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Thanks for your input Paco.

I also noticed the marriage for John Bewes in St Stephens by Launceston, but it states that he was "the younger", in which case he would not have been the brother of my Alice Bice, whose parents were Robert and Marion.  I haven't been able to find a baptism for an Alice Bewes in St Stephens, but it would possibly have been too early for the records.

I've been researching the my family tree for quite a number of years now, and I'm still learning (and at times struggling).  Part of the problem with the Bice branch is that their surname was often misspelled.  I picked these variations up off the Internet yesterday:

"Includes Baer, Bair, Baire, Bairs, Bare, Barr, Bayer(s), Bayes, Bayre(s), Bays(e), Bear, Beus, Bewes, Beyer(s), Biar(s), Bias, Biasa, Bice, Bier(s), Bise, Bower(s), Bowyer, Boyars, Boyer(s), Buias, Buis, Buyer(s), Buyor(s), Buys, Byan, Byar, Byarse, Byas, Bye, Byer(s), Byiers, Byire, Byor, Byre(s), Byris, Byrn, Byus, and other variant spellings."

Other variations that I’ve come across whilst researching this branch of my family are: Bysse, Byse, Besse, Boies and Byssett.  I've even come across a marriage where my ancestor's name had been transcribed as "Wise", because of the old-fashioned way of writing the capital letter "B".

However, this kind of challenge is one of the aspects that makes genealogy so interesting!

So, to sum up, as Bewes is a known variation of Bice and, given the names of the children of John Colquite and Alice, it's still a possibility that Alice was the daughter of Robert and Marian Bice.

Similarly, the Bewes family from St Stephen by Launceston could be related to my St Enoder Bice family.

Thanks again. 

Hi

I have spent several months trying to work out where my relative Henry Whitford fits into the St Columb Minor family.

I believe he married Elizabeth Martyn on 15 Oct 1764 St Col Min (the witnesses were Henry Warmington and Margaret Nicholls), and that their children were -

1765 Henry
1766 Richard (Richard was bap 10 Nov 1769, but his age at burial suggests that he might have been the son of Elizabeth, as she died in 1766, possibly in childbirth)

It seems that Elizabeth was buried 5 May 1766 St Col Min.

Then it appears that Henry married Margaret Nicholls on 14 Sep 1769 St Col Min (the witnesses were James Nicholls and Elizabeth Nicholls), and that their children were -

1771 William
1772 John
1774 Jenepher
1776 Dorothy (my ancestor who married Richard Hockin 27 Nov 1800 St Col Min)
1777 Margaret
1779 Elizabeth
1781 Mary
1783 Anne
1785 Anne

I think Henry was buried on 15 Nov 1787 St Col Min, and that Margaret was buried on 4 Aug 1803 in Newlyn East (where two of her sons and a daughter were living at the time).

In the past I’ve found that a lot of information can be gleaned from the original parish records on the Family Search website, and I’ve learned a lot of information from the names and signatures shown in the marriage pages.

So I downloaded quite a few pages with marriages showing the names and signatures of the Whitfords and Nicholls, and I’ve printed them off to enable me to get a better look at the signatures.

It’s interesting that the signature of the witness Margaret Nicholls at the first marriage is exactly the same as that of Margaret Nicholls in the second marriage, so it appears she is one and the same.  Also Margaret signs her name with a small ‘n’ for Nicholls.

James Nicholls also signs his name ‘Jams’ and his surname also with a small ‘n’.

I found that the same James Nicholls married Prudence Moffat on 25 Jun 1764 (same signature).  His witnesses were Richard Nicholls and Richard Whitford*, and this Richard Whitford* married Mary Moffat (sister of Prudence) on 29 Jul 1758 (witnesses Richard Stephens and Richard Nicholls).

(* I have an idea of where my Henry fits into the family and I have a suspicion that this Richard Whitford is possibly one of his brothers.  I don't want to go into this more deeply at the moment, as I don't want to confuse matters.)

I've found a lot of cross-referencing of the same names/signatures, in these and other marriages.   

I’ve researched the baptism/marriage/burial records on COPC and FSO, and I’ve scoured the original parish records, as mentioned above, but even after months of research I just can’t work out who either Elizabeth Martyn or Margaret Nicholls were.  (To be honest I’ve been really struggling to work out who’s who in the Martyn family, and I’m similarly confused with the Nicholls family/ies.)

If only I could work out who Elizabeth Martyn and/or Margaret Nicholls were it might help me to confirm my thoughts about Henry, so I'd be really grateful if anybody can be of any assistance.

Many thanks
Goldberry

PS. I have to admit that I've put off asking for advice, as I'm very jittery about how to ask the questions, having has a horrible experience on another forum the past, where I felt like I'd dipped my toe into a lake of piranhas. I've tried to say, I think, perhaps, possibly... I'm not making any claims, just that it is how it appears to be based on my research to date, and everything is based on my own research not somebody else's.......

....so please be gentle with me. 

Update:

We're pretty confident that we've found the marriage of Marianne James (Mary Ann?) in 1837 Mawgan in Pydar to William Rawlings.  http://cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=marriages&id=893250  It shows father as William, husbandman, which is correct, and their children's names appear to match naming patterns.

Also, there's a burial of a William James in St Austell on 7 Nov 1827 age 20 that could possibly be William bap 10 Jul 1808  http://cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=burials&id=1619684  I haven't been able to find any other William of similar age yet, so it might be him.

Still absolutely nothing on Samuel Tiller James.  I have a spreadsheet full of Samuel James born around the same period and have found something for all of them, eg marriage, census or burial - even convict ship) but I can't find anything at all for Samuel Tiller James, other than his baptism.

Yes, I've often come across children having the same middle name as the mother's family surname, and I once got involved in a Bennett family where patriarchal naming conventions were applied.

I've also come across patriarchal naming conventions when researching the Welsh side of my family.