MARTYN Family of St Columb Minor

[Goldberry]

It's just a thought....but might Nicholas be a brother of John who married Elizabeth Nankevall?

If John was bap 1554 (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/M4HT-53K), then it is feasible that he could have a brother bap in 1673.

[dmollison]

Those ancestral file dates of birth - 1554 for John M, 1558 for Elyzabeth N - look fictitious to me.
It's a common, and very annoying, feature of this kind of "Ancestral File" to invent birth dates: here they look to have been chosen so that the man was aged 25 and the woman 21 at marriage.

[SarahofCrantock]

That is interesting, what makes you think the dates are invented?
I am just joining in but my mother's remark about Jane Trinidad is noted way back in the discussion, as I remember it my Grandmother, Mary Martyn Martyn did not see the boy Joseph, she saw Jane as an old and embittered lady who lived alone with one companion or servant.
 Jane Gertrude Johns was born about 1800, married Jose Lorenzo da Trinidad by licence in Mawnan Church on 25th of July 1821. In May 1822 a son was born and on June 18th 1822 Joseph Trinidad, son of Jane and Jose Trinidad, was buried in Mawnan. I was interested to see the photo and to learn she lived at Langurra. in Crantock I only knew she lived somewhere in Crantock Churchtown. In fact a surprising number of seafarers and villagers from coastal districts were captured by pirates and funds were often raised for their ransom. A varied collection of yarns have gathered around the Jane Trinidad story so it is not easy to tell fact from fiction.

[dmollison]

Ref. SarahofCrantock - "That is interesting, what makes you think the dates are invented?"

These dates - 1554 for the birth of John Martyn and 1558 for the birth of Elyzabeth Nankevall - are unlikely to be from baptism records, because (1) records for St C Min only seem to start in 1560 (according to OPC Cornwall site) and (2) they don't give day and month.  So if they are true, they probably come from some source (marriage, burial, will) that gives age in years; that also seems unlikely - I haven't come across examples in 16th century Cornish marriage or burial registers though perhaps there are some.

So the alternative explanation, that they're invented by a family historian, seems much more likely.
I've seen lots of examples of that, and basing them on the woman's age at marriage as 21 and the man's as 25 is common.

It's a very annoying habit, because on the occasions where the bride and groom's ages at marriage are genuinely given (as is fairly common in nineteenth century registers) it can be very useful information.

[SarahofCrantock]

Thanks for the explanation. Maybe those were the ages when people suddenly realised they had better get married or they would miss their chance or perhaps later generations thought so.
How far back has the family line gone so far ? I see there was a John Martyn who had been a cannon at Crantock and was replaced when he died by a William Langton on 18th August 1395, according to the records of Bishop Stafford but I don't know if he was one of us.

[SarahofCrantock]

 Any idea when families started recording important events on the fly leaf of the family Bible?

[fastfusion]

there are numerous entries to do with the Martyn family in

Cornwall -  BIBLIOTHECA CORNUBIENSIS. PDF

here is part of the general index>

Martyn, Gertrude d 1707 wife of Nicholas Martyn 613
Martyn, rev. Henry d 1812 missionary in India 338-40,
1275-76 lecture on 301 letters of 189 memoir of 321
verses on 1026
Martyn, John of Gwennap sons of 338, 340
Martyn, John d 1800 clerk to Thos. Daniel 340
Martyn, John Darke d 1877 of Padstow 1276
Martyn, Mary F. d 1880 wife of T. D. Martyn 1275
Martyn, Eichard d 1850 computer for nautical almanac
340
Martyn, Eichard i 1816 patentee 1276
Martyn, Eobert copper smelter 341
Martyn, Thomas d 1751 surveyor and map maker 243,
341
Martyn, Thomas Darke 5 1810 surgeon 726,1275
Martyn, William Williams d 1878 patentee 1276

the number at end represents page number in the book

the book can be found online as a downloadable pdf  worth having for folk who do cornwall as it often gives information often not found about occupations etc

 

[SarahofCrantock]

Thanks for that list, I have heard about some of them, seen the Map of Cornwall at Lanhydrock and got a book on the, rather short lived, missionary. I shall enjoy finding out more about the rest.

[Peterhastie]

On holiday in Crantock and found this in the church

Apologies if this has been posted before and for the quality of the picture