Trobridge – Some names are more popular in certain families

Trobridge is one of those popular names in the Cornwood parish, Devon area. It is pretty much exclusive to the Horton family. The family itself had a large presence in Cornwood – 323 baptisms from 1744 to 1928. Plympton St. Mary parish, next door, also had a sizable population of Hortons – 71 baptisms between 1770 and 1927.

Between 1688 and 1861 there were 23 males with the first name of Trobridge or Trowbridge, along with one Strowbridge, baptized in the parishes I look after – Cornwood, Plympton St. Mary, Plympton St. Maurice and Harford. All but three of them were from the Horton family but each of those three had Horton as a second name. There were another seven children, including one female, with Trobridge as their second name. Of the total 30 children, 20 were baptized in Cornwood.  It is one of those names that appear to be unique to the Horton family. But how did it get to be associated with just the Hortons?

The earliest connection between the Horton and Trobridge names I have found is a marriage between Haly Horton and Mary Trobridge, in 1685, in Plympton St. Mary parish. They are also the first Horton family to appear in parish registers in the area, with two children baptized in Plympton St. Mary. Their son, of course, was named Trobridge.

Interestingly, Haly is also a name associated with the Horton family. In Cornwood and Plympton St. Mary, 15 boys were baptized Haly, all of them Hortons.

 

1685 July 27 – marriage entry for Haly Horton and Mary Trobridge; the first known record of the Horton family

(image courtesy of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office)

1688 February 11 – baptism entry for Trobridge Horton, son of Haly and Mary Horton; the first known baptism of a Horton family child in Plympton St. Mary parish, going back to 1602, was Mary Horton, sister of Trobridge

(image courtesy of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office)

I do not know where Mary Trobridge came from. There has only been one family in the Cornwood-Plympton St. Mary area with the surname of Trobridge and they did not appear until 1771. The Trobridge surname is not uncommon in Britain. FamilySearch lists hundreds of births and baptisms with that surname in many English counties. Only one named Mary, living in Devonshire and of the right age to have married Haly Horton in 1665, appears in the FamilySearch records – born in 1664 in Thorverton parish. Her father was Gilbert Trobridge but his forename does not appear at all in the Horton family baptisms so she is an unlikely candidate.

More information on the surname, Trobridge can be found at http://www.geni.com/surnames/trowbridge

Images reproduced here are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office (PWDRO). 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.

The Shepheard Surname

Our family has what many consider an unusually-spelled surname. We don’t think so, of course; we think Shepheard spelled our way is quite normal. Over the centuries clerks and vicars in Devon, England, where our family originated, recorded members of the family under a great variety of spellings. Even today, many people and organizations persist in spelling our name differently. Overall, though, we have resisted the temptation to conform to what these erudite persons believed our name should be.

As far back as 1633 our name has been spelled with the double vowel. I suspect that it goes even further back but I have not yet found documents any older. In that year the name of my 7^th great-granduncle, John Shepheard, was entered into the baptism register of Cornwood parish, Devon. The baptism of his brother, William, was also recorded as Shepheard in 1638. William turned out to be a bit of a black sheep in the Shepheard family (no pun intended) when he tried to have a forged will of another brother, Sampson, put through probate in 1685 (see my blog post of November 26, 2013). Interestingly, on all the court records of that case the family name is shown as Shepheard as well – even the documents written in Latin.

 

Baptism entry in the Bishop’s Transcripts for Cornwood parish, Devon: “John Sonne of Nicholas Shepheard was baptized ye 20^th of June” 

(image courtesy of Plymouth and West Devon Record Office - PWDRO)

To me, the important records in establishing the spelling of our surname are those which contain actual signatures of family members or that can be relied on as accurate facsimiles, such as marriage entries, wills and other legal documents.

One case where several records exist with signatures concerns my 4^th great-grandparents, John and Jane Treby Shepheard. They were first cousins (their fathers were brothers) so we have documents that show both of their names as well as those of their parents. John Shepheard and Jane Treby Shepheard were married in 1791. The entry in the church register has both of their signatures as well as that for whom I believe was Jane Treby’s brother, William. All are clearly spelled their names as Shepheard. In fact, Jane Treby was quite emphatic when she signed her name, using very large letters.

 

Entry in the marriage register of Cornwood parish, Devon for John Shepheard and Jane Treby Shepheard; both bride and groom signed the register

(image courtesy of PWDRO)

On the marriage entry for Jane Treby’s parents, Nicholas Shepheard and Mary Barratt, Nicholas’ surname was accurately recorded by the parish clerk as shown by his signature. One of the witnesses to this marriage was Mary’s step-father, Arthur Jefferys. Mary signed her name as Barratt but it should be noted that there are other records where, again, those recording information about her used different spellings, most commonly Barret – but that’s another story.

 

Entry in the marriage register of Cornwood parish, Devon for Nicholas Shepheard and Mary Barratt; both bride and groom signed the register

 (image courtesy of PWDRO)

Often a clerk would write the surname the way he thought it was and the individual would sign his name the way it should have been recorded, such as on the marriage entry for John’s parents, Richard Shepheard and Mary Collins. The clerk wrote “Richard Shepard” for the groom but he signed his name “Richard Shepheard”.

 

Entry in the marriage register of Cornwood parish, Devon for Richard Shepheard and Mary Collins; both bride and groom signed the register 

(image courtesy of PWDRO)

Jane Treby, herself, was not so fortunate in always having her last name recorded properly. On her baptism she was identified as Jane Treby Shepard. In spite of the fact that her father demonstrated his surname through his signature, all of his children were recorded in the baptism register with different spellings: Nicholas Shepard in 1761; William Shepherd in 1763 (his burial record in 1796 has the same spelling but a document related to his will shows his name as Shepheard); Mary Shepherd in 1765 (her burial in 1766 was recorded as Mary Shepard); Amey Shepard in 1767; Jane Treby Shepard in 1769; Sampson Shepherd in 1771 (both his burial record and his death certificate also show Shepherd but on his marriage entry he signed his name as Samson Shepheard); Arthur Shepard in 1773 (the entry for his burial shows Shepherd); and Thomasine Shepard in 1775.

 

Entry in baptism record of Cornwood parish, Devon: “August 11. Jane Treby dr of Mr. Nicholas & Mrs. Mary Shepard” (image courtesy of PWDRO)

There is a reference to Jane Treby on a document concerning a property in Westlake, Ermington parish, Devon. Her name, along with that of her husband, John, and sister, Thomasin, are spelled out as Shepheard but Jane Treby is indicated as having made her mark. It begs the question of whether Jane Treby was completely literate and that perhaps she had practiced her signature before signing the marriage register in 1791.

 

Part of a release document concerning a property in Westlake, Ermington parish, Devon in which are named John Shepheard, Jane Treby Shepheard and Thomasin Shepheard, all of whom received a payment of £20 from Sampson Shepheard, brother of Jane Treby and Thomasin, upon his assuming ownership of the property (image courtesy of PWDRO)

As a general observation, where family members could read and write, they invariably spelled their name Shepheard. Many individuals were not literate and accepted whatever spelling the clerk or vicar used in the baptism or marriage registers. There are many examples of quite different spellings used for the same individual at different times of their lives.

All images reproduced here are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office (PWDRO). 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.

The Mystery of Anne Hughes

A number of years ago, as the Online Parish Clerk for Cornwood Parish in Devon, I was asked if I could find information on an individual by the name of Anne Hughes Phillips. The family believed she was related to their mother, Jessy Blight. They thought Anne’s father was named Roger Charles Phillips who apparently had been a resident of a place called Colza Farm. That seemed relatively straight-forward.

I did a quick look through my parish records and found the family, including the baptisms of the two sons of Jessy Anne (Phillips) Blight, Bennett Clive and Roger Stanley. In fact, I was able to find several generations of the Phillips family in the parish registers. Anne Hughes Phillips turned out to be a great-aunt of Jessy, who had been baptized as Jessy Anne Hughes Phillips. This also opened up the story of a namesake of them both.

There is a story in the Phillips family lore about an Anne Hughes who married a Phillips man in Cornwood parish, against the wishes of her own family. As a result, according to descendants, “she was disinherited and only allowed to take with her six silver teaspoons, engraved with her initials, and a small teapot and sugar bowl. It is assumed from their nature and value that the spoons were a Christening present which would explain why they were retained. The hallmarked date for the spoons seems to be 1802 or 1803.”

 

Set of six spoons engraved with initials AH presumed to have belonged to Anne Hughes of Cornwood, Devon

Bowl and Teapot presumed to have belonged to Anne Hughes of Cornwood, Devon

It was speculated that Anne was born in or around Cornwood parish about 1800, near the hamlets of Yondertown or Lutton or possibly near Sparkwell, in adjacent Plympton St. Mary parish. She was apparently held in high esteem and at least two members of the family, mentioned above, bear the name Anne Hughes as part of their own: Anne Hughes Phillips, born in 1839 in Cornwood; and Jessy Anne Hughes Phillips, born in 1911, also in Cornwood.

Having found several Phillips family members, I was then asked if I could find any reference to Anne Hughes, herself, to confirm the story. Her name was not in any records for Cornwood, Plympton St. Mary, Plympton St. Maurice, Harford or Ermington parishes although all of them had many representatives of the Phillips family. In fact, there were no Hughes families living in the area at all during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries; so that was a dead end.

The only individual close in name was Anne Frances Hayes, daughter of Treby Hele Hayes, Esq. and his wife, Susanna, a major land-owner and occupant of Delamore manor. It certainly would have been frowned upon by this family had their daughter married one of the “common” people. But Anne Frances ended up marrying another nobleman by the name of William Mackworth Praid in 1831. So that was another dead end.

It is possible that Anne Hughes was born in a parish far removed from Cornwood, however, no marriage between an Anne Hughes and a man with the Phillips has yet been found for the relative time frame anywhere in Southwest Devon.

This is one of those family stories that cannot, or at least has not yet been supported by documentation. While they may yet be found a connection for the time being the existence of Anne Hughes will remain a mystery.

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.