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Hi,
I see that this is quite an old post, but having only just found it, I wonder if anyone is still connected.
John Massey 1671, Norbury and Elizabeth Hawksworth, were my 6x grandparents. I wonder whether anyone here found definitive, or even possible baptism for John?
My Dad's great grandmother was Elizabeth Massey, born Turnditch, daur of John Massey 1795 (a Schoolmaster) and Mary Ford. I have found several DNA matches with descendants of the Ford branch, but not so many for the Masseys. I am always looking for more DNA matches and would be interested to know if anyone here has a DNA test online, especially at Ancestry..
I see that there are several Sance and Sense Masseys, and suspect this is a short version of Innocence, as an Innocence Massey married William Martin 1733 in Swarkestone.
I also have Bray and Bartholomews. I have been unable to find the 1771 will on FindmyPast, though I do have a will from Bartholomew Massey of the Lee in the parish of Norbury, dated 1720.
I would be most interested to see the 1771 will.

All the Best
Phil How
p.s. I just found the 1771 will 

My interest, though, is tying John Massey (b.1671 in Norbury, d.1740 Swarkestone) into the rest of the Massey family. Once that is done I can start going out sideways along the branches of the family. As it is I have a direct line back to John.

Hi
  This to Ango
 Have just seen your post I too have Masseys from Norbury many bearing the names of Bartholomew and Sance and Brey. in fact one of my husbands aunts was Margaret Sance Massey  born  Hilton House in Hilton in 1896 Sounds  like we have the same families. Val.

My original post was made some years ago, and I have made substantial progress since then. The connection between the Gilsons and the Frewens seems to have been at the very least commercial and financial, with the Frewens buying land in Rutland from John Cole Gilson. These are a few snips from the Frewen archives:

ARCHIVE OF THE FREWEN FAMILY OF BRICKWALL IN NORTHIAM
… FRE/8391  - date: 2 May 1787: Additions to the estate: Rickelbarrow Hill, Knossington and Owston…
…the latter bequeathed it to his son John Cole Gilson of Burley on the Hill, Rutland, esq. On 16 & 17 September 1825 Gilson conveyed the property to John Frewen…
FILE - Copy will (1 Jun 1804) of William Gilson of Oakham, Rutland, esq, proved in PCC, 30 Jun 1807 - ref.  FRE/8463  - date: nd [c1825]
      Additions to the estate: parcel of land near the Hospital and parcel of land called the Homestead or the Grass Yard, Knossington. [from Administrative History] William Gilson of Greatham, Rutland, gent bought the property…
…John Cole Gillson sold it on 16 & 17 September 1825 to the Rev Thomas Wartnaby…
…John Frewen Turner who has purchased another part of Gillson's estate (FRE/8467-8468)…
…25 (& 26) December 1827, Wartnaby sold the land to John Frewen…

The “Return of Landowners of Sussex 1873” shows 3 of the Frewen family holding land respectively in Northiam and Beckley (where my Selmes family had land) and in Okeham, Rutland, where the Gilsons were from.
With regards to the origins of Eliza Goodwin and her father Thomas Goodwin: Thomas was baptised at Ash by Wrotham, 07 DEC 1766, the son of John Goodwin and Alice Marchant, so the Thos Goodwin of Greetham was just a convenient red herring.
What I did find was that John Cole Gilson (William's uncle) was the Sheriff of Rutland and was a judge at the "Royal Smithfield Christmas Shew" in 1816. . It coincided with William's 21st birthday and with Eliza's 19th birthday. As Eliza's father was a Farmer, and William's father (John's brother William Gilson) was a grazier and landowner in Greetham, it seems likely that cattle breeding was not the main interest of the two youngsters, as Ann Gilson Goodwin was born about 9 months later.
I have never found a record of Ann's birth or baptism, nor of a paternity suit, but wedding entries show her as Ann Gilson Goodwin, rather than just Ann Goodwin. One must assume that a suitable arrangement was arrived at between the families, as Eliza married Solomon Selmes at Crowhurst in July 1819 and William married a Maria Goodacre at Leamington in October of the same year.
Ann married my gg grandfather William Selmes, who was a 1st cousin of Solomon.
It all gets very complicated from there on, but we all have the correct number of fingers and toes, and Ann lived to be 90, running the corner shop in John's Cross where my great grandmother was born.

hi Peter
the robert bell i have as son of robert b 1778 is apparently born in Halton 1809 and married a mary unknown. the only 'proof' i have comes from ancestry on line sites so i can't guarantee anything. one day i hope to get to england and check things out
Mike

I have DNA matches with several people in New Zealand, who are also descended from Robert of Halton castle. He was born 1776 in Wolsingham and married to Mary Charlton. Robert jnr was bap 28 Jun 1809 and married Mary Brittain from Eaglescliffe, Durham. They moved to Kirkleavinton in Yorkshire, then eventually to Eccleston in Lancashire. 
I am desperately looking for other descendants with DNA tests online.
Regards
Phil How

I note that this an old thread and hope it is still active.
I am presently also tracing the BELL family of Wolsingham. My connection is nigh on impossible to trace, but one has to try. There is no short way to tell this story, but it will be worth your while to read on, as it all comes together
My surname is HOW and my 3g grandfather John HOW, was registered as the son of Henry How, the Blacksmith in Sarratt, Herts, just up the road from me. However, when I took a Y-DNA test, there were no HOW matches at all, but a host of BELLs from around Cumberland.
John HOW was baptised in 1761 and shown as the son of Henry How and Ann Prenties. Henry and Ann married a month later, which suggests that Henry was not actually John's father, but that his father was a BELL.
A Robert Bell was buried in Sarratt 6 months before John was baptised, and as BELL was not a common name around here, it now seems likely that he was descended from the BELLs of Cumberland.
Only a few weeks ago, I found autosomal DNA matches for several separate people in New Zealand, who are descended from a Robert BELL of Halton Castle, near Hexham in Northumberland. Ancestry shows our probable relationship as 5th-8th cousin, which would put it around the early 1700s, which fits perfectly with my Robert BELL in Sarratt.
I recently found the Parish registers for Halton Chapel online. They are very detailed and beautifully written. They give a Robert Bell 1809 as the third son of Mary Charlton of Halton, native of the parish of Ovingham, and Robert Bell - Husbandman of Halton, native of the parish of Wolsingham. Thus although he gives his birth place on the census as Halton Castle, he is actually from Wolsingham. A few months later there is a Jane Bell, 1st daughter of George BELL of Halton, also native of Wolsingham. It appears that the BELLs. It seems likely that the BELLs of Wolsingham were landowners and Farmers that owned land a few miles away in Halton.
I then found Robert the younger with his wife Mary in 1851. They are at West End Farm, Kirklevington Yorksire, where he is a Farmer of 500 acres. Along with 4 children is a cousin called Mary Charlton who is a Governess, born in Friern Barnet, Middx. That makes her the daughter of Mary Charlton's brother. Sure enough in 1841 she is at Sopers Pond Farm near Potters Bar, and a couple of miles from Barnet. Her father is Ralph Charlton, Mary's brother. Now, Ralph is not a common name, so the fact that Nigel's grandfather also has Ralph in his name, and that he is born at Edmonton, near Enfield, suggests there may be a connection there.
Hopefully the Halton Chapel register will help make sense of a lot of the threads on here.
Now all I need is a few more autosomal DNA matches from descendants of the BELLs of Wolsingham. Does anyone on this thread have a DNA test online at Ancestry?
Regards
Phil HOW, in Croxley Green, Herts.

Thanks for this. I have just ordered the book. £11.85 from Abe Books
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=19804752838&searchurl=ds%3D20%26kn%3DThe%2BSecrets%2Bof%2BQ%2BCentral%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1