I guess the unanswered question is how and whether the Moakes / Moakes , Gaskin / Gascoigne , Ball (and other families) are related by common ancestors - by this I mean mid to late 18th century. In this thread alone I have come across too many marriages for these to represent totally isolated occurrences between unrelated families. Pamela Sharpe, in her book "A Village of Considerable Extent" records that not only was illegitimacy very high but in 1788 South Normanton had 121 houses and a population of 588. Another correspondent of mine from a University in America reports:
In a population of between three and five hundred people, after six generations or so there are only third cousins or closer to marry. During most of human history, people have lived in small, isolated communities of about that size, and have in fact probably been closer to the genetic equivalent of first cousins, because of their multiple consanguinity. In nineteenth-century rural England, for instance, the radius of the average isolate, or pool of potential spouses, was about five miles, which was the distance a man could comfortably walk twice on his day off, when he went courting- his roaming area by daylight.
I'll keep on digging!
Alan
Are you linked to the Haywoods of this village?