Early Records from Morpeth re Donkin

[Marama]

I would really like someone who lives in or near Morpeth to help me check a birth record from 1689.  The LDS transcriptions state that William son of William Donkin was baptised in Morpeth on 15 Sept 1689.  I really need someone to look at the original and make sure the transcription is correct as I think the child's name should be Samuel.  Does anyone know of anyone who would do this for me please?

[c-side]

Hi Marama

Welcome to rootschat 

I can check the Morpeth microfilm at the archives on Wednesday if that's any good

Christine

[2zpool]

My fiche transcript from the Herbert Maxwell Wood Collection has 15 Sept 1689 William son of William Donckin

Janis

[c-side]

Well, that's saved me a job, Janis 

Although I would always advocate looking at originals where ever possible it is unlikely that two separate transcriptions are going to wrong on the same thing.

What makes you think that it should be Samuel, Marama?

Christine

[Marama]

Thankyou very much Christine and Janis.  That would be wonderful.  As to why I think this child's name should be Samuel - its a long story.  I've been looking for a record of the birth of Samuel Donkin for many years.  He turned up in Great Tosson "just before 1720" and died there in 1791.  His tombstone in Rothbury says he was 102.  The IGI only lists one Samuel Donkin born in the 1600's and he was born in South Shields in 1697.  I'm sure he wasn't the one because he married Elizabeth Bell in 1732 in South Shields and we know our Sam married Ann Wilson in 1721 in Rothbury.  There was a large family of Donkins in Norton in the mid 1600's and for some reason they all migrated to Morpeth in about 1650.  They produced a lot of children but only one was born in 1689 - this William son of William.  A lot of the names used by the Morpeth family were also used by the Great Tosson family and Sam called his first son William.  Its a long shot but I think its worth pursuing.  Once again thankyou very much and I look forward to hearing what you find.
Marama.

[janwhin]

Hi Marama,
I don't know if the following might be of help. Sykes book of Remarkable Events has the death of Samuel Donkin at Great Tosson on May 4 1791 at 102. It also has the following:
The entry for 7 June 1750 says
"Was married at Rothbury, Mr William Donkin, a considerable farmer of Tosson, to Miss Eleanor Shotton, of the same place. The entertainment on this occasion was very grand, there being provided no less than 120 quarters of lamb, 44 quarters of veal, 20 quarters of mutton, a great quantity of beef, 12 hams, with a suitable number of chickens &c., which was concluded with 8 half ankers of brandy made into punch, 12 dozens of cyder, a great many gallons of wine, and 90 bushels of malt made into beer. The company consisted of 550 ladies and gentlemen, who were diverted with the music of 25 fiddlers and pipers, and the whole was concluded with the utmost order and unanimity."
Sorry, couldn't resist quoting the whole thing....some party and no raucous behaviour!! 
David Dippie Dixon's Upper Coquetdale says this: "For upwards of a century, the Donkins, a well known Northumbrian family, farmed at Great Tosson. Shortly before 1720, Samuel Donkin, the Patriarch, came into Coquetdale and settled at Great Tosson. He died at 102." 
Janet

[Marama]

Hi Janet,
    Thanks for your letter.  When my grandfather, Frank Donkin, died in a country town in New South Wales in 1943 the editor of the local paper wrote an obituary quoting that very same article!  Frank was only 80 so didn't do as well as his ancestor Samuel I'm afraid.   
         Marama

[pityackafromblyth]

Marama, Re the Donkin family.  From what I have seen you are way back into the 1600s, so the following, for what it is worth, may not be of any assistance.  There was a family named Donkin in Blyth, Northumberland.  They owned a shop in the town centre, which I believe was a newspaper shop. I recall it being there in the 1950s.
Regards,
pityackafromblyth.

[Marama]

 Hi pityackafromblyth
         My Donkin family left Northumberland in 1837- and I might add they have been very successful in Australia.  They tended to have many more sons than daughters and there are lots of them about nowadays.  By the time I got to be interested in their history even my grandmother couldn't tell me anything.  The original family took up land in NSW and called it Ryehill so finding a place called Ryehill near Rothbury and David Dippie Dixon's book about Upper Coquetdale, which I acquired in 1997, started me off.  Its been a rewarding family tree hunt because there really is a lot of information about the Donkins out there but eventually there is a brick wall and that is - where did Samuel come from?  I really believe he was part of the Morpeth family but its not going to be easy to prove it.  Maybe the Donkins in Blyth know - I wonder how I can find them?
                  Regards,  Marama.