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Hi Bob, no my information is more about the Broadway family rather than Ruth after her marriage. I am tracing every descendant of William & Frances Broadway of Motcombe, Dorset who married in Salisbury in 1731. One of their daughters, Grace, married John Mereweather of Sedgehill in 1780. Ruth was the great granddaughter of Grace’s sister Christian Broadway (married name Green) and the great grand daughter of Grace’s brother William Broadway jnr . Ruth’s mother, Arabella Green was Christian’s grand daughter and she married William Broadway, William Broadway Jnrs son. It gets very complicated.

Alice, one of William and Maria’s daughters, married my Great Uncle, and I am just looking at her background. I had failed to find her in 1891, so this is useful, thank you . Maria and children were in Swansea Workhouse in 1898, self-admitted, no William.

Hi Jamie, Not sure if we have been in touch before or not .  It was my old Dorsetbays website you quoted though that's long gone as there was too much on there that was inaccurate.

I have spent years looking for a Romany link based on my grandmother's story that we had Romany ancestry possibly linked to coming over from Spain. There is a definite dark gene that seems to appear once in every family - very dark wavy hair, dark eyes, olive skin, very different to the rest of the family. My middle daughter often gets asked if she is Middle eastern or Indian. It's a very strong gene. Even in the most recent generations we have a 3 year old and a 5 year old in two different families on opposite sides of the world with the 'dark gene'

Over the years I have ruled out a Romany link in every line except for the Tudgay one and that's the one I keep coming back to. I have confess I put all research aside for about 8 years and am coming back to it with fresh eyes . In the past I had heard from other Tudgay researchers also looking at the Romany link but no one had any real proof, just circumstantial evidence .

 I am descended from John & Priscilla Tudgay (not got the Longbridge Deverill link back to John's father so thank you for that). Have never found who Priscilla was - a very unusual name but popular with Romanies. The Marshall family could have been - struggling to trace that particular line back - but no evidence. It was a common Romany name but a common name in the general population too. My sticking point is that my William Tudgay married Mary Mifflin and she was certainly not Romany (she come from what had been a wealthy, middle class Quaker family back in the 1600s though by the time she married William I think they were pretty poor!)

So I don't know. The other lady's  link to her Priscilla Tudgay marrying into a known Romany family is the most tangible evidence I have seen. I have heard the idea of adult baptism using both the woman's maiden name and her married name is a Romany custom but I don't know if that's true!

All the best
Helen