Author Topic: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH  (Read 20885 times)

Offline markedixon

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 06 August 09 17:48 BST (UK) »
Just to wrap this up...

We returned this past Saturday (Aug.1) from two weeks in the UK, which included a visit to Wiltshire and Bishops Cannings, near Devizes.  We never did find anyone equipped to give us a knowledgeable tour, although we did, of course, enjoy our ramble.

In the pub at Bishops Cannings, posted on a wall, we saw a 19th Century map of the village which included several plots of land attributed to the Nash family, from which my wife also descends.  The pub owner couldn't tell me anything about it.  Alas.

So many questions....

Online Ruskie

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #10 on: Friday 07 August 09 00:44 BST (UK) »
Oh that's a shame Mark. But at least you enjoyed the time you spent there.

Offline markedixon

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #11 on: Friday 07 August 09 01:22 BST (UK) »
We did enjoy the time.

One thing I did get from the pub owner (who may have been misinformed) was that Bishops Cannings had once been surrounded by several large estates.  None, of course, were owned by my wife's ancestors, who must have been landless tenant farmers.

And landless tenant farmers, of course, were most skilled at the grunt work that farming requires.  So, who better to carve farms out of the forested countryside of colonial Pennsylvania?

I also discovered that the English civil war battlefield of Roundway Down is virtually across the road from Bishops Cannings.  Naturally, I wondered -- and still wonder -- whether and how the Pyles, Slopers, Nashes and Witherses were affected by all the ruckus.  One of the few signs on the battlefield showed the defeated Parliamentary forces streaming away in the direction of Bishops Cannings.

(And, just as an aside, it also struck me that Brits would be amazed to see the granite forests that U.S. Civil War battlefields have become.  Their battlefields are almost wholly unmarked.  For anyone who has seen Gettysburg, the "neglect" of places such as Roundway Down seems...well, very strange.)

Online Ruskie

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #12 on: Friday 07 August 09 02:35 BST (UK) »
Yes, all very interesting stuff Mark. Oh, to go back in time ...  ;)


Offline John in Fram

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #13 on: Friday 07 August 09 16:45 BST (UK) »
Just an aside to the main subject. Have you looked at http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritage/index.php
This is the website for the Chippenham Record Office. They appear to hold wills for Pyles and Withers in Stanton and Urchfont respectively
The RO office are able to photocopy them and post them to you for reasonable charges. Some of my family (Yeoman) wills gave fields names etc, village location of their copyholds
Chippenham also offer a one off 20 minute free search, worth taking up and also visiting when you visit Wilsthire
Wilts OPC for Bishopstone, Keevil, Little Hinton, Potterne and Rowde
researching Cue, Hulbert, Hunt, Long, Pope and Redford

Offline markedixon

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #14 on: Monday 10 August 09 22:10 BST (UK) »
Thanks, John.  Happily, the family is already pretty well researched -- and by better genealogists than me.  What I was trying to do prior to our recent visit was to locate a local historian who could give us a guided tour of the places these ancestors once lived.  Alas, I never found such a person.

Offline bgoodman

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #15 on: Saturday 21 June 14 07:07 BST (UK) »
Hi, I am on the Hertfordshire forum UK with ancestor George Goodman. His grandfather was Thomas Goodman supposedly born in Rushall (Russell) Wiltshire abt 1766. Thomas's children were born in Rickmansworth Hertfordshire UK. One of the children was George Hale Sloper Goodman born abt 1814. I am unable to find any connection to those surnames and the Goodman surname for the applicable dates. Also unable to find a baptism for Thomas in Wiltshire. The other names that you have mentioned are also familiar, although not necessarily connected to my Goodman ancestors. There was a George Goodman born 1848 to James Goodman and Elizabeth Withers, Wargrave, which was under Wiltshire & Berkshire registration district. Also Goodman Nash exists as a surname for Wiltshire. I have also seen Goodman Smith as a Surname although I am not sure where exactly. Good luck with your research.

Offline fastfusion

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Re: 17th Century Quakers: PYLE, WITHERS, SLOPER, NASH, SMITH
« Reply #16 on: Sunday 27 July 14 08:42 BST (UK) »
hi there .....


Kit Withers database is on free pages of ancestry.....      the families u seek are from the Devizes registration district....  around Bishops Cannings through to as far as Calne registration district.

As I am related to that tree through various names mentioned I would suggest strongly reading Kits work first.

good luck on your quest.
 :)

postscript....   i notice this post was started a few years ago.................