Hello again, Renee. The most likely explanation for the disappearance of the surname Nanskelly in the early sixteenth century is that the family just died out - this did happen, especially with surnames derived from small places. You could quite easily check whether it really did disappear, if you have access to a good reference library - a man called TL Stoate transcribed and published quite a few 16C and 17C taxation records from Cornwall and Devon, starting, if I remember correctly, with the 1522 Military Survey and ending with one of the Hearth Taxes of the 1660s and 1670s, and taking in several subsidies and muster rolls, and the Protestation Oath rolls, along the way. If the surname did survive in the southwest into those centuries then it would surely pop up in at least one of those sources - if it doesn't appear in any of them then it surely died out. (Unless it moved away and established itself somewhere outside those two counties.) An alternative explanation might be that the family just stopped using Nanskelly as its surname. Prior to the 16th and 17th centuries Cornish surnames developed differently from English ones. Basically they became hereditary much later than in south eastern England, so that prior to about 1500 many of the individuals you find in records would have been using unstable, non-hereditary by-names which were not continued by their children. Surnames from place of residence were especially unstable because there was a cultural expectation that a man ought to be surnamed after his place of residence, and should change his surname whenever he changed his residence. This meant that someone who moved to Nanskelly would be likely to adopt it as his surname in substitution for whatever he had been using before, and then drop it when he moved away, while the person who replaced him would adopt it in his turn - Thomas Acton otherwise Thomas Nanskylly may have been such a man. There i! s a good discussion of this in the introduction to Oliver Padel's and Harold Fox's book 'The Cornish lands of the Arundells of Lanherne, fourteenth to sixteenth centuries' (Devon & Cornwall Record Society Publications, ns, 41, 2000). Thus the various 13-15C Nanskellys you have found may not all have been related to each other, but may simply have been successive inhabitants of Nanskelly. Matt Tompkins ________________________________________ From: old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com [old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dennis [dennis.newman@cox.net] Sent: 28 October 2009 19:41 To: OLD-ENGLISH@rootsweb.com Subject: [OEL] English - Cornwall Surname I am very sorry to bother everyone again but ran into a brick wall with the surname Nanskelly.... I have been looking at documents for a Nanskelly family in Cornwall. The name is there before 1300. John and Thomas Nanskelly, Nanskylly, Nanskilli, etc..... In the 1400's there is John, Henry and Richard. One John Nanskelly and his son served in Parliment in the 1400's. There is also one document (that I can't read but see a snippet of it on google) for a Thomas Acton otherwise Thomas Nanskylly. There is a will recorded in 1509 (which I also have not seen) for John Nanskylly. After that I don't see this as a surname, just as a place name in Cornwall, maybe in 4 locations. The earliest records are for Thomas de Nanskelly, then John Nanskelly involved with both of those is John Jaan (Jane, Janna) of Nanskelly. John Nanskylly is mentioned once that I've found as "Lord of Nanskylly". I believe the Jane family of Cornwall was kin to him, they appear on several documents together spanning a 100 years time, the last I've found being this one: 1423 - Indenture being a feooffemtn by John Nanskelly for the term of his life to Edward Burnebiry, Master John Burnebiry, parson of the of Ekysbourne, and Nicholas Carvargh, chaplain, of all his lands, & c. and services of tenants in Nanskelly, Penhale, Oddewode, Tregena, Tregeny, Tre...ryk, Bodmyn, Grauntpont and Strete Newham, by the rent of a grain of corn at Michaelmas; with remainder to John his eldest son and Richard his son succesively in tail, with remainder to Lavina and Joan his daughter, in tail, with remainder to Edward Burnebiry in tail, with remainder to Joan wife of John Oppy of Grauntbount in tail, with remainder to John Jaan, son of Stephen Jaan of Penmyne in tail, with reversion in default to his own right heirs. Witnesses - John Tretherf and Ralph Trenewith, esquires, Stephen Boswydel, Ralph Tredynan. As I said after the 1509 will, I see no Nanskelly's or any form I recognize again. I believe the property they had in "Nanskelly" was Nankilly in Ladock, as other place names mentioned in the documents are areas surrounding that, even though I've seen some say it is Lankelly near Fowey and Nankilly near St Columb. But what I am wondering is if anyone has a suggestion as to what the name may have become. I don't see the Acton surname in any documents pertaining to this land or around this area. I'd appreciate any suggestions, Renee Newman ==================================== WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thank You Matt, I do have the Jane entries from TL Stoate's book. I'll have to remember where I had found that book. I appreciate you always taking to time to share your knowledge. Renee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tompkins, M.L.L." <mllt1@leicester.ac.uk> To: <OLD-ENGLISH@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 6:07 PM Subject: Re: [OEL] English - Cornwall Surname > Hello again, Renee. > > The most likely explanation for the disappearance of the surname Nanskelly > in the early sixteenth century is that the family just died out - this did > happen, especially with surnames derived from small places. You could > quite easily check whether it really did disappear, if you have access to > a good reference library - a man called TL Stoate transcribed and > published quite a few 16C and 17C taxation records from Cornwall and > Devon, starting, if I remember correctly, with the 1522 Military Survey > and ending with one of the Hearth Taxes of the 1660s and 1670s, and taking > in several subsidies and muster rolls, and the Protestation Oath rolls, > along the way. If the surname did survive in the southwest into those > centuries then it would surely pop up in at least one of those sources - > if it doesn't appear in any of them then it surely died out. (Unless it > moved away and established itself somewhere outside those two counties.) > > An alternative explanation might be that the family just stopped using > Nanskelly as its surname. Prior to the 16th and 17th centuries Cornish > surnames developed differently from English ones. Basically they became > hereditary much later than in south eastern England, so that prior to > about 1500 many of the individuals you find in records would have been > using unstable, non-hereditary by-names which were not continued by their > children. Surnames from place of residence were especially unstable > because there was a cultural expectation that a man ought to be surnamed > after his place of residence, and should change his surname whenever he > changed his residence. This meant that someone who moved to Nanskelly > would be likely to adopt it as his surname in substitution for whatever he > had been using before, and then drop it when he moved away, while the > person who replaced him would adopt it in his turn - Thomas Acton > otherwise Thomas Nanskylly may have been such a man. There i! > s a good discussion of this in the introduction to Oliver Padel's and > Harold Fox's book 'The Cornish lands of the Arundells of Lanherne, > fourteenth to sixteenth centuries' (Devon & Cornwall Record Society > Publications, ns, 41, 2000). > > Thus the various 13-15C Nanskellys you have found may not all have been > related to each other, but may simply have been successive inhabitants of > Nanskelly. > > Matt Tompkins > > ________________________________________ > From: old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com [old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com] > On Behalf Of Dennis [dennis.newman@cox.net] > Sent: 28 October 2009 19:41 > To: OLD-ENGLISH@rootsweb.com > Subject: [OEL] English - Cornwall Surname > > I am very sorry to bother everyone again but ran into a brick wall with > the surname Nanskelly.... > > I have been looking at documents for a Nanskelly family in Cornwall. The > name is there before 1300. John and Thomas Nanskelly, Nanskylly, > Nanskilli, etc..... In the 1400's there is John, Henry and Richard. One > John Nanskelly and his son served in Parliment in the 1400's. There is > also one document (that I can't read but see a snippet of it on google) > for a Thomas Acton otherwise Thomas Nanskylly. There is a will recorded > in 1509 (which I also have not seen) for John Nanskylly. After that I > don't see this as a surname, just as a place name in Cornwall, maybe in 4 > locations. The earliest records are for Thomas de Nanskelly, then John > Nanskelly involved with both of those is John Jaan (Jane, Janna) of > Nanskelly. > > John Nanskylly is mentioned once that I've found as "Lord of Nanskylly". > I believe the Jane family of Cornwall was kin to him, they appear on > several documents together spanning a 100 years time, the last I've found > being this one: > 1423 - Indenture being a feooffemtn by John Nanskelly for the term of his > life to Edward Burnebiry, Master John Burnebiry, parson of the of > Ekysbourne, and Nicholas Carvargh, chaplain, of all his lands, & c. and > services of tenants in Nanskelly, Penhale, Oddewode, Tregena, Tregeny, > Tre...ryk, Bodmyn, Grauntpont and Strete Newham, by the rent of a grain of > corn at Michaelmas; with remainder to John his eldest son and Richard his > son succesively in tail, with remainder to Lavina and Joan his daughter, > in tail, with remainder to Edward Burnebiry in tail, with remainder to > Joan wife of John Oppy of Grauntbount in tail, with remainder to John > Jaan, son of Stephen Jaan of Penmyne in tail, with reversion in default to > his own right heirs. Witnesses - John Tretherf and Ralph Trenewith, > esquires, Stephen Boswydel, Ralph Tredynan. > > As I said after the 1509 will, I see no Nanskelly's or any form I > recognize again. I believe the property they had in "Nanskelly" was > Nankilly in Ladock, as other place names mentioned in the documents are > areas surrounding that, even though I've seen some say it is Lankelly near > Fowey and Nankilly near St Columb. > > But what I am wondering is if anyone has a suggestion as to what the name > may have become. I don't see the Acton surname in any documents > pertaining to this land or around this area. > > I'd appreciate any suggestions, > > Renee Newman > > > > > ==================================== > WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ==================================== > WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message