My direct maternal line

I can now go 8 generations back on my direct maternal line. All of the ladies listed here were born in Northumberland, England. As you can see they did not apply much imagination to naming their daughters. I am grateful my mother decided there had been enough Margarets and Marys by the time they got to me.

My mtDNA haplogroup is U5a1b1*. The asterisk indicates that there are not enough people tested who share the exact mutations to be able to assign the next level. The last three on the list are shown with “unknown confidence” as I do not yet have DNA evidence to confirm my paper trail. 

Calendar Comments – January 17th

I have several family history events for January 17th. The most significant is the the marriage of my great grandparents:

1874: 141 years ago today my great grandparents, Leonard Crackett (Cracket) and Mary Parkinson, married at Morpeth in Northumberland. The banner picture at the top of my blog shows Len and Mary and their 10  children who all reached adulthood.

1900: My first cousin twice removed, James Edward Doleman Simmons, was born at Amble in Northumberland.

1916: Nora Graham, the wife of my first cousin twice removed Edmond Hanson, was born.

1794: 221 years ago today my 4th great uncle, Thomas Bainbridge, was born in Longbenton, Northumberland. Thomas was baptized two days later on 19th January.

Calendar Comments – January 10th

 

My family history event for January 10th is the birth of my father’s cousin John Thomas Crackett in 1910. In the 1911 census he is shown as the youngest child of John Thomas (Jack) Crackett, living at Chevington Drift, Northumberland. Mother Emily and older siblings Isabella, Mary, Leonard and Robert also appear on the census. His father Jack is in the banner picture for my blog (back row, 3rd from left).

Having now found an alternative method for following up dates in my tree I can now also report another event 231 years ago for January 10th. My 5th great grandparents, Archibald Henderson and Ruth Weymes, married at St. John’s church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on January 10th 1785. There are many variant spellings of Weymes. One site gives the names on their marriage record as Archibold Henderson and Ruth Weans.

 

 

Calendar comments – January 8th

My family history event for January 8th is the birth of my great great grandfather Randle Thornton at Broomley Hall, Township of Blackallerton, Northumberland in 1843 (173 years ago). District: Castle Ward, Sub-District: Stamfordham. Parents: John Thornton, farm hind and Margery Thornton, formerly Hall.

Amble in old photographs

Those of you who are on facebook and have ancestors from Amble may be interested in joining the group Amble in Old Photographs. This group was started a few years ago by Bartle Rippon and for a while there were only about a dozen of us who participated. Membership has increased exponentially over the past couple of months. Many fascinating memories are being published. Since Bartle is a published author, The Ambler editorial board have asked him to consider putting together a book with Amble memories based on input from the group. If you have any good material hidden away in your cupboards and drawers please dig it out and join the group.

My own experiences on there have been very positive as many previously dangling branches on my Henderson part of my family tree have now attached themselves to the right spot with a little collaboration from newly found family members in the group.

DNA: John Davis and Mary

This is my first DNA success story from my brother’s kit on AncestryDNA. I am very pleased about this one as it gives extra assurance that my paper trail is valid for the very common surname Davis. It clearly shows the benefits of testing siblings, as this match did not appear for my own kit.

It also demonstrates how families spread around the world can find their common roots through the versatility of DNA analysis. I was born in Northumberland, England and now live in Norway. The two kits that matched belong to people in Italy and Australia. The probable common ancestors lived in Shropshire, England.

If you would like to know more about our DNA and paper trail links to John Davis and his wife Mary take a look at the article: “MRCA: John Davis and/or Mary ??” on my page DNA plus paper.

Davis Decisions

Since Davis is such a common name I got off to a slow start in pinning down my Davis line, but they were kind enough to leave a trail of breadcrumbs for me. Fortunately, they took in other family members in need of a place to live. I have several census records where an additional member of the household has helped me to verify that I have the correct family:

• In 1881 Charles Morrall (transcribed Morrell) is a lodger with my great great grandfather George Davis and his two daughters in Choppington, Northumberland. Charles turned out to be George’s nephew.
• In 1861 John Davis (transcribed Davies) is a boarder with Mary Morrall (mother of Charles) at Dudley in Worcestershire. John is brother to Mary Morrall and to my great great grandfather George Davis.
• In 1841 my 3rd great grandparents John Davis and Mary are living in Madeley, Shropshire with their 4 children: Sarah Ann, George, Mary and John.
• In 1871 John Davis senior is living with his daughter Sarah Edge in Ironbridge, Shropshire.

This all gives an extra degree of assurance that the George Davis, with parents John and Mary, in the 1841 census really belongs to me.

Possible 7th great grandparents

I believe this couple may be my 7th great grandparents. I am currently looking for additional proof that I have identified the correct people. James Rutherford and Jane Nixon married at Simonburn in Northumberland on 23rd May 1738. Vicar clearly had a problem writing in a straight line. The whole page slopes downhill and gets progressively worse as you get nearer the bottom.

Old Parish Registers

Some of you have asked me why it takes so long to find ancestors a few centuries ago. Just to give you an indication of the challenges in reading records, here is one of the more legible: Baptism of my 4th great grandmother Mary Hutchinson at Felton on 13 Nov 1791. Her parents were Joseph Hutchinson and his wife Mary. Joseph and Mary lived at Felton Moor and I subsequently discovered that her name was Mary Brown.

Corbet Complications and Davis Doubts

My great great grandparents, George Davis and Sarah Ann Corbett, have kept me out of mischief for years trying to get to the bottom of their interesting tales. It now looks as though I may be about to meet another Davis/Corbet combination that is going to tie me in knots. This current idea is still very much at the exploratory stage as I have not ruled out all other possibilities.

My 3rd great grandfather, John Davis, baptized four children in Madeley, Shropshire. The baptismal records indicate that their mother was called Mary. There are a few possible marriages between a John Davis and a Mary, but one of those looking most likely is in 1821 at Much Wenlock. Unfortunately, the indexes just give her name as Mary C and there is no image available online.

If this is correct, then one of the promising possibilities for a Mary C born in Much Wenlock is a Mary Corbet. I am now looking to see if I can prove this connection from other sources. However, if I do manage to prove it, then I will be facing yet another brick wall, as her baptismal record from February 1799 states: “Mary (base) daughter of Anne Corbet”.