Does anyone know where these places are?

[MattD30]

I hoping someone can help me identify the parish from which my ancestor Silvester Keen was from.

Silvester Keen married Sarah Rymer by Licence in 1671. The Licence was issued by the Vicar General of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The entry in "Allegations for Marriage Licences Issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1669-1679" [Harleian Society 1892] states the following:

1671
April 6: Silvester Keen, of Mainty, co Glouc, Husbandman, Bachelor, abt 20 at his own disp, & Sarah Rymer, of the same, spr, about 21, with consent of her mother; alleged by Barnard Keen, of Geerson, WIlts, Yeoman; at Geerson, Malmsbury, or Hankerton.

Barnard Keen may have been Silvester's brother but I have no evidence of this yet although I suspect the two men are related.

Barnard Keen was also married by Licence (again issued by the Vicar General of the Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1667. In his case the entry states:

1667
April 17:
Barnard Keene, of Mynetee, co Glouc, Yeoman, Bachelor, about 30, & Mary Woodroofe, of Geerson, co Wilts, spr, about 18, with consent of her father Richard Woodroofe, Yeoman, at Hankerton or Crudwell, Wilts.

Mainty and Myntee are abviously the same place (just spelt differently by whoever wrote them down) but I have been unable to find it on a map. Silvester's son John Keen was born in Minety, Wiltshire in 1672 and I did think they might be the same place but it clearly states in both cases that the place in question is in Gloucestershire.

Also does anyone know where Geerson is?

Hope someone can help,

Matthew

[Old Bristolian]

Genuki gives Minety as "formerly in Gloucestershire ". Could Geeson be Garsdon perhaps?

Steve

[SWar]

A little bit of the history of Minety here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2009/01/19/a_history_of_minety_feature.shtml

Sue

[MattD30]

Genuki gives Minety as "formerly in Gloucestershire ". Could Geeson be Garsdon perhaps?

Steve

Hi Steve,
That's interesting as Silvester and Sarah's son John was born in 1672 in Minety (so far I have only found the one child). I should have put Ge[e]rson not Geeson sorry, and I also suspect it might be Garsdon as this is next to Minety and close to Hankerton.

On another note, would Barnard be an alternative spelling for Bernard?

Matt

[Old Bristolian]

Could well be Bernard with a strong West Country accent!! It may of course be a surname used as a Christian name to preserve a family connection - does it occur later in the family?

Steve

[MattD30]

Could well be Bernard with a strong West Country accent!! It may of course be a surname used as a Christian name to preserve a family connection - does it occur later in the family?

Steve

I agree with you about the pronounciation with a strong accent. These are the only occurances of the names Silvester and Barnard that I have found. Silvester's son John married a woman named Mary although I do not know when or where. Their son was another Silvester [born 1701/02 Hankerton] who married a woman named Alathea (although again I do not know where or when yet).

This last Silvester and Alathea were the parents of John Keen who was born in Chisledon in 1730. Until recently I had only got back as far as John and only had an approximate birth year for him (1729) based on his age at death. I had thought there was a link to the parish of Broughton Giffard as I had found a John christened there in 1728/29, but then I found John's baptism in Chisledon in 1730 and considering the rest of my Keen/Keene family were all centred in Wanborough and Chisledon this one was a more likely candidate as Broughton Giffard was quite a way away. However there was another connection, John had named one of his daughters Alathia and as that name had not appeared in the tree before it seems likely to be that she was named after her paternal grandmother.

John and Alathea had ten children including my diret ancestor Thomas Keene (1754-1817) and he had nine children including my 3x great grandmother Jane Keene (1808-1874).

[MattD30]

A little bit of the history of Minety here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2009/01/19/a_history_of_minety_feature.shtml

Sue

An interesting article. So does this mean that I should put "Mintey, Gloucestershire" in my notes given that the marriages took place in the 17th century when [according to this article] Minety was in that county, even though the transcripts of the Marriage Licence Allegations say "Wiltshire" (these were published in 1892 so at that time the parish was in Wilts). Does this mean Maintey, Mynetee, and Minety are the same place?

Where would the parish registers for Mainty/Mynetee/Minety be held? I would like to find out more about both Silvester and Bernard.

Many thanks again

Matthew

[SWar]

Hi,

Have a look at this site - you can email them to ask if they hold the Minety records

http://www.ancestor-search.info/CRO-Wiltshire.htm

Sue

[MattD30]

Hi,

Have a look at this site - you can email them to ask if they hold the Minety records

http://www.ancestor-search.info/CRO-Wiltshire.htm

Sue

Thanks for the link Sue.