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Some Special Interests => Quaker Family History => Topic started by: markedixon on Monday 22 June 09 23:17 BST (UK)
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I'm looking for anyone familiar with central Wiltshire who might also be familiar with these families.
My wife's ancestor emigrated from Wiltshire to Pennsylvania with the Penn fleet in 1682. We're planning a visit to Wiltshire and would like to do some genealogical sightseeing - if we can find anything to see. :)
The primary family was PYLE, with connections to the Withers, Sloper, Nash and Smith families. The immigrant, Robert Pyle (1660-1730) was from Bishops Cannings. His parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., were from places such as Bourton, Urchfont and Stanton St. Bernard. Those living during the Commonwealth seem to have joined the Quakers, as did Robert Pyle.
A condensed family tree follows.
Robert Pyle, son of Nicholas Pyle (1624-1691) and Edith Musprat (1635-1676).
Nicholas Pyle, son of John Pyle (1594-1652) and Mary Withers (ca. 1604-1666).
Edith Musprat, daughter of Thomas Musprat (b. ca. 1600) and Edith Byffen (b. ca. 1600)
John Pyle, son of John Pyle (1564-1652) and Elizabeth
Mary Withers, daughter of Thomas Withers (1545-1624) and Joan Nash (d. ca. 1630)
Thomas Withers, son of William Withers (b. 1520)) and Isabel Smith (b. 1532)
Joan Nash, daughter of William Nash and Margery Sloper
Isabel Smith, daughter of William Smith of Bourton and Laura
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Hi Mark and welcome to rootschat.
Are you looking for further information about your specific families? Or are you looking for anyone with connections to these names? Along the top of each rootschat page you will see a list of options including "surnames" - you can add your surnames there and also check for others researching the same names. After you've made three posts on rootschat you will be able to make direct personal contact with any rootschat member.
I'm afraid I can't help you with your specific families but I have a couple of suggestions about your travel plans. If it is the towns and villages where these families originated that you would like to visit, I would suggest studying maps of Wiltshire and familiarising yourself with the places that your families lived. Many will be unrecognisable from when your ancestors were there, but there may be some older parts of the towns and villages which may still contain some of the buildings from your ancestor's time. I would normally suggest a visit to the local parish church assuming they were there during your ancestor's time (many would have been). However if they were Quakers perhaps they would not have attended the local parish churches. :-\
This may help:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WIL/
Also try "google maps" or "bing maps"
For older maps this may be useful:
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/
You can compare the old and the new. ;)
These may be more suited to your search dates:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/06jq/
I hope you have a wonderful trip - Wiltshire is lovely.
PS. You are not allowed to post email addresses on this site so you should remove your email address before a board moderator does it for you. ;)
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hi Mark, welcome.bishops cannings, urchfont and stanton st bernard are all villages close to each other between trowbridge and marlborough in wiltshire. I do not know of a bourton in wiltshire, the nearest is in what was berkshire and is now oxfordshire,just over the border of wiltshire, maybe 20 miles [by road] from the other locations [ farther north and east] regards, john.
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If it is the towns and villages where these families originated that you would like to visit, I would suggest studying maps of Wiltshire and familiarising yourself with the places that your families lived. Many will be unrecognisable from when your ancestors were there, but there may be some older parts of the towns and villages which may still contain some of the buildings from your ancestor's time.
Thanks for your response, Ruskie. I have studied the maps. I know where the villages are. And I do realize that they will be much changed.
Ideally, I'd love to find a distant cousin who knows the family tree, is familiar with local history and can point out the relevant landmarks. The churches are good landmarks. Likely all of these people were COE before they joined the Quakers. One of those who turned Quaker, Thomas Withers 1596-1668) spent a long period beginning in 1658 in "the county gaol" for refusing to pay church tithes. Where was he imprisoned?
Anyway, that sort of thing...
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You have some unusual names there Mark.
Looking at the rootschat surnames, there are people researching Pyle, but not in Wiltshire. There are people researching Withers and Sloper from Wiltshire. I didn't look at Nash and Smith. ;) A couple more posts and you will be able to contact anyone you think may share a common ancestor.
Have you tried GenesReunited? or Ancestry trees? You may find some cousins this way.
I've had contacts from several distant cousins who simply googled a particular surname which led them to some of my posts on rootschat. So you've done the right thing by naming your people here.
The only trouble is, that you may not be guaranteed to find relatives in time for your holiday. ;)
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Simply entering the name "edith musprat" into google yielded many hits.
Similarly with "robert pyle""nicholas pyle" ....
Also "mary withers" "thomas withers" "joan nash" ....
also "margery sloper" ....
If you haven't already done so, you can try this method, and make contact with some of the people who have these names in their trees. I noticed that many are US based, but there must be some who live in the UK. Unfortunately some of the posts to genealogy forums are quite old.
Good luck.
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Thanks again, Ruskie. You've made some good suggestions. I appreciate them and will try them.
We know the family tree, which has been researched by better genealogists than me. I'm not intending or expecting to learn anything new "genealogically" on this trip.
What I want to do is see things. Things that may no longer exist. Things whose existence I am unaware of. Things that we'll breeze right past if I don't learn of their existence and location in advance.
Perhaps what I really need is a good customized walking tour from a local historian familiar with the Commonwealth period.
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Hi Mark,
I thought you were hoping to meet up with relatives still iving inthese areas who may be able to show you the old family haunts. ;)
I completely understand what you hope to do - what a fascinating tour that would be. Sounds like a good business opportunity for someone to research and do personalised historical tours specific to an era and a place. ;D
The only other thing I can think to suggest is that you may wish to try to seek out some books that were written about that era, or actually during that time. Libraries may be able to assist, or you could start another post here on rootschat explaining that you are looking for written work about this period. There are some very widely read people here. Also something else to try would be 'google books' - many old books are now viewable online. ;)
I don't personally know the particular places in Wiltshire that your family is from, but even often by just visiting these places (specially if you can manage to do so when it is not peak tourist season - winter is always wonderful ;)) you can soak up a lot of the atmosphere, specially if the town/village has ancient buildings still remaining.
Best of luck and have a wonderful trip.
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Mark,
Joel Baily, my Quaker ancestor, was apprenticed to Thomas Withers in Chester Co., PA. I am interested in Thomas Withers Genealogy tree.
If you are willing to share a GEDCOM, I am jfbailey at comcastDOTnet
My Ancestor was a broadloom weaver, as were his parents and grandparents; therefore, I am thinking that they were originally from Flanders; my yDNA also indicates this.
Have you sorted out any Flemish connections for the Withers, Sloper, Nash families?
Are you in touch with Kit Withers in New Zealand?
Best Regards,
JFBailey
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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....
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Oh that's a shame Mark. But at least you enjoyed the time you spent there.
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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.)
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Yes, all very interesting stuff Mark. Oh, to go back in time ... ;)
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.................