Tune, Toone, Townes in Bedfordshire

[TuneFamily]

I am a family genealogist looking for an ancestor named James Toone (Town, Towne, Tune, or any other phonetic variant) who would have been born circa 1620 in England. He emigrated to America in 1651 where he subsequently married (Ann Duncombe), had 5 children and passed in 1676. He is my 8th great-grandfather.
 
The Tune surname and its variants seem to have a high incidence in this County. I am not searching for records in America, but, rather, records documenting James Toone (or any phonetic variation Tune/Town(e)/Toon(e), Townes etc) in ENGLAND in the time period c.1620.

There are numerous records on the US side, much of which was compiled and catalogued by my cousin Gloria Tune - so if you search Ancestry, etc and see her name just know that I have all of that research. She is simply brilliant as a family historian!

Any help in searching UK records for this person would be of inestimable value to our family line.

Not to be presumptive, but I have listed the variations of Tune that I have come across to aid in your search; although I suspect Tune, Towne, Town, Toone, or Townes to be the most likely candidates for my James.
 
Tune; Towne, Town, Toone, Toon, Towen, Tone, Toun, Toane, Toan, Thune, Toons, Towns, Towens, atte + any of the above variants.
 
 
Thank you very much for your time     
 

[bedfordshire boy]

There are 344 trees on Ancestry which include James Toone or James T Toone born 1620. I take all online trees with generous helpings of salt, and use them as a guide only.

Of the 344, 302 give Leicestershire as his birthplace, of which 192 name the parish as Osgathorpe. 265 trees name his parents as Henry and Mary. None of them show a baptism for him so I don't know how they've established who his parents were. I suspect the sheep mentality may have played a large part here.

Osgathorpe parish register only starts in 1680, and is on the IGI from only 1813.

Your cousin seems to be aware of Osgathorpe as she posted a query on a message board in 2007 asking for details of Toones from Osgathorpe, and at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gjs4kids&id=I235 she has numerous Toones from Osgathorpe. But she doesn't link James to this family. As you say, she seems to be a very thorough researcher, and I'm sure she has trawled all the obvious and less obvious records.

So far as Bedfordshire is concerned virtually all baptisms pre 1813 have been extracted onto the IGI at www.familysearch.org, so looking for James Toone born c 1620 (your cousin says 1627-37) is something that can be easily done yourself.

[TuneFamily]

Yes, and I found a few hits (possibilities) on the familysearch site; however, how would that amount to documenting? If I did come across something, I would need to document it, that is, substantiate that record as a family connection.

Any suggestions?

[bedfordshire boy]

It's always very difficult to prove that someone baptised in England is the same person who emigrated to the USA in the early days. Bear in mind that the IGI is also far from complete so there's every chance that your James baptism isn't on it at all. And also remember that some parish registers have been lost.  But it's the nearest we have to a national baptism index for that era.

Are there no records in the US which might give a clue as to where in England he was from? If not it's pure guesswork. Do you have the passenger list of the ship he emigrated on? Perhaps other passengers were from the same parish as James.

Even if you find a baptism that could fit it's still a monumental task to prove it's the right James. First you need to show that he might be the right one by checking marriages and burials in that parish to see if he stayed in England. Did the fathers of any possible James leave a will naming his son James in America? Have you checked the TNA catalogue at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ ?

Numerous Americans appear to have looked for him with little apparent success. The proof is likely to come from US records

[TuneFamily]

It's always very difficult to prove that someone baptised in England is the same person who emigrated to the USA in the early days. Bear in mind that the IGI is also far from complete so there's every chance that your James baptism isn't on it at all. And also remember that some parish registers have been lost.  But it's the nearest we have to a national baptism index for that era.

Im hoping the fact that he was well documented once in the US will reveal a similar trend in the UK.

Are there no records in the US which might give a clue as to where in England he was from? If not it's pure guesswork. Do you have the passenger list of the ship he emigrated on? Perhaps other passengers were from the same parish as James.

My closest indication is the fact that my James appeared to have owned land with a Luke Billington; my feeling is that they, or the families, might have known each other in England. Ive copied excerpts from that deed as well as a possible record for both James and Luke Billington.

My James married Ann Duncombe, who I believe was from Bedfordshire, this also might be a possible link.

"18 Nov. 1663
LUKE BILLINGTON & JAMES TUNE, 386 A. 2 R. & 20 P. "to which since added 270 acs. (in the county of Rappahanocke at the head of Farnham Creek) lieing between this and land of Ro. Bedwell, the bounds of which joyntly are: beg. at cor. tree of Robt. Bayly and on the land of John Williams, running S. &c. neere branches of Totoskey Cr. &c. 18 Nov. 1663, p. 345, (357). Trans. of 14 pers: Jno Searle, Wm. Partin, Jno Young, Fra. Clay, Wm. Wroth, Mary Shell, JNO. TUNE, Cornelious Young, JAMES SHORT, Tho. Ceely, Jno Mount, Mary Hartwell,
Sam.Cornix, Jane Fisher
Cavaliers and Pioneers, Patent Book 5, Page 506 by Nell Nugent"


POSSIBLE RECORD FOR MY JAMES:
James Townes baptised 17 Apr 1620 BLETCHLEY, BUCKINGHAM, ENGLAND
father - William Townes


LUKE BILLINGTON
Luke Billington bapt 5 Nov 1612 BLETCHLEY, BUCKINGHAM, ENGLAND
 father - Thomas Billington

Even if you find a baptism that could fit it's still a monumental task to prove it's the right James. First you need to show that he might be the right one by checking marriages and burials in that parish to see if he stayed in England. Did the fathers of any possible James leave a will naming his son James in America? Have you checked the TNA catalogue at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ ?

Aye, Ive trawled through that nationalarchives site, which I have to say is quite amazing and comprehensive! Ive looked for every instance of Tune/Toone, etc that I could find and made a digital copy for my comparative records. Ive even plotted where those records came from on a google map to see if some kind of pattern emerged from the dispersal - which was kind of revealing actually.

Secondly, our family line has been pretty consistent with its naming patterns. That is to say, my James named his first son James, which might mean his father was also a James? I do have a copy of my James' will, nothing is mentioned of England in there, the only reference I have is of a John King, who is the person who transported my James over from England. I am currently also searching to find the name of the ship and its departure point - a difficult task from what I am finding out.

Whew!

[TuneFamily]

The proof is likely to come from US records

How so?

[bedfordshire boy]

Because hopefully somewhere amongst US land records or personal letters that may have survived will be something that narrows down where he was from in England, or something that names a relative in England. The only document in England that might help is his father's will, if he left one, and if his father was still living when he emigrated, which might name him.

Your hope that because he was well documented in the US he'll be equally well documented in England is a non sequitur, and even if there are English documents you've still got to prove that it's the same James.

Have you found whether the James baptised in Bletchley was buried young, or whether he married in Bletchley, either of which could eliminate him?

What makes you believe Ann Duncombe was from Beds?

[TuneFamily]

Because hopefully somewhere amongst US land records or personal letters that may have survived will be something that narrows down where he was from in England, or something that names a relative in England. The only document in England that might help is his father's will, if he left one, and if his father was still living when he emigrated, which might name him.

Yes, this is my reasoning as well.

Your hope that because he was well documented in the US he'll be equally well documented in England is a non sequitur, and even if there are English documents you've still got to prove that it's the same James.

I was afraid youd say something like that lol. But it does stand to reason, and this discussion is definitely helping to narrow my research focus!

Have you found whether the James baptised in Bletchley was buried young, or whether he married in Bletchley, either of which could eliminate him?

What makes you believe Ann Duncombe was from Beds?

Im still tracking down the actual LDS records (I have a copy but want to pull the original to compare) on the James in Bletchley. The other area of curiosity I have is the sort of 'culture of the times,' that is to say what was the actual process by which people signed up to move to the colonies? From which ports did they leave? Would an ancestor most likely have lived in London at the time or a port city? Was it common for people move from places like Bletchley or Bedford to London? All early 1600s, right after the collapse of the Virginia Company when it was taken over by the Crown.

As for Ann Duncombe, I needed an area to start my research on her and after a preliminary search I found an Ann and a bunch of other Duncombes living in Beds within the time period in question. A place to start, nothing conclusive yet. Shes a corollary to my Tune research.


Heres another question: James' first son James' is not listed among his children with Ann Duncombe, yet still listed on the final will, which makes me believe that James sr. was married before as the mortality rate was pretty high in the Virginia Colonies at that time (c.1651). So, is it possible or conceivable that James sr's first wife (James jr's mother) could have been transported along with him? Which is to say that as James was transported along with 3 other people, could his first wife be among that list? There are 2 women on that list!

[bedfordshire boy]

Looking at the headrights issue, am I correct in assuming that John King paid the transport costs of James Toon and thus obtained the headright? That to me suggests that James didn't come from a monied family. What did James do in VA - how much property did he own? Anything to suggest that a reasonably wealthy father had given a younger son with no prospects a sum of money for him to go the colonies?

My ancestors from Bedfordshire went to New England on the Mayflower, but there's no documentation about them at this side of the pond. I suspect that your James may be the same. Sorry!

Proximity to a port wasn't really a factor. In the early days London was the key emigration port, followed by Bristol in the mid 1600s and Liverpool at the end of the century. See http://www.pricegen.com/resources/servants.htm

When you say "transported" what do you mean? Punishment for a criminal offence? Surely unlikely if James was a headright.



David