goes that Worcestershire sauce itself is of cross-cultural origins.  In 1835, Lord Marcus SANDYS, who was the ex-governor of Bengal, approached chemists John Wheeley LEA and William PERRINS, whose business in Broad Street, Worcester, handled pharmaceutical's and toiletries as well as groceries.  He asked them to make up a sauce from a recipe which he brought back from India.  While his lordship was apparently satisfied with the results, Messrs LEA and PERRINS considered it to be an "unpalatable, red-hot fire-water" and left the quantity they had made for themselves in the cellars. During the stocktaking and spring clean the following year, they came across the barrel and decided to taste it before discarding it.  To their amazement, the mixture had mellowed into an aromatic, piquant and appetizing liquid.  They hastily purchased the recipe from Lord SANDYS and, in 1838, the Anglo-Indian LEA & PERRINS Worcestershire sauce was launched commercially.  So now you know.

The surname PERRINS has a number of origins and all the spellings interchange with each other so that the only way to find the exact origin is to follow the line back to its beginning. The various spelling of PERRIN, PERRON and PEROWNE are respectively the diminutive of the French Perre (Peter) and this works with the various endings such as –in, -el or –un and appears in PARRELL and PERRIN. The name PEROWNE belongs to the Huguenots. A Lincolnshire example is that of Geoffrey PERRUN who was linked to the Templars in 1185.

Lincolnshire has its own origin for LEA. With the various spelling of LEE, LEIGH, LYE and LAYE one can assume that there are numerous beginnings for this surname. A search through any gazetteer gives you any number of villages that include the surname. The Old English word leah was used for one who dwells in the area by a wood or in a clearing. The same word by the time of the Middle English became leye or lye and it is from this that some of the other variations come. The same origin, same meaning but of a later date.

I have received an e-mail from Cynthia TUPHOLME in Canada. Further to her request last week on the surname it seems from her email that it was just one family that had left Lincolnshire years ago and settle in the Ontario area. This is another of those instances where history comes full circle. Tupholme was the island of sheep down in the fens originally. Cynthia and her family "live on one of the most amazing islands in the world, known for it's quality of lamb and we are breeders of registered Suffolk sheep!" If TUPHOLME is your name then get in touch with your long lost cousins at www.geocities.com/cerdinen4stock/

 Bits and Bobs

Lincoln Lindsey Petty Sessions 2 May 1851 - Hannah DENMAN, of Torksey, applied for an order of affiliation on Alfred DALTON, of Wiseton, Notts: the frail fair one, however, admitted that her favours had been bestowed on three different men; and one wit said, "Thou knowest, Hannah, thou was very enticing, and that he did not know that the child was not his".

Anne on the 'net.

CARR HOLME

 

This is as Lincolnshire as a surname can be and it belongs to Cynthia TUPHOLME who lives in Salt Spring Island, Canada. Back at the time of the first millennium the area around the fens and up to Lincoln was large swamp with small islands by the dozen. These could be Carrs or Holmes and generally meant a bit of dry land in a swampy area. The first part of the name - TUP - is still in use. Have a chat to your local shepherd. At some stage during his year he will be putting the Tup in with the sheep and when you see a blue or red mark on a sheep's rear then you know that the Tup has done his work. The Tup is the ram. Tupholme was the island that had sheep on it. A good place to check this out is the LincsHeritage site which has a very nice article on the Abbey. "In the middle of the twelfth century, a newly elected Abbot and twelve canons set out from Newsham in North Lincolnshire to found a new Premonstratensian Abbey on the 'island of the sheep' at Tupholme." Many of the holders of the name are to be found in the south of the county with the earliest register entry I found being the baptism of William TUPHOLME in 1565 in Boston. In 1175 it was spelt TUPEHOLM so really hasn't changed a great deal over the years. Mind you due to the accent there are a few TUPHAM families about. In the Whites 1856 Directory the township of Tupholme had 73 people living there and there is no church listed.

A name that I put in the column last year is that of HADDELSEY. I have been known to put the column onto the Grasby.blogspot occasionally and it is here that Brian HADDLESEY came across it. It was Mrs Armstrong who had first brought up the subject of the HADDELSEY surname and if either she or anyone else researching it would like to contact Brian on hzr3zr@yahoo.com he would be delighted to hear from you. He has a large database on the family and is interested in sharing his data.

One of the things that was needed was someone to take on the restoration of the stone monuments in churchyards and one that has taken it up and contacted me recently is Stephen TOOP of Grimsby. The name I thought sounds Dutch to me but when I had a look at the National Trust Surname site I found that the main concentration for the name in 1881 was in Devon, Dorset and Somerset. By 1998 an enclave was to be found in Lincolnshire and the name could now be found throughout the southern counties. A quick peek at the Family Search website confirmed the findings with hundreds of TOOP individuals to be found in the south west from the 16^th century onwards. Some of the very earliest use of the name are to be found in the Domesday Book and are in Lincolnshire. The Domesday Book mentions one Ulf TOPE. The name most likely comes from the Old Danish name Topi.

Bits and Bobs

THE LOUTH & NORTH LlNCOLNSHIRE ADVERTISER - 1st June 1872 - A meeting of the friends of Mr Thomas KIRKHAM of Biscathorpe House, near Louth, the celebrated ram breeder, was held at Lincoln yesterday (Friday) week. when it was resolved to present that gentleman with a portrait of himself. A subscription has been entered into for carrying out the purpose. and when completed. will be presented as a token of esteem for the services he has rendered to agriculturalists in having so successfully devoted himself to the importance of the breed of Lincolnshire sheep, and as a testimonial of the regard in which he is held.

Bye Rod

Way back in March 2000 Rod NEEP had a bright idea; now that the technology was available why not scan in rare books, directories and census returns and put then onto CD; before Rod knew where he was the CDs were being produced in the UK and soon in USA, Canada, Australia, Holland and Ireland. There are now over 2,500
old and rare books on CD for sale to historians and genealogists. Sadly as Rod NEEP has decided to retire – again - Archive CD Books will cease taking new orders and the company will be closed down. The company is not being sold. I mentioned in this column recently that the company had a closing down sale and the profits from this are being used in the Archive CD Books Kenyan project; as Rod says "I am donating £20,000.00 from the proceeds of the GB closing down sale to the funds to build another new school in Kenya. (Would I like to keep that as profit? Sure! But there are others who can gain immense benefit from it). Everyone who has purchased our CDs can take some pleasure in that too". I for one shall really miss this resource but we will still be able to get disks from the other countries still working and Ireland is not so far away. Looking at one set of disks that I recently bought I notice that the Isle Wight census of 1861 is available for €17.17 plus €2.25 postage etc instead of £12.93 plus £2 p&p which at today's exchange rate looks like a bargain to me.

While on the subject of the Archive CD Books there are a series of indexes that you can download from the site. Along with Lincolnshire 1841 Pigots Directory and a number of other counties directories, there are seven 1841 censuses place indexes, numerous Visitation books, but not Lincolnshire. You will have to buy one from the Lincolnshire Family History Society who has indexed all the censuses plus just about everything else.

We have just rung a quarter peal at Elsham and wandering around the churchyard I came across the Yorkshire name ETTY. This one occurred mostly in the East Riding but by 1998 the highest concentration moves from York to Lincoln. The Lincolnshire families seem to come from the Sleaford area in 1881. A very similar name is that of ATTY and where ETTY came from the Old English word eata and Yorkshire, ATTY is from further north and from Old English teag, an enclosure.

Bits and Bobs THE BRITISH FREEHOLDER & SATURDAY EVENING JOURNAL - 18th January 1823 - DEPLORABLE OCCURRENCE - On Friday last, 10th inst., a melancholy circumstance occurred in the neighbourhood of Broadholme near Lincoln. Mr. COCKING, a respectable farmer of that place, in company with a visitor went out for the purpose of shooting rabbits. Whilst in pursuit of their game, a rabbit offered a good opportunity for a shot, by passing in a direction which, however, was obstructed by Mr. COCKING´S friend standing in that quarter. Mr. COCKING presented his piece over the head of his friend, who accordingly crouched down a few paces off - the trigger was pulled - the powder flashed in the pan, - and as the gun did not instantly go off, the young man who stooped conceived that the piece had missed fire, and arose from his bended position, when, shocking to relate, the contents of the gun were exploded within a few yards of his head, which was so dreadfully shattered, as to cause his immediate death.

An Interesting Snippet

The Parish Registers of Whaplode - Memorandem - January 27th 1820 - At the last summer assizes, John BIMROSE, of this parish, was capitally convicted of wilfully firing a gun about midnight, into the chamber window of William Wilders, of the Star public house. He supposed that his wife, whom he had turned out, was there: for which offence the said John BIMROSE received sentence of death, & was left for execution on Friday the 6th day of August 1819. But on Sunday: August 1st, myself, the Churchwardens, Overseers of the Poor, & almost every Parishioner, signed a petition for commutation of punishment: at the same time setting on foot a subscription to defray the expenses of sending a special messenger after the Judge, to Derby, for that purpose, which was happily effected: & the messenger arrived back at Lincoln Castle with a reprieve on Wednesday Aug 4th at about 10 o'clock at night... Ultimately he was transported for life N.B. The whole expense was £21

It ought not, by any means, to be omitted recording that, among the principal people of this Parish, shooting into houses, breaking open doors, demolishing windows & such like transactions, in the night, has been, for some years, a common drunken frolic: which was always made up in a day or two, by paying for the damage done, & spending a few shillings, by way of a treat!!!....It might have been reasonably supposed that the narrow escape of this poor culprit would have proved a wholesome example: & effected a moral reformation in the Parish, but, alas, the grosser acts of violence are only restrained! The same spirit of notorious impiety, profligacy & licentiousness continues to prevail. And a great many are triumphantly bringing up their children in the same contumacious manner!!! That God Almighty may turn the heads of the disobedient, into the wisdom of the just, thro Jesus Christ our Lord Saml OLIVER. It was in the registers of Samuel OLIVER that the fact was noted that the parents of the child were 'stark raging Ranters'. The name BEMROSE seems to have started out in the Lincolnshire area wsere it was highly concentrated in the 1881 census. It is thought to have originated from the name of a now vanished village.

Whilst on the subject of prison. The archive books CDs are at half price and I have just purchased the 1861 census for the Isle of Wight. On one disk is the prison and if one of your ancestors was here then you will have trouble pinpointing him as they are only listed as for instance - J. B. – Prisoner – U – 17 – Tailor – Lincolnshire – Boston or J. B. – Prisoner - U – 12 – Labourer – Lincolnshire – Frampton and these two do exist as above. Best of luck.

Bits and Bobs

The Times (London) 17 Jul 1908 - Prizes for large families - At the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society's annual show, opened yesterday at Sleaford, prizes were offered to the agricultural labourers who had brought up and placed out the largest numbers of children, without having received parochial relief. The first prize of £4 went to George FARMERY, of Hemswell, Lincoln, who had 23 children, 17 of whom were brought up, and 14 placed out. The second prize went to John ELSEY, of Lusby, near Spilsby, who had 14 children, 14 of whom were brought up, and 11 placed out. The third prize-winner was William BELL, of Croxby, Caistor, with 14 children born, 11 brought up, and the same number placed out. The five men competing in the class had a total of 78 children.

A couple of months later it was listed in the New Zealand newspapers. He won again the next year and received another £4. With wages being 15 shillings a week the winnings would have been a nice addition to the family budget.

Posted by Alan MOORHOUSE