These are all from the LDS Film for St. Nicholas (St. Bees) #90658 for Whitehaven......I just put them in date order. Btw......was the Whitehaven area populated entirely by Mossops and Dickinsons??? (grin). Jill and Chris most definitely have to be related!! 1833.... Burial of William MOSSOP, of Egremont, 21 Aug. 1833, 32 years old. 1834........ Marriage of Henry MOSSOP, bachelor, and Mary DICKINSON, spinster, both of this parish, by Licence, 5 July 1834. Witnesses: Clement MOSSOP and William HODGSON. Baptism - Clement MOSSOP, son of Clement & Martha MOSSOP, of Rottington, farmer, 28 Sept. 1834 Baptism - Mary MOSSOP, daughter of Henry & Jane MOSSOP, Sandwith, husbandman, 23 Nov. 1834 Baptism - Thomas TUBMAN, son of Richard & Susanne TUBMAN, Croft Pit, joiner, 21 Dec. 1834 Marriage - Isaac TUBMAN and Jane WATSON, bachelor and spinster, by Banns, 30 Nov. 1834 Witnesses: William STAMPER and Georgina DOUGLAS. Marriage of William LANGCAKE of Harrington and Mary BOADLE, 1 Dec. 1834 Burial of Jane MOSSOP of Preston Hows, 31 Jan. 1834, 55 years old. Burial of William DICKENSON of Bank End, 17 Feb. 1834, 58 years. 1835....... Baptism - Isabella MOSSOP, daughter of Isaac & Isabella MOSSOP, Preston Hows.....Isaac was a husbandman. Baptism - Isaac DICKINSON, son of David & Sarah DICKINSON, St. Bees......father was a labourer. Baptism - Isaac, (base born), son of James MARSHALL and Jane MOSSOP, Coulderton, shoemaker and spinster respectively. Not 100% sure if surname was given as I didn't write one down for the child. I can check if anyone wants. If this was Jamaica, it would have been the father's name.......whether he acknowledged the child or not. I am assuming that in England, if the father attends the baptism, then the child would probably carry his surname (definitely the method in Jamaica). Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Heck, it was the last one, and I may have missed the surname if it indeed was written down. Mea culpa. Cheers......from a lovely plus 2 degrees in Brampton, Ontario. Heather

Heather Figueroa wrotes: <snip> >Btw......was the Whitehaven area populated entirely by Mossops >and Dickinsons??? (grin). Jill and Chris most definitely have >to be related!! <snip> Thanks for all the nuggets, Heather! The surname 'Dickinson', like lots of common Cumbrian names, is a patronymic (son of Dick) - so there's no reason to suppose that one geographic cluster of Dickinsons is related to any other. There were certainly Dickinsons in St Bees by the early seventeenth century, but only some of those you've found in the later St Bees/Whitehaven registers would come from them - Whitehaven will have drawn in many other fortune hunters over the centuries. Just to illustrate quite how difficult it can be to untangle such a common name, I'll say a little bit about my cluster. My first definite recorded Dickinson ancestor was John Dickinson of Streetgate in Lamplugh, buried in 1581. But he's not the only Dickinson family head. Two farms away at Woodend in Lamplugh there was another Dickinson family. Just next to them in Arlecdon there were separate families at Kidburngill and at Kirklandhow. A little to the east in Lamplugh there were another two families (at High Trees and Fell Dyke). This tight cluster (no Dickinsons this early across the border in Dean) probably suggests that they had a common paternal ancestry - but that's just speculation! Then there were Dickinsons in Millom, in Crosthwaite, etc., etc.. Trouble is - these were all yeoman families, all bred like rabbits (except the Quaker ones, that is), and they tended to buy farms and settle in other areas; and go up and down in social status over the generations. So, for instance, the Quaker Dickinsons at Fell Dyke established a branch in Allonby. A number of my family settled in Whitehaven and in Dublin between 1650 and 1750. Anyway (as they use Richard, Daniel, William, Elizabeth, James and Thomas with monotonous regularity) it's very difficult to separate one family grouping from another. And Lamplugh Dickinsons (not my lot, I hasten to say!) even managed to get to America via Ireland and become the forebears of President Richard Nixon. Yes, tricky Dicky. I can only say that trying to unravel Jacksons is even worse! Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net

Hi Chris..... You all are most welcome. As I have 'dead-ended' for the time being in Jamaica and Cumberland, I enjoy finding stuff for others (no.....I am not taking on clients, thank you.....grin). I am busy helping one List Member now doing a most intricate and enjoyable search in the 1700's in Jamaica. Those parish registers are fascinating. But thanks for the explanation on Dickin-son. It is almost as bad as my John Bowness. Except that I think my 'mysterious John' must have been from Westmorland and particularly around Orton.......about every 10th person is a Bowness there. And the first born is always John!! 8-((( Your story of them living in clusters is rather like the first two Bowness brothers who came out in 1820 to what is now Prince Edward Island in Canada (our smallest province). As it was a small island (about the size of Cumberland, I guess)......they stayed close to each other (farming) and married into the same families.......thank goodness Dad sorted that all out as he grew up there. But I understand how frustrating it must be for you too. In Jamaica as well, parents quite often gave 'some or ALL' of their children the mother's maiden name as a middle name.......which is a real bonus. I quickly found 6 children today that are definitely all of one family because of this. The last name was not common, but the Rector was an atrocious speller and this was a BT film from the mid 1600's and written in 1755. The Jamaican woman I work with (and myself) had a devil of a time with some of the notes in the margins as well. Oddball things. I half expected to find a grocery list next (G). Oops.....sorry for the ramble, but my head is still back in the 1700's. One distinct advantage with the C of E records there......make that 2 advantages...... 1. Every parish (county/township) has an alphabetical Index film (oh joy!!)...and then several films covering the registrations for the parishes. 2. Illegitimate children always seemed to be given the father's surname. But they never wrote down the father's name unless he acknowledged the child as I said in an earlier post. Cheers.....Heather > Thanks for all the nuggets, Heather! > > The surname 'Dickinson', like lots of common Cumbrian names, is a > patronymic (son of Dick) - so there's no reason to suppose that > one geographic cluster of Dickinsons is related to any other. > > There were certainly Dickinsons in St Bees by the early > seventeenth century, but only some of those you've found in the > later St Bees/Whitehaven registers would come from them - > Whitehaven will have drawn in many other fortune hunters over the > centuries. >