>From Public Advertiser ( London, England ), Tuesday, February 26, 1765; Issue 9461. COUNTRY NEWS. Bristol, Feb. 23. One Night last Week the following Accident happened at Bruton, in the County of Somerset, - Mr. BAREFOOT , an eminent Chandler and Soap-boiler, returning Home from an Inn in that Town, accidentally fell into the River and was drowned: He was found the next Morning standing on his Feet in the Water, with his Hat and Wig on ( the Water being up to his Breast ) and holding the Rushes on Shore with both his Hands. He had upwards of Ten Guineas in his Pocket, and a Watch. He went from the Inn at 11 o'Clock, and his Watch stood at just a Quarter after Eleven.

At the March FreeCEN update the following Somerset pieces were added to the database: 1861 Somerset RG9/1606 Dulverton Parishes of Brompton Regis, Brushford, Dulverton, Exford, Exton 1861 Somerset RG9/1676 Blagdon Parishes of Charterhouse Mendip, Blagdon, Burrington, Churchill, Puxton, Congresbury, Wrington, Butcombe 1861 Somerset RG9/1698 Bitton Parishes of Kelston, Northstoke, Bitton, Siston 1861 Somerset RG9/1705 Bedminster Parish of Bedminster (Note: Bedminster is split over four pieces, of which 3 are now available through FreeCEN) 325,621 records or over 70% of the census for 1861 is now available to search for free on FreeCEN. To see our current progress, or to volunteer to assist, please go to our website at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~somtcen/ Regards Geoff Jarvis FreeCEN Coordinator Somerset (1841 - 1871)

I read someplace that wills of individuals who owned property in more than one diocese often were proved in London. Also mentioned that persons of considerable means had their wills proved in London. I have been very fortunate in finding a dozen plus wills of my ancestors from Devon and Somerset that were proved in London. It has greatly improved my interpretation of family history. Those proved in the west country may have been destroyed in the bombing of Exeter in 1942. A visit to the UK archives on the web will reveal which are available for download. -- John C. Stone II Vermont, USA [email protected]

Hello List With regard to Wills or more precisely Probate there is one very important date and that is 12 Jan 1858. Before this date Probate was granted by Ecclesiastical Courts (see the message from Mary below) but after this date Probate was granted by the Principal Probate Registry in London or one of the District Probate Registries scattered throughout England and Wales (Scotland is different). The 1858 date refers to the Granting of Probate and this can be many years after the date of death - I have one in my family which was twenty five years after the death. Mike Shropshire, UK _________________________________________________- On 16/03/2011 07:31, Mary Littlejohn wrote: > Jenny, > > I found this on the UK National Archives page. Maybe it will shed some > light on the subject for you: > > > There were three main factors determining in which court a will would be > proved: > > - Where the person died > - The value of the goods > - How these goods were distributed geographically > > If the property was... The will was proved in the... Within one > archdeaconry Archdeacon's court In more than one archdeaconry but all in the > same diocese<https://mail.google.com/documentsonline/help/glossary.asp#D> > Bishop's > court (Consistory/Commissary > court)<https://mail.google.com/documentsonline/help/glossary.asp#C> In > more than one diocese Archbishop's prerogative court If the goods were > valued at more than £5 (or £10 within London), in more than one > diocese Archbishop's > prerogative court > Of course, there were exceptions to these general rules: During the > Interregnum<https://mail.google.com/documentsonline/help/glossary.asp#I>all > church courts were suspended, so all wills in England and Wales were > dealt with in the Court for Proving of Wills and the Granting of > Administrations, which sat in London in place of the PCC. After this these > records were merged with those of the PCC, so the PCC holds all probate > records for this period. If a will bequeathed goods to the value of £5 (£10 > in London) which were dispersed in the north of England, and the south of > England or Wales then the will was proved in both Archbishops' courts - > first York, then Canterbury If a property-owner in England or Wales died > overseas, such as sailors or soldiers, then their will was proved in the > Prerogative Court of Canterbury regardless of where their property was held > > Mary > >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

Peter Forrester, an author, is looking for help in connection with various air crashes that either occurred in Somerset or had Somerset links and would appreciate some assistance with some of them. Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-12749704 There is a link for contacting Peter at the end of the story. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/

Jenny, I found this on the UK National Archives page. Maybe it will shed some light on the subject for you: There were three main factors determining in which court a will would be proved: - Where the person died - The value of the goods - How these goods were distributed geographically If the property was... The will was proved in the... Within one archdeaconry Archdeacon's court In more than one archdeaconry but all in the same diocese <https://mail.google.com/documentsonline/help/glossary.asp#D> Bishop's court (Consistory/Commissary court)<https://mail.google.com/documentsonline/help/glossary.asp#C> In more than one diocese Archbishop's prerogative court If the goods were valued at more than £5 (or £10 within London), in more than one diocese Archbishop's prerogative court Of course, there were exceptions to these general rules: During the Interregnum <https://mail.google.com/documentsonline/help/glossary.asp#I>all church courts were suspended, so all wills in England and Wales were dealt with in the Court for Proving of Wills and the Granting of Administrations, which sat in London in place of the PCC. After this these records were merged with those of the PCC, so the PCC holds all probate records for this period. If a will bequeathed goods to the value of £5 (£10 in London) which were dispersed in the north of England, and the south of England or Wales then the will was proved in both Archbishops' courts - first York, then Canterbury If a property-owner in England or Wales died overseas, such as sailors or soldiers, then their will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury regardless of where their property was held Mary >

Here is my information on the Norris family and seeking further information from anyone if possible James Norris and Ann ? had 8 children all registered at Rode in Somerset . They were Elizabeth 25 Dec 1810, James 26 Dec 1813 Ann 1Oct 1815 Thomas 2 Feb 1817 my Great Great Grandfather; John 11 April 1819 William 19 June 1821 Caroline 12 September 1824 Ann 15 July 1825. Thomas married Maria Coleman North Bradley had 6 children and went to Van Diemans Land in 25 July 1854 on the Northumberland on the request of James Coleman convict marias father. What I am searching for are descendants of Thomas brothers and sisters and a marriage for James wife Ann and maiden name. and birth registrations for James and Ann so that i can go back further in my hunt. I have a John Norris registered in Rode with two children Jacob 1844 James 1847 and trying to locate decendants of John. Anyone with any suggestions would be greatfully received. regards Irene Norris

My thanks to Michael and Peter for their thoughts on "why London", but I continue to struggle to find a plausible explanation. Looking closely at Emma's will, that's the one proved in London, the two executors were both children of Emma, both of whom lived their entire lives - to my knowledge - in deepest rural Somerset (Combe St Nicholas). Then looking at the beneficiaries, seven children were to receive equal shares, after the death of husband Jacob, who at the time of probate was still alive. The only London connection I can see is that one of the beneficiaries was at the time, or rather, at the time of the preceding census, in London, but I'm 'clutching at straws'. Jacob's will, made two years later and just before his death, also named two of his children as executors, one the same as in Emma's will and the other then living in Cardiff; and again, the estate was to be divided equally between children, though here only six children were named, including the one in London. [The seventh child was still living but seemingly out of favour]. Jenny -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Peter J Richardson Sent: 14 March 2011 13:22 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ENG-SOM] The proving of wills The dates are both well after national probate started in 1858. I wonder whether after 1858 the option of where to get a will probated might have been the choice of the executor. Perhaps London was more conveniant for the executor of the 1905 will. Do you have residence information of the executors for the two wills you mention? Regards Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenny Davis" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 10:53 AM Subject: [ENG-SOM] The proving of wills I'm wondering whether any of our resident experts might have comment on the wills of my great grandparents; in particular about *where* they were proved. Though they both died in the same parish - Combe St Nicholas - and within two years of each other - 1905 and 1907 - the earlier will was proved in London and the latter in Taunton.

The dates are both well after national probate started in 1858. I wonder whether after 1858 the option of where to get a will probated might have been the choice of the executor. Perhaps London was more conveniant for the executor of the 1905 will. Do you have residence information of the executors for the two wills you mention? Regards Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenny Davis" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 10:53 AM Subject: [ENG-SOM] The proving of wills I'm wondering whether any of our resident experts might have comment on the wills of my great grandparents; in particular about *where* they were proved. Though they both died in the same parish - Combe St Nicholas - and within two years of each other - 1905 and 1907 - the earlier will was proved in London and the latter in Taunton. The two estates were of nearly identical value (about £150), and in each case probate was granted a similar amount of time after the death, about two weeks. Perhaps the Taunton 'facilty' came on stream in the intervening period? Thanks, Jnny ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello Jenny I have copies of many Wills and have looked at the reason why many of them were proved in London. I can only come to one conclusion - the Executor(s) (often a solicitor) were having a day out in the big city at the expense of the deceased and their family. I just cannot see any other reason. You may find Wills proved at regional registries some way from home in the mid 1900's and that may have had the advantage that the local newspapers would not pick up the information and tell all your friends and neighbours how much (or how little) you left behind. I have dealt with three family probates in the last twenty years and whilst I went to the nearest probate office on each occasion I could have been interviewed at any probate office in England. Mike Shropshire, UK ___________________________________________ On 14/03/2011 10:53, Jenny Davis wrote: > I'm wondering whether any of our resident experts might have comment on the > wills of my great grandparents; in particular about *where* they were > proved. Though they both died in the same parish - Combe St Nicholas - and > within two years of each other - 1905 and 1907 - the earlier will was proved > in London and the latter in Taunton. The two estates were of nearly > identical value (about £150), and in each case probate was granted a similar > amount of time after the death, about two weeks. Perhaps the Taunton > 'facilty' came on stream in the intervening period? > > Thanks, > Jnny > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

I'm wondering whether any of our resident experts might have comment on the wills of my great grandparents; in particular about *where* they were proved. Though they both died in the same parish - Combe St Nicholas - and within two years of each other - 1905 and 1907 - the earlier will was proved in London and the latter in Taunton. The two estates were of nearly identical value (about £150), and in each case probate was granted a similar amount of time after the death, about two weeks. Perhaps the Taunton 'facilty' came on stream in the intervening period? Thanks, Jnny

Hi Betty Had a look around for records relating to Lansdown, Somerset. I was able to find Lansdown just north of Bath, but could not find any Parish register transcriptions. John Tanner had responded last week to a question concerning Bath/Bristol and the following was his response; >Try BAFHS.co.uk. they are the local family history society & offer a research service for Bristol & district. I am a member & have found the research facilities excellent.< I am a volunteer transcriber for Free Reg, if you would like to send me the census image I may be able sort it out for you. Additionally, there are two Lansdown place names in Somerset in the national gazetteer; each has a separate grid reference, but are both listed in the district of Bath and North East Somerset. Maybe someone else knows what this means. There were no other place names I could find that were very similar to Lansdown in Somerset. Cheers Mike

On 2011/03/12 14:37, Andy Phillips wrote: > According to the Progress Pages and Somerset Heritage Centre catalogue Abbas > Combe is part of Templecombe TEM) if that helps Useful information, but not in this case! Eric has identified that a little problem in FreeREG involves one or more records for Somerset, in which Place name has been uploaded with a '.' instead of the real name. I doubt that this has any connection with Abbas Combe :-) -- Regards, Mike Fry Johannesburg

Thanks Mike. I didn't mean to send that to the SOM Group but to Diana, the SOM Coordinator, whose address was next to it. I'm still trying to find the file, because searches for File# by County/Place don't come up with any files. It is not really critical, and at least we got rid of the bad place names through last night's update. Regards, Eric ___________________________________________ Eric J Dickens ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Fry To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:56 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-SOM] Place called "." On 2011/03/12 14:37, Andy Phillips wrote: > According to the Progress Pages and Somerset Heritage Centre catalogue Abbas > Combe is part of Templecombe TEM) if that helps Useful information, but not in this case! Eric has identified that a little problem in FreeREG involves one or more records for Somerset, in which Place name has been uploaded with a '.' instead of the real name. I doubt that this has any connection with Abbas Combe :-) -- Regards, Mike Fry Johannesburg ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

According to the Progress Pages and Somerset Heritage Centre catalogue Abbas Combe is part of Templecombe TEM) if that helps Andy ----- Original Message ----- From: "FreeReg-Eric Dickens" <[email protected]> To: "FreeReg SOM Mail list" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 11:53 AM Subject: [ENG-SOM] Place called "." > Hello Diana, > > I have narrowed down my search for the file with "." in the place to > Somerset... > > SOM . > SOM Abbas Combe > > > ...but when I try to find the file, the searches do not find anything. So > I'm not sure where we go from here. It is not a serious problem, so > perhaps you could just keep an eye open for it. > > Regards, > > Eric > ___________________________________________ > Eric J Dickens > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello Diana, I have narrowed down my search for the file with "." in the place to Somerset... SOM . SOM Abbas Combe ...but when I try to find the file, the searches do not find anything. So I'm not sure where we go from here. It is not a serious problem, so perhaps you could just keep an eye open for it. Regards, Eric ___________________________________________ Eric J Dickens

I have a Elizabeth Bryant born c 1824 in Lansdown (or something very similar, as the 1851 census is very hard to read)  Can anyone advise me where I can obtain parish records for this area please, or advise me if this comes under some other parish. Betty Lewis

Just to save people from looking through too many pages, the essay I mentioned on www.histpop.org about "Relationship to head of household" is at the bottom of page 5 of the essays. It does state that the relationship of 'boarder, etc.' was only added in 1861, so that could explain the change from 1851 in the original query. Celia

The instructions to census enumerators in 1861 were that lodgers, with or without a family, were to be treated as a separate occupier and their household was to be shown with a short single line (just to the left of the name column) to divide them from any other occupier - as opposed to the two short lines used to separate people living in different houses. (The 1851 instructions required lines of different lengths across the page rather than the short single or double lines.) See www.histpop.org and click on the Browse tab, then select "TNA Enumerators' Books" from the left-hand menu - then you can choose a census year and see examples of documents for different types of return pages, including the instructions to the enumerator. If you select "TNA Census - Other" there are examples of the household schedules which were destroyed after the enumerator had copied them all and further instructions to various people. If you follow "Browse > Essays > Great Britain > Census > Relationship to head of household" there is a good short essay on the subject. In my experience enumerators certainly did not always follow the instructions properly - particularly the one to "COPY VERY LEGIBLY ..."! Presumably the 80 year old boarder was considered part of the family after living with them ten years or so, even if she was not actually related to them. Best wishes, Celia OPC for Charlton Adam and Charlton Mackrell, Somerset www.charltons-mackrell-adam.org.uk >I'm wondering if anyone can comment on a household of James Vickery aged 45 >who I've just found in Buckland St Mary in the 1861 census returns. There >were two non-family members, one described as a *boarder* (an 80-y-o >spinster, who by-the-way was with the family 10 years earlier, but was then >described as a lodger); and a 76-y-o widower, described as a *lodger*. > >I had previously assumed *boarder* and *lodger* were synonymous! > >Thanks, >Jenny

Jenny Davis wrote: > I'm wondering if anyone can comment on a household of James Vickery aged 45 > who I've just found in Buckland St Mary in the 1861 census returns. There > were two non-family members, one described as a *boarder* (an 80-y-o > spinster, who by-the-way was with the family 10 years earlier, but was then > described as a lodger); and a 76-y-o widower, described as a *lodger*. > > I had previously assumed *boarder* and *lodger* were synonymous! Possibly because the phrase "board and lodgings" :)) Think of a boarder in terms of a pupil in a boarding school: meals and accommodation provided. A lodger had his/her lodgings (accommodation) only provided. S/he had to provide or obtain their own meals. Possibly the 80 y-o spinster was spry enough at 70 to provide her own meals but in the interim had become frail enough for the family to provide them. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/