PETER & BILLING at St Tudy & St Breward COMPLETED

[bobel2]

I am researching a PETER family (Yeoman farmers in Cornwall). Courtesy of IGI I have found a Richard Billing PETER c 15 May 1799 @ St Tudy. Parents shown as Richard PETER & Phillipa. Also several girls c between 1810 & 1814 @ St Breward with same name parents.
Also on IGI the only Richard PETER (with Spouse Phillipa BILLING) is given a probable birth date of 1799 - presumably too young to father a child in 1808?
A Phillipa(various spellings) PETER appears in the 1841 census age 55, and the 1851C age 65 b in St Breward, but no Richard.
Can anyone please help to determine if this children/parent relation is correct, or offer alternative parents. Many thanks in anticipation.

[cornish-bill]

not sure exactly what you require but it seems that the marriage of Richard PETER to Philippa is not to be found in Cornwall records easily searched. It is possible that they went to Devon but I believe that she was a Billing chr 1784 in St Breward.

I think that one of the children of this marriage - Thomas PETER married Eleanor Christian RANDALL from St Minver.

I have quite a bit of info in conjunction with Susan so please come back and share.

best wishes

[bobel2]

Hi Cornish-Bill,
Very many thanks for your reply, and apologies for my confusing look-up request. Your hint about Devon, and your confirmation of Thomas=Eleanor, have allowed me to trace back though several generations and be satisfied that Richard Peter=Phillipa et.al. do not belong to the tree I am researching. Not the answer I wanted, but better than the wrong answer.
Will 'COMPLETE' this look-up now, unless you wish further info.
Once again, many thanks for help

[eborfamilyhistory]

Hi,
Sorry for butting in here, I too am researching the PETER surname in Cornwall as I descend from the Peter of Harlyn branch.
I've just started trying to see if the Launceston/North Hill Peters link in to the same family.
I'm tracking back from Otho B Peter (b abt 1854 Launceston) whose father was a Richard Peter (b abt 1810 Bodmin - d 1910 Launceston).
I know that members of my direct family knew both Otho & Richard from other research.
I haven't got further than Richard Peter as I'm not sure of birth date. I was wondering if he was the Richard Billing Peter you mention as he is shown on the Cornwall babtisms as babtised 1808 in St Tudy which is in the Bodmin District.
Can anyone help confirm or deny this?
Thanks
Paul

[bobel2]

Hi paultp,
Welcome and thanks for butting in. That's what I think this website is all about. It's interesting to know that someone else is stuck at the same point as I am.
Firstly answering your direct question, IGI shows parents of Richard Billing PETER as being Richard PETER & Phillipa (BILLING), whereas the marriage certificate of Richard PETER + Ann Sophia SMITH, says Richards father was John PETER. So probably not the same people.

Secondly - the info I have:-
I appear to have found 4 separate 'trees' and am trying to find links, if any.
a) PETER's of Harlyn
b) Richard PETER & Phillipa BILLING - I think I have found 8 children from this pair, but have been unable to find their marriage, parents, g-parents etc.
c) Richard PETER of Launceston - Richard the Historian (RtH), I have a tree of Richard 1809, his wife and seven children, and the g-children from four of these.
d) PETER's of North Hill, Yeoman farmers.

Now I get confused!!!

The Heralds Visitation to Cornwall (Cornwall County Council website) has an 'tree' illustrating the PETER of Harlyn family. Although some names on the tree are 19th century, Richard is not amongst them. However, the names Apsley, Ortho, and Bathurst appear in the tree, so it is easy to assume that RtH is related to PETER's of Harlyn.

From the Devon Record Office website, I have found a letter from Rev. William Hart Smith of Launceston dated May 26 1910, in which is mentioned "my very old friend Mr Richard Peter of this town...born October 9th 1809..." This matches with an entry on IGI recording a Richard PETER b 9 Oct 1809 Launceston. IGI also records a Richard PETER christened in Bodmin 3 Dec 1809. It is possible that these are the same Richard (RtH?), but not the same as Richard Billing PETER christened 15 May 1808 St Tudy.

IGI also have a record of a Richard Peter b abt 1799 at Davidstowe to Phillipa BILLING. Was that Richard Billing PETER, born before the marriage of Richard and Phillipa, and therefore not christened until 1808?

I thought it was possible that RtH father was one of the many John PETER's in my yeoman tree. However, from Cornwall County Council website I have found some notes on the Will of my John PETER  1761-1843 . In these notes there is a marriage link - Jenny PETER, a daughter of this John PETER, married a Thomas HENDER (10 July 1817) described as "Brother of the Mother of Richard the Historian". Unfortunately so far I have failed to identify RtH mother. I believe it is a Mary HENDER, but there are several.
Also in these notes there is a oblique reference to the "Notes on the history of Peter Peter Peter & sons solicitors" (written by Percival Cory apparently a clerk who worked for the firm) - a document of over 100 pages residing in the Cornwall Records Office. The reference is to page 31 wherein Richard PETER the Historian recalls an verbal dispute between "John Peter of West Illand" (my tree) and "my father of East Illand". The implication being that RtH of Launceston is not related to the PETER's of North Hill.

If any of this information confirms or contradicts information that you have researched, I would be grateful if you would let me know.

Of interest, you may care to visit www.churchplansonline.org where you will find illustrations of a few plans drawn by Ortho PETER. Also his birth date given as 1854, his death date as 1937, his father as Richard PETER, and a son Arthur Granville PETER.

If you understood the above and it is of some use, then I haven't wasted my time!

Happy Hunting!

[eborfamilyhistory]

Thank you so much for replying.

This is very helpful! I think you are some way ahead of me though, I've only really researched my direct line so far and have got to the point where travel or long distance help is required.

Looking at linking in any of the other Peter families in Cornwall was prompted by a "list of subscribers" contained in Thurstan Collins Peter's 1894 transcription of Redruth Registers 1560 -1717. Amongst members of my direct line is mentioned "Richard Peter J.P. Launceston" so I wondered if there was any relation. I also found the names Richard and Otho Peter in another document and found that they were related.

Thank you for pointing me towards IGI for Richard's birth date, I feel the 9 Oct 1809 date is correct as the marriage date they have listed also matches Richard's marriage and this birth date fits with census entries.

Thanks also for his father's name - "John". There are an awful lot of John Peters! However, whilst I was at the Cornwall FHS office last year I printed out quite a lot of information for the Peter family and within this is a marriage for John Peter and Mary Hender on 28 Sep 1803 at Altarnun, which would seem to corroborate your information from the will of John Peter 1761-1843.

Regarding the Visitations tree, it was the presence of the name Otho that also led me to think that the two familys of Peters may be originally from the same line. The Visitations tree only shows the lines of inheritance, lines from 2nd and subsequent sons are not always shown so proving this may be difficult, particularly as the gap at the moment may be about 3 centuries!

Thank you again for your help, I'm sorry I can't be of similar help at this stage but I will post back here if I make any further progress.

[bobel2]

Hi again Paul,

Richard Peter b 1809, was a solicitor, JP and at one time town Clerk of Launceston. He married Ann Sophia Smith in 1847 and they had children:- Lynton 1848; Apsley 1849; Edwin Bathurst 1850; Claude Hurst 1852; Ortho Bathurst 1854; Clara Maude Petre 1856; & Adeline Mary 1861. Richard died 1910 age '100'.
He was known as "Richard the Historian" because he wrote the book "The histories of Launceston & Dunheved" co-authored by son Ortho.
I have come to the conclusion that he is not to be confused with Richard Peter b 1809 to John Peter & Mary Hender. This Richard was a Yeoman (farmer), as were his father and brothers.

Yes there are many John PETER's together with the occasional mis-spelling John PETERS, so I don't know how to move forward without knowing the mother of Richard the Historian. All we know is her surname must have been HENDER and she had a brother Thomas who married Jenny Peter in 1817.

We had better stop this thread for now, before the moderator tells us off for chatting on a "look-up" site. I'll come back if I ever find more proof.

Good Luck.

[bobel2]

Hi Paul,
Our tree's are linked by marriage. Ortho Bathurst Peter married Ann Peter,(my tree) 18 Mar 1879. Ann Peter was born 2 May 1854,  father was Arthur Peter, a Yeoman Farmer. Marriage was witnessed by Richard Peter (The historian & Ortho's  father) and Apsley Petre Peter (a brother of Ortho.) I have copy certificates.
Regards, Bob L.

[gervaise]

I would like to contact Cornish Bill re the marriage of Eleanor Christian Randall and Thomas Peter but don't know how to directly contact him as this is a reply to an unrelated Peter family request .Can someone help?