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Category Archives: Cornwall

Cornish Emigrants GEDMatch Project revisited

22 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by Anne Young in Cornwall, DNA, GedMatch

≈ Leave a comment

Cornish emigrants Facebook group

A Facebook group for researching shared Cornish ancestry

Three months ago, on 16 August, I wrote a short blog post about a new Facebook group called ‘Cornish Emigrants – GEDmatch Ancestor Project’. Since then the group has grown rapidly, to 599 kits on GEDMatch and 292 members on Facebook.

The aim of the group is to help people research their Cornish family history. To get the most from it, you should already have some well-based knowledge about your Cornish ancestors. If you join only because your DNA tests report likely Cornish ancestry you will probably find that it won’t help you much. You need to have done some research about your Cornish connection.

You can join through Facebook or directly from GEDMatch. On Facebook you give your GEDMatch number and information about your Cornish roots.

The group spreadsheet lists the kits of those who have joined, in kit number order, with details – where these are known – of Facebook name, Ancestry.com username, and Cornish surnames associated with the kit.

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The first step is to log on to GEDMatch and go to the Ancestor Projects page. Run the report with your kit number. I usually do this with matches > 10 centimorgans (cM). The default setting is > 7 cM, but this can produce matches where the relationship is too distant to trace or where the shared DNA is not genealogically significant.

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The GEDMatch home page showing the reports I most frequently run: orange arrow is Ancestor Projects; blue arrow is One-to-One Autosomal DNA Comparison; green arrow is People who match both, or 1 of 2 kits

 

 

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You then take a screenshot of the report and post it to the Facebook group. If you find correspondences between people in your tree and in the trees of other people in the group, you tag your matches in the post. This you do by typing the @ symbol in the post and then start typing the name. You then choose from the people who pop up in the list. You add the screenshot to your post by selecting the green picture icon shown at the bottom of the screen.

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Not all matches from the Cornish Emigrants Ancestor GEDMatch group are on Facebook, for some people join from GEDMatch directly. You will have to email these matches yourself.

To get the most out of trying to connect with others, it is a good idea to upload your tree to GEDMatch. If you find correspondences it will be worth looking at the trees of the people where your matches occur. The tree icon on the GEDMatch report shows if your match has uploaded a tree to GEDMatch.

If the match is a Cornish Emigrants match, I look at any Cornish ancestry in both trees. The connection, of course, might be from some other part of our familys’ ancestries, not necessarily Cornish and/or not displayed on these trees.

I also look at DNA Painter to see if the shared segment is one I have already painted and for whom I have identified an ancestor. This might give me a clue as to where our connection occurs.

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Example of the detail from DNAPainter looking at segments already identified associated with particular ancestors

 

I run the GEDMatch report of people who match both kits, and look to identify shared matches where I know the connection. (See screenshot above of GEDMatch home page and report identified with green arrow.)

GEDmatch report of both kits

GEDMatch of report of both kits. If I can identify a shared match then I start to have an idea about where on my family tree I should be looking for common ancestors with the other kit.

 

If my match and I both tested through AncestryDNA then I use the tools on that site to explore the connection, if there is one, between our family trees and to review our shared matches. I also do this with FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage. The different sites have different tools, but all of them allow you to review shared matches and family trees
that have been uploaded.

Cornish emigrant connections

16 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by Anne Young in Cornwall, DNA, GedMatch

≈ 3 Comments

Companies that offer genealogical DNA analysis usually provide tools to interpret the data, and you can use these tools to explore matches between you and people you share DNA with. If they appear on a public family tree you can try to connect to it from your own. If the tree is complete you will probably be able to find your most recent common ancestors.

You may also be able to find your more distant cousins by joining a project, a group of people working together to explore their common ancestry.

Cornish emigrants Facebook group

A Facebook group for researching shared Cornish ancestry

GEDMatch.com processes autosomal DNA data files from different testing companies to compare data derived from their DNA kits (‘autosomal’ means ‘concerning chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes’).

GEDMatch provides DNA analysis tools for genealogists, including tools for comparing your DNA test results with those of other people in the GEDMatch public database.

To use these tools you must first upload your DNA test results to GEDMatch. GEDMatch accepts results from the main testing databases at Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, and 23 and Me.

A recent tool is Ancestor Projects. There are 38 projects presently registered WITH GEDMatch. Project members have DNA characteristics with whatever common trait or ancestry the project intends to explore. There are projects for royal pedigrees, deaf people, and connections from certain counties in Ireland.

GEDMatch home screen

GEDMatch home screen showing link to Ancestor Projects and also where to upload your family tree

I have joined the project for Cornish emigrants, which aims to identify DNA of emigrants from Cornwall. Greg has Cornish forebears. Members include people with GEDMatch kits who are descended from Cornish people who emigrated or from Cornish people who currently live in Cornwall. The new GEDMatch project tool allows the identification of matches and analysis of shared segments of DNA, with results limited to members within the group. The group shares information and communicates within a closed Facebook group.

So having joined the project what next?

If you are going to join a group I think it is a good idea to attach your family tree to your GEDMatch kit. You can upload your family tree to GEDMatch in the format of a GEDCom file which is a standard file type and which you can export from whichever program you currently keep your family tree in. You can create a link between a DNA kit and a person in your GEDcom. If you manage several DNA kits and they all relate to one family tree you can link the different kits to the right people on the family tree. The names and dates of living people are not shown when the tree is displayed in GEDMatch.

In the ‘Cornish Emigrants’ Facebook group we have a spreadsheet for sharing details. This shows who in the group is associated with which kit. It also lists the Cornish surnames in our family tree and details of our forebears who emigrated from Cornwall.

Cornish Emigrants spreadsheet surnames tab

Surnames worksheet on Cornish Emigrants spreadsheet

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One of the sheets from the Cornish Emigrants project shared spreadsheet

People in the group can run a report in GEDMatch to see which kits match their own and then begin a conversation to find connections.

Cornish GedMatch report

An example of a report from the Cornish GEDMatch Ancestor Project

The group started at the beginning of August. It has already gained 119 users and 182 kits.

Cornish emigrant group growth

Not everybody in the GEDMatch group is connected to Facebook and the discussion there but most members are.

I hope that by connecting with this project’s group members I will be able to extend our family tree and learn more about our family history.

Greg's Cornish DNA at ancestry.com

AncestryDNA has identified that Greg has Cornish DNA. Working on a GEDMatch project helps to find people with Cornish DNA and also an interest in following up on their family history from Cornwall.

Related Posts

  • Discovering a DNA cousin through Wikitree and confirming with GedMatch (a cousin with shared Cornish ancestry)
  • Visiting St Erth, Lands End and the Lizard
  • Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
  • B is for the barque Bloomer arrived 1854

Trove Tuesday: Cornish memorial and Ballarat pioneer

11 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by Anne Young in Geelong, St Erth, Trove Tuesday, Tuckfield, typhoid

≈ Leave a comment

Last month, when we visited the St Erth Methodist Church in Cornwall, I noticed that one of the plaques on the wall was a memorial to Francis Tuckfield erected by James Oddie and Benjamin Bonney, passengers on the Larpent in 1849.

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A similar plaque was unveiled in the Yarra Street Methodist Church, Geelong in 1906.

Larpent tablet

A MURAL TABLET. (1906, March 20). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 – 1929), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149169675

 

The plaque was to honour Reverend Francis Tuckfield (1808 – 1865) and his wife, Sarah Tuckfield nee Gilbart (1808 – 1854), who threw their house open to passengers from the Larpent who had been afflicted by fever.

Francis Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia
Francis Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia
Sarah Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia
Sarah Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

 

The Larpent had arrived in Geelong on 28 June 1849. Among the passengers was James Oddie (1824 – 1911) with his wife and child. The Larpent’s emigrants had been selected by the Presbyterian minister John Dunmore Lang, a promoter of emigration. During the voyage many passengers became ill with what was thought to be typhoid. Sadly both Oddie’s wife and child died.

James Oddie was among the earliest gold miners arriving at the newly opened Ballarat diggings in August 1851. He became very rich and was later a great philanthropist. He founded the Art Gallery of Ballarat. His portrait hangs there.

James Oddie’s obituary in the Geelong Advertiser of 4 March 1911 stated that Oddie had instituted an annual reunion of passengers of the Larpent and their descendants to meet at Mack’s Hotel, Geelong.

Joy in Fowey

10 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by Anne Young in Cornwall, UK trip 2019

≈ Leave a comment

On 1 May we drove to Fowey (rhymes with ‘joy’). To get there from Looe we took the Boddinick Ferry across the River Fowey. It was nice to be close to the sea and the weather was cheerful.

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We parked at the top of the town and walked down.

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In a shop I bumped into my cousin. I hadn’t seen her since we were both children, but we recognised each other. She took me to see her parents. We had already planned to have lunch together in Staffordshire a week later.

After Fowey we drove on to Lanhydrock, a National Trust property. When we visited 30 years ago we put it down as a ‘must revisit’.

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We also enjoyed revisiting Trerice, another National Trust house.

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Visiting St Erth, Lands End and the Lizard

09 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by Anne Young in Cornwall, Gilbart, St Erth, UK trip 2019

≈ 4 Comments

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We drove to St Erth along very pretty, and narrow, lanes

On Tuesday 30 April we visited the St Erth Methodist Church. On Tuesday mornings the chapel is open for free teas for visitors. We met some local residents and we were shown around the chapel.

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We admired the window dedicated to John Gilbart. Peter and Charlotte were invited to play the organ.

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There were plaques mentioning members of the family. We were interested to see a connection between James Oddie, one of the founding fathers of Ballarat, and Francis Tuckfield, who married Sarah Gilbart, Greg’s 4th great aunt.

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Members of the congregation also generously took us to a house on Battery Mill Lane nearby built by Greg’s 4th great grandfather, John Gilbart (1760 – 1837). We also walked around the Anglican churchyard where John and his wife Elizabeth are buried.

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In the afternoon we had lunch at Penzance then drove to Land’s End and the Lizard. We intended to visit Helston too but got delayed by a traffic accident and ran out of time.

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Related posts

  • C is for copper
  • Trove Tuesday: Arrival of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield
  • Discovering a DNA cousin through Wikitree and confirming with GedMatch
  • Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
  • B is for beacon

Off to Cornwall

08 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by Anne Young in Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Symes, UK trip 2019

≈ 6 Comments

On our first day in England we collected our hire car and drove south to Looe in Cornwall via Southampton, Fordingbridge and Bridport.

We had been warned about the traffic but the roads were very easy although travelling into Southampton was slow.

In Southampton we admired the docks from which some of our forebears left England. They would have been much busier in the past. (My ancestors were never busy, I’m sure.)

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Greg’s PhD thesis dealt with the writings of James Curtis, a Ballarat spiritualist who came from Fordingbridge in the New Forest. We saw the house where Curtis was born and raised.

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We enjoyed afternoon tea in Fordingbridge.

My step grandfather George Symes grew up in Bridport in Dorset where his father, who had served in the army in India, ran a small pub. The pub still stands.

We crossed the Tamar into Cornwall

Our final destination was Looe in Cornwall. We had been warned about the narrow lane :

As you can see from the photos, we are lucky enough to enjoy a stunning view of the picturesque harbour from all the rooms on the front of the house and the front decking. However, it’s necessary to negotiate a very steep, narrow and windy private lane to access the house (you have to pay for those views one way or another!). … This very typically ‘Cornish’ lane [is] very tight and not for the faint-hearted.

The views were terrific but the warning was serious, our dashboard lit up and the warning sounds were very musical.

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Related posts

  • X is for excess exiting England
  • J is for James: James Curtis (1826–1901)
  • I is for inn

C is for copper

03 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2019, Edwards, Gilbart, Huthnance, Methodist, St Erth

≈ 17 Comments

My husband’s fourth great grandfather John Gilbart, born about 1760, was a Cornish Copper Company (CCC) employee, promoted from Copperhouse near Hayle in West Cornwall to manager at the Rolling Mills at St Erth.

Cornish copper mining was at its most productive in the nineteenth century, declining as copper prices fell, from the mid-nineteenth century on. The Cornish Copper Company commenced smelting at Camborne in 1754. From 1758 it was located on the Hayle estuary, ten miles to the southwest. The mills at St Erth used water power to roll copper into thin sheets.

These sheets were used mainly to plate the bottoms of wooden ships. Coppering helped to prevent barnacles growing. This increased a ship’s speed and its lifespan. It also prevented worms from burrowing into the wood and weakening it. Sheathing with copper significantly increased the time a ship could remain in service between overhauls. It was held copper sheathing could double the number of ships at sea at any time”. In 1779 each ship on average required 15 tonnes of copper applied on average as 300 plates. The 14 tons of metal required to copper a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line still cost £1500, compared to £262 for wood. The benefits of increased speed and time at sea were deemed to justify the costs involved.

1200px-John_Cleveley_the_Elder_-_The_'Royal_Caroline'

The ‘Royal Caroline’ painted by John Cleveley and in the collection of National Maritime Museum Greenwich. HMS ‘Alderney’ (1757) was built to the same shape and dimensions. In 1784 the ‘Alderney’ was described on Lloyd’s Register as being copper sheathed.

 

The Battery Mill ceased in 1809 when the Cornish Copper Company closed.

 

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Derelict rolling mill, Landore, Wales. This mill was in use until the 1980s. I don’t think anything remains of the rolling mill at St Erth. Photograph from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/946514

SW5434 : Hayle River near St Erth

Hayle River near St Erth St Erth church can be seen behind the trees. The Hayle river reaches the sea about 3 miles north of here. Photograph from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/182864

 

John Gilbart married Elizabeth Huthnance on 3 January 1798 at Gwinear. They had 13 children.

John Gilbart was a member of the first Copperhouse Methodist Society and the founder in 1783 of the St Erth Methodist Class. The first Methodist chapel was built in St Erth in 1796 and the present chapel was built in 1827.

SW5435 : St Erth Methodist Church

St Erth Methodist Church Photograph from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4062405

 

The chapel includes a monument to Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865), who was one of the first of the few missionaries who attempted to convert Australian Aboriginals to Christian belief.

In 1837 Francis Tuckfield married Sarah Gilbart of Battery Mill, the daughter of John Gilbart. They departed for Australia less than a month later.

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Picture of plaque kindly sent to me by the St Erth Methodist Church

The chapel also includes a monument to James Gilbart (1825 – 1923), grandson of John Gilbart. The plaque mentions John Gilbart “who built the first chapel at St Erth in 1783”.

John Gilbart died in 1837.

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Row of houses in Battery Mill Lane The three houses were probably the count house and managers’ houses for the former Battery Mill (which used water power to roll copper). Image from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3106054

In 1841 my husband Greg’s fourth great grandmother Elizabeth Gilbart nee Huthnance (1774-1847) was living in Battery Mill, St Erth. Her age was stated to be 65. Her occupation was given as ‘independent means’. In the same household were six of her 13 children, at the time all six unmarried:

  • John Gilbart aged 40.
  • Thomasine Gilbart aged 30.
  • Margerey Gilbart aged 25.
  • William Gilbart aged 25, iron factor.
  • Thomas Gilbart aged 25, farmer.
  • Jane Gilbart aged 20.

In the same household was Elizabeth Gilbart’s grand-daughter, Elizabeth Edwards, aged 9.  Elizabeth Edwards was the daughter of Mary Edwards nee Gilbart, Greg’s 3rd great grandmother. The Edwards family which included five other children lived in Bridge Terrace St Erth. Perhaps Elizabeth was just visiting her grandmother overnight.

The household also included a female servant, Elizabeth Davey, aged 15.

James Gilbart, an iron factor, the son of Elizabeth Gilbart, lived in the adjacent cottage with his wife Ann Gilbart nee Ellis, aged 50, and two daughters, Ann Gilbart aged 14 and Maria Gilbart aged 10.

(These ages may not be strictly correct. In the 1841 census the census takers were instructed to give the exact ages of children but to round the ages of those older than 15 down to a lower multiple of 5. For example, a 59-year-old person would be listed as 55.)

Elizabeth Gilbart died on 1 July 1847, leaving a will that was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 18 December 1847. Her will mentioned annuities to be provided for various children, specific books and furniture

Sources

  • Pascoe, W. H CCC, the history of the Cornish Copper Company. Truran, Redruth, Cornwall, 1982.
  • The history of St. Erth Methodist Church: https://www.sterthmethodists.co.uk/aboutus.htm
  • 1841 census viewed through ancestry.com: Elizabeth Gilbart:  Class: HO107; Piece: 144; Book: 1; Civil Parish: St Erth; County: Cornwall; Enumeration District: 5; Folio: 72; Page: 19; Line: 12; GSU roll: 241266 ; Mary Edwards Class: HO107; Piece: 144; Book: 1; Civil Parish: St  Erth; County: Cornwall; Enumeration District: 5; Folio: 69; Page: 13; Line: 1; GSU roll: 241266
  • Will of Elizabeth Gilbart proved 18 December 1847 viewed through ancestry.com The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 2066

B is for beacon

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2019, Cornwall, Fonnereau

≈ 14 Comments

Not counting the Channel Islands, Lizard Point, Cornwall, is the  most southerly point of the British Isles. Land’s End, the most westerly point of Cornwall and England is 40 miles to the south-west.

I was surprised to find that in the eighteenth century my Fonnereau forebears had owned Lizard Point and my that 7th great uncle Thomas Fonnereau (1699 – 1779) had built the lighthouse there.

Thomas Fonnereau was the brother of my 6th great grandmother Anne Champion de Crespigny nee Fonnereau (1704 – 1782). They were the children of Huguenot refugees, Claude Fonnereau (1677 – 1740) and Elizabeth Fonnereau nee Bureau (1670 – 1735). Both Claude and Elizabeth were born in La Rochelle and came to England as children; they married in London in 1698. Claude Fonnereau was a Hamburg merchant who made his fortune in the linen trade. He left large landed estates to Thomas, and considerable monetary legacies to him and the other children.

Fonnereau was a member of Parliament for the constituency of Sudbury, Suffolk, from 1741 to 1768 and for Aldeburgh, Suffolk, from 1773 to 1779. He had inherited the estate of Christchurch, Ipswich, Suffolk from his father.

A lighthouse was first built on Lizard Point in 1619. Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack obtained a patent from James I and built it the same year. Local people objected : “The inabytants neer by,” wrote Killigrew, “think they suffer by this erection. They affirme I take away God’s grace from them. Their English meaning is that now they shall receve no more benefitt by shipwreck, for this will prevent yt. They have been so long used to repe profitt by the calamyties of the ruin of shipping that they clayme it heredytarye, and heavely complayne on me.” Trinity House, which at that time was enabled to set up sea marks but did not have a monopoly on maintaining lighthouses, is said to have strenuously opposed the lighthouse, alleging it was both useless and objectionable. Trinity House’s concerns apparently included that “the light will be a Pilot to a forrayne enymie to carrye them to a place of safe landynge”. It may also be relevant that Killegrew had been accused of piracy.

The light was maintained by Sir John for a number of years with the assistance of some voluntary contributions. It appears his patent was not entered in the rolls and in 1623 the patent was questioned in the Star Chamber and probably failed. By 1631 the light had gone.

There were several petitions to erect lights on the Lizard in the 1660s. One, in 1664 by Sir John Coryton, was to erect lighthouses at the Isle of Wight, Portland Road, Rame Head, and the Lizard Point. Sir John was to “receive 6d. Per ton on all strangers’ vessels anchoring between the Isle of Wight and Mounts Bay.” His petition, as with many others, did not succeed.

Thomas Fonnereau was successful in being granted a patent to build a lighthouse at the Lizard. The patent is dated 22 May 1751 and the light was first shown on 22 August 1752.

Fonnereau erected the lighthouse and paid an annual lease. In return he received dues from shipping that benefitted from the lighthouse. The patent gave permission for the building of the lighthouse, set the lease and authorised the collection and remittance of dues. In this period, the erection of a lighthouse was purely a business proposition, not a generous gesture of disinterested help to passing vessels.

In his 1838 Parochial History of Cornwall Gilbert Davies wrote of Thomas Fonnereau: “Mr Fonnereau came into Cornwall as an adventurer chiefly for the purpose of constructing Lighthouses on the Lizard Point, under one of the improvident grants which were frequently made in those times.”

Fonnereau’s initial lease was for 61 years but Trinity House took over responsibility for the lighthouse in 1771.

To distinguish it from the Scilly light which had one tower  and later the Guernsey lighthouses which had three towers, the Lizard light had two towers These are 61 feet high, with bases 168 feet above sea level. In 1870 the lights could be seen at a distance of 21 miles.

Lizard Light House 1772 - 1827 by T Rowlandson

Lizard Light House 1772 – 1827 by Thomas Rowlandson. Watercolour in the collection of the British Museum retrieved from watercolourworld.org

 

Until 1813, the Lizard lights were coal fired. An overlooker from a vantage point between the two towers would supervise the brightness of the fires. His contribution was to remind the bellows workers of their duties by sounding a cow horn if the fires dimmed.

In 1813 oil replaced coal, and in 1878 coal in turn was replaced by electricity. Around 1902 the lights were reduced to one powerful revolving electric beam, said to be the strongest in the world, which was visible for twenty-three miles. It showed once in every three seconds. It is aided in foggy weather by foghorns, said to have a very dismal call. The Lizard lighthouse was automated in 1998 and now displays a flashing white light visible for 26 miles.

Sources

  • Namier, Sir Lewis. “FONNEREAU, Thomas (1699-1779), of Ipswich, Suff.” History of Parliament Online, The History of Parliament Trust , www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fonnereau-thomas-1699-1779. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  • Davies, Gilbert. “The Parochial History of Cornwall, Founded on the
    Manuscript Histories of Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin; with Additions and
    Various Appendices : Gilbert, Davies, 1767-1839 : first published 1838.”
    digitised by Archive.org, retrieved from
    archive.org/details/parochialhistory02gilbuoft/page/358.
  • Fox, Howard. The Lizard Lighthouse “Journal of the Royal Institution of
    Cornwall,” 6, pt 14, (1879) pp 319-336 digitised by Archive.org,
    retrieved from archive.org/details/journal01soregoog/page/n400.
  • Page, William. “The Victoria History of the County of Cornwall.: first
    published 1906” pp 497 – 499, digitised by Archive.org, retrieved from
    archive.org/details/victoriahistoryo00pageuoft/page/n601.
  • Adams, W.H. Davenport. “Lighthouses and Lightships; a Descriptive and
    Historical Account of Their Mode of Construction and Organization: first
    published 1870” pp 197 – 199 digitised by Archive.org,
    archive.org/details/lighthouseslight00adamrich/page/n201.
  • Harper, Charles G. “THE CORNISH COAST (SOUTH) And the Isles of Scilly:
    first published 1910.” Project Gutenberg Ebook, Project Gutenberg, 2014,
    www.gutenberg.org/files/47763/47763-h/47763-h.htm.
  • Ray Jones (20 August 2013). LIGHTHOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 210–. ISBN 978-1-4930-0170-5. Retrieved through Google books.
  • Cathryn J. Pearce (2010). Cornish Wrecking, 1700-1860: Reality and Popular Myth. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-1-84383-555-4. Retrieved through Google books.
  • D. Alan Stevenson (5 March 2013). The World’s Lighthouses: From Ancient Times to 1820. Courier Corporation. pp. 1782–. ISBN 978-0-486-15708-5. Retrieved through Google books .
  • “Lizard Lighthouse.” Trinity House, 2016,
    www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/lizard-lighthouse.
  • Bertrand, Elodie. “The Coasean Analysis of Lighthouse Financing: Myths
    and Realities.” Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 30, no. 3, 2006,
    pp. 389–402. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23601678.

DNA – successfully finding some most common recent ancestors

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by Anne Young in AncestryDNA, DNA, Edwards, immigration, St Erth

≈ 1 Comment

AncestryDNA has a new map feature currently in Beta mode and a group of AncestryDNA users is trying out the feature before it is launched.

ancestry dna beta matches map

I tried it by selecting one of Greg’s matches, SB, a person who is shown as being from Australia.

SB is an estimated 4th cousin DNA match sharing 22 centimorgans across 2 segments. I had messaged her twice a year ago when her match first came up but had no response. She has a small tree attached to her match showing two living parents and four deceased grandparents. Details for the grandparents showed:

  • Paternal grandfather: name but no middle names, death place Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, no birth or death dates
  • Paternal grandmother: name including middle name, death place Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, birth year 1927, no death date
  • Maternal grandfather: name but no middle names, birth and death place Sunshine, Victoria, Australia, birth and death dates 28 July 1915 and 12 November 1979
  • Maternal grandmother: name but no middle names, birth place Maryborough, Victoria, Australia and death place Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, birth year 1924 and death date 1 August 2005.

SB shares DNA with Greg’s 2nd cousin HS. It would seem on the basis of this connection that the most common recent ancestors will be on Greg and HS’s Dawson or Edwards  line. HS and Greg share great grandparents Henry Dawson (1864 – 1929) and Edith Caroline Dawson nee Edwards (1871 – 1946).

Using the Victorian birth, death and marriage indexes, I developed a private non-indexed tree based on the data I had for SB. I started with the maternal grandparents. But I did not seem to be coming across familiar surnames and was quickly reaching back to the UK and areas that did not match those where Greg’s forebears came from.

I next looked at the paternal grandparents. I was having trouble finding their marriage and identifying the death of the paternal grandfather. However I successfully found the death date of the paternal grandmother from a death notice on the Ryerson index, a free index to death notices appearing in Australian newspapers. (The death notice is recent and can be viewed online.) Using the deceased search facility for the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, I was able to find the burial site of the paternal grandmother and confirm the death details of the paternal grandfather, who had been buried in the same plot. From there I was able to trace the paternal grandfather’s pedigree using the birth, death and marriage indexes. It was reasonably quick and trouble-free. Within 3 generations I had a surname I recognised.

bailey c v death

index record from the registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria

Charlotte Victoria Edwards (1834 -1924), born St Erth, Cornwall, United Kingdom, and died Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, was already on my main family tree although I did not know she had come to Australia and did not have her marriage or death details. Charlotte is Greg’s 1st cousin 4 times removed and SB’s 3rd great grandmother. Greg and SB are 5th cousins once removed. Their most common recent ancestors are Greg’s fourth great grandparents John Edwards and Jane Edwards nee Gilbert.

Charlotte was the daughter of Greg’s fourth great uncle James Edwards (1805 – 1883), and the granddaughter of Greg’s fourth great grandparents John Edwards and Jane Edwards nee Gilbert. James Edwards married Mary Nicholas and they had at least six children of whom Charlotte was the third oldest.

Charlotte and her family arrived in Portland, Victoria on 30 January 1855 on the Oithona, which had left Southampton on 16 October 1854. There were 344 immigrants on board. James Edwards was a 50 year old agricultural labourer from Cornwall. He was accompanied by his 47 year-old wife Mary and two children, Elizabeth aged 9 and John aged 4. Their religious denomination was stated to be Church of England and James and Mary, but not their two children, could read and write. The disposal register listing their disembarkation intentions noted he was “on own account” and address Portland. Three older daughters, Mary (Mary Ann), Jane and Charlotte were enumerated separately as they were then 23, 22 and 19. All girls were said to be Church of England and they could all read and write. The register stated that Mary went to Mrs Nicholson of Portland, Jane went to Thomas Must of Portland and  Charlotte went with her father. One sun was enumerated separately. James was 17. He was described as an agricultural labourer from Cornwall, his religious denomination was Church of England and he could read and write. The disposal register noted he was “on own account” and address Portland.

oithona list showing james, mary, jane and charlotte edwards 30796_125513__087-0-00328

Passenger list from the “Oithona” showing James, Mary, Jane and Charlotte Edwards as single passengers. Image retrieved from ancestry.com from database held by Public Records Office Victoria.Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom. Microfiche VPRS 14.

Also on the Oithona was Charlotte Thomas nee Edwards (1811 – 1887) and her husband William Thomas, a mason. Charlotte Thomas was the sister of James and Thomas Edwards.

James’s brother Thomas Edwards (1794 – 1871) had arrived in Victoria in 1849. I assume James Edwards and Charlotte Thomas and their families came out as their brother Thomas recommended immigration to them. I do not know however if they met up in Victoria.

Trove Tuesday: Arrival of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield

05 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by Anne Young in 52 ancestors, Birregurra, encounters with indigenous Australians, Gilbart, immigration, Methodist, St Erth, Trove Tuesday, Tuckfield

≈ 2 Comments

One of my husband Greg’s fourth great aunts was a Cornishwoman, Sarah Tuckfield née Gilbart  (1808-1854).

Sarah and her twin sister Thomasine were born on 22 July 1808 at St Erth, a sand and clay mining town about 5 km from St Ives. They were the seventh and eighth children of John Gilbart (1761-1837) and Elizabeth Gilbart née Huthnance (1774-1847).

John Gilbart was manager of a copper rolling mill at St Erth. He had been a member of the first Copperhouse Methodist Society (Copperhouse was a foundry and its associated district in east Hayle), and in 1783 he had founded the St Erth Methodist Class, the local Wesleyan group meeting.

Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865) was a miner and fisherman, who at the age of 18 was convinced by the truths of  Methodist nonconformism. He became an active local preacher and in 1835, at the age of 27, was accepted as a candidate for the Ministry. He received two years training at the Wesleyan Theological Institution in Hoxton in London. On the completion of his studies Tuckfield was selected to be a missionary to the Aboriginals of the Port Phillip District (later became the colony of Victoria, Australia).

On 13 October 1837, less than a month before his departure, Sarah Gilbart and Francis Tuckfield were married at St Erth. They were then both 29 years old.

Seppings 1838 arrival Hobart Tuckfield

SHIP NEWS (1838, March 20). The Austral-Asiatic Review, Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1837 – 1844), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232476273

In March 1838 after a long sea voyage Francis and Sarah Tuckfield landed in Hobart, Tasmania. In July the Tuckfields crossed Bass Strait to Melbourne on board the Adelaide. Sarah’s first child, a daughter, was born at Geelong on 12 August 1838.

Tuckfield made several exploratory trips about the Port Philip district looking for a suitable place to establish a mission station. (He is said to have employed William Buckley as a translator on these journeys. Buckley was an escaped convict who for a time had lived with Aboriginals. He had since been pardoned and given a job as a government interpreter.)

In 1839 he chose a site near Birregurra, 10 km east of Colac. Governor Gipps granted the mission 640 acres, a square mile.

The Birregurra experiment, however, was rapidly deemed a failure by the Victorian Government. In 1848 it was abandoned, and in 1850 the mission grazing licence was cancelled.

 

Geelong Advertiser 1848 07 01 pg 2

SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 1. (1848, July 1). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1847 – 1851), p. 2 (MORNING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91457661

 

Francis Tuckfield was afterwards appointed to a succession of churches, first in Victoria and later in New South Wales. On 6 June 1854 Sarah died at the age of 45 in West Maitland, New South Wales. She and Francis had eight children.

 

Tuckfield Sarah death Maitalnd Mercury 1854 06 07 pg 3

Family Notices (1854, June 7). The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 – 1893), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article690022

 

In 1857 Francis remarried, to Mary Stevens (1823-1886). Eight years later, in 1865, he died at Portland, Victoria.

Portraits of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield are held by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Tuckfield Francis

Francis Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

Tuckfield Sarah NPG

Sarah Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

With only the bare facts of her life to draw on, it is very difficult to form an impression of Sarah Tuckfield the person. A history of the Birregurra mission portrays her as a dutiful daughter, devout Methodist, and devoted and capable wife and mother:

Sarah shared not only her father’s love of music and deep Christian conviction, but also his generous strength of character. She was a practical girl, who made an excellent teacher in the Sunday School, and was thoroughly trained in the housewifely arts by her mother. She also took an interest in the sick and incapacitated people in St Earth, who loved her for her kind ways and skills in nursing.

Le Griffon, Heather and Orton, Joseph Campfires at the cross : an account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, near Colac, Victoria : with a biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic, 2006. page 18.

But this – no doubt well-meant – encomium gets us no further. ‘Love of music’ to a Methodist meant hymn-singing; ‘deep Christian conviction’ covers everything from humble faith to pharisaical self-righteousness; ‘generous strength of character’ sounds suspiciously like stubbornness; ‘thoroughly trained in the housewifely arts’ might mean a drudge; and her kind ways with the sick and infirm makes her look like the village Lady Bountiful.

Sarah’s marriage at the age of 29 to a penniless Methodist preacher and her willingness to endure the hardships of missionary life on the far side of the world seem rather noble and self-sacrificing, but these were the usages of the times. She was getting no younger, and her prospects, probably never great, were shrinking. Wives followed their husbands, and she perhaps found some satisfaction in being able to help with his missionary endeavours.

Sometimes, of course, images delineate character better than words. The National Portrait Gallery painting of Sarah Tuckfield conveys a certain measure of self-assurance and sense of purpose, especially when her image is viewed with that of her husband. The artist has drawn them with much the same mouth, giving her an air of steadfastness and strength of will; he looks feminine and ineffectual. He looks coyly at the viewer; she stares beyond, into the future.

We’re left wondering. Could it be that it was Sarah who turned the Cornish miner into the Methodist preacher, urged him to attend the Hoxton Institution, encouraged him to emigrate, and supported him in his mission?

Sources

  • C. A. McCallum, ‘Tuckfield, Francis (1808–1865)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tuckfield-francis-2747/text3887, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 5 June 2018.
  • Le Griffon, Heather and Orton, Joseph Campfires at the cross : an account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, near Colac, Victoria : with a biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic, 2006.
  • Wikipedia contributors. (2017, December 13). Gulidjan. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:27, June 5, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulidjan&oldid=815258681
  • “St.Erth Methodist Church.” St Erth Parish Council, St Erth Parish Council, 31 Aug. 2013, sterth-pc.gov.uk/st-erth-methodist-church/.
  • “St. Erth Methodist Church.” About Us – St. Erth Methodist Church, St. Erth Methodist Church, www.sterthmethodists.co.uk/aboutus.htm.
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