Dear Kris - and others
I'm another descendant of the Martyns of St Columb Minor - one of my
g4grandmothers being Mary Martyn (1770-1845), daughter of John M
and Gertrude Hiscutt. She married James Liddell (ca. 1765-1839),
who started a family business as printer and stationer in Bodmin in
about 1787 that lasted well into the 20th C.
They married in St Columb Minor in 1793, and had 10 children
(and about 40 grandchildren- virtually all the 19th C Liddells
in Cornwall are descended from them - so much easier to sort than
all those Martyns!). Their 4th son, William Liddell (1802-1854), was a
surgeon who emigrated to Madras with his family in 1833 and became
Coroner of Madras; the attached photo is of his eledest daughter,
my g2grandmother, Susan Gertrude Liddell (1828-1911), probably
from around the time of her marriage in 1847 to a scottish east
india merchant, George Walker (1818-1904). I have a diary of
theirs for 1860-63, when they were living in Wimbledon (with
George still running his company in Madras).
To return to the Martyns, I would love to see the window inscription
mentioned, and the tree showing descent from Thomas Martyn and
Gertrude Turnavine.
Most of what I know about the Martyns is based on Marianne Eastgate's
web pages -
http://awt.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=:1501551&id=I8&ti=5538- which seems to be mostly accurate, though with a few minor errors.
Three questions:
1) ME's web pages give descent of both Thomas Martyn and
Gertrude Turnavine from the Mundy family of Ryalton (his mother,
one of her grannies), who came to Cornwall about 1540 from London,
where the ancestors included 5 Lord Mayors, including the Edward Shaa,
who is the Lord Mayor in Shakespeare's Richard III.
Do you think this line of descent is sound?!
2) ME gives Thomas M's dates as 1668-1774, implying he lived to 106
- can this be right, or is he being confused with another member of the
family?
3) Do you know the occupations or dwellings of the 18th C Martyns?
ME gives a few - e.g. Mary's brother Thomas, b 1774, was apparently
a doctor, as were two of his sons - one appears in the Wimbledon diary).
Also, her sister Gertrude married Samuel Symons (1769-1820), tenant
of Trerice, a manor now owned by the National Trust; and her youngest
brother Silas Edward M married a sister of the Samuel Symons (1779-1854)
who built the folly of Doyden Castle, also now owned by the National Trust.
I'd be particularly interested in any info on the direct line, i.e. John
-> Joseph -> Thomas -> ...
With best wishes
Denis Mollison