Medieval Family History - taking the plunge...

[Redroger]

Like Stonechat I have had some success with wills, though so far nothing before 1538, but three in the later 16th century. One the Will of Osmond Luffman (1599-1671) enabled me to trace the movement of my own line from Wiltshire into Dorset, the unusual name Osmond being a big help. It was really very fortunate, the will had also survived the fire of Blandford (1731), the end of every line had severe scorch marks, and none of the lines was entirely complete. With a Bottisham ancestry eventually I shall make the pilgrimage to Cambridge Record Office, I just hope the early Bottisham documents have been transcribed.

[Keith Sherwood]

Redroger,
In the next week or so I'm hoping to visit the CCRO to look at the transcriptions of those early Ickleton wills (from 1460).  Would you like me to ask about, or even get hold of, that Bottisham will for you?
I love your account of the will with scorch marks!
keith

[Redroger]

Thanks Keith, The Osmond Luffman will was at Dorset RO, not Cambridge. There are documents from the Medieval Period relating to Bottisham which are referred to in "The Medieval Genealogy" book, some of which have been transcribed. The surnames I am interested in for Cambridgeshire are as listed at the bottom of my postings, Stimpson is not relevant to Bottisham, but please add Willis which might be. A transcription of any of these documents could be helpful, thanks.
Roger

[Keith Sherwood]

O.K. Roger,
I'll see what there is on those Cambs surnames that you list, plus WILLIS - might get there on Friday afternoon after a visit to the dentist...
keith
Am I particularly looking at Bottisham?

[Redroger]

Keith,
Bottisham is the village referred to in Chambers' book ,and the village where my ancestors lived, but I would be interested in anything from neighbouring villages, as there seems to have been quite a lot of them there too. Thanks again, hope the dentist visit goes OK
Roger

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi again, Everyone,
The dentist had to numb my whole jaw to manage the half-an-hour's drilling he had to do, so I was pretty incoherent and feeling ever so slightly unwell when I turned up at the CCRO this afternoon...
The abstracted wills made fascinating reading - as early as 1460 - and all sorts of people and items to do with the local church were the beneficiaries.  Just one mention, in a 1595 will of Johanne BARRETT, widow, of Johanne GURNARDE her god-daughter being given 6s and 8d (was that a mark?).  Exciting stuff in itself.
They've also had a bit of a recent re-organisation of their shelves, and none of the books containing the indexed wills for the various ecclesiastical courts were there.
So, Roger, I simply looked in the Bottisham PR's to see when those families of yours first appeared:
AYRES: first baptism 1696; BRIGNELL no mention; CORNWELL: first baptism 1816, first marriage 1579, first burial 1752; HARVEY: first baptism 1780, first marriage 1605, first burial 1630; SHIPP, first marriage 1664, first burial 1704; STUBBINGS, first baptism 1789, first burial 1618; WILLIS, first baptism, 1837, first marriage, 1757, first burial 1781...
Sorry that it's not what you wanted really, but I soon took myself home for a bit of a lie down.  Will have a proper look next time, perhaps there's something there of use, anyway...
Regards, keith

[behindthefrogs]

In the 10th century a mark was worth 100 pence and in Norman times 13s 4d although there was never a coin of either value actually issued.  It just appeared in various accounts.

David

[Keith Sherwood]

David,
I wonder what Johanna spent her six shillings and eight pence on in 1595...
This one item of discovery is extremely interesting, in that Johanne was the first child of the marriage between William GURNARDE and Rose BASSETT, and she was born in 1578.
She married an Edward CREED in 1613 in Ickleton, and that's when we think the family Bible (now in Australia, I think) came into the family, as both their names were written inside.  It was an early Geneva Bible...
keith
N.B. I'm also wondering about the transcription of Johanna BARRETT's name, and if she could have been the same family as Rose BASSETT, posssibly her sister, and therefore an aunt to 17-year-old Johanne GURNARDE.  I'd better go back and have a look at those Ickleton registers.  As I've said before on this thread, the GURNARDE/GOURNER family and the CRUDDE/CREED family were certainly intertwined by marriage...

[Redroger]

Thanks very much for looking Keith, i don't think I could have done it after a visit to the dentist. It's a start, and interesting that they apparently weren't there pre 1538. So, I wait the results of the next time you are able to visit.
Roger