I am very grateful to David Cruse who has very kindly shared with me some of the files and databases which he has compiled and collected over the course of the last 30 years. Thanks to David's hard work I now have a database of all the Cruse references from the General Register Office indexes for births from 1837 to 1900, marriages from 1837 to 1940 and deaths from 1837 to 1930. The GRO indexes cover births, marriages and deaths for both England and Wales. These indexes are the backbone of a one-name study and are a very important resource. It is hoped that in the long term it will be possible to complete the extraction of Cruse entries from the GRO indexes right through to the present day. David has also sent me a substantial collection of transcriptions from parish registers and other sources for the Cruse surname. The largest collection is from the county of Berkshire, but there are also a sizeable number of transcriptions from Wiltshire, Berkshire, Somerset and London. He has also sent me photocopies of all the certificates he has acquired over the years in his research. I am now in the process of collating all the data and updating my files.
Although the one-name study originally focused specifically on the surname Cruwys I found that as my research progressed I was becoming increasingly involved in work on various Cruse lines, and I have now registered Cruse as a variant spelling with the Guild of One-Name Studies. Cruse was the more usual spelling prior to the introduction of civil registration. Some families – generally those with their roots in Devon – changed the spelling of their name to Cruwys, whereas in other lines the Cruse spelling became standardised. Some Cruse families have always believed that they were related in some way to the Cruwys Morchard family, but so far we have not yet had a single Cruwys/Cruse match in the DNA project. Indeed, the early results suggest that Cruse is a multiple-origin surname as none of the lines tested are related.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Another exciting DNA result
We now have another exciting result from the DNA project with a Cruwys in England and a Cruwys in America matching on 36 out of 37 markers. Based on this result, the Family Tree DNA calculator indicates that both these men have an 88.06% probability of sharing a common ancestor within eight generations. This fits in perfectly with the paper trail which indicates that both men are descended from William Cruwys and Margaret Eastmond who married in 1814 in the small village of Rose Ash in North Devon. William and Margaret had eight children, two of whom died in childhood. The English tester is descended from the youngest surviving son, Thomas Cruwys, who was baptised on 19th June 1831 in Burrington, Devon. Thomas was a tailor. He moved to Bristol where he married Anne Wall in 1860. The American tester is descended from William Cruwys and Sarah Burrows who married on 21st November 1848 in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The Canadian tree is now very well documented and accounts for nearly every single person in America and Canada with the surname Cruwys. We believe that the William who emigrated to PEI is the third son of William Cruwys and Margaret Eastmond, who was baptised on 21st January 1821 in Burrington. William junior makes his last appearance in the British records in the 1841 census when, at the age of 20, he was a male servant living in Chulmleigh, Devon. His mother Margaret and brother John were living in the same village. No trace of William can be found in any of the subsequent British censuses and there is no matching death registration in the General Register Office indexes.
Canadian research is particularly difficult because the civil registration system in PEI did not commence until 1906, and there are very few surviving passenger records. William's departure from England and his arrival in Canada are therefore not documented. His earliest appearance in the Canadian records is in 1848 with his marriage to Sarah Burrows. I have a copy of the marriage certificate from the PEI Archives but, unfortunately, unlike a British marriage record from this date, the certificate does not provide the fathers' names. There are however a number of clues which link William with Burrington, the first of which is the use of the distinctive name Augustus, which is used exclusively by the Burrington Cruwys family and was the name chosen by William and Sarah for one of their sons. William died on 19th October 1873 in Kingston, Queens, PEI. His age at death was said to be 52 years, which matches perfectly with the presumed 1821 baptism in Burrington. I have transcribed his will and published it online on Genuki. The Canadian records provide no clues as to the origins of Sarah Cruwys née Burrows. The censuses merely indicate that she was of English origin. It is however surely no coincidence that a Sarah Burrows was baptised on 3rd June 1822 in Burrington. It therefore seems highly likely that William and Sarah were childhood friends and it is quite possible that they sailed to PEI together on the same ship.
Canadian research is particularly difficult because the civil registration system in PEI did not commence until 1906, and there are very few surviving passenger records. William's departure from England and his arrival in Canada are therefore not documented. His earliest appearance in the Canadian records is in 1848 with his marriage to Sarah Burrows. I have a copy of the marriage certificate from the PEI Archives but, unfortunately, unlike a British marriage record from this date, the certificate does not provide the fathers' names. There are however a number of clues which link William with Burrington, the first of which is the use of the distinctive name Augustus, which is used exclusively by the Burrington Cruwys family and was the name chosen by William and Sarah for one of their sons. William died on 19th October 1873 in Kingston, Queens, PEI. His age at death was said to be 52 years, which matches perfectly with the presumed 1821 baptism in Burrington. I have transcribed his will and published it online on Genuki. The Canadian records provide no clues as to the origins of Sarah Cruwys née Burrows. The censuses merely indicate that she was of English origin. It is however surely no coincidence that a Sarah Burrows was baptised on 3rd June 1822 in Burrington. It therefore seems highly likely that William and Sarah were childhood friends and it is quite possible that they sailed to PEI together on the same ship.
Thursday, 28 February 2008
The first DNA success story
The DNA project is going better than I ever expected. Although it has only been running for around five months I already have nineteen participants – most projects are considered to be doing well if they manage to attract one participant a month! I am very grateful to everyone who has agreed to take part and in particular I would like to thank Pieter Cruse who has made a very generous donation which has been used to pay for three test kits.
The first big success story from the project is that it has been possible to validate the paper research and identify the genetic signature of the key Cruwys Morchard line from Devon. The male line at Cruwys Morchard died out in 1804 with the death of Henry Shortrudge Cruwys, the then Lord of the Manor. He was succeeded by his daughter, Harriet, who had married George Sharland in 1794. Their son George Sharland succeeded to the Cruwys Morchard estate and in 1831 changed his name to Cruwys by royal licence, and was thenceforth known as George Sharland Cruwys. Because the Y-DNA used for genealogical testing is passed directly from father to son, a Y-DNA test on a descendant from this line would therefore give us the genetic signature of the Sharlands, and would tell us nothing about the Cruwys Y-DNA.
Fortunately however it has been possible to identify other likely descendants of the Cruwys Morchard line. One person who is descended from the Winkleigh Cruwys line has now taken the test along with another tester who is descended from the Cornish Crewes line. These two men are believed to share a common ancestor in John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard, who was born about 1449. John was the son of Sir Thomas Cruwys, who died at, or shortly after, the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, leaving his then 22-year-old son as his heir. The Winkleigh line is thought to be descended from Thomas Cruwys, the great-grandson of John Cruwys and his first wife Elizabeth Whitley. Thomas was the second son of John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard and Anne Keynes of Winkleigh. He was buried in Winkleigh in 1596. The Cornish Crewes line has been meticulously researched by Tom Johns, now sadly deceased. His research was published in 2001 in a booklet entitled "Crewes of South Cornwall, and their ancestors in Liskeard, Cornwall and Cruwys Morchard, Devon". Tom has been able to prove through wills, inquisitions post mortem, parish registers and other documents that the Cornish Crewes line are descended from Anthony Cruwys/Crewes the son of John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard by his second marriage to Mary Fraunceys. Anthony moved from Cruwys Morchard to Liskeard in Cornwall where he married Joanna Bealbury, the eldest daughter of a wealthy merchant, John Bealbury. The Cornish line have their own coat of arms and have consistently used the Crewes spelling.
By getting a descendant from each of these two lines to take the Y-DNA test it was hoped that the two results would be sufficiently close to prove that the two men do indeed share a common male ancestor. Needless to say, not everything went according to plan. When the 12-marker results for the Cornish Crewes tester came through in mid January, there was only a match on 10 of the 12 markers. In addition there was a two-step difference on one of the markers, giving a genetic difference of three. According to the Family Tree DNA calculator, based on these results, there was only an 18.14% probability that the two men shared a common ancestor within the last sixteen generations. The results were not at all promising and I had convinced myself to expect the worst when the 25- and 37-marker results came through. We then had an agonisingly long wait as the lab was unable to get definitive results and had to re-run the test three times before the result was finally made available this week. The 25- and 37-marker results both came through on the same day and to my astonishment the two testers matched on every single one of the remaining markers. The 10/12 match had been transformed into a 35/37 match. The FTDNA calculator now predicted that the probability of the two men sharing a common ancestor within the last 16 generations was 97.49%! Finally I had the result that I wanted but hadn't dared to expect.
I have since learnt that this apparent 10/12 mismatch is what is known as a false negative. It demonstrates the importance of testing the maximum number of markers. Other project administrators have reported similar cases, and a good example can be found in the Kerchner surname project.
The other DNA results can be seen on the project website. It has now been possible to allocate people into specific genetic groups based on their DNA results, though it is too early to draw too many conclusions at this stage. A number of results are still awaited, and some kits have only just been sent out in the post. There are some potentially interesting tests in the pipeline and I hope to be able to report on some more exciting results in the near future.
The first big success story from the project is that it has been possible to validate the paper research and identify the genetic signature of the key Cruwys Morchard line from Devon. The male line at Cruwys Morchard died out in 1804 with the death of Henry Shortrudge Cruwys, the then Lord of the Manor. He was succeeded by his daughter, Harriet, who had married George Sharland in 1794. Their son George Sharland succeeded to the Cruwys Morchard estate and in 1831 changed his name to Cruwys by royal licence, and was thenceforth known as George Sharland Cruwys. Because the Y-DNA used for genealogical testing is passed directly from father to son, a Y-DNA test on a descendant from this line would therefore give us the genetic signature of the Sharlands, and would tell us nothing about the Cruwys Y-DNA.
Fortunately however it has been possible to identify other likely descendants of the Cruwys Morchard line. One person who is descended from the Winkleigh Cruwys line has now taken the test along with another tester who is descended from the Cornish Crewes line. These two men are believed to share a common ancestor in John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard, who was born about 1449. John was the son of Sir Thomas Cruwys, who died at, or shortly after, the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, leaving his then 22-year-old son as his heir. The Winkleigh line is thought to be descended from Thomas Cruwys, the great-grandson of John Cruwys and his first wife Elizabeth Whitley. Thomas was the second son of John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard and Anne Keynes of Winkleigh. He was buried in Winkleigh in 1596. The Cornish Crewes line has been meticulously researched by Tom Johns, now sadly deceased. His research was published in 2001 in a booklet entitled "Crewes of South Cornwall, and their ancestors in Liskeard, Cornwall and Cruwys Morchard, Devon". Tom has been able to prove through wills, inquisitions post mortem, parish registers and other documents that the Cornish Crewes line are descended from Anthony Cruwys/Crewes the son of John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard by his second marriage to Mary Fraunceys. Anthony moved from Cruwys Morchard to Liskeard in Cornwall where he married Joanna Bealbury, the eldest daughter of a wealthy merchant, John Bealbury. The Cornish line have their own coat of arms and have consistently used the Crewes spelling.
By getting a descendant from each of these two lines to take the Y-DNA test it was hoped that the two results would be sufficiently close to prove that the two men do indeed share a common male ancestor. Needless to say, not everything went according to plan. When the 12-marker results for the Cornish Crewes tester came through in mid January, there was only a match on 10 of the 12 markers. In addition there was a two-step difference on one of the markers, giving a genetic difference of three. According to the Family Tree DNA calculator, based on these results, there was only an 18.14% probability that the two men shared a common ancestor within the last sixteen generations. The results were not at all promising and I had convinced myself to expect the worst when the 25- and 37-marker results came through. We then had an agonisingly long wait as the lab was unable to get definitive results and had to re-run the test three times before the result was finally made available this week. The 25- and 37-marker results both came through on the same day and to my astonishment the two testers matched on every single one of the remaining markers. The 10/12 match had been transformed into a 35/37 match. The FTDNA calculator now predicted that the probability of the two men sharing a common ancestor within the last 16 generations was 97.49%! Finally I had the result that I wanted but hadn't dared to expect.
I have since learnt that this apparent 10/12 mismatch is what is known as a false negative. It demonstrates the importance of testing the maximum number of markers. Other project administrators have reported similar cases, and a good example can be found in the Kerchner surname project.
The other DNA results can be seen on the project website. It has now been possible to allocate people into specific genetic groups based on their DNA results, though it is too early to draw too many conclusions at this stage. A number of results are still awaited, and some kits have only just been sent out in the post. There are some potentially interesting tests in the pipeline and I hope to be able to report on some more exciting results in the near future.
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
William Cruwys and Mary Jane Wonson
An enquiry from Mark Wonson has prompted some research into a previously unknown Cruwys line which has its roots in Brushford, Somerset. Mark has kindly sent me a copy of the marriage certificate of Mary Ann Wonson and William Cruwys, who married in 1856 in Bradninch, Devon. Mary appears as Mary Ann on her marriage certificate but in all other records her name is given as Mary Jane. She was the daughter of William Wonson, a farmer, and Elizabeth Broom. Mary Jane's husband William was one of three children born to William Cruwys, a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Webber. William senior was born in 1793 in Brushford, Somerset, the son of John Cruwys and Margery Holcomb. John unfortunately died before the 1841 census and his place of birth is not known so it is not presently possible to take this line back any further.
William Cruwys and Mary Jane Wonson had four known children, all of whom were born in Wolborough, Devon (now known as Newton Abbott): William Henry, born in 1856, John Albert, born in 1858, Elizabeth born in 1859, and Lawrence born in 1861. They possibly had a fifth child, Mary Ann Cruwys, born in 1865. I have not been able to find any record of William Henry after the 1871 census. John Albert Cruwys moved to Bromley in Kent where he married Elizabeth Ann Bradford in 1886. He worked as a groom/coachman and later became a refreshment caterer. Elizabeth died in 1866 age 6. Lawrence moved to London and married Sarah Louisa Hicks in 1899 in Camberwell. Before his marriage Lawrence worked as a butler to William Walrond, baronet, of Bradfield House in Uffculme. Lawrence appears to have moved to London shortly afterwards to join the civil service. He qualified as a messenger to the Metropolitan Police Courts Service on 6th November 1896. By the 1901 census he was working as a police court usher.
William Cruwys and Mary Jane Wonson had four known children, all of whom were born in Wolborough, Devon (now known as Newton Abbott): William Henry, born in 1856, John Albert, born in 1858, Elizabeth born in 1859, and Lawrence born in 1861. They possibly had a fifth child, Mary Ann Cruwys, born in 1865. I have not been able to find any record of William Henry after the 1871 census. John Albert Cruwys moved to Bromley in Kent where he married Elizabeth Ann Bradford in 1886. He worked as a groom/coachman and later became a refreshment caterer. Elizabeth died in 1866 age 6. Lawrence moved to London and married Sarah Louisa Hicks in 1899 in Camberwell. Before his marriage Lawrence worked as a butler to William Walrond, baronet, of Bradfield House in Uffculme. Lawrence appears to have moved to London shortly afterwards to join the civil service. He qualified as a messenger to the Metropolitan Police Courts Service on 6th November 1896. By the 1901 census he was working as a police court usher.
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