Immigration is not new

Win FEARNLEY has written to me on the subject of her maiden name. PICKAVER is a very rare name in Lincolnshire with just the one family in 1881. Win’s grandfather came from the village of Wymondham in Leicestershire and a check of the census shows that this village had links to several of the families. A rather nice touch was the finding of George Robert PICKOVER who was living in Derbyshire which showed the manner in which the locals pronounced the village name. His place of birth is listed as being Wyeham in Leicestershire. The PICKAVER family history includes the possibility that the name might be Huguenot in origin. This I feel is unlikely for the following reason. The main flood of Huguenot immigrants came at the middle of the 17th century when something like 50,000 arrived. These had to fit in with an English population that is estimated at six million people. At that time the population had already set out the surnames that we use today. The origin of the name PICKOVER according to the dictionary is as a nickname meaning to pick oats from the Middle English pikken. The name was in use in England in around the year 1255. Try ‘Googling’ the word Huguenot. For more information on the Huguenots there are some good links at the National Huguenot Society web page. The nearest surname to PICKAVER you can find on the web page is PICKENS and PICKON. FEARNLEY has a nice simple history. There has been little change over the several hundred years that it has been in use. Back in 1200 it was spelt simply FERNLEE and came from the ‘dweller in the fern covered clearing’ and the possible village that grew up there that took the name Farnley.
David WILKINS emailed me via ifor@familyroots.org and mentioned that he had two unusual names in the family tree. The first mentioned is that of BAZLINGTON. This changes easily to BASLINGTON and one would think that this is simply a village somewhere or other. Sadly this is not the case as there is no sign of a village by this name even though there are people with the BASLINGTON name all across the world. The national index for 1881 census gives just five families throughout England and Wales. Could it be from the same root as Basing and Basingstoke which are connected to the man called Basa who first lived there. Lastly there is the name GABBITAS and a similar one which I have found locally to the Caistor area. This Yorkshire name comes, I believe, from a font name. The pet form of the name Gabriel is GABB and the diminutive version of this is GABBOT or GABBUT. The local version is GORBUTT. One of the first mentions of this name is with John GABYTUS in Newark at the end of the 15th century. For everything you ever wanted to know about the GABBITAS family go to www.gabbitasgenealogy.com/ and take a look at the family tree.
Bits and Bobs
The Times - 9th September 1808 - General News: The mysterious disappearance of Mr John DEWHIRST, of Sothy, Lincolnshire, who left his family on Saturday the 17th of October last, (1807), and was supposed to have been murdered on his return to Horncastle Market, is at length accounted for. His friends have lately received a letter from him, wherein he states that he is in good health, in the Island of Jamaica, that he has got a place of £160 per year, and he hopes his wife will go to him. He adds, that he ´left his family to acquire property enough to support old age´. The letter was read to many persons on Saturday in Horncastle Market. Two men were in Louth prison last week, charged with the murder of Mr DEWHIRST.

One Fat Pig

During the week I came across a leaflet which was a purchase agreement from December 1928 between D J Dodds who agreed to sell to G W Robinson one fat pig weighing in at about 30 stones dead weight. G W R was buying the pig on what seems to be hire purchase of six shilling per week payable every Friday. This was witnessed by C Portess. Some conversions for those reading this column that don’t understand real weights and money. The 30 stones the pig weighed will convert to around 190 Kg and this was paid for at 30p per week. The shape of pigs has changed somewhat since 1926. One website gives the following information. Pigs are also referred to as growing pigs (40 - 125 pounds), and finishing pigs, weighing from 125 pounds to market weight--usually about 230 pounds. Probably because of the liking for a leaner meat the weight is now nearer 100kg almost half that of 1926.

My quest this week has been to link a marriage certificate from Liverpool in the name of bomford to an entry in the 1881 census for bamford in the parish of Windle. Many of the people concerned could not be found in several of the other censuses available and had not yet been entered into the FreeBMD database. The husband on the certificate is Alfred Barry Bomford – a grocer. The head of household on the 1881 census is Alfred B Bamford, born Cheltenham, who is the manager of a Cocoa Room, plus his wife and his children who were born in St Helens. The ages and christian names are about right but how does one prove a link between the two? Firstly, and for no apparent reason, it does not look as though the couple signed their certificate because the handwriting seems to be that of the minister and there is no evidence of ‘their mark’ so it could be that the minister just made a mistake as to the spelling. A search for the children was more successful. The youngest that turned up was Edith who was registered in the district of Prescott. The Alfred Joseph B Bamford was also to be found in Prescott and the likelihood of this combination of Christian names turning up is remote. The clincher is that of last name I found being registered. William Barry Bamford was registered in Prescott in 1863 and this was the third age that agreed with the data I had and the middle name coincided nicely with that of his father. So one can be fairly sure that the bomford is just a misspelling of the name bamford. The district of Prescott includes St Helens and Windle which was later transferred to St Helens. The Bamford name can be found in Lincolnshire but the main concentration is from the Midlands level with the Wash in a line up to Liverpool. The name comes from the ford that had a beam as a footbridge over the stream.

Bits and Bobs

To be found at www.ancestordocs.co.uk/lincolnshire - 160/4 Atkinson, James of Snitterby dated 1877. A probated copy of a Will in parchment along with certificate of Probate which has a wafer seal attached. Listed are the daughters Mary Jane (w/o Joseph Thomas of Snitterby), Martha (w/o Matthew Swallow), Elizabeth deceased (w/o George Wilkins of Lewisham, Kent) and her children Charlotte Elizabeth, George, James, Mary Ann, Emma, Martha Matilda, Harry & Jane. Several pieces are missing (having the appearance of burns) from the bottom edge which does not affect the text. There is one small hole in text with loss of 2 letters. £17

Unknown Unknowns

Anne of internet fame along with a small group of Lincolnshire Family History Society members has a new mission. Once a month they congregate at the archives and check through the BTs. BT is short for Bishop’s Transcript, which is a copy of the parish register that was sent annually to the Bishop. They can be on parchment of various shapes and sizes, illegibility and condition. There are over a thousand pages of BTs sitting in the Lincolnshire Archives which do not have a name of a parish on them. The group is attempting to identify the parish to which they belong and in fact there are a few that don’t have a date either. This work will benefit all those with Lincolnshire ancestors. None of these BTs have been filmed and consequently the events in them may not appear on the IGI. They have so far positively identified about 50 different BTs. For more detailed information Dr Mike Rogers, Archivist in charge of this project, has written a short piece for the next Lincolnshire Family History Society journal about the project and what will happen to the BTs once identified. Anne came up with the bright idea of passing the transcript of some of the BTs that they are stuck on to the Lincolnshire List. She explains that “Where there is a burial of a child on a BT, but no baptism, the IGI is invaluable - finding the baptism usually leads to the correct parish, but not always. The census can be used for place of birth from BTs after about 1770, assuming that the child baptised lived to a good age. We are also using the marriage indexes (but need further verification from Parish Registers of Baptism & Burial on the same BT), Wills indexes, marriage bonds, names of vicars, curates etc. However, your combined personal knowledge may lead to short cuts.” To further the work she is sending details of some of the BTs for everyone to work on. An example BT is this - The year is 1765/6 and there are only two events on the BT. Ann daughter of Antony & Izatt Spur baptised 29 December 1765; Ann wife of William Barsley buried 4 Jan 1766.
The only one that I can find on the IGI is the baptism of an Anthony son of Daniel & Elizabeth spurr at High Toynton in November 1738. On the next item I have found the baptism of a William barrsely the son of William & Ann in 1748 at High Toynton. Could this be it? Or do you know better!! To carry these further I would need to check out the parish registers.
The main concentration of the SPURR surname can be found in Cornwall. There is a secondary concentration in the Doncaster area. I wonder why these two areas are so far apart? The surname comes from the holder who was making spurs for sale.
Barsley is more local with most of the people living in the fens. The indications are that it originates from a place name but I have been unable to find any likely candidates.
Bits and Bobs
THE TUESDAY EXPRESS – Kent - 7th January 1908 - A JANUARY HARVEST: The almost unprecedented sight of harvesting corn crops in January was seen in Lincolnshire on Saturday. Several fields of wheat, barley and oats in the Branston Fen, have been sold by auction as they stood in the fields. A Heckington miller purchased the cropping, and the frozen condition of the land enabled him to use the reaper with such good effect that the bulk of corn was gathered in on Saturday. It is proposed to celebrate the novel event with a harvest supper to the men engaged in the unseasonable work.
An early sign of global warming perhaps!!