Unusual surname any ideas please

[troods]

Hi all


I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of the surname Piniwell or Puniwell.In particular a Catherine Piniwell/Puniwell who married a William Wiliams and they had a William Williams christened Stoke Dameral in 1801.

Hoping someone might be able to give me a few ideas.

Many thanks
Troods

[granger]

Have your tried PINWELL, there are quite a few in Devon.      Regards June

[troods]

Hi June

Thanks  for that and no I have not tried Pinwell.

Much appreciated
Troods

[epenwell]

Hi
My great grandfather and his brother were both born in West Alvington, Devon with their surname as Pinwell, as their mother was Elizabeth Pinwell.  Bastardy papers (1834) for my g.grandfather Henry confirm this however have not been able to trace what happened to Elizabeth Pinwell, after 1836.  In the 1841 Census both Henry and his brother William were listed in the 1841 Census as living in the Kingsbridge Union Workhouse.  Henry jumped ship in NZ in 1862 and adopted the surname PENWELL.  William his brother remained in the UK, and he was still using the Surname of Pinwell when he married in 1865, However in the 1871 Census and since then the name is recorded as PENWELL.  I have researched both the Penwell and Pinwell records for the 1800's and whilst I have a theory that Elizabeth Pinwell's ancestors may have come from Aveton Gifford, Devon have been unable to prove or disprove this.

[epenwell]

Have also come across Pinwill and Penwill quite a few times in Devon, and one should not discount these as often records in the 1800's use a variation of spellings, depending on what the census enumerator, or vicar/verger heard when he wrote a persons name down.  Also where records are transcribed for online searches there are often errors made between the variants.  e.g. today I looked up a death record for a stillborn child in Ancestry.com, whos first name was transcribed as Lefaub but when I looked at the original handwritten death record it was "Infant"

[Redroger]

It is indeed a rare surname. The site surnames of England and Wales has information from 2001 census which gives no record of either version. This may be due to 2 reasons. 1) It is extinct or 2) There are less than 5 instances of the surname recorded. Do you have any further information and I will go back on the site?

[epenwell]

It is indeed a rare surname. The site surnames of England and Wales has information from 2001 census which gives no record of either version. This may be due to 2 reasons. 1) It is extinct or 2) There are less than 5 instances of the surname recorded. Do you have any further information and I will go back on the site?

There were a number of different spellings/variants of Penwell especially in the 1600's and 1700's with a few Piniwell's,Pynwell,Penniwill, Pennewell,Pinnywell, Pennywell, These names all relate to the that period and can be found on the Devon UK IGI Listed under PENWELL.  I have seen further different spelling of Penwell in the Channel Islands, such as Pinoil - which seems to have become Pinwill since 1837.   Again the names since official records came in in 1837 in the UK now tend to be Penwell and Penwill being the more common or Pinwell or Pinwill now.
I have not previously come across Puniwell but guess that since 1837 they have converted to using one of the four main ones, and my guess is the Pinwell spelling is the one that would be the most likely used.  The only Catherine in the IGI is a Catherine Pynwell christened in Woodbury in 12 August 1578.  My Research on Pinwells have mainly concentrated on Aveton Gifford (1654-1770's) and the Pinwells in Plymouth (1850 to present) i.e I haven't really looked at Stoke Dameral.  You mentioned the 2001 census - is this meant to be the 1901 or 1911 census?   If you would like the info on either the Pinwell's of Aveton Gifford and / or Plymouth please let me know which one(s) you would like so I can send it to you. My great grandfather and his brother were Pinwell's but changed to using the Penwell surname (My g grandfather in 1862, and his brother in the 1870's)
Regards
Eric
New Zealand

[Redroger]

Could well be'.; it might be worth checking with the site I mentioned earlier.