The Confusion of Family Names on Some Official Documents

As the Online Parish Clerk of Cornwood Parish, I had a query to find the parents of Elizabeth Tarsk or Sampson. The surname was in question on the record of her marriage to Edwin Moss in 1848. On the register entry, her father was indicated to be Thomas Sampson Tarsk, a labourer. This was an unusual name, one I had not ever run across.

 

Marriage entry for Edwin Moss and Elizabeth Tarsk, September 24, 1848 from St. Andrew, Plymouth, Devon parish marriage register (image downloaded September 24, 2014 from FindMyPast, used with the kind permission of Plymouth and West Devon Record Office)

On the 1861 census, Elizabeth was shown to have been born in Cornwood parish so that led the ancestor to me. 

Portion of page from 1861 England census, Charles Plymouth, showing family of Edwin and Elizabeth Moss – Elizabeth born in Cornwood parish, Devon (image accessed from Ancestry September 25, 2014, copyright The National Archives)

The only Elizabeth of the right age and a similar name in the Cornwood baptism register was Elizabeth Sampson, baptized in 1825, and whose father was Thomas Sampson, a labourer. The family actually lived at Venton, in Plympton St. Mary parish, but all of their children appear to have been baptized in the Cornwood church as it was closer. That seemed to fit the circumstances but what about the name Tarsk?

 

Baptism entry for Elizabeth Sampson in Cornwood, Devon parish baptism register (image downloaded September 28, 2014 from FindMyPast, used with the kind permission of Plymouth and West Devon Record Office)

The conflict between the information on the baptism and marriage records led me to believe that Elizabeth might have been married to someone else, possibly named Tarsk, prior to 1848. Searches for this surname led nowhere except back to the 1848 marriage entry on Ancestry, FindMyPast and FreeBMD records. There were some Tarsks in Somerset but the names and time periods of the records did not match.

I posted a message on the DEVON_L message board to see if anyone researching in Devon had ever heard of this person or, indeed this surname. A very helpful soul found a marriage entry on FreeBMD for an Elizabeth Samson and John Trask in 1845. Now we were on to something! I suggested to the family researcher that she obtain this particular marriage certificate to see if the information fit. She did and it did! The individual from DEVON_L also thought that maybe Elizabeth was a bigamist because the marriages were so close together. It’s an interesting idea but we have no evidence for it.

 

Portion of marriage certificate for John Trask and Elizabeth Sampson, January 20, 1845, East Stonehouse, Devon parish (certificate obtained from the General Record Office)

The bride’s father was Thomas Samson, a labourer. The man’s name, Trask, strongly suggested that the name on the 1848 marriage record was in error. Although it is curious why Elizabeth would state that her name was Elizabeth Tarsk and her father’s was Thomas Sampson Tarsk, a perusal of the entry showed that she could not write her own name and possibly did not notice or pay attention to the fact that is was spelled wrongly. Maybe the Vicar did not quite understand the situation either, especially if the parents did not attend the wedding.

We could have gone round in circles a few times before we found the Trask/Sampson marriage entry so the query to DEVON_L was timely and valuable. Having the name, Sampson/Samson on all records seems to have tied everything together as well.

John Trask, if that was his real name, was a Private in the Royal Marines. It is possible that he was killed in the service, or otherwise, prior to 1848. There are two deaths registered for a John Trask that fit the time frame: in fourth quarter on 1845, in East Retford, Nottinghamshire and in the first quarter of 1847 in Yeovil, Somerset. We have not yet seen the details of these records so we cannot ascertain whether either are the John Trask that married Elizabeth Sampson. He could also have died overseas or the marriage could have been annulled. Or maybe Elizabeth was hiding the true relationship of her past marriage by adding Tarsk to her father’s name.

There is still some way to go to find out the whole story about Elizabeth Sampson’s history. The confusion of surnames on the official documents certainly does not help with resolution of outstanding questions.

Some images reproduced here are used with the permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, Census records are the property of The National Archives and published under their Open Government License. Images were downloaded from Ancestry. Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.

Tithe Apportionments and Maps

I wrote in a few previous posts about maps as a powerful tool in sorting out and understanding family history (see posts of 22 July 2014, 12 August 2014 and 26 August 2014). One set of maps of Britain I did not mention in those posts was the Tithe Maps of the 1840s, although I did reference them, and show potions of such maps in a few posts I did about old family homes (25 February 2014, 4 March 2014 and 11 March 2014).

The Tithe Apportionments, along with and accompanying the Tithe Maps, are a great source of data about parish residents, both landowners and occupiers, for the early 1800s. They show where families actually lived around 1840 and whether they were landowners or renters.

The Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 replaced the ancient system of payment of tithes in kind with monetary payments called the "corn rent" calculated on the basis of a national, seven-year average price for wheat, barley and oats. Lands throughout England and Wales were evaluated to determine the amounts to be paid and maps were produced showing all of the parcels subject to the tithes. Associated with each map was an “apportionment” in the form of a table, with an entry for each parcel of land. For each entry, the owner, tenant, area name or description, state of cultivation, area and rent charge payable was listed, as well as the name of the tithe owner.

The list and maps shown here if for a piece of land owned by Sampson Shepheard (spelled Shepherd on the list), my 4^th great-granduncle, at the time the documents were constructed. The table details the parcels of land at Middle and East Rooke, the estate that had been in possession of the Shepheard family since at least the early 1600s.

Portion of 1842 Apportionment showing Rooke lands, in Cornwood Parish, Devon County, England, owned then by Sampson Shepheard (1771-1856)

Portion of 1841 Tithe Map showing Rooke lands (outlined), in Cornwood Parish, Devon County, England, owned then by Sampson Shepheard (1771-1856)

Of interest is the size of the lands that were able to produce a reasonable income for a family. East Rooke parcels, including those on which the buildings were located, totaled only just over 47 acres. Middle Rooke was 34 acres. That is exceedingly small compared to lands some of my ancestors farmed in Alberta in the 20^th century. At a minimum they were 160 acres, most often much larger.

Many OPCs, like me, have obtained copies of the maps and apportionments and display them on their websites or are able to look up information on them. Regular genealogists, though, can often access the maps and lists online. Most often only the apportionments can be viewed. Apportionments for all of the Devon parishes can be seen now through the auspices of the Devon County Council. The original maps are quite large and a more intensive effort to scan them has been required. Gradually counties like Devon are successfully digitizing them and making them available. East Devon parishes are well represented in the digitizing process.

Other counties are also making significant progress in making apportionments and maps available. Some have them online and some through searches at record offices or on CDs for sale. For example, a quick Google search for “tithe maps” brought up these websites: Cheshire, Cornwall, East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex and West Yorkshire. Ancestry has Dorset maps and apportionment data on their website.

Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated. Tithe map and apportionment records are the property of The National Archives and published under their Open Government License.

My Grandchildren’s Ancestors

An Ancestor is defined as “a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended.” Each of us has our own, unique set of ancestors. As genealogists we spend most of our time in looking for our own ancestors. It is interesting sometimes to look at past families from the point of view of other people. In particular I have looked at the ancestors of my grandchildren and found some very interesting things. There is still much work to do, though, in order to give them as detailed a history as I have for myself. I am hoping they might take up the challenge one day and become family historians themselves.

Two of my grandsons have a famous great-grandfather. Quite a lot can be found about him on a Google search. Alexander Malcolm Manson was a Supreme Court Judge for the Province of British Columbia for over 25 years. Prior to that, he served in the B.C. Legislature, representing the district of Omineca in Prince George from 1916 to 1937. He served in the government as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1921 and, from 1922 to 1928, he was both Attorney General and Minister of Labour. He served as Grand master of the Grand Lodge (Freemasons) in the mid-1920s.

 

Alexander Malcolm Manson (1883-1964) (photo from family files)

In thinking about this man, I was reminded of a valuable website that I have used in the past to find records of my own grandparents: the Royal BC Museum. They have searchable indexes for “births (1854-1903), marriages (1872-1938), deaths (1872-1993), colonial marriages (1859-1872) and baptisms (1836-1888).” I found actual images of the marriage and death records for both Alexander Manson and his wife, Stella Beckwith, on their site. The museum website has all of the collections of the British Columbia Archives and is the place to go to search for information on past residents of the province.

Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.