Interested in the Loft

The new Lincolnshire Family History Society magazine has arrived and one of the items I liked this time was the article on General Loft who had visited Grasby. This is written by Tinribs in addition to which there is the view from the family side written by John Henry Lofts great great grandson. The articles remind us that the Lincolnshire Family History Society has transcribed the notebooks of General Loft and published them on a CD. Loft’s claim to fame for the genealogist or village historian of Lincolnshire is through his travels in the county between 1826 and 1844. He recorded anything and everything that took his fancy and noted both the churches and families. Many of the items he recorded have now disappeared and some of them never existed but were just the local gossip. Items such at the “I was told at Barton St Mary that Elizabeth Walker was a Lady of easy virtue who raised a good property by that means”. If she is in your family tree then she is definitely worth investigation. A second item that is worth a mention is that of the robber named bailey who was one of the outlaws of ‘Kippy Koppy Wood.’ Where did that name come from? This is just one of several extremely interesting articles but you will have to get the Journal to read the rest.

Helen dodd, who lives in Woodall Spa is looking to put on a workshop for the children and to take a look at surnames. One of the names that she mentioned is that of priestner. Now every one of the names that has priest in the word is linked to a man of the cloth. Priestman is a servant of a priest, priestland lives on a piece of land that belongs to the priest and priestley dwells in the clearing in the priests woods, except that I can’t find priestner in the dictionary. Could it be that the word was just a corruption at some time in the past? It might be from Prester which is thought to be a nickname for someone that was either priest like in bearing or the complete opposite somewhat along the lines of calling someone that was BIG by the name LITTLE.

Dodd was a personal name that seems to have been used throughout the whole of the country.

Bits and Bobs

Tuesday Oct 25^th 1898 – Long Sutton – On Wednesday last Mr Charles biggadike drove into the White Lion Yard with a load of pigs from Spalding; and as soon as he had jumped out the horse bolted. The cart was upset and the pigs scattered in all directions. The animals, very young ones, went scampering all over the Market Place and the search for them lasted most of the night. One pig was found in Mr neaverson’s at the Crown and Woolpack Hotel sitting against the back kitchen fire!

Lincolnshire Family History Society Journal

Hammerton of Hammerton

Last week, if you remember, I mentioned documents concerning Messingham then Richard hammerton contacted me for some further data as he has family tree links to the WASS family. One of the things we talked about was his tree that goes back to 1781 and I must wonder if this is a specific item because a search of the Latter Day Saints’ website familysearch also gives a family tree going back to the same date. A coincidence? Perhaps. While I keep repeating myself by saying don’t believe everything said or written because we are only human I did find a family tree on the site that went back to the origin of the name and the village of Hamerton in Yorkshire. The earliest entry in the tree is that of Richard Hamerton of Hamerton Yorkshire born around 1141 according to the Familysearch submitter. The line goes through a number of generations getting to Aukburgh (Alkborough), and Gervase Hammerton born 1597 who is assumed, according to the entry, to have married Jane gildas of Barton “abt 1627”. At around this point people carrying out research should have access to the registers and can verify the facts. By the 19^th century the hammerton family had settle in Wragby. George was born there in 1836 and was a bricklayer but lived in Melville St, Lincoln with eight children. There was a lot of travel undertaken by this family for his wife was from Warwickshire and two of the children had been born in Sheffield. A likely brother, John, was born Wragby in 1834 but was now a builder living in Buckingham with his family of six children and listed on the birthplaces are again some links to Yorkshire. The surname profiler puts the highest concentration of hammertons in London but there are a large number just to the west of the Humber in 1881. By 1998 the name has spread throughout the country. The village of Hammerton gets its name from the town or tun being near or on an Old English hamor or hill.

The name gildas later became regularised as gilders or gelders. A similar looking spelling is that is difficult to separate is gilder for the name could be either. One answer to the origin is that of the occupation of gilder and to gild and the other is also an occupation this time as the caretaker of a guildhall. As we all know it is so easy to leave off or put on an‘s’ that it would be hard to say which is which.

On March 17^th at Bracebridge village hall will be the event you have waited all year for. The Lincolnshire Family History Society Family History day and it starts at 0945. the varied program will be looking at Gravestones, a history of dialects and the history of newspapers. As if that is not enough there will also be the bookstall which will have an index for just about everything. Contact Mrs Robson, 135 Balderton Gate, Newark, NG24 1RY to book your seat as there are a limited number of places available.

Bits and Bobs

LRSM - 2nd December 1825 - Awful Instances of Mortality - On Sunday evening last, 27th November, aged 36 years, Mr. William HANSON, grazier of Butterwick. On Monday evening, 28th November, aged 62 years, Mrs. HANSON, wife of Mr. R. HANSON, a very respectable wool-buyer, grazier, etc., of that place, and Mother of Mr William HANSON: And on Tuesday evening, the 29th November, aged 40 years, Elizabeth, wife of the above Mr William HANSON, leaving seven orphans to lament their loss. All died after a short illness.

Legal Eagle

While it is highly likely that there will be a long queue to check out the following documents it might be an idea to get your name down now for a viewing. Rex Johnson had put the following information onto the internet forum concerning the deposit of documents into Grimsby Archives because the Scunthorpe Museum has insufficient room for the mass of documents involved. A Scunthorpe solicitor, Mr Hett had decided to have a clear out and instead of throwing away 17^th documents, something that I know has taken place in the past by others, had offered them to the museum service. A large pat on the back to the solicitor and will other holders of documents please take note. When a friend of Rex asked him to look at a sample of the documents to see what was available he ended up with four large boxes relating to Messingham and it is supposed that this is a fraction of what is being held. The opening of the boxes revealed a treasure trove of documents that included original Wills, Deeds, Conveyances, Mortgages, Land Disputes etc. and Rex reported that he had “never seen such a collection of vellum, parchment, original papers”. It is supposed that there will be as wide a coverage of many other villages. The papers are not indexed so who knows, this might be a job for the Lincolnshire Family History Society and I am sure that an index on fiche may eventually be produced by their valiant volunteers. If you would like to know more about access to these documents then contact Grimsby Archives and John.Wilson@nelincs.gov.uk. Rex has put a list in his email of some of the people mentioned in the documents that he saw. There were Wills for John Martyn gent., 1628-9; Ralphe Rowbottom, 1638; Francis Rowbottom of East Ferry, Yeoman, 1655/6; Wm. Hood 1658; Jane Hood, 1658; Helen Little wid., 1662; Wm. Atkinson 1794. An original will of William Smith 1763. Will of James Holland 1808. Administration of Goods of William Clarke, late of Ashby, 1834. Lease of Abraham Stocks. Wm. Kendall and others, land to Wm. Walker 1834. John Hall mortgage 1834. Abraham Stocks mortgage to Frances Pilfoot 1849. Elizabeth Wright 1851. Copy of Amelia Sowerby's baptism certificate. Will of Thomas Sowerby proved 31 July 1818. Names in other documents related to: Samuel Simpson, John Dauber, Hannah Nicholson, Hannah Mason, Edward Hannath, John Bennet, Thomas Freer, William Whaplate, Mary Toft, John Wray, Edward Westoby, George Benson, John Cawkwell, Thomas Mundy, Mary Hammond, Charlotte Richardson, Robert Hide, Thomas Bird etc. etc. What a fantastic spread of data. Over two hundred years of history saved. Alan Wass who originally found out about the deposit did so because he asked the Archive if there was any information about Windmills. He, and several other Messingham residents, have just produced a booklet called “A Brief History of Messingham”. Rex is currently transcribing Messingham parish records to put online at FreeREG which a site is collecting parish material for people to trace ancestors at the parish level without having to subscribe or pay for the data.

One name that is new to me is that of pilfoot. It is not in the dictionary and neither is it on the surname profile website. By 1901 just one holder of the name is listed. Charles pilfoot was born in Goxhill and lived in Sculcoates. John Sherwood pilfoot is listed as living in Hull with his wife in 1881 but there are no other entries for this family. As John and Elizabeth didn’t died until around 1910 just where were they in 1901?

Bits and bobs

LRSM - 17th February 1832 - Marriage: At Spilsby on Wednesday the 8th February, Mr COUPLAND of Skendleby to Mrs DALES of the former place. - The Bridegroom became dissatisfied with his bargain before midnight and shortly after supper left his Bride to mourn her absent Lord.

French for Barrel?

During my time on the lookout for the funding of the Grasby project I have come across many names and a number of them have ended up in this column. One that has turned up just the once is that of beharrell. The name also came up again recently on the internet with the question “Could the BEHARRELL surname have turned up as BARRELL?” A search soon turns up a history of the BEHARRELL family, along with the information that they came to England from Northern France and Holland in 1626. The first recorded instance in England of the name BEHARRELL was in 1587 when a family of that name was living in Canterbury, a town on the south coast close to the English Channel and France. There is no record of the continued existence of this family. Almost all BEHARRELLS in England, the USA, Canada and Australia can trace their origins to the three BEHARRELL families of French Huguenots (Walloons) who arrived here in 1626 as part of a larger group of 85 families, to carry out drainage work in the Isle of Axholme, and the marshy area on the border between Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The Huguenot community in France had become subject to religious persecution and as a result of this some of the community left France and fled to Holland, settling down in the town of Middleburg on the small island of Walcheren immediately north of the border with France.
It is thought that the Middleburg community went as a body to Sandtoft in the Isle of Axholme. The BEHARRELL families in England must have kept contact with their friends and relatives in Walcheren because in 1794 Anna BEHARRELL (d. 1794) widow of Abraham (b. 1702 d. 1776) bequeathed 25 pounds to her daughter Elizabeth GRABOURN "now settled in Flushing in Zealand". Flushing is on the island of Walcheren about 6 miles south of Middleburg. After the drainage of the Isle of Axholme was finished, the families split, one group moving south about 70 miles to the Fens around Peterborough. The other moved a short distance of 10 miles north to the area around Snaith and Drax, then moving some 30 miles east to settle in Wawne in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Research was carried out in 1989 to 1991, with a small addition in 1995 and added to work already done by John BEHARRELL (1893 - 1956), Sir George BEHARRELL (1873 - 1959) and by Gordon and June BEHARRELL of Shrewsbury and the results can be found on the internet. However Frank DICKENSON has been looking for the last ten years and is still looking for one important piece of information. This is the date and place of birth of Robert BEHARRELL who was born between 1705 and say 1720 probably in Wawne or a nearby parish. He died in 1790. There are still BEHARRELLS in the area today. I have been unable to find the meaning of the name but it does occasionally get spelt BARRELL.
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.