Lymington and Steyning Marriage Challenges

I have details of a number of marriages courtesy of two recent Guild marriage challenges. Colin Ulph undertook a search of the marriage registers in the Steyning Registration District in Sussex and was able to find two of the six marriages I requested. Jennifer Eagle searched the registers in the Lymington Registration District in Hampshire and located five of the six marriages I requested. I have put outline details of all the marriages below. If  you are interested in any of these marriages do get in touch and I will supply the full certificate details. Many thanks to Colin and Jennifer for all their hard work.

Lymington Marriage Challenge

- 1862 St Thomas, Lymington: Samuel Richard Cruise (occupation illegible), son of Richard Cruise, blacksmith, and Hannah Elizabeth Roberts, daughter of John Roberts, mariner

- 1888 St Thomas, Lymington: Samuel Henry Cruise, boat builder, son of Samuel Richard Cruise, mariner, and Annie Maria Elford, daughter of John Elford, painter

- 1897 St Thomas, Lymington: Ada Florence Cruise, daughter of Samuel Cruise, sailor, and Frederick Earnest Moth, plumber, son of Jonas Moth, sail maker

- 1898 St Thomas, Lymington: Bessie Maude Cruise, daughter of Samuel Richard Cruise, mariner, and Robert Godwin, groom, son of Thomas Godwin (deceased), baker

- 1907 St Thomas, Lymington: Minnie Hettie Cruse, daughter of Samuel Richard Cruse, mariner, and Sidney Lance Collins, painter, son of William Alexander Collins (deceased)

Steyning Marriage Challenge
- 1892 St Mary de Haura Parish Church, New Shoreham, Sussex: Clara Charity Cruse, daughter of Richard Cruse, gardener, and Louis Henry Everest, publican, son of John Everest, postman. (Chailey tree)
-1899 St Patrick's Church, Hove, Sussex: Arthur Edward Crews, stock jobber, son of Charles Thomas Daniel Crews, stockbroker, and Maud Helen Stewart, daughter of William Edward Stewart, physician.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Kindle edition of DNA and Social Networking

The Kindle edition of my book DNA and Social Networking: A Guide to Genealogy in the Twenty-First Century is now available on the Amazon website and can be ordered from this link.

Indian mitochondrial DNA haplogroups

Last Saturday I was honoured to be invited to give a lecture on DNA testing at the Families in British India Society's Annual General Meeting. FIBIS members are particularly interested in mitochondrial DNA testing as the British men who lived in India often married local women. In many cases the only record of Indian ancestry will be found through a DNA test. FIBIS has just launched a new DNA project for its members at Family Tree DNA, and it will be very interesting to see what discoveries they make.

When preparing the presentation I was unable to find any reliable information on the distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups in India. Family Tree DNA has the world's largest mtDNA database, and Eileen Krause very kindly searched the FTDNA database for me to compile statistics on the distribution of mtDNA haplogroups of known Indian origin. She has kindly given permission for me to reproduce the figures here. As Family Tree DNA is a commercial testing company it should be noted that their database is not necessarily representative, but these figures nevertheless give a good idea of the range of mtDNA haplogroups that are likely to be found in anyone of Indian ancestry.

Haplogroup	Percentage
M	51%
U	19%
R	12%
H	5%
HV	3%
W	3%
N	2%
C, F, K, J, T, A, D, L2, B, I, L0, L1, X	<1%

© Debbie Kennett 2011

FTDNA group administrators' conference

The Family Tree DNA Group Administrators' Conference took place this year from 4th to 6th November in Houston, Texas. An outline of the conference schedule can be found on the FTDNA website. The conference was attended by around 200 DNA project administrators, mostly from America but with a few travelling from other countries. A number of project administrators have written reports from the conference on their blogs with details of the many interesting developments that have taken place at Family Tree DNA in the last year and news of what we can expect in the coming months.

Ce Ce Moore has provided a very comprehensive report from the conference on her Your Genetic Genealogist blog:

- Family Tree DNA's 7th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy - Day One
- Family Tree DNA's 7th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy - Day Two

Emily Aulicino has also provided an excellent two-part overview of the conference on her Genealem blog.

- 7th Annual Family Tree DNA International Conference Part 1
- 7th Annual FTDNA International Conference Part 2

Tim Janzen has posted two very thorough reviews with lots of technical details about Family Tree DNA's Walk through the Y project on the Genealogy DNA list:

- Tim Janzen's Notes from Day 1 of the FTDNA Conference
- Tim Janzen's Notes from Day 2 of the FTDNA Conference

Debbie Parker Wayne has written a report from the conference entitled Hat Tip to Citizen Scientists.

Dave Dowell has written a very brief blog posting about the conference and hints that an FTDNA sale is in the offing.

Thomas Krahn has put his presentation on the Walk through the Y project online on his DNA Fingerprint website.

Joan Miller has written a brief summary on her Luxegen blog and posted photos from the conference on her profile at Google+.

It is expected that the Powerpoint slides for most of the presentations will be eventually be made available to FTDNA group administrators on the Family Tree DNA website.

© 2011 Debbie Kennett

Publication of DNA and Social Networking

My long-awaited book DNA and Social Networking: A Guide to Genealogy in the Twenty-First Century has now been published and I was very excited to receive my advance copy in the post this morning.  I feel very privileged to have been asked to write the book, and it is a humbling experience to see my own words in print. I was almost trembling as I opened the envelope and was able to see the book in print for the first time! I could feel my eyes moistening, and it took me a few minutes to summon up the courage to open the book, knowing that if there is anything I've forgotten or have got wrong it's now too late to make any changes. This book has been particularly challenging to write because there has been a constant stream of new developments in both fields. After submitting the manuscript I had to make a substantial number of amendments in an attempt to keep everything as up to date as possible, with the last changes being made in August. I suspect my book might even be the first book to mention Google+, the new social networking service from Google.  Google+ was in beta-testing when I updated my proofs but is now open to all. The publishers have done a magnificent job with the book. It is printed on good-quality paper, and the illustrations, although necessarily in black and white, have all been reproduced to a very high standard.

The contents of the book are as follows:

Foreword by Chris Pomery
Preface
Acknowledgements

Part I: The genetic genealogy revolution
Chapter 1 The basic principles
Chapter 2 Surnames and the paternal line
Chapter 3 Before surnames: haplogroups and deep ancestry
Chapter 4 The maternal line: mitochondrial DNA tests
Chapter 5 Cousins reunited: autosomal DNA tests
Chapter 6 Setting up and running a DNA project

Part II: The social networking revolution
Introduction
Chapter 7 Traditional genealogical networking methods
Chapter 8 Genealogy social networking websites
Chapter 9 General social networking websites
Chapter 10 Blogs
Chapter 11 Wikis
Chapter 12 Multimedia
Chapter 13 Collaborative tools

Appendix A DNA websites
Appendix B Testing companies
Appendix C DNA projects
Appendix D Surname resources
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

It will be a few more weeks before the book arrives in the shops and with all the online retailers, and the official publication date is now 28th November. The book will be available direct from Amazon.co.uk or from The History Press. A Kindle edition is also in preparation, and the publishers are currently waiting for Amazon to upload the PDF onto their website. The book will eventually go on sale in North America, Australia and other countries but it will take time for it to go through the distribution channels in these countries, and it probably won't be on sale overseas until the spring. In the meantime the History Press and Amazon UK both accept orders from overseas. I will also maintain a small stock of copies which I can sell myself at family history events.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Catching up on Marriage Challenges

I've received a number of marriage details in recent months from various Marriage Challenges conducted by my fellow members of the Guild of One-Name Studies. I have got somewhat  behind in posting details to this blog, something which I am now attempting to rectify. I am now providing below outline details of the latest faux marriage certificates I've received, with the names of the trees where known shown in brackets. If you are researching any of these lines do get in touch and I would be happy to send a copy of the faux certificate which contains all the details you would expect to find on the real marriage certificate but without the necessity of paying £9.25 to obtain the information.

Birmingham Marriage Challenge
- 1876 St George, Birmingham: Elizabeth Cruse, daughter of Martin Cruse, labourer, and John Frederick Woolley, pearl cutter, son of Samuel Woolley, pearl cutter.

Berkhampstead Marriage Challenge
- 1902 St Peter and St Paul, Tring, Hertfordshire: Ellen Cruise, daughter of John Cruise, labourer (deceased) and Arthur Baldwin, son of Henry Baldwin, labourer (deceased).

East Ashford Marriage Challenge
- 1840 St Martin, Aldington, Kent:  Martha Cruse, widow, daughter of William Cott or catt, labourer, and Richard Ealy or Eady, son of Thomas Ealy or Eady, labourer.

Hastings Marriage Challenge
- 1860 St Mary Magdalen, St Leonards, Sussex: Frances Caroline Cruse, daughter of Edmund Cruse, coachman, and Samuel Ginger, blacksmith, son of Thomas Ginger, blacksmith.
- 1885 St Matthew, Silverhill, Sussex: John William Cruse, son of Edmund Cruse, coachman, and Hannah Lydia Carey, daughter of Thomas Carey, farmer (deceased).
- 1886 St Matthew, Silverhill, SussexAnnie Sarah Cruse, daughter of Edmund Cruse, coachman, and Charles Scrace, son of Henry Scrace, sawyer (deceased).
- 1901 St Matthew, Silverhill, Sussex: James Frederick Cruse, farmer, son of Edmund Cruse, coachman, and Christina Margaret Stewart Huggins, daughter of George Huggins, gardener.

Romford Marriage Challenge
- 1887 St Mary, Great Ilford, Essex: James Cruse, labourer, son of James Cruse, blacksmith, and Jean Lemon, daughter of John Henry Lemon, builder (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line from Burlescombe, Devon).
- 1887 St Mary, Great Ilford, Essex: Julia Cruse, daughter of James Cruse, blacksmith, and John Frederick Webster, soap cutter, son of Thomas William Webster, hairdresser (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line from Burlescombe, Devon).
- 1900 St Margaret, Barking, Essex: Emmeline Annie Cruse, daughter of James Cruse, blacksmith (deceased), and George Henry Rayner, bootmaker, son of William Rayner, bootmaker (deceased) (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line from Burlescombe, Devon).
- 1907 St Andrew, Romford, Essex: Ellis Cruse, labourer, son of Joel Cruse, labourer, and Annie Elizabeth Digby, daughter of Walter John Digby, brewer's employee (Imber tree from Wiltshire).
- 1908 St Margaret, Barking, Essex: Albert Cruse, labourer, son of James Cruse, blacksmith, and Mary Ann Reading, daughter of William Reading, seaman (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line from Burlescombe, Devon).
- 1908 St Margaret, Barking, Essex: Emma Cruse, daughter of James Cruse, crane-driver (coach driver?), and Edmund Gurney Puller, labourer, son of Arthur Puller, provision dealer (deceased) (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line from Burlescombe, Devon).
- 1910 St John the Evangelist, Seven Kings, Essex: Sarah Cecilia Wray Creese, daughter of John Thomas Wray Creese, gentleman (deceased), and Harry Richard Cowling, draper, son of William Cowling, tailor.
- 1911 St Margaret, Barking, Essex: George Henry Cruse, son of James Cruse, blacksmith, and Caroline Annie Dommack, daughter of Joseph Albert Matthias Dimmack, shoemaker.
- 1911 St Margaret, Barking, Essex: Georgina Cruse, daughter of John Cruse, labourer, and Henry Edward Hemp or Kemp, engine driver, son of Henry Hemp or Kemp, labourer (deceased) (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line from Burlescombe, Devon).

Winslow Marriage Challenge
These five marriages all relate to the same family but I've not yet had the time to do any reconstruction work on this line.
- 1862 Parish Church, Stewkley, Buckinghamshire: William Cruse, drover, son of William Cruse, baker, and Martha Smith, daughter of James Smith, labourer
- 1893 Parish Church, Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire: Ellen Cruse, daughter of William Cruse, stock dealer, and Charles Illing, bootmaker, of St Giles in the Fields, London, son of Ezra Illing, bootmaker
- 1896 Parish Church, Drayton Parslow: Henry William Ayres, packer, of Holloway, London, son of  Samuel Ayres, engineer, and Sarah Cruse, daughter of William Cruse, stock dealer
- 1897 Parish Church, Drayton Parslow: William Nathaniel Mayne, plumber, son of George Mayne, plumber, and Annie Cruse, daughter of William Cruse, cattle dealer
- 1898 Parish Church, Drayton Parslow: William London, ironmonger, of Fulham, London, son of Thomas London, baker (deceased), and  Clara Cruse, daughter of William Cruse, stock dealer.

Many thanks to Anni Berman, Peter Copsey, Lynda and Roger Goacher, Shelagh Mason, Pauline Pederson and Graham Taylor-Paddick for their hard work finding all these marriages in the registers and transcribing all the details.

Irish DNA Atlas Project

A very interesting new DNA Project for Ireland is to be launched at the "Back To Our Past" show in Dublin on 21st October. The Irish DNA Atlas Project is a joint initiative between the Genealogical Society of Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The project's first newsletter states that the project has two purposes:

1. To further our knowledge of the population history of Ireland and its connections with other populations in Europe.
 2. To help us understand how genes influence health in Ireland through the creation of a resource for use as 'healthy' controls in researching how genes influence common diseases in Ireland, including (though not confined to) diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

 They are recruiting people with all eight great-grandparents born in Ireland. All of the eight great-grandparents should be born in the same general area of Ireland so that their DNA is representative of that particular region. The project is open both to Irish residents and people living overseas who meet the qualifying criteria.

The project will be using Y-chromosome DNA, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA. I can't find any information in the newsletter about the tests that will be done but I assume they will be doing chip sequencing along the lines of the People of the British Isles Project.

Further information can be found in the Irish DNA Atlas Project newsletter. This can be read online here but the PDF cannot be downloaded without paying a fee to access the hosting company's premium service.

© 2011 Debbie Kennett

Cruises in Griffith's Valuation of Ireland 1848-1864

Howard Mathieson, one of my colleagues in the Guild of One-Name Studies, has been working on producing maps showing the distribution of a surname in Ireland at parish level based on the Griffith's Valuation Indexes. He has very kindly produced some maps for me showing the distribution of the Cruise surname and related variant spellings. From 1848 to 1864 Ireland's Valuation Office conducted its first survey of property ownership in Ireland in order to determine the amount of tax each person should pay towards the support of the poor within their Poor Law Union. This survey became known as Griffith's Valuation after Richard Griffith who was the director of the office at that time. The survey recorded the names of both landlords and tenants throughout the country in both rural and urban areas, and it provides a snapshot of the population at a key point in Irish history, beginning at the time when the Great Famine was at its peak. It is a particularly important resource because no Irish censuses have survived prior to 1901 and it effectively serves as a census substitute. Griffith's Valuation can be found online on the Ask about Ireland website.

Howard's first map below shows the distribution of Cruise tenants in Ireland. It's interesting to see that there are still Cruises in the east of the country in Meath and Dublin, the counties where the Cruise family first held lands when they arrived in Ireland in the twelfth century, though there has been a noticeable westward drift into Galway and Mayo.

The second map below shows the distribution of tenants of Cruise landlords and therefore provides an indication of the landholdings of people with the surname in Ireland at the time.

Some Cruises still held land in Dublin and Meath, and there were still Cruice landlords in Cruicetown in County Meath. It is however somewhat surprising that the largest landholdings are now in the west and south west in counties Galway, Clare and Limerick.

For anyone with an interest in surname mapping I recommend a visit to Howard's Geogenealogy website which provides a wealth of information on the subject and lots of interesting links.

© 2011 Debbie Kennett and Howard Mathieson

Cruises in Irish civil registration indexes

Thanks to the hard work of a fellow Cruise researcher I now have a major new database to add to my collection of records for my one-name study. We have now extracted all the references to the surnames Cruise, Cruice and variants from the Irish Civil Registration Indexes, and they have been placed in Excel spreadsheets for easy sorting. The Irish BMDs are available online free of charge on the new Family Search website. The births cover the period from 1864 to 1958, the marriages are from 1845 to 1958 and the deaths from 1864 to 1958. BMD records are one of the core datasets in a one-name study, and the Irish BMDs will serve as a useful baseline and checklist when work starts on reconstructing all the Cruise families in Ireland.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Surname distribution maps

I recently purchased a copy of the new edition of Steve Archer's Surname Atlas. The atlas provides distribution maps of surnames based on data from the 1881 censuses of England, Wales and Scotland. The new version has a number of enhancements including some very useful listings of surnames specific to individual counties. I shall be making full use of the list of Devon surnames to build up my list of surnames for my Devon DNA Project. I've been having fun playing around with the CD tonight and have produced maps showing the distribution in England and Wales of the surnames Cruwys, Cruse and Cruise and other variant spellings. It is now possible to do a comparison of four surnames at once. The first set of maps shows a comparison of the distribution of the surnames Cruwys, Cruse, Cruze, and Scruse in 1881. Cruwys and Cruze are both clearly Devon surnames. Cruse is found across the whole of the south of England, with further pockets in the north. There is some overlap with the surname Cruwys, but the Cruse surname appears to have multiple origins. The appearance of the surname in the north might be a result of migration in the search for work in the industrial heartlands. Scruse is a variant spelling of Cruse and originated in Wiltshire.      

The second set of maps below shows the distribution of the surnames Cruise, Crewes, Crews and Crew in 1881. The surname Cruise is predominantly found in Ireland and the Irish Cruises are distantly related to the Cruwyses of Devon. The northern Cruises are probably migrants from Ireland.  The Cruises in the south-west probably share a more recent origin with the Cruwyses and Cruses of Devon and Cornwall. One branch of the Devon Cruwys family settled in Cornwall in the 1500s, and as can be seen the Crewes spelling was still concentrated in Cornwall in 1881. All the people with the variant spelling Crewes are probably descended from this single Cornish line. Crews is again mostly confined to the southwest. Crews is the predominant variant spelling in the United States and we are investigating the theory that the surname there evolved from Crew or Crewe. Crew is notably absent from the south-west but is widely spread throughout the rest of England.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

IPM of Robert de Cruys of Nalle, Ireland 1292

ROBERT DE CRUYS OF NALLE

 Writ to Walter de la Haye escheator in Ireland, 25 March, 20 Edw. I  [1292]

[MEATH.] Inq. Sunday before SS. Philip and James, 20 Edw. I.

Le Nalle. Buildings with stone walls of which the timber is of oak wholly unroofed, lands, rents &c. (extent given with names of tenants), including 120a. arable in 'le Carret feld' and mill field, 20a. in 'le Resk,' 36a. on the hill (montana), 24a. at Lochmoyan, a hill containing 17a. pasture, a pasture called 'la Roche,' and a moor for oxen, held of the king in chief by service of 20s. when royal service is proclaimed.

Ardmays. Wooden buildings thatched with straw and a stone tower worth nothing because they are in the march among the Irish and cost much for maintenance, and if they are thrown down it will be to the great damage of the whole country, lands &c. (extent given), including 87a. land at Cruys town and a township at Kenethan held by the Irish.

Ynesken. The advowson of the church.

Cruys. The advowson of the church.

Moderath. Richard Moderath holds a carucate of land by rendering 16d. when royal service is proclaimed; and ½ carucate of land in fee, rendering a pair of spurs yearly to the heirs of Thomas le Gros.

            Reginald de Sancto Bosco and Isabel his wife, mother of the said Robert, hold in dower 173a. arable, meadow, a mill, an orchard, 40d. or 400 eels issue of the lake of Robert's town (Lacy Ville Roberti), with common of the whole pasture of Ardmass and howsebot and heybote.

            And the said Robert died seised of 9l. 5s. 9 3/4d. rent of freemen at Clonachbrenan in the lordship of Sir Theobald de Verdum.

            Helen (Ellena) the wife of the said Robert has a third part of all the aforesaid lands &c. as dower.

                                                                                    C. Edw. I. File 63 (15)

Source: Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office. Volume III: Edward I. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1912, no. 48, p37. Available online in the Internet Archive.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Inquisitions post mortem - an introduction

Inquisitions post mortem (IPMs) were a distinctive feature of the feudal system and were introduced about 1236 in the reign of Henry III. An inquisition was held when someone died ‘seized of lands in capite’, that is holding lands from the Crown. They were abolished when Charles II came to the throne in 1660. An inquisition will provide details of the lands the person held but can often provide much valuable genealogical information.  Many of the early inquisitions have been abstracted and published. These collections of abstracts, known as "calendars", were previously only available in large university libraries and reference libraries but many of them, copyright permitting, have now been digitised and made available online. A full list of  the volumes of  IPMs that can be found online is maintained on the Medieval Genealogy website. I have downloaded all the available volumes for my own personal use and, time permitting, will transcribe and publish all the entries for the surnames Cruwys, Cruise, Cruys, Cruse and any other related variant spellings.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

The Cruise surname

Cruise is a very old Irish surname of Anglo-Norman origin which has been present in Ireland since the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169. The family held lands in Dublin and in County Meath. In early records the name is mostly spelt Cruys, and sometimes Cruce or Crues, but the spelling evolved to Cruise, and this is now the predominant spelling of the surname in Ireland today. Some time before 1176 Augustino de Cruce witnessed a grant by Strongbow of land in Dublin,¹ and this is the earliest reference to the surname in Ireland found to date. In about 1200 the lands of Stephen de Cruwes were confiscated by order of the king. He was subsequently allowed to regain possession of these lands on payment of fifteen marks.² There are a number of early references to the surname in the Calendars of the Patent Rolls. There was a Philip de Cruce in Dublin in 1229, and Miles de Cruys held lands in the manor of Balimaglassan in County Meath in 1279. Also in 1279 Sir Hugh de Cruys was granted "certain demesnes" in Ireland for his "good service in [the] Irish wars".³ A Robert de Cruys of Nalle, Co. Meath, died in 1292 and it was noted in his inquisition post mortem that he held "tenements at Nalle, Ardmays, Cruys, and Moderath".⁴ The castle in Naul that was once the family seat in Dublin is now sadly in ruins, but the name lives on in the townland of Cruiserath in Finglas parish, County Dublin. In County Meath the family possessed the castles and estates of Cruisetown (now known as Cruicetown), Moydorragh (possibly the Moderath cited in 1279) and Rathmore. The surname Cruise has now spread around the world and is found today in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States, but the highest density of the surname is still to be found in Ireland, particularly in County Dublin.

I have been collecting records on the Cruise surname for some time and I have now officially expanded my one-name study to include Cruise as a variant spelling. DNA evidence has already suggested that there is a link between the Cruwys family of Cruwys Morchard in Devon and the Anglo-Norman Cruises. The Devon family is well documented and the family tree can be traced back to the thirteenth century with reasonable confidence, helped by the fact that the family have been Lords of the Manor of Cruwys Morchard continuously from the 1200s to the present day. Irish records are more problematic, and none of the Irish Cruise lines that have been researched to date can be traced back much before the late 1700s, though there are many medieval records that have yet to be explored. We are hoping that genetic evidence will help to fill the gaps in the genealogical record, and will also provide clues as to the origins of the surname in France or Belgium. To this end I am hoping to recruit more Irish Cruises to my DNA project. A sponsor has generously provided funding and I am now able to offer free Y-DNA tests to any Cruise men with documentary proof that they have a Cruise ancestor on the paternal line who was born in Ireland. The offer is open on a first come first served basis but preference will be given to men living in Ireland. The offer is restricted to two free kits per lineage and no men closer than third cousins will be tested. If you are interested in taking part do get in touch. Full details of the offer can be found in a flyer which can be downloaded here.

References
1. T. Gilbert (ed.), Register of the abbey of St Thomas, Dublin (London, 1889), 370. Cited in An Archaeological and Historical Assessment of Cruicetown Church and Graveyard, Cruicetown, Co. Meath. Commissioned by the Cruicetown Cemetery Conservation Committee and carried out by the Discovery Programme’s Medieval Rural Settlement Project, issued 27 May 2005. Available from the Heritage Council. 
2. H.S. Sweetman, Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, 5 vols (London, 1875-86), i, no. 113, 17. Cited in An Archaeological and Historical Assessment of Cruicetown Church and Graveyard Cruicetown, Co. Meath. Commissioned by the Cruicetown Cemetery Conservation Committee and carried out by the Discovery Programme’s Medieval Rural Settlement Project, issued 27 May 2005. Available from the Heritage Council.
3. Knights of Edward I. Volume I: A to E. Notices collected by Rev. C. Moor, The Harleian Society, 1929, p257.

4. Knights of Edward I. op. cit.,  p257.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Family Tree DNA now accepts third party Y-DNA transfers

The following press release has been submitted by Family Tree DNA:

FAMILY TREE DNA NOW ACCEPTING THIRD PARTY RESULTS
HOUSTON TX — AUGUST 5, 2011
Family Tree DNA is pleased to announce the launch of a new feature: Y-DNA "Third Party" uploads.

This will allow for the upload of 33 and 46-marker Y-DNA test results from Ancestry, GeneTree and Sorenson's SMGF. This comes as a natural development since the necessary tools were created to import the customer database it recently acquired from DNAHeritage after that company ceased its operations.

Family Tree DNA will be charging a nominal fee of $19 to import third party results into its database. This $19 fee will be credited to customers who later order upgrades or add-ons.

For an additional $39, customers who transfer their third party results will also have additional markers tested so that they can receive matches to Family Tree DNA's 25 or 37-marker level, ancestral origins, and other features of the personal page.

The $19 fee will provide the customer with a Family Tree DNA personal page which will allow them to join Family Tree DNA projects. This means that results will be available to the administrator and included on the project's public page for comparison with other project members.

The $58 fee ($19 transfer fee + $39 for the added markers to Family Tree DNA's 25 or 37-marker level) will include the same features provided to Family Tree DNA customers in their personal pages, including matches and Haplogroup prediction.

For any additional questions, please refer to Family Tree DNA’s corresponding FAQ section under "3rd Party Transfers: Y-DNA Results".

About Family Tree DNA
Founded in April 2000, Family Tree DNA was the first company to develop the commercial application of DNA testing for genealogical purposes, something that had previously been available only for academic and scientific research. Currently, the Houston-based company is approaching 350,000 individual records – the largest DNA database in genetic genealogy, and a number that makes Family Tree DNA the prime source for anyone researching recent and distant family ties. In 2006 Family Tree DNA established a state of the art Genomics Research Center at its headquarters in Houston, Texas, where it currently performs R&D and processes over 200 advanced types of DNA tests for its customers.

Family Tree DNA summer sale

Family Tree DNA have announced their summer sale. If you have not yet had your DNA tested now would be a very good opportunity to do so! The sale prices are as follows:

• 37-marker Y-DNA test US $119 (£74) (usual price $149 (£92) )
• 67-marker Y-DNA test  US $199 (£123) (usual price $239 (£148) )
• mtDNA Full Sequence for US $219 (£135) (Regular Price would be $299 (£123) )
• Family Finder US $199 (£123) (usual price $289 (£179) )
• Family Finder + Y-DNA 37 for US $318 (£197) (usual price $438 (£271) )
• Family Finder + mtDNAPlus for US $318 (£197) (usual price $438 (£271) )
• SuperDNA for US $418 (£25) (usual price $518 (£321), includes Y-DNA67 and mtFullSequence)
• Comprehensive Genome for US $617 (£382) (usual price $797 (£494), includes Y-DNA 67, mtDNA Full Sequence and Family Finder)

In addition, existing Family Tree DNA customers may order the Family Finder test as an add-on for $199 (£123).

The sale will end on Thursday 21st July at 11:59 pm US time (CST). Kits need to be paid for by the end of the promotion.

To get the best out of your DNA test make sure that you join some of the projects at Family Tree DNA. There are now over 6,000 different surname projects. If your name is not included in a surname project you can add your results to a geographical project. I have provided a full list of the geographical projects for the British Isles here. There are also projects for many other countries. I would be particularly pleased to welcome new members to my Cruse/Cruwys surname project and my Devon DNA project!

When you get your DNA results through you can join the relevant Y-DNA and/or mtDNA haplogroup projects. The ISOGG Wiki has full listings of all the Y-DNA haplogroup projects and mtDNA haplogroup projects.

If you want to understand how the Y-DNA tests work you can read this article I wrote for the Berkshire Family Historian. For more on the Family Finder test read my blog post from April last year when the test was first introduced.

If you have any questions about DNA testing or want to know which test to order do get in touch either by leaving a comment here or by e-mailing me direct.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Screws Family Reunion

Tonya Scruse has kindly alerted me to the forthcoming Screws Family Reunion in the United States. It will take place at the Winate by Wyndham, 7500 Tylers Place Boulevard, West Chester, Ohio, from 1st to 4th July. For further details e-mail: rosetta11939 at sbcglobal.net.

Family Names in the UK project

Back in April I attended the Guild of One-Name Studies conference in Warrington, Cheshire. This is the first time I have attended a Guild conference. It was a very enjoyable weekend and gave me the opportunity to catch up with some of my friends from the Guild and to make some new friends as well. One of the highlights of the conference was the talk by Dr Patrick Hanks on the exciting new Family Names in the UK Project (FanUK) at the University of the West of England (UWE) which aims to create the largest ever database of the UK's family surnames and make the results available online. Dr Hanks is an eminent lexicographer who is best known for his work on A Dictionary of Surnames (Oxford University Press, 1988) and the three-volume Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford University Press, USA, 2003). He is now the lead researcher on the Family Names project, and is working in collaboration with Professor Richard Coates from the Bristol Centre for Linguistics at UWE. The Family Names project aims to explain the origins, history and geographical distribution of all family names in Britain that have more than one hundred current name-bearers. The database will also include stub entries for recent immigrant surnames such as Patel which is now the 32nd most common surname in Britain. In addition the project will also include surnames listed in Reaney and Wilson with between one and one hundred living name-bearers (P H Reaney and R M Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames. Routledge Hardback Edition, 1976; Oxford Paperback Reference, 2005). Dr Hanks explained that Reaney and Wilson's book was a heroic achievement for its time, but with the benefit of today's sophisticated resources it has become apparent that over 40% of their explanations are untenable. In addition, over 20,000 well-established English and Scottish surnames such as Adshead and Blair are missing entirely from Reaney and Wilson.

The project hopes to have entries on 40,000 names available online by April 2014. In addition, they have a further 150,000 names on the reserve list. A questionnaire in electronic form will be prepared for members of the Guild of One-Name Studies who will be invited to answer questions about their registered surname(s). The questionnaire will be carefully structured so that the researchers get the answers they are seeking rather than the information that Guild members might like to provide!

The project will record the names and dates of the earliest known name-bearers for each surname and an attempt will be made to link these references to modern forms. The frequency and distribution of each surname in the present day and in 1881 will also be recorded. Steve Archer's British 19th-Century Surnames Atlas is being used to map the distribution of surnames in 1881. One of the key resources to be used for early surname references is Carolyn Fenwick's 14th-century Poll Tax Returns (The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381, three volumes, Oxford University Press, 1988). This seminal work serves as a proxy census of 14th-century Britain. Fenwick published an index of place names and a glossary of occupations, but ran out of steam and no surname index was ever published, making it a time-consuming exercise to extract data on a single surname and its variants. The UWE team have applied to the British Academy for funding for a project to create a personal names index to the Poll Taxes which, if approved, will be a valuable resource for surname researchers. Carolyn Fenwick is now retired and living in Australia but she has kindly donated her database to the researchers at the UWE.

For later surname references the project will rely on a mixture of primary data sources and the IGI. The project is currently working with Family Search to standardise the place names used in the IGI. Members of the Guild have also been invited to get involved in this project and are now in the process of checking place names in each county and "quarantining" place names which cannot be found in other sources.

The Family Names Project currently has no plans to incorporate genetic data from DNA projects. However, Dr Hanks attended Chris Pomery's talk at the conference on "The Value of DNA Projects to One-Name Studies" and he was particularly interested in the way that DNA projects have uncovered genetic matches with different surname variants such as the link between the names Crews and Screws which has been found in my own project. He was also intrigued to learn that Guild member Alan Moorhouse had a DNA match with someone with the surname Morris. Dr Hanks has asked us for suggestions as to how genetic data could be incorporated in the project, and is arranging to discuss the matter further at a meeting in Bristol with Chris Pomery which I'm also hoping to attend.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

A Day Conference on Ancient Britons, Europe and Wales

A very interesting day conference is being held at the National Museum, Cardiff, on 4th June 2011. The subject of the conference is "Ancient Britons, Europe and Wales: New Research in Genetics, Archaeology, and Linguistics". The conference is sponsored by the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and The Learned Society of Wales. The conference programme is as follows:

Professor Marc Clement (Vice Chancellor, University of Wales) Welcome 9.30

Professor John T. Koch (CAWCS) Wales, the ancient Iberian Peninsula, and the end of Celtic Studies as we know it 9.40

Professor Sir Walter Bodmer (Oxford) The genetic structure of the British populations and their surnames 10.25

Tea 11.20

Dr Stuart Needham (National Museum of Wales) Cultural Connections in the Maritime World of the Bronze Age 11.45

Dr Catriona Gibson (CAWCS) ‘Verging on Atlantic’: Bronze Age entanglements along the coastal zones of Ireland, Wales and Iberia 12.30

Lunch 13.10–14.25

Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe (Oxford) The Celts: our changing vision 14.30

Professor Mark Jobling (Leicester) Power and limitations of genetics in studying (pre)history 15.15

Discussion 16.00

Close 16.45

A flyer for the conference can be seen here [Link no longer available].

The registration form can be downloaded here [Link no longer available].

Professor Sir Walter Bodmer is the lead researcher on the People of the British Isles Project, whose results are eagerly anticipated. Professor Mark Jobling is the Professor of Genetics at Leicester University and is the co-author of some of the key papers on the Y-chromosome that have been published in the last decade.

I have booked to attend the conference along with some of my fellow ISOGG members and DNA project administrators. It promises to be a very interesting day.

The following press release was received from Family Tree DNA on 19th April 2011:

FAMILY TREE DNA ACQUIRES DNAHERITAGE.COM 

With acquisition, more options for UK customers

  

Houston-based Family Tree DNA, the world leader in genetic genealogy, announced today that it has acquired the domain DNAHeritage.com, Ybase.org and its corresponding data.

            With this acquisition, UK-based DNA Heritage will cease its operations and will start referring its visitors to Family Tree DNA. 

Family Tree DNA is exploring different options to incorporate DNA Heritage customers into its database. However, regardless of which option is adopted, Family Tree DNA will not incorporate DNA Heritage customers’ results without asking them to opt-in.

Family Tree DNA has been able to cement its position at the forefront of DNA testing for ancestry and genealogy by continually advancing the science that enables genealogists around the world to expand their families’ research, and to fill the gaps between genealogy and anthropology. 

Founded in April of 2000, Family Tree DNA launched the commercial application for DNA testing which, up until then, was only available for academic and scientific research. Family Tree DNA has a state of the art Genomics Research Center at its headquarters in Houston, Texas, where it develops and processes an extensive number of genetic tests.

Family Tree DNA has 330,000 individual entries in its DNA databases, making it the largest DNA databases for genealogical purposes in the world.  They also administer over 6300 individual surname projects comprising nearly 101,000 unique surnames. 

* * * * *

For further information, please check: www.familytreedna.com/landing/dna-heritage.aspx

DNA article and Family Finder competition in Family History Monthly

The May issue of Family History Monthly is out now and contains an article by yours truly entitled "Cousins reunited" which explains how to use the latest autosomal DNA tests to find matches with your close relatives. Family Tree DNA and 23andMe are currently the only companies which offer this test. The Family Tree DNA test is known as the Family Finder. 23andMe's Relative Finder feature is a part of its personal genomics service. There was no room to include screenshots from the tests in the article but if you are interested in learning more about these new tests you might like to read the reviews I wrote for this blog last year.  My four-part review of the 23andMe service can be found here. My Family Finder review can be found here.

There is also an exciting competition in the May issue to win a free Family Finder test, worth around £180, from Family Tree DNA. Further details of the competition can be found on the Family History Monthly website.

New 111-marker test from Family Tree DNA

The following announcement has been sent to all group administrators at Family Tree DNA.

Dear Group Administrator,

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Y-DNA 111 test!

This test includes a panel of 111 Y chromosome Short Tandem Repeat (STR) markers.* With 44 additional markers, Y-DNA111 is the highest resolution Y-DNA test offered by any company in the world.

The Y-DNA 111 test is recommended for customers who already have close matches at the 67 marker level and are looking to tighten the calculation for the time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (tMRCA).** Due to the specialized nature of this test and in order to evaluate the potential benefit of this type of upgrade, we ask that customers with Y-DNA 12, 25, or 37 results upgrade to 67 markers first before considering the 111 marker test.

With that in mind, this new test is now available as an upgrade for customers with existing Y-DNA67 results and also as a standalone test for individuals looking to prove a close relationship on the direct paternal line:

Y Refine 67 to 111 (Upgrade)  $101

Y-DNA111                                 $339

View our FAQ section to learn more about this new test.

Thank you,

Family Tree DNA

*This figure is based on the typical number of allele values we see for multi-copy markers. The number of allele values we observe and report for these markers may vary.
**Please note, both test-takers must have the 111 marker test to be compared at this level.


DK Note

A full list of the Y-STR markers available from Family Tree DNA can be found in their FAQ pages here.

Major update to Y-chromosome tree

The following e-mail has been sent out to all group administrators at Family Tree DNA:

Dear Group Administrator
We are excited to announce that we have updated our Y Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree to reflect new haplogroup sub-branches!

Family Tree DNA, in partnership with the YCC  [Y chromosome consortium], periodically reviews known SNPs in order to evaluate those that meet the requirements to be added to the haplotree. The SNPs that passed this review are now included in the haplotree and considered for deep clade testing.

Along with this update to the tree, we have implemented some changes in the ordering process for deep clade and SNP testing:

• We now offer a universal deep clade test for $89. This will identify a customer’s terminal SNP for any haplogroup.
• If a customer has pending results for a deep clade test, they will automatically be tested according to the new tree.
• If a customer has never ordered a deep clade test, they will have the option either to order the universal deep clade for $89 or order individual SNPs from the tree.
• We will no longer be offering a deep clade extension product. For customers interested in upgrading to the new tree, it may be more economical to order the universal deep clade for $89 if there are 4 or more new SNPs available to them (each SNP is $29 individually). If there are less than 4 new SNPs available for a customer, they will not be offered the universal deep clade test and should order the SNPs individually from the tree since this is the most cost-effective option. Newly available SNPs are shown on the haplotree in orange.

The most noticeable change with the introduction of the new nomenclature is that the old haplogroup R1b1b2, which accounts for about 70% of the men in the British Isles, has been renamed as haplogroup R1b1a2. For those who are interested in the technical details the reason for this change is that M18, which was previously R1b1bc1, has now been found to be upstream of V88. M18 was discovered in 1997 and therefore took precedence over the two parallel clades P297 (formerly R1b1a) and M335 (formerly R1b1b).  P297 and M335 were published in a paper by Karafat et al in 2008. As M18 was discovered first it therefore takes precedence and becomes R1b1a, causing P297 and M335 to be renamed. In older versions of the R1b tree M18 did in fact appear as R1b1a prior to the discovery of V88 (formerly R1b1c) in a Cruciani paper in 2010. I hope I've understood all that correctly. It all sounds terribly complicated! In reality it is much easier to use the shorthand versions of the haplogroup names such as R1b-P297 which obviates the need to remember all those complicated letters and numbers! The ISOGG Y-SNP tree has now been updated to conform with the new nomenclature and will continue to be updated as new SNPs are discovered. The ISOGG tree can be found here.

Who do you think you are Live? 2011

I spent three very busy days at the weekend at Who do you think you are? Live, the large family history show at Olympia in London. WDYTYA always provides a good opportunity to meet up with my family history and genetic genealogy friends, and this year was no exception. This is the second year running that the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) has taken a stand at the show, and I was helping on the stand for all three days. As a society our aim is to educate people on the benefits of DNA testing as a tool for family history research. We all have first-hand experience of DNA testing. Most of us are volunteer project administrators in charge of surname, geographical or haplogroup projects. Quite a few of us are in charge of multiple projects! Many of our members have also ventured into the world of personal genomics by testing with companies such as 23andMe. We had a steady stream of visitors on all three days and by the end of the show I was feeling quite hoarse after answering so many questions!

The ISOGG stand was organised by Brian Swann our regional co-ordinator for England. We were assisted by four other members from England: Sue Curd, James Irvine, Vicki Perry and Rebecca Starr. Eight ISOGG members came over from America to help out at this year's event: Emily Aulicino, Katherine Borges, Amber Burnett, Candy Campise, Linda Magellan,  Derrell Oakley Teat, Craig Trout and Cynthia Wells. Katherine and Linda travelled here from California and Emily made the journey from Oregon. Our little group probably covered more miles than any of the other exhibitors put together! For many of them it was their second or third year at WDYTYA and it was a great pleasure to see them all again.

Family Tree DNA again took a stand at WDYTYA and sponsored the talks in the DNA workshop. This is their third year in attendance at the show, and it is now a permanent fixture in their calendar. Family Tree DNA were represented by their President and CEO Bennett Greenspan and Max Blankfeld, the Vice President who is in charge of Operations and Marketing. It was disappointing that FTDNA's Chief Scientist, Dr Michael Hammer, had to cancel at the last minute after going down with tonsillitis. He is always a most entertaining speaker, and he was much missed this year. I briefly managed to escape from the ISOGG stand to listen to Bennett Greenspan's talk on "New Frontiers for DNA and Genealogy". When the company was founded in the year 2000 it was only possible to buy a 12-marker Y-chromosome DNA test. Today surname projects routinely use 37-marker tests and many people often find it necessary to upgrade to 67 markers. Bennett Greenspan announced at the show that, in response to customer demand, FTDNA will be launching a 111-marker test at the end of March or the beginning of April this year! The 37-marker test is usually more than adequate for surname matching but the new 111-marker test will be of great value in haplogroup projects, and it will also have uses in certain scenarios within surname projects. Family Tree DNA's Walk Through the Y programme, which aims to discover branch-defining SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) in the Y-chromosome, has been a big success, and around six new SNPs are being discovered each week.

                  Bennett Greenspan and Katherine Borges on the FTDNA stand

I was very pleased to see my friend Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski again at WDYTYA. She visited the show for the first time last year, where she purchased a mitochondrial DNA test. She belongs to haplogroup ROa which is very rare. I wrote about her DNA results and her ancestry in a previous post last year. I also had a quick chat with the writer and genealogist Anthony Adolph. Anthony had his Y-DNA tested earlier this year and has since become very interested in his deep ancestry - he is a haplogroup G, one of the more uncommon haplogroups in the British Isles. I have been helping him to understand SNPs and haplogroup subclades and  I was pleased to see that he incorporated some of this new knowledge into his very interesting talk on "Joining the Dots". I have to say that I disagree with him on the benefits of using pen and paper for family trees! I struggle to draw even something basic like a stick man on paper and find it much easier to store all my research in Family Historian which also has the benefit of generating dynamic family trees which can be customised and edited as you go along.

On Saturday I was able to meet up briefly with some of my "virtual" friends from Twitter. I had a chat with Rosemary Morgan while I snatched a quick lunch. I caught up with Emma Jolly who was helping out on the Families in British India stand. I also met up with Mike Kostiuk from Family Tree Folk. Mike kindly presented me with a very nice desk calendar and a magnifying sheet, both of which will come in very handy.

A number of the members of my Devon DNA project called at the ISOGG stand to say hello. It is always good to put a name to a face. Alasdair MacDonald, the administrator of the Scottish DNA project, came to visit our stand. I was very pleased to learn from him that the University of Strathclyde is now incorporating a DNA module as an integral component of their genealogical studies courses. I chatted briefly with a number of my friends from the Guild of One-Name Studies, and had a quick lunch with my fellow Guild member and DNA enthusiast Chris Pomery on Sunday. The Guild had their best ever success at this year's show and signed up a record number of new members. I was hoping to buy a copy of the new Surname Atlas CD from the Guild but the stand was always so busy that I never got a chance. I visited the Devon Family History Society stand and had a chat with some of my fellow DFHS members. I was intrigued to discover that they were all heading off for a meeting with the LDS to discuss the digitisation of the Devon records. Devon County Council were apparently completely unaware of this initiative when they decided to cut the budget for the Devon Record Offices. There was little time to visit the other stalls but I did manage to call in at the Berkshire Family History Society's stand where I bought a copy of their new Berkshire Marriage Index CD and upgraded my copy of the Berkshire Burial Index to the new 9th edition.

                                       Alasdair MacDonald and Chris Pomery

The highlight of the show for me was the talk by Dr Turi King of the University of Leicester on "Surnames, DNA and family history". Turi is one of the pioneering researchers in the study of surnames and genetics and is the co-author of a number of interesting papers on the subject. She is the co-author, along with David Hey and George Redmonds, of a new book, Surnames, DNA and Family History, which is due out in the autumn. She is now working on the interdisciplinary Roots of the British Project with colleagues at Leicester University. A small group of  ISOGG members had the privilege of meeting up with Turi afterwards to talk with her further about her work.

This is the fourth year in a row that I have attended "Who do you think you are?" The organisers had been confidently predicting a record attendance at this year's show. Last year it was so busy on Saturday morning that at one point the organisers had to close the doors and not allow anyone else to enter the building. This year it was much quieter and the attendance was noticeably down on last year. The photo below was taken towards the end of the afternoon on the Saturday when the normally busy aisles were quite empty.

Last year the attendance was just over 14,000. It will be interesting to see the final figures for this year but I would guess that it will be around 12,000 or so over the course of the three days. The show did clash with the England versus France rugby match on Saturday, but it was probably the recession which had the biggest impact. This year's show was organised for the first time by the publishers of the BBC's Who do you think you are? magazine. The only noticeable difference this year was that the organisers introduced a fee of £2 for the show guide which included a map of the exhibition hall and listings of all the exhibitors. In previous years the guides have been given out free of charge to all attendees. The tickets are already quite expensive and understandably many people did not want to pay the extra money for the guide. Consequently a lot of people were wandering around very lost and were not able to find the stalls they wanted to visit. A number of the talks were also poorly attended, presumably because people were not aware of all the free talks that were available and were not able to plan their day accordingly. I trust that the organisers will rectify this mistake and ensure that programmes are included in the ticket price next year.

Further reading
There are a number of other bloggers who have written reports from this year's WDYTYA. The prolific writer Chris Paton has posted numerous reports, photos and videos on his Scottish Genes blog. The video interviews can also be accessed on his YouTube channel.

I have provided below a list of all the other write-ups I have been able to find, all of which are well worth reading, as they all provide different perspectives.

A report from Day 1 at WDYTYA by Dick Eastman

A report from Days 2 and 3 at WDYTYA by Dick Eastman

Show report from the Society of Genealogists

Who do you think you are? Live Coverage Round-up from MyHeritage

Video interviews from Nick Thorne the "Nosey Genealogist" - includes interviews with Anthony Adolph, Dan Jones of Ancestry.co.uk and Nigel Bayley of  TheGenealogist.co.uk.

My day at the show by Alan Stewart

A US perspective from genetic genealogist Emily Aulicino

Who do you think you are? This show could help unravel the mystery by Suzi Grogan

WDYTYA Live report from Family Tree UK

A report from the Families in British India Society

A report from Canadian John Reid from the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog

A wrap-up report from Lisa Louise Cooke from the American Family Tree Magazine

In addition, the Society of Genealogists has made the handouts from all the talks in the SOG workshops available online on their website.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Cruise article in Irish Roots magazine

The current issue of Irish Roots magazine (2010 number 4) contains an excellent article by Henry Cruise describing the genealogical resources he used to research the history of his Cruise family in Ireland. The article is the first in a three-part series and is an edited version of a project he submitted for a Diploma in Genealogy awarded by Independent Colleges in conjunction with the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland. The first part of the article focuses on Henry's grandparents, William Alexander Raleigh Cruise and Tempy Adye-Curran, who lived at a variety of addresses in Dublin and had thirteen children. William was born in 1878 in Drumhirk, County Monaghan, and was the son of Richard Joseph Cruise and Elizabeth Francesca Raleigh. The article can be seen online on the Irish Roots website by clicking on "Inside" on the cover of the magazine and scrolling through the pages. Irish Roots is only available in digital format and a subscription is required to receive the full journal. I shall look forward to reading the second article in the series in due course.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

More Bristol marriages

I have received a further batch of Bristol marriage certificates from Guild member Derek Allen. These certificates are for Cruse marriages found in the recent Bristol marriage challenge. Derek previously sent me all the relevant marriages for the Cruwys surname in the Bristol registration district, and I have provided details in a previous blog post. I have so far not been able to place any of these marriages in existing trees, though I have identified a couple of possibilities for two of the marriages. Outline details are given below. If anyone would like further information on any of these marriages do get in touch.

- 1883 St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol: Susan Cruse, daughter of Francis Cruse, gardener, and William Davey, widower and grocer, son of Joseph Davey, farmer.

  

- 1838 St James, Bristol: Elizabeth Cruse, servant, daughter of Richard Cruse, labourer, and Benjamin Sheppard, labourer, son of Uriah Sheppard, labourer.

- 1844 St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol: Mary Ann Cruse, daughter of Richard Cruse, farmer, and John Jeams, confectioner, son of George Jeams, baker.

- 1849 St Nicholas, Bristol: John Cruse, labourer, son of Richard Cruse, labourer, and Harriet Hunt, daughter of William Hunt, labourer.

- 1865 St James, Bristol: Thomas Cruse, labourer, son of Isaac Cruse, labourer, and Elizabeth Webley, widow, daughter of James Fowler, hatter.

- 1874 St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol: Emily Rachel Cruse, daughter of Samuel Cruse, tailor, and Thomas Bradford, shorthand writer, son of James Bradford, builder.

- 1883 St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol: Susan Cruse, daughter of Francis Cruse, gardener, and William Davey, widower and grocer, son of Joseph Davey, farmer.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Sir John Cruys vicar of Branscombe 1463

Guild member Alan Moorhouse has very kindly sent me a photograph he took of a plaque inside St Winifred's Church in Branscombe, Devon, which lists the names of the vicars from the 1200s through to 1972. Included on the plaque is the name of Sir John Cruys who was vicar of Branscombe in 1463. Branscombe is on the south coast of Devon and some distance from the Cruwys heartland in Cruwys Morchard near Tiverton in the north of the county. This is the first reference to the surname I have seen from this parish. Does anyone else have any further information?

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Latest marriage challenges

I have had a number of faux marriage certificates arrive in the last few weeks from various Guild Marriage Challenges. I have provided outline details below. If a marriage has been allocated to a tree the name of the tree is provided in brackets. If you are interested in receiving a copy of any of the certificates listed below do get in touch. The details have been extracted from the parish registers held at the appropriate local record office. Thank you to Caryl Gill for the Neath marriage certificate, Des Gander and team for the Barnstaple certificates, and Steve Whitaker for the details of the marriage in the Wellington (Shropshire), Registration District.

Barnstaple Marriage Challenge
- 1876 St Mary Magdalene, Barnstaple: Charles Crouse, mariner (father’s name left blank) and Ellen Lake, widow, daughter of James Darke, lacetwister.

- 1882 Parish Church, Landkey: Edwin Cruwys, grocer, son of William Cruwys, farmer, and Sally Cawsey Webber, daughter of George Webber, retired farmer (Mariansleigh tree).

- 1902 Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Barnstaple: Bessie Cruwys, daughter of Thomas Cruwys, shoemaker, and John Warren Kemp, warder, son of John Warren Kemp, master mariner.

- 1905 Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Barnstaple: Kezia Cruwys, widow, daughter of Daniel Pearce, farmer, and Percy Humphreys Davy, passenger guard, son of William Davy, inspector of railways (Mariansleigh tree).

Neath Marriage Challenge
- 1886 St Clement Church, Briton Ferry: John Crews, grocer, son of John Crews, deceased, and Sarah Annetts, daughter of Henry Annetts, railway guard.

Wellington (Shropshire) Marriage Challenge 1853-1881
- 1859 All Saints Church, Wellington: Jane Cruwys, daughter of William Cruwys, dyer, and James Bishop Richards, printer, son of John Richards, sailor (Shrewsbury tree).

© Debbie Kennett 2011

My new book on DNA testing and social networking

As you will probably have noticed, I have not had much time to write for this blog in recent months. The reason for the silence is that I have been very busy working on my first ever book which, perhaps not unexpectedly, took far longer to write than I had anticipated. I was commissioned to write the book by The History Press. It is part of a new family history series, and I am contributing a volume on the subject of DNA testing and social networking for the family historian. I am very grateful to The History Press for giving me this opportunity and to Penny Law of Family History Monthly, who recommended me to the publishers on the strength of the articles I have contributed to the magazine. The book is due out on 1st October 2011, and is now listed on Amazon. The manuscript is now with the publishers. DNA and social networking have both been somewhat challenging subjects to write about, especially as there are so many new developments to keep up with. I will no doubt have to make changes when I eventually receive the proofs, and there will inevitably be some aspects of the book that will be out of date by the time it is published, though the general principles will still hold. I hope to have more news in due course.

© Debbie Kennett 2011