You're welcome, Jim. I agree that continental Europe can be the very devil, probably because of the large number of wars that have raged over it during many centuries. I come originally from South Africa where things are reasonably easy, mainly because of the peculiar Roman-Dutch system of Common Law, under which meticulous records were kept of every deceased estate's administration from the founding document, called a Death Notice (and not to be confused with a Death Certificate which is given by the attending medical practitioner as proof of death for the BMD registration authorities), to the final distribution of the estate to its creditors and beneficiaries. I worked in that system for a couple of years around 1960, and at that time the floor-limit for the requirement to lodge a death notice was a mere 200 pounds (approximately on a par with the UK pound in those days); it is a great deal more now, and in those days it did not apply to indigenous (black) Africans, whereas of course it does now, which, together with the enormous inflation since then, accounts for the much higher floor of today. (The Roman-Dutch law was superseded in the Netherlands by the Code Napoleon, and only survives today in South Africa, Zimbabwe (civil law only -- what criminal law they have had since independence is based on English common law and on statute) and Sri Lanka. The former Dutch Guiana was held long enough to get the Code Napoleon and I think it still applies. My own maternal grandmother's family (who was Afrikaans) has been traced back to a certain German, name of Haarhoff, who joined the Dutch East India Company at its branch office in Texel and ended up in 1819 at the Cape as a "knecht" (a small cut above a bondsman) in the service of a widow called le Febre (presumably her name is of Huguenot origin, which was quite common at the Cape in the period following the resumption of the persecution of protestants in France). He seems to have been a real scamp, and finished up running through her considerable fortune, after a rocky start with her when what amounted to a breach of promise case was brought against him in the Company's courts by a young girl of 16; he survived his wife and died destitute some time in the mid-19th century. By way of redemption of the name, my mother's first cousin was Professor T J Haarhoff of the University of the Witwatersrand (in Johannesburg), a most illustrious academic with doctorates from one Dutch and one German university; he was Professor of Classics, and died in the 1970s. Despite the aforementioned wars etc., I was delighted to find, in Nuremberg, a delightful little cafe called "Zum Guldene Stern" ("At the sign of the Golden Star") which was established in 1413 and has never closed its doors since except on Christmas Day each year, right through all those wars and insurrections and reshaping of empires. But genealogy is another matter, despite the German passion for keeping records of absolutely everything -- much has been destroyed in successive wars. And, I found when I was in Dublin, the same goes for Ireland, for the same reason. Very frustrating! On 22 Jul 2013, at 6:47 AM, Jim Stallard wrote: > Thanks Andrew, I had researched the name in Europe earlier, but quite > frankly it was overwhelmingly difficult and I gave up! > > I think the only recourse is to visit the Dorset archives sometime > next > year when I'm back in the UK and hope that a lead turns up. > > I really appreciate everyone's replies. > > Jim > > > On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 1:33 AM, Andrew Rodger > <rodgera@audioio.com> wrote: > >> On 19 Jul 2013, at 10:20 PM, Jim Stallard wrote: >> >>> Hi Everyone, >>> >>> This is a bit of a long shot but how is the name Luckey pronounced >>> down in >>> Cornwall? >>> >>> Is it Lucky, Loo-key, Luke-kays...? >>> >>> I'm looking for a Christian Luckaes, married 22nd February 1821 in >>> Sixpenny >>> Handley Dorset. >>> >>> Lucas/Luckas was a common name around there and yet the Rector >>> crossed out >>> Luckas and rewrote Luckaes - as neither the bride or groom could >>> write I >>> very much doubt they knew how to spell or whether the Rector was >>> spelling >>> the name correctly: I'm just wondering if he was trying to get a >>> close >>> phonetic spelling?? >>> >>> Thanks >>> >>> Jim >> >> An even longer shot, perhaps: but any chance it could be a Dutch >> name? In Dutch, and particularly in Flemish Dutch, the long A is >> often spelt AE; however, for this to be the case, the C would almost >> certainly be incorrect. Also in Dutch, the name equivalent to >> English LUKE is LUKAS, i.e. a short A, not a long one; and in Dutch, >> the single letter A is not pronounced as in CLAP, but as in the >> German MAN, with the AA or its AE variant being the same sound but >> longer. But if the bridegroom was illiterate and the Recto ignorant >> of Germanic languages, there might have been nobody present to give a >> correct pronunciation. Dutchmen would not be specially rare in areas >> near the sea, but my trusty old Michelin tourist map of the UK >> doesn't go small enough to show the place in question, or any near >> variant in the West Country. >> >> Andrew Rodger >> rodgera@audioio.com >> >> ------------------------------- >> Subscribe to digest by sending an email to CORNISH-D- >> request@rootsweb.comwith the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line >> and body text. If you want, >> MIME digests, email CORNISH-admin@rootsweb.com. >> >> Unsubscribe from either by sending an email to >> CORNISH-request@rootsweb.com. >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> CORNISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > ------------------------------- > Subscribe to digest by sending an email to CORNISH-D- > request@rootsweb.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line > and body text. If you want, MIME digests, email CORNISH- > admin@rootsweb.com. > > Unsubscribe from either by sending an email to CORNISH- > request@rootsweb.com. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CORNISH- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > Andrew Rodger rodgera@audioio.com