John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch

John Huntington MRN

According to information obtained from the Devon Family History Society, a John Huntington and an Elizabeth Pinch were married at Plymouth Charles on 14/1/1799. I have no definite information about the origins John Huntington, although I have a conjecture that he came from Lancashire, where the name Huntington is much more common than it is in Devon. I know that John Huntington was in the Royal Navy, which explains his presence in Plymouth.

In the information supplied by the DFHS the marriage of John and Elizabeth is marked "N", which (they say) "indicates extra notes in the Original Parish Register entry which may be consulted at the Devon Record Office or the City of Plymouth and West Devon Record Office". Perhaps one day some distant relative who lives close enough to Plymouth to be able to do this will find out what the notes say and tell me. Perhaps they say where John came from.

Elizabeth Huntington died in 1849, and was buried in St Kew, Cornwall, on 27/5/1849. The burial record says that she was 67, which would mean that she was born in 1781 or 1782, and was only 17 when she married. An 1841 census record gives her age on 6/6/1841 as 60 to 64, consistent with the burial record if she was born between 28/5/1781 and 6/6/1781. Information from the DFHS says that John Huntington, R.N., was buried at Plymouth Charles on 2/6/1837, and was 76 when he died. So he would have been born in 1760 or 1761, and was twenty years older than his wife.

The 1841 census record referred to above shows the widowed Elizabeth living with her daughter and son-in-law, Jane and Thomas Worden, in Endellion parish, Cornwall. According to the census record, Elizabeth was born in Cornwall. The fact that she was buried in St Kew rather than Endellion led me to wonder if she was originally from St Kew, but my original searches for a St Kew baptism record to confirm my conjecture proved fruitless. Now, however, thanks to the work of Chrissy Parker, Online Parish Clerk for St Kew, a matching baptism record has been transcribed, and I conjecture that Elizabeth Pinch was the daughter of Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre, baptized at St Kew on 5/1/1782.

There are baptism records from St Germans (Cornwall, quite near Plymouth) for Amelia Huntington and Jane Huntington, daughters of John and Elizabeth Huntington, dated 20/2/1802 and 8/4/1805 respectively. Even though Huntington was not a common name in the southwest of England, we certainly cannot ignore the possibility that the parents of Amelia and Jane were not the John and Elizabeth Huntington who were married in Plymouth. However, there is evidence, which I regard as convincing, that these two couples were in fact the same.

Both Amelia and Jane lived for most of their lives in Endellion, as census records show. Amelia did not marry, but Jane married Thomas Worden, a farmer who was born in Endellion in 1794 and whose death was registered in 1868 in the Bodmin district (as one would expect if he died in Endellion). Parish register information obtained from the Devon Family History Society shows that Jane Huntington and Thomas Worden were married at Plymouth St Andrew on 1/10/1833, and their eldest son, another Thomas, was born in Plymouth on 27/6/1835. I take this as evidence that Plymouth was Jane's home town, supporting the conjecture that her parents were the the couple that were married in Plymouth. But the most convincing evidence comes from the following 1881 census record.

Heath Row, Egloshayle, 1881:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Amelia Huntington	Head	U	F	79	Annuitant Royal Navy	St Germans Cornwall
Elizabeth J. Worden	Niece	U	F	35		St Endellion Cornwall
Cordelia W. Guy	Cousin	U	F	61	Independent	St Endellion Cornwall

How can it be that the never-married Amelia Huntington was a Royal Navy Annuitant? The only possible explanation is that her father was in the Royal Navy. As mentioned above, the record of John Huntington's burial in 1837 includes the information that he was in the Royal Navy. Moroever, I obtained a copy of the document ADM 45/8/865 at the National Archives: "John Huntington, Master, who died: 28 May 1837. Notes on executor's application for money owed by the Royal Navy." The document consists of two pages, both brief. One says

    John Huntington
    Master on H. Pay

    Wages Office
            25 July 1837

The other page provides the following details:

               Half Pay — £20.6.0 due
    Claim recd. 30 June 1837
    Name of the deceased, Mr John Huntington Master RN Died 28th May 1837
                                                                 Med Certif
    Name and Address of the Claimant. Mrs Elizth Huntington
    33 Cambridge Street Plymouth           Widow

There are a couple of other lines saying when various forms were sent, and down at the bottom of the page where it says "claim admitted" and "certificate examined" there is a signature and the date 22 July 1837.

In the Royal Navy prior to 1843 a Master was not a commissioned officer – so not a gentleman! – but a skilled professional seaman whose duty was to sail and navigate the ship in accordance with the requirements of the captain, whose primary concerns were presumably more military than nautical.

I was able to purchase Steel's original and correct List of the Royal Navy for January, April, June and October 1815, and thanks to Google books I was able to download four volumes containing issues of The Navy List, ostensibly for the years 1814, 1827, 1834 and 1835 (though in fact the 1814 volume has the issues of The Navy List of January, February and October 1815, as well as Steel's List of April 1815 and September 1815, while the 1827 volume contains the issues of The Navy List of January, April, July and October 1828, and the 1834 and 1835 volumes similarly contain issues from one year later than their names would suggest).

All of these journals include lists of the Masters of the Royal Navy, with the dates of their first warrants. The name John Huntington, or Huntingdon, appears in all of them, with the date of his first warrant given as November 17th 1796. In the 1828, 1835 and 1836 lists his name appears in italics, indicating that he was unfit for active service. Since he would have been about 67 years old in 1828, it is perhaps not surprising that he was unfit, although in principle a person of that age could still have been put on active service.

These lists also show that by 1828 John Huntington was one of the 100 most senior masters (where seniority was determined by the date of the master's first warrant). His rate of half-pay was, accordingly, seven shillings per diem rather than six. Thus it seems a safe bet that the money Elizabeth claimed and received, namely 406 = 58 × 7 shillings, was John's pay for the last 58 days of his life: 28 days of May and 30 of April. John must have previously collected his pay up to the end of March.

Searching the National Archives turns up another mention of John Huntingdon, namely in ADM 29/1/83: Navy Pay Office, Entry Books of Certificates of Service, Admiralty, Warrant Officers, page 83. So I obtained this one also, and found that it says this about John:

John Huntingdon
Spencer	4 Augt. 96	Mas	18 Sept 96	–   1 . 2 . 4
Dædalus	19 Septem 96	Master	28 Oct 97	1 . 1 . 1 . 5
Melpomene	17 Novem 97		4 febr"y 99	1 . 2 . 3 . 3
Do.	24 March 99		1 Janry 1800	– 10 . 0 . 4
Ambuscade	2 Septem 1800		28 Febr"y 1801	—  6 . 1 . 5
Morgiana	15 June 1801		4 Octr 1802	1 . 4 . 0 . 0
				4 .11 . 3 . 3
				5    –    2    –

I think that all of these ships operated out of Plymouth.

The mysterious numbers give the length of the period of service, in the form yy.bb.ww.dd, where yy, bb, ww and dd are the numbers of years, bifortnights, weeks and days ("bifortnight" being my word for a four week period). For example John's time as master of the Spencer, 4th August to 18th September inclusive, amounts to 46 days, or 1 bifortnight plus 2 weeks plus 4 days: 0 . 1 . 2 . 4. Evidently these numbers were not included the first time the addition was performed; in fact, it looks as though the line relating to the Spencer may have been added after the others, because the writing is small and excessively close to the lines above and below.

Part of National Archives document ADM 29/1/83 (reduced resolution)

I cannot interpret the symbol alongside the date 28 February 1801.

It is interesting that John acted as master of HMS Spencer before receiving his first master's warrant. I wonder if this means that he had to take over the role in mid cruise for some reason.

Note that Britain was at war with France from January 1793 to April 1814, apart for one year from March 1802 to March 1803. Following the Treaty of The Hague in May 1795 the Batavian Republic (successor to the Republic of the United Netherlands) was effectively a French client state, and Spain allied itself with France by the Treaty of San Ildefonso in August 1796. So the British Royal Navy was under severe pressure at this time.

My guess is that John Huntington was an experienced seaman before he joined the Royal Navy. Perhaps he enlisted voluntarily, moved by patriotism, or perhaps he was impressed into service. I doubt if there is any way of finding out which.

Information on the various ships mentioned above can obtained from Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy on "The Age of Nelson" website, and from Wikipedia. The Spencer was a 16 gun brig-sloop, formerly the civilian ship Sir Charles Grey, purchased by the Navy in 1795. The Dædalus was a 32 gun frigate, built in 1780. The Melpomene was a 44 gun frigate, originally French, captured in 1794. The Ambuscade was a 40 gun frigate, originally the French L'Embuscade, captured in 1798. The Morgiana was an 18 gun sloop, originally the French L'Actif, captured in 1800.

The six-monthly journal The Naval Chronicle, which commenced in 1799, carried reports of the activities of the ships of the Navy, including copies of reports the captains sent to the admiralty. Conveniently the early issues are all available on the Internet Archive. Additionally, Steel's original and correct List reported ships taken and ships lost. These sources provide some information on the activities of John Huntington's ships.

In December 1797 the French attempted an invasion of Ireland, but were thwarted by extreme weather conditions. Although most of the invasion fleet reached their Irish destination (Bantry Bay) intact, the conditions made landing impossible, and eventually they were forced to return to France. Several ships were wrecked, and a small number were captured by the British. See the Wikipedia Expédition d'Irlande article.

One of the French vessels not to successfully return to France was the transport ship Suffrein. She was captured by HMS Jason on December 30th, later recaptured by the French frigate Tortue, and ultimately sunk after an encounter with the British ships Dædalus, Majestic and Incendiary. This encounter took place on January 8th off the island of Ushant (the westernmost part of France, almost due south of Plymouth). The report in the March 1797 issue of Steel's List says that the Suffrein originally carried 74 guns, but had been cut down to 44; however, since she was being used as a transport ship she was presumably not set up for battle, and was relying on the frigates to defend her.

United Service Magazine, 1829

The Gentleman's Magazine, March 1797

The Gentleman's Magazine, October 1798

The Naval Chronicle 1 (1799)

On 3rd August 1798, when John Huntington was master of the Melpomene, the boats of the Melpomene and Childers captured the French corvette L'Aventuriere at Corréjou, near Aber-Wrac'h. No doubt the master would have remained on board the Melpomene, and not been directly involved in the raid.

On 28th February 1799 the Melpomene captured the French privateer La Zele. However, apparently John Huntington's time with the Melpomene did not include this date: according to ADM 29/1/83 his first period with the Melpomene finished on 4th February 1799 and his second period with the Melpomene started on 24th March.

Unfortunately, the various dates I have from different sources do not seem to be very consistent with each other. Volume 1 of The Naval Chronicle has a "Plymouth Report" for the period 24/12/1798 to 23/1/1799 which says that the Melpomene sailed from Plymouth on 9/1/1799, on a cruise. John Huntington should have been her master at this time. However, he allegedly got married in Plymouth on 14/1/1799, and The Naval Chronicle does not mention her returning to Plymouth before then. In fact, the "Plymouth Report" for the dates 22/3/1799 to 22/4/1799 says that she arrived from a cruise on 25/3/1799. This at least matches reasonably well with the starting date of John's second period with the ship. I presume that he was not on board the Melpomene at all between January 9th and March 25th.

It is conceivable that John sought and obtained Captain Hamilton's permission to remain behind when the Melpomene sailed on January 9th, pleading that his wedding was to take place in five days time.

The Plymouth Report for 22/3/1799 to 22/4/1799 says that the Melpomene left Plymouth on March 29th with French prisoners for Portsmouth, and arrived back from Portsmouth on April 2nd.

The Naval Chronicle's Plymouth reports covering the period of John Huntington's service in the Ambuscade mention the ship three times, the dates being 19/11/1800, 24/12/1800 and 28/1/1801. It would seem that Ambuscade was mainly employed enforcing the British blockade of French ports.

The Naval Chronicle 4

The Naval Chronicle 5

The Naval Chronicle 5

I have found only two references to the Morgiana between June 15th 1801 and October 4th 1802. On November 10th 1801 she arrived at Spithead, conveying a general home from Egypt and bearing more news of the French capitulation at Alexandria. She reached Spithead an hour earlier than a frigate that had left Alexandria 18 days before her. John Huntington must have known a shortcut from Egypt to England!

The Naval Chronicle 6

The other mention of the Morgiana is in a Portsmouth report in the Naval Chronicle, which simply notes her return from Martinique (in the Caribbean) on May 17th 1802.

Courtesy of the kind folk at The age of Nelson forum I know that John Huntington joined the frigate Naiad on 4/2/1804, but was "dismissed his ship" on 9/4/1805 by sentence of a Court Martial. (In fact this information can be found via the "Find a seaman" search page at threedecks.org.) A report of the Court Martial which appeared in the Morning Post on 15/4/1805 reveals that his offence was to moor the ship improperly in Plymouth Sound, the result being that she struck at low tide. It is not clear when this incident occurred, although there is also a report of the Naiad nearly running aground when entering Plymouth Harbour on January 7th 1805.

Morning Post 15/4/1805

The Naval Chronicle 13

John's share of the prize money for the large rich Spanish ship may have been some consolation for his dismissal from the Naiad. But on the downside, he missed out on the Trafalgar bonus that the crew of the Naiad received. The battle of Trafalgar took place on October 21st 1805, and although too small to participate in the battle itself, the Naiad was there in support, and after the battle towed the disabled French ship Belleisle to Gibraltar. See the wikipedia article on the Naiad.

Although lists of masters appear in Steel's List, the issues from earlier years do not specify the ships in which the various masters were serving. The later ones do. The issues of January and April 1815 have the number 1634 alongside John Huntington's name, indicating that he was assigned to ship number 1634. Steel's List of January 1815 tells us that this ship was the Salvador del Mundo, which at that time was "in ordinary" (that is, in mothballs) at Plymouth.

The Salvador del Mundo was originally a Spanish First Rate ship of the line, and had been captured by the British at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. The British never fitted her out for battle, and from 1803 she served as a receiving ship in Plymouth Harbour. Many courts martial were held on board the Salvador del Mundo. It would be ironic if John's own court martial had been held on her!

The Salvador del Mundo was broken up in February 1815; so no doubt John was her last master.

The State Library of NSW has several issues of Steel's List for the years 1803, 1810 and 1811, as well as a single issue from 1813 (whose month I unfortunately neglected to record). The 1803 issue does not say which ships the various masters were serving in; the 1810 and 1811 issues show that John was not assigned to any ship; the 1813 issue shows him assigned to the Salvador del Mundo.

After Trafalgar the French Navy no longer threatened the British, but while the war continued there was still plenty of work for the Royal Navy. So experienced masters such as John Huntington should still have been useful; nevertheless, it remains unclear whether he saw any service at sea between 1805 and 1810. With the coming of peace in 1815 there would have been a large reduction in naval activity, and so the by now rather old John Huntington was probably no longer needed for active service.

Children of John and Elizabeth

The Elizabeth J. Worden appearing in the 1881 census record of Amelia Huntington's household (see above) was the youngest of the three children of Thomas and Jane Worden (the other two being sons). The third person in the household, Cordelia Worden Guy, was the daughter of Thomas Worden's sister Cordelia, who had married Warwick Guy on 6/3/1817. Thus she was actually Elizabeth J. Worden's (first) cousin, rather than Amelia Huntington's. However, I believe that she was also a third cousin – indeed, a double third cousin – of Amelia Huntington. It seems that Amelia's mother's parents Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre were first cousins, their mothers being sisters of Cordelia's great grandfather Samuel Worden. (See the discussion of Pinch genealogy later on this page.)

For more information about Thomas and Jane Worden (great great grandparents of mine), see the Thomas Worden and Jane Huntington page, and the Samuel Worden and Jane Calloway page. Samuel Worden and Jane Calloway were Thomas Worden's parents; they were originally from St Kew, moving to the adjacent parish of Endellion in the 1780's.

Elizabeth Huntington's daughters Amelia Huntington and Jane Worden were both – like Elizabeth herself – buried in St Kew, Jane on 5/12/1867 and Amelia on 8/11/1884. In fact Samuel Worden's wife, Thomas' mother, is also buried in St Kew, but Samuel and Thomas are not. Thomas was buried in Endellion on 17/8/1868, and Samuel was buried there in 1843.

There were some other Huntingtons or Huntingdons in Cornwall in the late 18th century and early 19th century, but not many. An Elisabeth Bennet Huntingdon, daughter of John, was baptized in Madron on 23/12/1789. Presumably her parents were the John Huntingdon and Margaret Bennet who were married in Stoke Damerel on 5/9/1783. At first sight it may seem conceivable that this was the same John who later married Elizabeth Pinch, but I believe that it was not, since it looks as though his wife Margaret was alive when the marriage of John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch took place (in 1799). An 88 year old Margaret Huntingdon was buried at Penzance on 15/12/1839. I conjecture that the John Huntingdon who married Margaret Gregg in Madron on 2/6/1810 was a brother of Elisabeth Bennet Huntingdon. The 1841 census shows eight Huntingdons in Cornwall, all in Madron Penzance, and clearly all belonging to the same extended family. The only Huntingtons appearing in the 1841 Cornwall census are Elizabeth and Amelia.

One cannot attach much significance to the spelling – "Huntington" or "Huntingdon" – since there are several examples of different records of the same person using different spellings. For example, Amelia's burial record uses a "t" while the inscription on her gravestone uses a "d".

As already mentioned, two of the Penzance John Huntingdons had wives named Margaret; another (in the 1841 census) had a wife named Mary. I think that this accounts for all the Penzance John Huntingdons, and so I think that the John and Elizabeth Huntington of this page were the only husband and wife with those names in Cornwall between 1800 and 1810. If this is correct, then – as well as the daughters Amelia and Jane already mentioned – they had two sons: John Thomas Huntingdon, baptized at St Kew on 26/1/1800, and William Huntingdon, baptized at St Kew on 20/1/1805. But the dates and places of the baptisms are serious problems for this theory: the parents are married in Plymouth on 14/1/1799, their first child is baptized in St Kew on 26/1/1800, their second child is baptized in St Germans on 20/2/1802, their third child is baptized in St Kew on 20/1/1805, their fourth child is baptized in St Germans on 8/4/1805.

The dates of the first two baptisms are OK: each child would have been baptized within a few weeks of its birth, the first would have been conceived in the first month or two of the marriage, and the second a couple of months after the birth of the first. We then need to assume that William was born in 1803 or early 1804, and his baptism was for some reason delayed until the birth of the fourth child was approaching. It is possible, but strange. And the fact that the locations alternate – St Kew, St Germans, St Kew, St Germans – really is bizarre if the children really were all siblings.

I still think that they were all siblings. Since there were so few Huntingtons about, I think it unlikely that there were two John and Elizabeth Huntingtons producing children alternately between 1800 and 1805. Given that the father, John, was in the navy, he would no doubt have often been at sea. Maybe Elizabeth stayed with her parents in St Kew when he was away, and maybe she or her husband had other relatives in St Germans.

In addition, a 1 year old Samuel Huntingdon was buried St Germans on 2/11/1809, although it seems that no corresponding baptism record is available. And FreeREG has a record of the baptism of Hannah Huntington, daughter of John (a mariner) and Elisabeth, in the parish of Saltash (Cornwall, on the outskirts of Plymouth) on 27/7/1813; moreover, on 30/4/1830 a death notice in the Liverpool Mercury reported that Hannah Huntingdon, fourth daughter of John Huntingdon M.R.N., had died in Jersey on the 24th of the previous month.

The fact that this notice appeared in a Liverpool paper presumably indicates that John Huntingdon had close connections with Liverpool. Perhaps the navy sent him to Liverpool some time between 1815 and 1830 – although his daughter Jane was married in Plymouth in 1833 and his widow Elizabeth was living in Plymouth in 1838 – or perhaps Liverpool was his original home town, or both. In any case, I conjecture that John and family lived in Liverpool for a substantial part of the 1820's.

It is interesting that a notice of the death of John's daughter Jane was placed in the Liverpool Mercury in 1867. Since this was almost 30 years after the death of John himself, I think it must indicate that Jane had lived in Liverpool for a significant length of time.

I have not found any English records concerning William Huntingdon born in St Kew. However, I have found American records concerning a William Huntington who was living in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in the 1850's, 60's and 70's, and who was born in England in 1803. There is some circumstantial evidence, to be discussed below, that he may be the one from St Kew.

John Thomas Huntingdon (or Huntington) can be found in English census records, living in Liverpool. He became an accountant. There is no doubt that he is the son of John and Elizabeth who was born in St Kew, because the census records confirm his age and his birthplace. John Thomas and his descendants are discussed further below.

The IGI contains six records that people have submitted relating to an Elizabeth Ann Huntington who was allegedly born in Devon on 25/10/1807. For reasons detailed below, I conjecture that she was actually born in 1806. Four of these IGI records name her parents as John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch. Two give the date of her death as 8/12/1869, and three give it as 8/12/1889. The records are otherwise consistent with one another. One record gives the information that her death occurred on 8/12/1889 at "Douglas, New Brunswick, Yorkshire, England", but undoubtedly they meant "Douglas, New Brunswick, York County, Canada". Two of the records say that she married Stephen Peabody on 25/7/1836 at Sunbury, New Brunswick, and another says additionally that she had previously married Isaac Peabody in Boxford, Essex, Massachusetts, in about 1824.

So it would seem that Elizabeth Ann was the third daughter of John and Elizabeth Huntington, after Amelia and Jane and before Hannah. Thus I now think that John and Elizabeth had seven children:

• John Thomas, 1799–1886,
• Amelia, 1801–5/11/1884,
• William, 17/9/1803–19/3/1882,
• Jane, 1805–2/12/1867,
• Elizabeth Ann, 25/10/1806–8/12/1889,
• Samuel, 1808–1809,
• Hannah, 1813–24/3/1830.

Elizabeth Ann Peabody

It seems likely that the source for much of the above-mentioned information concerning Elizabeth Ann is a book called "Peabody (Paybody, Pabody, Pabodie) Genealogy", published in 1909 by Charles Henry Pope. This book tells us that Stephen and Isaac Peabody were sons of Samuel Peabody, who was born in Boxford on 24th March 1743, and married Molly Hildrick in Boxford on 4/3/1773. The book also says that he later married Hannah Gallishan, but does not give the date of this marriage; so it is not totally clear whether Stephen and Isaac were sons of Molly or Hannah. The book says that Samuel moved to Maugerville, New Brunswick, where the children were born. This is what the book says about Isaac:

      Isaac, b. Sept. 29, 1799; m. Elizabeth Ann Huntington of
         Devonshire, England; d. July, 1828, on a voyage to the
         East Indies.

It says this about Stephen and Stephen's wife:

                born at Maugerville, N. B., Feb. 16, 1782;
      married at Eastport, Me., July 25, 1836, Elizabeth Ann (Huntington),
      widow of his brother Isaac, born in Devonshire, Eng.,
      Oct. 25, 1807, and died in the parish of Douglas, N. B., Dec. 8,
      1869. He died there June 31, 1856. Was a magistrate for
      Sunbury County, New Brunswick.

Familysearch.org has transcriptions of birth records for Stephen Peabody and Isaac Peabody, giving the mother's name as Hannah in each case, and confirming the above birth dates.

The Peabody book says nothing about the parentage of Elizabeth Ann Huntington or about the time and place of her first marriage. So the people who submitted the records to the IGI must have done some further research. In particular, I suppose that someone found a New Brunswick death record saying that Elizabeth Ann Peabody died on 8/12/1889, deduced that the date given in the book was a misprint, and submitted new a record to the IGI to correct one submitted previously. And presumably, using the book's information that Elizabeth Ann Huntington was from Devon, Devon Parish Registers were consulted and it was deduced that her parents were John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch.

Much of the information in the Peabody book is confirmed by New Brunswick newspaper records included in Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics database. In particular, the crucial information that Elizabeth Ann Peabody was from Devon, which had initially seemed to me to be suspect, is confirmed by these newspaper items. For example, the newspaper notice of the marriage of Stephen Peabody and Elizabeth Peabody says that she was from Devon. So also do the notices of Elizabeth Ann Peabody's death, one in the New Brunswick Reporter and Fredericton Advertiser and one in the Carleton Sentinel (both of which also confirm the year of her death as 1889 and not 1869).

Elizabeth Ann Peabody is buried in the cemetery of St John the Evangelist, in York County New Brunswick.

There is also a newspaper record of Stephen Peabody's death, giving the date 31/5/1856, not 31/6/1856.

The Peabody book begins with the following words.

About fifty years ago Mr. Horatio G. Somerby, the genealogist, a native of Essex County, Mass., and a personal friend of Mr George Peabody of London, made considerable research to discover the origin of this family. What he found was noted and his manuscripts came to the Mass. Historical Society which loaned them to the N. E. Historic-Genealogical Society. The latter courteously permitted Dr Selim Hobart Peabody to study these notes and still later the present writer was allowed to review them. He then went to England in the summer of 1909, and carried the search further; examined documents at Somerset House, in the Public Record Office and the British Museum, traced through printed indexes and lists published within the past few years and through the manuscript indexes of several counties and dioceses ...

Much of the original data was therefore compiled when Elizabeth Ann was still alive, and her date and place of birth may have been supplied by Elizabeth herself, or by a close relative. So the book's information about Elizabeth Ann should be reliable. However, it appears that the book has several misprints or transcription errors, perhaps indicating that Charles Pope had difficulty reading Selim Hobart Peabody's handwriting.

The two newspaper notices of Elizabeth Ann Peabody's death are not quite consistent with each other: one says that she was 83, the other that she was "in the 83rd year of her age", which really means 82. The death registration record also gives her age as 82, and this is in agreement with the birth date of 25/10/1807 given in the Peabody book. Unfortunately, it is not consistent with the parish register record of her baptism! Information kindly supplied to me by Hugh Wallis, OPC for Stoke Damerel, says that Elizabeth Ann Huntington, daughter of John and Elizabeth, was baptized in Stoke Damerel (near Plymouth) on 12/12/1806. Since a person cannot be baptized before being born, one of the dates must be wrong, or else there were two Devon-born Elizabeth Ann Huntingtons.

I think I must accept that an Elizabeth Ann Huntington was baptized on 12/12/1806, although I do wish that I could look at the original Stoke Damerel parish register for myself, just to be completely sure that no bizarre error has been made. Perhaps there were two Elizabeth Anns: it is certainly conceivable that the child baptized on 12/12/1806 died shortly after her baptism, and a replacement who was not baptized was born on 25/10/1807. Nevertheless, I think the most likely explanation is that the birth date given in the book is out by one year. My guess is that the person who supplied the information knew that Elizabeth's birthday was October 25th, but got her age wrong.

The Peabody book gives this list of the children of Stephen and Elizabeth Peabody:

• Maria Huntington Peabody, born 7/5/1837 (Maugerville, N. B.), married Ephraim L. Dean;
• Frank Henry Peabody, born 14/5/1839 (Maugerville, N. B.), a druggist of New York City;
• Stephen Peabody, born 1/7/1841 (Maugerville, N. B.), died 11/3/1884, did not marry;
• Isaac Peabody, born 25/5/1843 (Maugerville, N. B.);
• Thomas Warick Peabody, born 9/3/1845 (Douglas, N. B.), died 1865 in U.S.A., did not marry.

There are misprints here: in fact Stephen Peabody junior died on 11/3/1864, not 1884; Maria Peabody married Ephraim Dunn, not Ephraim Dean; Thomas Warwick Peabody died at Friar's Point, Mississippi, on 26/7/1867.

A newspaper item records that Frank Peabody disappeared in strange circumstances in 1872.

The book also says that Isaac Peabody married Kate Patterson in St. John, N. B., on 19/4/1881, that she died on 3/11/1881, and that he married Clara Ann Stead of St. John, N. B., on 9/11/1887. Isaac and Clara had the following children (born in Fredericton, N. B.): Mabel Huntington Peabody (born 31/8/1888) and Frank Matthew Peabody (born 10/9/1890).

The 1881 Canadian census records for Douglas Parish, New Brunswick, show a household consisting of Elizabeth Peabody and her son Isaac, and an adjacent household consisting of Elizabeth's daughter Maria Dunn and Maria's four children:

It is a minor worry that this document appears to give Elizabeth the middle initial "M" when it should be "A". Presumably the census enumerator committed a strange transcription error. I wonder if "M" came from "Mrs".

At the 1881 Canadian census people were supposed to give the age they were on April 1st. Note that Elizabeth's age, 74, is exactly right for a baptism date of December 1806. Isaac's age as given in the census (36) is not in agreement with the birth date of 25/5/1843 given in the Peabody book, but does agree with the 1901 census, which gives the date as 25/5/1844. However, the ages cannot be trusted: in 1871 Elizabeth and Isaac gave their ages on April 2nd as 62 and 27.

Since Ephraim Dunn did not appear with his family in the 1881 census record shown above, I searched again in an attempt to find him. Not only did I find him, I found him in the company of his family! Maria and the children got themselves into the census twice.

There are a couple of differences between the details in this record and those in the other. This one may have been prepared a month later, since the baby Stephen's age has gone up from nine months to ten months. And Amelia may have had a birthday in the interim, since her age has increased from 3 to 4. However, Maria's age has actually gone down from 44 to 43. And "Maria" has become "Mariah".

Ephraim and Maria Dunn also had two daughters that died in childhood: Marion G. Dunn died on 26/3/1880, aged 8 years and 4 months; Clara S. Dunn died on 18/5/1878, aged 9. Their son Richard married Annie King on 2/5/1898; Richard and Annie had daughters Hazel (June 1898), Ethel (July 1900), Helen (June 1903), and perhaps also Edna (July 1899). But since Ethel appears in the 1901 census and Edna does not, while Edna appears in the 1911 census and Ethel does not, I am inclined to suspect that Edna and Ethel were the same person.

Maria H. Dunn, Stephen P. Dunn and Clara S. Dunn are buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Fredericton; they died on 20/10/1902, 5/3/1923, and 18/5/1878 respectively. There is also a marker commemorating Richard Dunn 1875–1954.

Clara Peabody died on 24/5/1910; Isaac Peabody died on 27/5/1925. An image of Isaac's death registration record is available at Familysearch.org; it gives the names of his parents as Stephen Peabody and Elizabeth A. Huntington, and states that they were both born in England, which is presumably only half right. Both Clara and Isaac, as well as Isaac's mother and first wife, Kate, are buried in St John's Churchyard.

Mabel Huntington Peabody and Frank Matthew Peabody, the children of Isaac and Clara, both married. Frank married Violet M. McKinley on 11/9/1917. He was a 23 year old merchant, she was aged 18. Frank died in 1966, and is buried in the Douglas Rural Cemetery. I have not seen evidence that Frank and Violet had any children. Mabel Huntington Peabody married Frederick William Martin Clements on 9/9/1908; he was a 28 year old farmer, she was aged 19. After the death of Frederick on 6/12/1957, Mabel, aged 70, married William Thomas Craigs, who was 77. Mabel's sister-in-law, Violet M. Peabody, was one of the witnesses. Mabel died in 1972; Mabel and Frederick are both buried in St John's Churchyard.

Mabel and Frederick Clements had at least four children: Cedric Stead, William Isaac, Frances Peabody and Muriel Constance.

The IGI record that said that Isaac Peabody and Elizabeth Ann Huntington were married in Boxford, Maine, was apparently based on someone's incorrect guess, because the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks' database includes what must be the marriage in question:

    Marriage: 5 Sep 1826 St George, Derby Square, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
    Isaac Peabody - Mariner of Liverpool
    Elizabeth Ann Huntington - Spinster of Liverpool
    Witness: George Lenox; Jane Huntington
    Married by Licence by: Wheeler Milner
    Register: Marriages 1813 - 1837, Page 22, Entry 64
    Source: LDS Film 1656195

Familysearch.org also have a transcription of this record.

At first sight it would seem unlikely that the Elizabeth Ann Huntington born in Devon in 1806 would be the same as the one married in Liverpool in 1826, but the evidence from Canada that Elizabeth Ann Peabody originated in Devon is convincing. Moreover, if all my other deductions are correct, then the Devon-born Elizabeth Ann had a brother who lived in Liverpool from at least 1823, and presumably a year or two earlier than that to give him time to meet and marry a Lancashire woman. And Elizabeth Ann would have had an elder sister Jane who could have been the marriage witness. So I am convinced that it is all correct.

The newspaper marriage notice shown provided very welcome supporting evidence for my Huntington conjectures.

The "Naval Intelligence" columns of the Liverpool Mercury, from 1828 and earlier, make several mentions of vessels with a captain named Peabody. In particular, in January 1826 the Victory arrived in Liverpool from Miramichi (New Brunswick), and its captain was named J. Peabody. In 1828 the Crisis, captained by J. Peabody, made at least two voyages to the East Indies. I guess that when Isaac signed his name his initial "I" looked like a "J"! In 1820 and 1822 there are reports of a vessel named Canso, with a captain named Peabody, visiting ports in the Americas.

28/4/1820 15/3/1822 28/4/1828

20/1/1826 2/5/1828

It seems eminently possible that the vessels Isaac captained were owned by his uncle, Francis Peabody, younger brother of his father Samuel (according to the genealogy in the Peabody book). This Francis has an entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, which tells us that in the 1820's he owned (amongst other things) a sawmill and at least five ships. A "Famous Miramichi Men" website has a Francis Peabody page which describes him as the founder of the town of Chatham; his obituary in the Miramichi Gleaner (see Daniel F. Johnson's database) described him as the "father of the settlement".

The father of Samuel and Francis Peabody was the Captain Francis Peabody mentioned on the Maugerville Grantees web page as the leader of a large number of families who left Massachusetts for New Brunswick in 1761, settling where Maugerville now is. Note that this was before the American War of Independence (1775–1783).

It transpires that Isaac and Elizabeth had two daughters who died in infancy. Jane Huntington Peabody was baptized in St Peter's, Liverpool, on 27/6/1827, and buried on 14/2/1828. Hannah Lydia Peabody was baptized in St Peter's on 25/7/1830, and buried on 7/1/1831. Searching for "Peabody" on the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks search page reveals that Hannah was aged 22 months at her death, so that she was born in about March 1829. The date is consistent with the Peabody book's statement that her father died at sea in July 1828, but it would be nice to find some separate evidence supporting this story.

Although these Liverpool parish register records give no indication that Isaac Peabody was originally from Canada, it is not at all surprising that a mariner from Canada would come to reside in Liverpool. Canadians of this era frequently regarded themselves as British, and since Liverpool was a major centre of world trade it would have been a natural destination for an ambitious sea captain. But I do not know how it came about that Elizabeth Ann went to New Brunswick after Isaac's death and married Isaac's brother.

As though this whole story were not already sufficiently surprising, there is yet another mystery to explain. Courtesy of New Brunswick Canada Census Records Online one can obtain an 1851 census record for Stephen and Elizabeth Peabody and family, including images of the original record. Here is what it says.

York County, Douglas Parish, New Brunswick:
Dwelling	Name	Sex	Relationship	Age	Race	Rank or Occupation	Date of entering the Colony
House	Stephen Peabody	M	H	69	Native	Farmer prop	birth
	Elizabeth	F	W	44	....	....	....
	Mariah H Peabody	F	D	14	Native	....	birth
	Francis	M	S	12	....	....	....
	Stephen	M	S	10	....	....	....
	Isaac	M	S	8	....	....	....
	Warwick	M	S	6	....	....	....
	Catharine Huntington	F	Visitor	20	....	....	....
	Elizabeth Huntington	F	Visitor	18	....	....	....
	Mary A Gulison	F	Servant	20	....	....	....

Who on earth were these Huntington girls? Surely some relatives of Elizabeth Peabody, but it was surprising to discover that she had Huntington relatives in Canada. This led me to wonder if her brother William survived, made his way to the New World, and raised a family.

William Huntington, mathematical instrument maker of Boston

Although the ages given are not quite consistent, I think it probable that the Catharine Huntington in the above census record was the 23 year old Catherine Huntington who died in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on 15/9/1853. A death notice was published in the New Brunswick Reporter and Fredericton Advertiser on 7/10/1853, and it tells us that the Catherine who died was the eldest daughter of William Huntington, a mathematical instrument maker. If this William was indeed the one born in 1803 or 1804 and baptized in St Kew, then 1830 sounds about right for the year of birth of his eldest daughter.

Stimpson's 1845 Boston Directory lists William Huntington, mathematical instrument maker, at 10 Oliver Street, and he also appears in the Boston Directory of 1860, which gives his business address as 134 Broad Street, residence at Chelsea, and says "nautical instruments" rather than "mathematical instruments". Perhaps, as the son of a ship's master, William learnt about nautical instruments at an early age.

I would think it unusual for a notice concerning the death in Chelsea, Massachusetts, of the daughter of a resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts, to be placed in a New Brunswick newspaper. It is reasonable to conclude that Catherine Huntington of Chelsea had New Brunswick connections; hence my conjecture that she was the Catherine in the New Brunswick census record above.

Familysearch.org now has a record of the death of Catherine. It gives her age as 25 and her birthplace as St Andrews N.B.. The cause of death was disease of the heart.

I have found the 1850 US census record for the household of William Huntington, mathematical instrument maker of Chelsea, Massachusetts. There are four people listed in the household: William Huntington (46, born in England), Mary Huntington (47, born in Ireland), Catherine Huntington (21, born in New Brunswick) and Elizabeth A Huntington (16, born in Massachusetts). From the birthplaces of their daughters we can perhaps deduce that after William and Mary left the United Kingdom they lived first in New Brunswick, moving to Massachusetts in the early 1830's. Additional evidence of this is provided by the fact that in 1833 Mary Huntington, aged 30, travelled from St Andrews N.B. to Boston, on the Schooner Emily, arriving in Boston on December 3rd.

FamilySearch.org: Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1891 image 897

Interestingly, Mary was accompanied not only by the young Catherine (aged 6) but also by a one year old John Huntington. I have now discovered (from a burial record on ancestry.com) that a three year old John Huntington, son of William Huntington, died of scarlet fever in Boston on 2/3/1835. Presumably this was same John that was a passenger on the Emily. If the age is right in both records then he must have been born some time between 4/12/1831 and 2/3/1832.

Searching on ancestry.com also turned up an interesting baptism record from Charlotte, New Brunswick:

I do not think that this can be the John Huntington who went to Boston with his mother in December 1833 and died in March 1835. Admittedly the master of the Emily may not have much bothered about getting the passengers' details completely correct, but surely the child's age would not have been recorded as one if its actual age were three and a half. And similarly it seems unlikely that the age at death would have been recorded as three if the actual age were well over four. I think it is more likely that the John born in May 1830 died in infancy, and another child, who was also named John, was born in late 1831 or early 1832. But in any case, I do think it likely that William Huntington and Mary Ownes of Charlotte New Brunswick and William and Mary Huntington of Boston were the same people.

It would appear from the Emily's passenger list that Catherine was born in 1827, which would mean that her age was understated in the 1850 and 1851 census records. Perhaps she was trying to pretend that she was younger than she actually was. If her date of birth was between 16/9/1827 and 2/12/1827 then the passenger list and the death record both gave her age correctly. But even if this estimate of Catherine's birth date is wrong, it is surely safe to deduce that William went to Canada before his sister Elizabeth Ann, since she was still in Liverpool in 1831.

FamilySearch.org: US Census, 1850 > Massachusetts > Suffolk > Chelsea > image 36

My understanding is that the ages given in the 1850 U.S. census record are supposed to be ages of the various people on 1/6/1850 (although in this instance the census record itself bears the date 10/8/1850). But no doubt many people reported the age they were on the day they supplied the information, rather than on 1/6/1850.

According to a Canadian Census Information web page, the 1851 Canadian census was actually held on 12/1/1852, and people were supposed to give the age they would achieve at their next birthday. Elizabeth, 16 in June (or August) 1850 could very likely have been 17 on 12/1/1852; so at least her age matches, even though Catherine's does not. But in any case the person who completed the Canadian census form could well have been unsure of their ages and not bothered to check.

A Massachusetts state census record dated 27/8/1855 shows William and Mary Huntington, both aged 52, and Elizabeth A Huntington, aged 20, living in Chelsea. The ages of William and Mary are in agreement with the 1850 census record, assuming that the ages they gave were their ages on the day the enumerator called, and that William's birthday fell between 11th of August and 27th of August. However, Elizabeth has not aged as much as she should have!

FamilySearch.org: Massachusetts State Census, 1855 > Suffolk > Chelsea > image 20

It transpires that in fact, according to a naturalization document, William was born on 17/9/1803. The document, dated 16/9/1852, is surely referring to our William Huntington, since it gives gives Chelsea as his address.

I also have the 1860 and 1870 US census records for William Huntington's household. In 1860 there were four people in the household: William, Mary, Elizabeth and one Stephen Needham, a 15 year old apprentice. The census record shows that William owned real estate worth $1000 and had a personal estate worth $5500. I do not know what this translates to in today's terms, but it sounds to me as though he was rather well off. The ages of Mary and William are both given as 57; in fact, in all the records I have found, with the exception of the 1850 census, William and Mary have the same age. I am inclined to guess that Mary was a few months older than William.

In the 1860 census record Elizabeth A Huntington is described as a dressmaker, with a personal estate worth $300. Perhaps she did not wish to admit to being 26 and unmarried, or else she managed to slow the aging process, because her age was given as 23.

In the 1870 record, dated 4th August, William and Mary are the only members of the household; their ages both given as 66. William's personal estate in 1870 was just $800, quite a bit less than ten years earlier.

I have not been able to find an 1880 census record for William and Mary Huntington, but a Massachusetts Archives Vital Records Search shows that they both died in Chelsea in 1882. A member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society kindly looked up the death records for me, and discovered that William died on 19/3/1882 and Mary died on 30/9/1882. The records say that William's age at death was 78 years and 6 months, while Mary's age at death was 78 years and 9 months. Crucially, however, the record of William's death says that his parents were named John and Elizabeth. Combined with the other circumstantial evidence, this convinces me that I have identified William correctly.

Images of the death records for William Huntington and Mary Huntington are now available online via FamilySearch.org.

One other mention of William Huntington that I located on the internet was in a 1984 catalogue of "Historical Technology Inc.", which listed a quadrant that apparently William sold at some time.

There is one more matter relating to William that needs to be mentioned. The database of the Huntington Family Association, a group that aspires to discover and record the history of Huntingtons in America, includes a record of a John Huntington who had children named William, born in Liverpool, and Elizabeth, who married a Peabody. And they say that this William had a daughter named Elizabeth Ann. They also claim that William had sons named Joseph and Thomas, and that Thomas had a son who was also named Thomas.

Although I believe that William was born in St Kew rather than Liverpool, this discrepancy is understandable. He did have a connection with Liverpool, and it is quite conceivable that he lived in Liverpool for some time before emigrating. However, I am convinced that William did not have sons named Joseph and Thomas. If such sons existed then surely they were born in the USA, since they were not with their mother when she travelled to Boston in 1833. Yet they must have been old enough to have left home by 1850, since they do not appear with their parents in any of the censuses of 1850, 1855, 1860, 1865 or 1870. The final piece of evidence that convinces me of their nonexistence is provided by the 1840 census. William Huntington's household in the City of Boston, Ward Two, contained one free white male aged between 30 and 40, one free white female aged between 30 and 40, one free white female aged between 10 and 15, one free white female aged between 5 and 10, and nobody else. Obviously these four people were William and Mary and their two daughters: there were no sons.

Whoever supplied the Huntington Family Association's information concerning William and his relatives must have made some unjustified assumptions. This person evidently did not know the name of William's wife, or the first name of the Mr Peabody that William's sister married. Nor did he or she know the name of the wife of William's alleged son Thomas. Clearly the source cannot have been any close relative of William. And if these sons Joseph and Thomas existed, they were sons of somebody else.

William Huntington's daughter, Elizabeth A Huntington, married Timothy A Conley in Boston on 10/7/1862. His parents were named James and Catharine. An 1865 Massachusetts State census record dated 1/5/1865 shows Elizabeth and Timothy and their 1 year old son William H Conley living in Chelsea with Elizabeth's parents. Elizabeth was 28, consistent with her age in 1860; Timothy, who was born in Ireland, was 30. Timothy's occupation was, apparently, the same as that of his father-in-law, namely "Mat. Instruments". I presume that William Huntington's business supported the whole household, and Timothy helped.

Timothy and Elizabeth's son William Huntington Conley was born in Chelsea on 26/8/1863. See also another record at familysearch.org, with a link to an image of an original document; here Timothy's occupation is given as "brushmaker".

The 1870 and 1880 US censuses show Timothy, Elizabeth and William Conley living in Chicago. The 1870 record has Timothy's occupation as "Brush Maker"; he owned real estate worth $1000 and had a personal estate worth $2800. The ages of Timothy, Elizabeth and William were 35, 33 and 7 respectively, as expected, and their birthplaces were correctly given. I am fairly confident that I have identified the correct 1880 record, because Timothy, Elizabeth and William are given the correct middle initials (A, A and H respectively) and the correct birthplaces (Ireland, Massachusetts and Massachusetts), even though their ages are given as 42, 38 and 15, all of which are too low. There is one other discrepancy: the record gives Elizabeth's mother's birthplace as England rather than Ireland. In the occupation column Timothy and Elizabeth both have "Fancy Goods"; William was "Attending School".

A 1900 US census record from Washington D.C. includes a 37 year old unmarried William H. Conley, who was a Clerk in the War Dept, boarding in the household of one Jas. G. Hudson, also a Clerk in the War Dept. William Conley's birth date is given as August 1862, his birthplace as Massachusetts, and the birthplaces of his father and mother are given as Ireland and Massachusetts respectively. It looks like the right person, even though the birth year should be 1863 rather than 1862.

I cannot find William Huntington Conley in later US census records. I believe that the 58 year old widower named William H. Conley who in 1920 was living in Chelsea City 4, Suffolk, Massachusetts, with his 19 year old son William R. Conley, was a different person. He may have been the son of Timothy J. Conley and Sarah McCarty who married Josephine Bagley in Chelsea in 1899.

John Thomas Huntington, accountant of Liverpool

When I first discovered that John Thomas Huntington, born in St Kew, lived all his adult life in Liverpool, I was greatly surprised. However, it could well be that his father was originally from Liverpool: at this time the name Huntington was certainly much more common in Lancashire than it was in Cornwall or Devon. Unfortunately I have not been able find a Lancashire baptism record that matches John Huntington senior, born (probably) in 1760 or thereabouts.

A census record indicates that in 1841 John Thomas Huntingdon, living in Liverpool, had a wife named Sarah and six children.

Plumb St, Liverpool, 1841:
Name	Sex	Age	Occupation	Born in county
John Thoms Huntingdon	M	41	Accountant	N
Sarah Huntingdon	F	35		Y
William Huntingdon	M	15		Y
Amelia Huntingdon	F	13		Y
John Huntingdon	M	10		Y
Sarah Ann Huntingdon	F	8		Y
Jane Huntingdon	F	6		Y
Thomas Huntingdon	M	4		Y

In fact John Thomas Huntington married Sarah Rhodes on 25/5/1823 at Liverpool St Philip. (An image of the relevant banns of marriage document is available through ancestry.com.) An 1851 census record gives Sarah's age as 45 and her birthplace as Walton Le Dale. It is possible that she was the daughter of Thomas Rhoades and Jane born on 8/8/1805 in Walton Le Dale, although this Sarah would not have turned 45 until after census day 1851. Since our Sarah's age is also given as 55 at the 1861 census and 65 at the 1871 census, and 71 at her death in the first quarter of 1876, it is perhaps more likely that she is not the one born on 8/8/1805.

Familysearch.org has baptism details for all of the children appearing in the census record above. Each baptism was at Liverpool St Peter, and in each case the father's name is given as John Thomas Huntington and the mother's name as Sarah, except that for William's baptism the father's name is just given as John Huntington. William Huntington was baptized on 1/8/1825, Amelia Huntington was baptized on 30/6/1828, John Huntington was baptized on 6/8/1830, Sarah Ann Huntington was baptized on 1/1/1832, Jane Nicholson Huntington was baptized on 27/8/1833, and Thomas Huntington was baptized on 21/6/1840. Jane's second name presumably indicates the surname Nicholson had occurred in an earlier generation, but whether it was on Sarah's side of the family or John's side of the family, I cannot say.

A Mary Huntington, daughter of John Thomas and Sarah, was baptized on 21/6/1840, the same day as her brother Thomas. Presumably Mary and Thomas were twins, and presumably also Mary died some time between June 1840 and June 1841, since she did not appear in the 1841 census record. The death of a Mary Huntington was registered in Liverpool in the 3rd quarter of 1840.

There was also an Amelia Huntington, daughter of John Thomas and Sarah, baptized on 1/8/1826 at Liverpool St Peter. She died of measles, and was buried in the Low Hill Cemetery, Everton, on 19/10/1827. The cemetery record (courtesy of the Lancashire Online Parish Clerks) says that she was two years old, had lived at Plumbe Street, and was the daughter of Jno and Sarah.

The occurrence of the names Amelia and Jane among John Thomas Huntington's daughters perhaps lends some extra credence to the theory that he was the brother of Amelia and Jane Huntington.

The 1851 census record reveals four children younger than Thomas:

12 No 4 Court, West Derby, 1851:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John Thomas Huntington	Head	M	M	50	Accountant	Cornwall St Kew
Sarah Huntington	Wife	M	F	45	House Keeper	Lancashire Walton Le Dale
William Huntington	Son	U	M	25	Comedian	Lancashire Liverpool
Sarah Ann Huntington	Dau	U	F	18	House Servant	Lancashire Liverpool
Jane Huntington	Dau	U	F	16	House Servant	Lancashire Liverpool
Thomas Huntington	Son	U	M	14	Tobacco Stripper	Lancashire Liverpool
Mary Huntington	Dau	U	F	9	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool
Eliza Huntington	Dau	U	F	7	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool
Hannah Huntington	Dau	U	F	3	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool
Samuel Huntington	Son	U	M	10m		Lancashire Everton

(Note that West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, is not to be confused with Derby, Derbyshire.)

Liverpool birth registration records exist for Mary Huntingdon (1841, 3rd quarter), Eliza Huntington (1843, 4th quarter), Hannah Huntington (1846, 3rd quarter) and Samuel Rhodes Huntington (1850, 2nd quarter).

John Thomas Huntington had financial and legal problems in 1833 and 1835, as excerpts from The Liverpool Mercury and The London Gazette show.

London Gazette 8/11/1833

Liverpool Mercury 24/4/1835

Observe that although John Thomas Huntington was residing on Plumb Street in 1827 (when his first daughter Amelia was buried) and again on census day 1841, he had apparently moved several times between 1827 and 1841.

Here are some further census records relating to this family:

56 Circus St, St Annes, Liverpool, 1861:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John T Huntington	Head	M	M	61	Bookkeeper	Cornwall St Kew
Sarah Huntington	Wife	M	F	55		Lancashire Preston
Samuel Huntington	Son		M	10	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool

Harrietts Bldgs, St Ann, Liverpool, 1861:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Jane Huntingdon	Head	U	F	21	Laundress	Lancashire Liverpool
Mary Huntingdon	Sister	U	F	19	Cigar Maker	Lancashire Liverpool
Eliza Huntingdon	Sister	U	F	16	House Servant	Lancashire Liverpool
Hannah Huntingdon	Sister		F	14	Cigar Maker	Lancashire Liverpool

8 Lawrence St, All Saints, Liverpool, 1871:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John Thos Huntington	Head	M	M	71	Bookkeeper	Cornwall St Kew
Sarah Huntington	Wife	M	F	65	Dressmaker	Lancashire Preston
Samuel Huntington	Son	U	M	19	Printer Pressman	Lancashire Liverpool
Elizabeth Duffey	Lodger	U	F	20	Bookbinder	Lancashire Liverpool

84 Anthony St, Everton, 1881:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Walter Rosser	Head	M	M	50	General Labourer	Suffolk Stratford
Sarah Ann Rosser	Wife	M	F	40		Liverpool
John Huntington	F In Law	W	M	82	Accountant	Cornwall St Kew
Ann Dible	Sis In Law	W	F	30	Tobacconist	Liverpool
Walter Dible	Nephew	U	M	9	Scholar	Liverpool
George Dible	Nephew		M	6	Scholar	Liverpool
John Dible	Nephew		M	4	Scholar	Liverpool
Mary Ellen Horrocks	Lodger	W	F	52	Upholstress	Liverpool

Sarah A. Huntington married Walter Roasher at Everton St Peter in 1869; a marriage bond document gives the marriage date as 14/10/1869. Annie Huntington married George Dibble at Everton St Peter in 1868. According to a Pedigree Resource File entry on FamilySearch.org the marriage took place on 23/12/1868.

FreeBMD shows that an 86 year old John Huntington died in West Derby in 1886, and a 71 year old Sarah Huntington died in West Derby in 1876.

I have only had limited success discovering what became of John Thomas Huntington's children. The information I have uncovered is presented herewith.

William

In 1881 census records I can only find two William Huntingtons who were born in Lancashire between 1820 and 1830. One is a farmer who was born at Wyersdale, definitely not the son of John Thomas. The other is a 55 year old printer, living in Halifax, Yorkshire, but born in Liverpool. The only other person in the household is his 57 year old wife Mary, who was also born in Liverpool. It is also recorded that William was blind, which surely must have been an especially serious handicap for a printer.

Thinking that this Halifax printer was probably not the comedian of the 1851 census, I almost did not purchase the corresponding 1871 census record. But I am pleased that I did!

49 Heywood Place, Halifax, 1871:
Name	Rel	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
William Huntington	Head	46	Comic Vocalist	Lancashire, Liverpool
Mary Huntington	Wife	46	Seamstress	Lancashire, Liverpool

So it looks as though William was an entertainer for most of his working life, only becoming a printer late on.

I have not been able to find any record of a marriage of a William Huntington to a Mary anywhere between 1850 and 1870. I have no idea whether they had any children.

Amelia

I conjecture that John Thomas Huntington's daughter Amelia is the Amelia Hintington who at the 1851 census is a 23 year old dressmaker lodger in the household of a nurse named Ann Unwin, at 5 Church Street, Soho, Everton. Amelia Huntington married George Bayley at Liverpool, Barnabas, in 1859. In fact the marriage took place on 24/10/1859, according to a transcription on FamilySearch.org, which also confirms that Amelia was the daughter of John Thomas Huntington. At the 1881 census Amelia Bayley is a 55 year old widow, a dressmaker, with a 21 year old son named James who is a lithographic printer.

Sarah

As mentioned above, Sarah Ann Huntington married Walter Roasher or Rosser in 1869. Since there are no Rosser children in their household in 1881 it seems possible that they did not have any children.

Eliza

Eliza Huntington married Diedrich Finck at Liverpool St Peter on 18/11/1866. Apparently Diedrich decided to adopt a more English-sounding name, since in the 1871 and 1881 census records he appears as Frederick rather than Diedrich. It also seems that Diedrich Finck's eldest son William was born before Eliza and Diedrich were married, since his age in 1871 is given as 8 and his age in 1881 is given as 18. So presumably Diedrich was a widower when he married Eliza. However, FamilySearch.org has a record of the marriage according to which Diedrich was single. This record confirms that Eliza's father's name was John, and also tells us that Diedrich's father was named Antonio.

In 1871 Frederick, Eliza and William were still living in Liverpool, but by 1881 the family had moved to London:

8 Ship St, West Ham, 1881:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Frederic Fink	Head	M	M	40	Labourer	Germany
Eliza Fink	Wife	M	F	36		Liverpool, Lancashire
Wm Fink	Son	U	M	18	Labourer	Liverpool, Lancashire
Geo Fink	Son	U	M	9	Scholar	Liverpool, Lancashire
Margaret Fink	Dau	U	M	5	Scholar	Liverpool, Lancashire
Frederic Fink	Son	U	M	1		West Ham, Essex
Nora Sullivan		W	F	56	Labourer Garden	Ireland
Margaret Sullivan	Dau	U	F	17	Slide Box Maker	Camberwell

Thomas

It seems probable that John Thomas Huntington's son Thomas emigrated to the USA. There is an 1880 US census record of a household in Chelsea, Massachusetts, consisting of a 43 year old cigar maker named Thomas Huntington, his wife and three children.

Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1880:
Name	Rel	Status	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Thomas Huntington	Self	M	43	Cigar Maker	England
Eliza Huntington	Wife	M	34	Keeping House	England
Alfred T. Huntington	Son	U	12	At School	Massachusetts
Lizzie M. Huntington	Dau	U	8	At School	Massachusetts
Edith F. Huntington	Dau	U	2		Massachusetts

Thomas Huntington married Eliza Patchet in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on 5/5/1867. The marriage record gives the names of the groom's parents as John and Sarah and his age as 30. Eliza Patchet was also 30, and her parents were named James and Mary Ann. (Thus Eliza's age was incorrectly given in the 1880 census record.) Massachusetts bith registration records exist for all three of the children in the 1880 census record: Alfred Thomas Huntington was born in Chelsea on 31/1/1868, Lizzie May Huntington was born in Charlestown on 24/4/1872, Edith Florence Huntington was born in Boston on 18/10/1877. Actually, for both Lizzie and Florence the birth register gives their parents' address as 572 Main, even though in one case the register page is headed "births registered in the City of Charlestown", and in the other it is headed "births registered in the City of Boston".

The same family can be found in the 1900 and 1920 censuses, both of which indicate that Eliza would have been 43 in 1880 rather than 34. Alfred T. Huntington is missing, and the 1900 record says that Eliza was the mother of three children, of whom only two were still living. In fact, Alfred, who was a physician, died on 14/2/1899, aged 31 and unmarried. The 1920 census record gives the year of immigration to the United States, for both Thomas and Eliza, as 1870; this is obviously wrong, suggesting that whoever filled in the original form made a very uneducated guess at this point. The 1900 form gives 1862 as Thomas' year of immigration and 1861 as Eliza's. (To me the 6 in 1861 looks more like a 4, but in this person's handwriting it is nothing like a 4.)

Edythe F. Huntington married Henry A Sellar in Chelsea on 16/9/1907. The 1920 US census shows Henry and Edythe Sellar living right next door to Thomas, Eliza and "Ell May". There are no children in the Sellar household in 1920, and since Ell May was 47 and unmarried it seems likely that neither of the daughters of Thomas and Eliza had children. So it appears that this line died out.

Annie

As mentioned above, Hannah or Annie Huntington married George Dibble or Dible in 1868. A message posted to a genealogy forum gives substantial information relating to George and his Dibble, Dible or Diable relatives. Apparently George was born in Dublin in about 1843. FreeBMD shows that his death at age 33 was registered in West Derby in the March quarter of 1877. It also lists the registrations of the births of the sons who appear in the 1881 census record: Walter (Liverpool, December quarter of 1871), George James (West Derby, June quarter of 1874) and John Joseph (West Derby, December quarter of 1876). The marriages of these sons also appear in FreeBMD: Walter married Margaret Ellen Smith (West Derby, December quarter of 1896), George married Mary Jane Myers (Liverpool, June quarter of 1894) and John married Mary Kelly (West Derby, June quarter of 1905).

John, Jane, Mary and Samuel

I have no further information on these people.

Pinch relatives of Elizabeth Pinch

I conjecture that my greatgreatgreatgrandmother Elizabeth Pinch was the daughter of Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre, who were married on 26/7/1777 in St Kew. Circumstantial evidence presented above suggests that Elizabeth originated in St Kew and was born in 1781. Luckily there is one and only one baptism record that fits: Elizabeth daughter of Richard and Grace was baptized on 5/1/1782; the previous Elizabeth Pinch baptism occurred in 1768; the next Elizabeth Pinch baptism occurred in 1788. But of course one cannot rule out the possibility that there was an Elizabeth Pinch for whom no baptism record survives.

Transcriptions of St Kew marriage, baptism and burial records can be found on the St Kew OPC website, and can also be accessed via the Cornwall OPC Search Facility. FamilySearch.org also has the marriage and baptism records for the period we are interested in, and, moreover, they now have images from the St Kew parish registers available for online browsing. Despite the availability of these records, the genealogy of our Pinches still presents some puzzles.

A substantial study of several families named Pinch was carried out by one Clive Pinch in the years 2000 to 2003, and posted on the web. His web site no longer exists, but – thanks to the Wayback Machine – it is still possible to see an archived copy of his site. It seems to me that most of what he says is probably correct, but in some cases there are equally possible alternatives.

The parish register entry for the marriage of Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre records that Richard was a mason. It seems reasonable to conjecture that the St Kew mason named Thomas Pinch, who married Bridget Brown in St Mabyn on 25th November 1707, was an ancestor of Richard.

Pinch masons in 18th century Cornwall

It is quite surprising how many 18th century Cornish records refer to masons named Pinch.

• The Cornwall Record Office holds a document concerned with the administration of the estate of Thomas Pinch, mason of Bodmin, who died in 1778.
• The Cornwall Record Office also holds a document concerned with the administration of the estate of James Pinch, mason of Lanlivet, who died in 1736.
• Elizabeth the Daughter of John Pinch Poor Mason & Elizabeth his wife was bapt: Octob^r the 8th: 1706 (in St Kew).
  (See the image of the parish register page at FamilySearch.org)
• Thomas Pinch, mason of St Kew, married Bridget Brown in St Mabyn on 25 November 1707.
• Richard Pinch, mason, married Grace Eyre in St Kew on 26/7/1777: see the list of St Kew marriages 1754–1812 provided by the St Kew OPC.
• John Pinch, mason, married Mary Blewett in St Kew on 25/11/1774: see St Kew marriages 1754–1812 again.
• Thomas Pinch, mason, married Mary Conning in Pelynt on 2/3/1777.
• James Pinch, son of Thomas Pinch (mason) and Elizabeth, was baptized in Fowey on 26/10/1755.
• John Pinch, son of Thomas Pinch (mason) and Elizabeth, was baptized in Fowey on 26/10/1755.
• Thomas Pinch (mason) was buried in Fowey on 9/1/1759.

The John and James baptized in Fowey October 1755 both died in November 1755: James Pinch, son of Thomas (mason) and Elizabeth, was buried 6/11/1755; John Pinch, son of Thomas (mason) and Elizabeth, was buried on 10/11/1755. Obviously the Thomas who died in Fowey in 1759 was their father. However, it is not clear what genealogical links may exist between the various masons listed above.

There was an Ann Pinch, wife of Thomas, buried on 30/5/1754 in Fowey. Perhaps she was the mother of the Thomas who was the father of John and James, but it seems more likely that she was his first wife, since a Thomas Pinch married Ann Davis of Fowey in Lanlivery on 6/1/1751. Clive Pinch's web site (mentioned above) identifies Thomas' second wife with Elizabeth Nicholls, whose marriage to a Thomas Pinch on 9/9/1754 in Boconnoc is listed on FamilySearch.org.

The father of the Thomas Pinch who married Mary Conning in Pelynt in 1777 was probably William Pinch, who married Elizabeth Slade in Pelynt on 14 April 1751. Perhaps influenced by the fact that William had a son named Thomas who became a mason, Clive Pinch identifies William with a brother of the mason Thomas Pinch of Bodmin who died in 1778. A William Pinch, son of Nicholas, was baptized in Bodmin on 19 January 1724, and a Thomas Pinch, son of Nicholas, was baptized in Bodmin on 4 January 1719; these baptisms are listed in the I.G.I.. We remark that Nicholas also had a son named John, who was baptized in Bodmin on 13/5/1714, and there was a James Pinch, son of Nicholas and Mary, who was baptized in St Antony on 10 August 1721, and who Clive Pinch believes was a brother of John, Thomas and William. Although St Antony is not particularly near to Bodmin, the date certainly fits. Furthermore, Clive Pinch identifies Nicholas with the Nicholas Pinch who married Mary Oxnam of Bodmin in Egloshayle on 6 April 1713. The fact that the date fits very nicely and the bride was from Bodmin makes this seem very plausible.

Clive Pinch identifies the mason James Pinch who died in Lanlivet in 1736 with a brother of Nicholas Pinch. The I.G.I. lists a baptism record for James Pinch, son of James, baptized in Egloshayle on 27 September 1694. They do not have an Egloshayle baptism record for Nicholas, but it is certainly plausible that he was James' brother, presumably born in about 1690. According to this theory their parents were the James Pinch of Egloshayle and Mary Blake of St Breock who were married in St Mabyn on 1 January 1689.

If the above conjectures are correct, perhaps James Pinch of Egloshayle was also a mason. The parish of Egloshayle adjoins St Kew, and so perhaps one can conjecture that some sibling or cousin of James who was also a mason moved from Egloshayle to St Kew and was the ancestor of later Pinch masons of St Kew. Or, indeed, it could be the other way round: the Egloshayle Pinches might have been originally from St Kew. Sadly, there seems to be no hard evidence to support either of these possibilities. Clive Pinch does not postulate any genealogical link between the St Kew Pinches and the Egloshayle Pinches.

Ancestors of Richard Pinch, husband of Grace Eyre

Note that St Kew parish register genealogical data dating back to 1680 is available on the St Kew OPC website (which presently includes more events, and more details, than are available through the Cornwall OPC Search Facility). Pinches appear in the records right from the start, with five Pinch baptisms between 1680 and 1690 (from at least two different families). Prior to 1812, information on the occupations of the people mentioned in the registers is only very occasionally present.

One of the witnesses at the marriage of Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre in 1777 was named Samuel Worden; this could have been the Samuel Worden who married Jane Calloway, and (if my version of history is correct) was the father of Thomas Worden who married Jane Huntington, granddaughter of Richard and Grace. But Samuel Worden's father was also named Samuel, and it is possible that the marriage witness was the elder Samuel Worden. (Note that the names of the marriage witnesses do not appear on the parish register pages whose images are viewable at FamilySearch.org. The St Kew OPC evidently had access to another source.)

Besides Richard Pinch who married Grace Eyre, there was also a Richard Pinch who married Elizabeth Lord in St Kew on 10/10/1763, and a Richard Pinch who married Ann Aunger in St Kew on 27/3/1782. Richard and Elizabeth Pinch had children named James (baptized 27/7/1767), Elizabeth (baptized 30/10/1768), Ann (baptized 27/7/1771), Jenny (baptized 10/9/1775) and James (baptized 14/11/1778). Since there were Elizabeth Pinches buried in St Kew on 1/12/1778 and 9/9/1779, it is possible that the Richard who married Elizabeth Lord and the Richard who married Ann Aunger nineteen years later were the same person.

I can only find two Richard Pinch baptisms in St Kew that could match these Richard Pinch marriages: a son of James and Mary baptized on 22nd January 1733 and a son of John and Mary baptized on 11th June 1749. Of course it is also possible that a Richard Pinch might have come to St Kew from elsewhere, or that a baptism of a Richard Pinch went unrecorded.

Richard and Ann produced children up to 1788, while Richard and Grace produced children up to 1798. Following Clive Pinch's web site, I tentatively conjecture that the son of James and Mary married Elizabeth Lord in 1763, and then, at the age of 49, married Ann Aunger. Whether or not this is correct, I conjecture that the Richard who married Grace was the son of John and Mary baptized in 1749. John and Mary were married on 19th January 1746, and we find another connection between the Pinches and the Wordens, since Mary's maiden name was Worden. She was apparently the sister of the elder Samuel Worden mentioned above. So the marriage witness could have been Richard's Uncle Sam or his Cousin Sam. The parents of Richard's mother and uncle were another Samuel Worden and his wife Mary Jewel, who were married on 18th September 1725, and had children Ann (9th October 1726), Mary (13th May 1728), Samuel (31st March 1730), Martha (8th March 1731), Grace (5th March 1733) and John (22nd February 1736). (These last three dates are "old-style": the years would be 1732, 1734 and 1737 had new years been deemed to start on January 1st rather than March 25th. Similarly, January 1746, when John Pinch and Mary Worden were married, would be January 1747 by the new-style conventions, adopted in 1752.)

John Pinch and Mary Worden had the following children:

• John (baptized 24th September 1747),
• Richard (baptized 11th June 1749),
• Ann (baptized 4/6/1752),
• Mary (baptized 26/6/1755),
• Jennifer (baptized 30/10/1763).

(The details for this last child, Jennifer, are taken from the transcription on FamilySearch.org.)

The parents of the other Richard were James Pinch and Mary Davy, who were married on 22 February 1725. James and Mary had the following children: Ann (baptized 28 August 1727), Elizabeth (baptized 18 July 1729), James (baptized 26 January 1731) and Richard (baptized 22 January 1733). Remarkably, a James Pinch was buried on 22 January 1733, exactly the same day on which Richard was baptized. Since Richard was the last child of James and Mary, I conjecture that the James who died was indeed the father of the children listed above.

John, the son of John and Mary born in 1747, is probably the mason John Pinch who married Mary Blewett on 25/11/1774, because there is no St Kew baptism record for any other John Pinch that it could have been. Believing that his sons John and Richard were both masons, we may guess that the elder John was also a mason.

So it is natural to conjecture that John Pinch, father of John and Richard, and husband of Mary Worden, was either a son of the mason Thomas Pinch who married Bridget, or a son of the poor mason John Pinch who married Elizabeth. In fact they both had sons named John, but the son of John and Elizabeth is the better fit: he would have been almost exactly 26 on the day that John Pinch married Mary Worden, whereas Thomas and Bridget's John would have been about 36.

Thomas and Bridget had the following children: John (baptized 13 March 1710), Aves (baptized 9 June 1712), William (baptized 26 December 1713), Elizabeth (baptized 16 October 1715), Grace (baptized 20 October 1717), Thomas (baptized 26 September 1719), Bridgett (baptized 21 January 1722), Avice (baptized 14 March 1725) and one other daughter, of uncertain name, who was baptized 3 July 1721. Although the Cornwall OPC transcriber could not read the name of the child born in 1712, the online image at FamilySearch.org (first line of the page) clearly shows the name to be Aves. (Note that FamilySearch.org has an incorrect transcription of this entry, giving the child's name as Margaret, as well as a correct transcription.) For the child born in 1721 the relevant online image is not legible at the relevant place, but perhaps she was one of the Mary Pinches who were married in the 1740's.

While it is not inconceivable that John, the first born son of Thomas and Bridget, was the John Pinch who married Mary Worden in 1846 – he would have been 35 and she 18 – it seems probable that John born in 1710 died in infancy: there was a John Pinch, son of Thomas, buried on 21 June 1711.

A John Pinch married Elizabeth Kellow on 18 November 1702. They had the following children (names as given in the I.G.I.): Ann (baptized on 11 May 1703), James (baptized on 11 October 1704), Elizabeth (baptized on 8 October 1706), Barbara (baptized on 6 December 1708), Martha (baptized on 2 July 1711), Aves (baptized on 17 November 1713), John (baptized on 5 August 1716), Mary (baptized on 13 May 1718), Joseph (baptized on 13 May 1718) and John (baptized on 14 February 1720),

It seems to me quite possible that the James in this list is the one who married Mary Davy in 1725. If so, and if the John in the list is indeed the one who married Mary Worden, then the two Richard Pinches we have encountered were first cousins. However, Clive Pinch's web site claims that the James who married Mary Davy was the Jacobus Pinch who (according to FamilySearch.org) was baptized on 8th December 1690. Whether or not this is true, it is possible that – as Clive Pinch claims – the 1690 James, the John who married Elizabeth Kellow, and the Thomas who married Bridget Brown, were brothers. FamilySearch.org has a baptism of Johannes Pinch, son of Johannis, on 4 December 1682, as well as the already mentioned baptism of Jacobus, son of Johannis, in 1690, and Clive Pinch asserts that there was a Thomas, son of Johannis, born in 1679. I have attempted to confirm this assertion by studying page 112 of the old fire-damaged parish register for the years 1564 to 1680, but to no avail. And there was a Thomas Pinch, son of Guillielmi, who was baptized in 1685, and could easily have been the one who married Bridget.

Who was Grace Eyre?

The burial records transcribed by the St Kew OPC include only two Grace Pinches. There was a Grace Pinch buried on 23 March 1724, who was probably the daughter of Thomas and Bridget born in 1717, and a 73 year old Grace Pinch buried on 19/5/1827, who was surely the former Grace Eyre. FamilySearch.org lists a baptism of Grace Ayres, daughter of William and Grace, in Egloshayle on 27/2/1754. It seems highly likely that this was the Grace Eyre who married Richard Pinch in 1777.

A William Air, of Egloshail, married Grace Worden in St Kew on 15/2/1753. It is likely that this was the Grace Worden who was baptized on 5 March 1733, a younger sister of the Mary Worden who married James Pinch. Consequently I conjecture that Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre were actually first cousins. So the marriage witness Samuel Worden was the uncle or cousin of the bride as well as the groom.

William and Grace had (at least) two other children besides Grace: Samuel Ayres, baptized on 22/6/1755 in Egloshayle, and Anne Ayres, baptized on 31/7/1757 in Egloshayle. It seems rather likely that this Anne is the Ann Aire who married Samuel Pollard in St Kew on 29/5/1785, especially since the witnesses were Samuel Worden and William Worden. There was a Samuel Aire who married Anne Anstis in St Germans on 29/11/1779; if this really was Grace Eyre's brother then we have an explanation of the fact that two of Grace's daughters came to be baptized in St Germans. And it really looks as though it is the right Samuel, since a Samuel Aire who was buried in St Germans on 10/6/1835 was 80 years old, consistent with the 1755 baptism date. Moreover, an 80 year old Grace Air was buried in St Germans on 21/11/1813, and this also fits with Grace Worden's 1733 baptism.

The daughters of John Pinch and Mary Worden

The youngest daughter, Jennifer, born in 1763, is probably the Jennifer Pinch who was buried on 16/1/1770, since there do not seem to be any later marriage or death records that fit.

At first sight one would guess that Ann, born in 1752, was the Ann Pinch who married John Harry of Blisland in St Kew on 24/9/1782. But the bride is described as a sojourner, rather than a resident of St Kew, which does not seem appropriate for a person born in St Kew. Unfortunately, I cannot find any alternative marriage or death records that fit Ann. There was an Ann Harry buried in St Kew in 1827, but her age is given as 85, which also does not fit. So I do not know what became of Ann.

Mary, born in 1755, is probably the Mary Pinch who married Abraham Brown, a widower, on 7/7/1802. Mary Brown, aged 70, was buried on 18/8/1825.

Children of John Pinch and Mary Blewett

John Pinch, eldest son of John Pinch and Mary Worden (and brother of the Richard who married Grace Eyre), married a widow named Mary Blewett on 25/11/1774. I do not know Mary's maiden name or anything about her first husband.

John and Mary had the following children.

• James (baptized 24/8/1777),
• Robert (baptized 15/5/1780).

Clive Pinch's web site credits John and Mary with a third son, Edmund, baptized in St Kew on 14/7/1782. FamilySearch.org lists a baptism of Edmund Pinch on 14/7/1782, but the event took place in St Ewe, not St Kew. It appears that this Edmund's mother was a single woman, since the baptism record gives only the mother's name, Mary Pinch, and no father's name. Now in fact this Edmund came to live in St Kew, where he was married, had several children baptized, died at age 89, and was buried on 7/5/1869. So perhaps his mother was from St Kew; she could even have been John's sister Mary (born in 1755). But an 1861 census record definitely confirms that Edmund Pinch of St Kew was born in St Ewe.

The fact that there were no more children after Robert's birth in 1780 may indicate that one or other of the parents died in the 1780's. There was a Mary Pinch buried on 22/1/1782, another buried on 6/4/1782, and another buried on 28/10/1786. I expect that one of the Marys who died in 1782 was John's wife, while the one who died in 1786 and the other who died in 1782 were John's mother (née Worden) and his aunt (née Davy), in one order or the other.

Robert Pinch, the son of John and Mary born in 1780, is presumably the Robert Pinch who was buried on 7/10/1781.

James, the son of John and Mary born in 1777, is probably the 76 year old James Pinch of Trequite who was buried on 27/12/1853. (Clive Pinch has the burial date as 25/12/1853.) An 1851 census record shows James as a 73 year old widower lodging in the household of a 35 year old carpenter named Nicholas Thomas in Trequite, and also shows – unsurprisingly – that James was a mason. In 1841 James appears in his own household in Trequite along with a 60 year old Ann Pinch and a 30 year old James Pinch. Ann died at age 68 and was buried on 22/1/1846. James Pinch had married Ann Goodman on 2/5/1822; a Nicholas Thomas was one of the witnesses, but presumably this was not the same Nicholas Thomas who nineteen years later was still only 35. The marriage record neglects to say that James was a widower, but this was surely the case. Whether Ann was a widow or a spinster I do not know. James had previously married Elizabeth Guy on 27/7/1802; she was buried on 6/1/1819 in St Kew, aged 39.

James Pinch and Elizabeth Guy had children named Anna Guy (baptized on 2/10/1803 and buried on 16/4/1819), John (baptized on 7/7/1806), James (baptized on 27/7/1811) and Mary (baptized on 20/3/1814). What I know about these children is presented herewith.

• Mary, daughter of James Pinch and Elizabeth Guy, married Nicholas Thomas on 13/5/1835. They had children named James Pinch (baptized 27/12/1835), Elizabeth Anna Pinch (baptized 20/5/1843) and John (baptized 23/4/1848). This is the family James was lodging with in 1851. Mary was buried on 23/12/1852, and by the 1861 census Nicholas had acquired a new wife and six new children.

• James, son of James Pinch and Elizabeth Guy, was in his father's household at the 1841 census. There was no wife with him, and his occupation was not given. He apparently married within a two or three years of that time, as an 1851 census record shows.

  St Kew, 1851:
  Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
  James Pinch	Head	M	M	39	Mason	St Kew
  Elizabeth Pinch	Wife	M	F	36		Bodmin
  Kitty Pinch	Dau		F	6	Scholar	St Kew
  James Pinch	Son		M	4		St Kew
  John Pinch	Son		M	2		St Kew
  Mary Ann Goodman	Visitor		F	42	Pauper Servant	Bodmin

  The appropriate 1861 census record is presumably piece RG9/1538, folio 10, page 14, Schedule 71, which was transcribed as follows by the Cornwall Online Census Project:

  Highway, St Kew, 1861:
  Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace	Remarks
  James Hicks	Head	M	M	49	Mason	St Kew	Surname uncertain
  Elizabeth Hicks	Wife	M	F	46		Bodmin
  Catherine Hicks	Dau		F	16		St Kew
  James Hicks	Son		M	14	Mason	St Kew
  <unreadable> Hicks	Son		M	12	Scholar	St Kew

• James died in 1867 and was buried on 30/4/1867. The civil registration record gives his age as 55.

• John, son of James Pinch and Elizabeth Guy, married Mary Sloggett, who was born in St Breock, on 29/10/1831. They had children named John (baptized 1/4/1832), Elizabeth (baptized 16/6/1833), James (baptized 5/3/1836), William (born in the last quarter of 1838), Cornelius Sloggett (baptized 1/8/1841) and Mary Anna (baptized 23/5/1843 and buried on 25/4/1847). The baptism records tell us that John was a mason. His sons John, William and James also became masons.

  James Pinch (son of John) married Mary Ann Jones on 6/2/1858. They had children named James (baptized 28/11/1859), Mary Elizabeth (baptized 29/12/1861), Ann (baptized 26/2/1864), Cornelius (baptized 15/5/1866 and buried on 17/5/1866), Edith (baptized 2/3/1870) and Lucy (baptized 9/5/1872).

  John (son of John) at some stage acquired a wife named Jane, but I cannot find a marriage record. According to 1881 and 1891 census records Jane was born in Wadebridge in about 1827. At the 1871 census John is shown as married and boarding in Trequite, but Jane is not present in the household. At the 1861 census a 29 year old mason named John Pinch and his 30 year old wife Jane, both born in Cornwall, are found at St Mary Church in Devon, but whether these are the right people is unclear. John and Jane probably did not have any children; I think that Clara Ellen Pinch, baptized on 2/3/1870 and buried on 23/4/1870, was probably not the daughter of John (mason) and Jane, but the daughter of John (machiner) and Mary Jane, who were different people entirely.

  An 1861 census record shows William (son of John) unmarried and in his parents' household. In 1881 he appears as a lodger in the establishment of one Ellen Walsh, at 5 Arundel Crescent, Plymouth, and he is now a widower. I have discovered nothing else about him.

I have conjectured that Mary Blewett who married John Pinch died in 1782. I do not know when or where John died. His father, the John Pinch who married Mary Worden, is probably the John Pinch who was buried on 26/2/1782. He would have been 62. The next St Kew burial of a John Pinch took place on 4/6/1788, but John husband of Mary Blewett is not the only candidate for this position: Richard Pinch and Ann Aunger had a son named John baptized on 23/7/1787. After 4/6/1788 there were no more St Kew burials of John Pinches for over 100 years.

My guess is that the John buried in 1788 was the infant son of Richard and Ann; this guess is mainly based on the fact that infants were more prone to die than were 41 year old men. The other John must have left St Kew some time after the death of his wife, perhaps because there was an oversupply of masons in St Kew.

Children of Richard Pinch and Grace Eyre

There are St Kew baptism records for the following children whose parents were named Richard and Grace Pinch.

• William (baptized 20/2/1780)
• Elizabeth (baptized 5/1/1782)
• William (baptized 13/6/1784)
• Richard (baptized 5/3/1787)
• Samuel (baptized 28/12/1788)
• Grace (baptized 20/1/1793, see the FamilySearch.org transcription and the online image of the parish register page),
• Prudence (baptized 22/3/1795)
• John (baptized 23/7/1798)

To help correctly trace these people we need to also take note of other Pinches born in St Kew at around the same time, notably the children of Richard's cousin, the other Richard. Recall that this latter Richard Pinch and his first wife (Elizabeth Lord) had children named James (27/7/1767), Elizabeth (30/10/1768), Ann (27/7/1771), Jenny (10/9/1775) and James (14/11/1778). His second marriage (to Ann Aunger) produced children named George Aunger (baptized 20/9/1783), Grace (baptized 15/8/1784), John (baptized 23/7/1787), Elizabeth (baptized 29/6/1788) and Richard (baptized 16/11/1788).

George Aunger Pinch (born 1783) was buried on 22/11/1783. I have already conjectured that the John born in 1787 was buried in 1788. Now there was a Richard Pinch buried on 10/6/1789, another buried on 12/5/1806, another buried on 21/7/1828, and another buried on 5/2/1832. We have to match these with Ann's husband, Grace's husband, and their respective sons. Conveniently, the parish register tells us the the one who died in 1806 was Ann's husband; he would have been 73 years old. The one who died in 1832 was 82 years old, and this fits with the 1749 baptism of the Richard who married Grace. The one who died in July 1828 was 41, and I conjecture that he was the son of Richard and Grace (born in 1787) rather than the son of Richard and Ann (born in 1788). This conjecture is supported by the fact that the 41 year old who died in 1828 lived at a place called Splat, and the Grace Pinch who was buried on 19/5/1827 was aged 73 – right for the former Grace Eyre – and also lived at Splat. So it looks as though the Richard buried in 1789 was the son of Richard and Ann, and so it looks as though all the sons of Richard and Ann died in infancy.

Richard and Grace's first son William obviously died in infancy, and could well be the William Pinch who was buried on 5/4/1784. I have not been able to positively locate the William baptized on 13/6/1784 in any later records.

Richard and Grace's daughter Elizabeth, baptized in early 1872, was (I believe) my ancestor. If my conjectures are correct then she was married at an early age (17, in fact) and not married in her home town but another place (namely, Plymouth) some 60 kilometres distant from her home town. Separately either of these would be unexpected, but together they are almost implausible. An explanation of how it came about is needed, but unfortunately I do not yet have one.

Richard and Grace's daughter Prudence married Thomas Chapman of Egloshayle on 25/2/1817. Grace's brother Samuel was one of the witnesses; the other was James Chapman, who I presume was the groom's brother. A year and a half earlier, on on 12/10/1815, a James Chapman of Egloshayle married Grace Pinch, and on this occasion also Samuel Pinch was one of the witnesses. So no doubt this Grace Pinch was the daughter of Richard and Grace born in 1793. I do not know if either of these Chapman–Pinch marriages produced any children.

I do not know what became of Richard and Grace's son John (baptized in 1798).

Richard and Grace's son Richard, baptized in 1787, is probably the Richard Pinch of St Kew who married a Mary Pinch in St Mabyn on 21/9/1811. They had children named Mary (baptized on 9/2/1812), Maria (baptized on 20/8/1815), Grace (baptized on 17/8/1817), William (baptized on 1/8/1819) and Richard (baptized on 2/2/1823). (For the precise date of this last baptism I have relied on the FamilySearch.org transcription, which also gives the child two baptismal names: Richard Are rather than just plain Richard.) As expected, the baptism records show that the father was a mason. Here is what I know about the lives of these children.

• Maria married Thomas Richards, a sailor, in Padstow on 12/10/1840. He was 26 and she was 25. Maria was a servant prior to her marriage.

• Grace married John Heath, a carpenter, in St Kew on 21/3/1843. At the 1851 census John and Grace are found in Egloshayle with a 2 year old son named Henry and a 1 month old daughter named Emma.

• William was not a mason but an agricultural labourer! At the 1851 census his household was as follows.

  Splat Village, 1851:
  Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
  William Pinch	Head	M	M	32	Ag Lab	St Kew
  Mary Ann Pinch	Wife	M	F	31		Egloshayle
  John Pinch	Son		M	6	At Home	St Minver
  Lavinia Pinch	Dau		F	4	At Home	St Kew
  William Pinch	Son		M	2		St Kew
  Thomas Pinch	Son		M	5m		St Kew

  The marriage of a William Pinch to a Mary Ann Trebell was registered in the Bodmin district in the last quarter of 1842. Mary Ann of Splatt died at age 30 and was buried on 24/3/1852 in St Kew. William then married Cordelia Cock, widow of William Cock, on 22/9/1855. Cordelia's maiden name was Callaway; she was the daughter of Richard Callaway and Anne née Thomas, baptized on 24/12/1809 in Endellion.

• It is possible that Richard was true to his genes and became a mason, since an 1851 census record shows a 28 year old mason named Richard Pinch as a visitor in the Household of one John Bullock at St Columb Major. But since Richard's birthplace is listed as "unknown", I am by no means sure that it really is the right person. I cannot find any other record of him.

Richard and Grace's son Samuel (baptized 1788) married a woman named Ann. An 1851 census record shows them living at St Leonards, Bodmin; Samuel is a 62 year old mason, born in St Kew, while Ann is 60 and born in Bodmin. There is noone else in the household. However, an 1841 census record showing the same couple indicates that they did have children.

Higher Bore Street, Trigg, Bodmin, 1841:
Name	Sex	Age	Occupation	Born in Cornwall
Samuel Pinch	M	50	Mason	Y
Ann Pinch	F	50		Y
Amelia Pinch	F	20	Dressmaker	Y
Samuel Pinch	M	15	Mason	Y
Richard Pinch	M	11		Y
Stephen Withiel	M	25	Mason Journeyman	Y
Phillipa Night	F	25		Y
Anthoney Row	M	55	Army Pensioner	Y
Jane Row	M	40		Y
Mary Maynard	F	55		Y
Jane Maynard	F	20	Bale Girl	Y
Jane Northey	F	15	Bale Girl	N

FreeREG shows four children of Samuel and Ann baptized in Bodmin: Amelia (baptized on 24/5/1819), William (baptized on 19/8/1821), Samuel (born on 13/4/1824) and Richard (born on 26/4/1830). Images of the original records are available online at FamilySearch.org: Bodmin baptisms 1813–1830, image 42, image 55 and image 73, and Bodmin baptisms 1830–1860, image 6.

One of the cases in the Quarter Sessions held at Lostwithiel on 11 July 1826 is described as follows:

Clive Pinch's website indentifies the Samuel and Ann we are discussing with the Samuel Pinch and an Ann Witherell who were married in Plymouth Charles on 4/11/1814; If this is correct it is another link connecting Richard and Grace Pinch of St Kew with Plymouth. Now I can imagine – never mind the lack of evidence! – a way this might have happened. Perhaps Richard's brother John, who disappeared from St Kew, went to Plymouth in search of work. As a widower with no daughters, he would have had nobody to wash his socks and cook his pasties. But his brother Richard had a wife and an oversupply of daughters. It would be natural enough for Richard's eldest daughter Elizabeth to be sent off to keep house for her Uncle John, and then when Uncle John decided to move to Plymouth, Elizabeth would have gone too.

I obtained from the Devon Family History Society a list of Devon burials of people named Pinch, hoping to find a John that matched our John from St Kew. Unfortunately for my fanciful theory, I did not find one. Furthermore, I do not believe that the Samuel Pinch who married Ann Witherell in Plymouth was our Samuel from St Kew. Ann Witherell, married in Plymouth in 1814, was probably born in Plymouth; it is quite likely that she was the Ann Witherell baptized in Plymouth St Andrew on 17/3/1794. But according to the 1851 census record, Samuel Pinch's wife Ann was born in Bodmin. And surely the Court of Quarter Sessions would not have sent her back to Bodmin if she was actually from Plymouth.

Interestingly – but maybe coincidentally – we find some more masons named Pinch in Turnchapel (Plymouth) in the early 19th century. Clive Pinch's web site has these people descended from a John Pinch, of unknown origin, who married an Elizabeth Frost in Plymouth Charles on 4/2/1804. This couple are claimed to have had children named Thomas (born 1804), John (born 1806) and Isaac (born 1822). Disappointingly for me, the widower John from St Kew is not very likely to have remarried at age 57, and surely would not have had a child born in 1822 (by which time he would have been 75).

A list of Pinch baptisms in Devon between 1813 and 1839, obtained from the Devon Family History Society, included several with parents named John and Elizabeth:

Surname	Forename	Parents	Occupation	Abode	Baptism	Parish
Pinch	Mary	John & Elizth	Quarryman	Plymouth	6/2/1814	Plymouth St Andrew
Pinch	Sarah Frost	John & Elizth	Mason	Hooe	26/5/1816	Plymstock
Pinch	Ann	John & Elizth	Stone Cutter	Hooe	20/11/1818	Plymouth St Andrew
Pinch	Isaac	John & Elizth	Labourer	Turn Chapel	8/11/1822	Plymouth Charles
Pinch	Samuel	John & Elizth	Stone Mason	Turn Chaple	1/7/1825	Plymouth Charles
Pinch	James	John & Elizth	Stone Mason	Turnchapel	18 /9/1833*	Plymouth Charles
Pinch	John Robert	John & Elizth	Carpenter	Dock	30/4/1820	Stoke Damerel
Pinch	Herbert Franc	John & Elizth	Carpenter	Plymouth	9/6/1822	Plymouth St Andrew
Pinch	Caroline Elizth	John & Elizth	Carpenter	Devonport	6/2/1825	Stoke Damerel
Pinch	Jane Palmer	John & Elizth	Carpenter	Devonport	17/6/1827	Stoke Damerel
Pinch	Mary Ann Matilda	John & Elisth	Carpenter	Devonport	15/5/1831	Stoke Damerel
					[* born 14/4/1821]

Perhaps there are only two couples at work here. It looks as though Elizabeth Frost was no more than about 21 or 22 years old when she was married, and was well into her forties when her last child was born.

A John Pinch of Turnchapel died at age 56 and was buried on 14/7/1835; clearly this was the man who had married Elizabeth Frost in 1804. If his age has been correctly recorded, he would have been born between July 1778 and July 1779. It is hard to see how he could be related to the St Kew Pinches, unless he was another son of John and Mary, born after James and before Robert. And, as we have seen, there were plenty of other Pinch masons about.

Here are the 1861 census records for the households of Thomas Pinch (born 1804) and John Pinch (born 1806).

Plymstock, 1861:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Thomas Pinch	Head	M	M	56	Stone Cutter	Plymstock
Matilda Pinch	Wife	M	F	53	Housekeeper	Plymstock
Matilda Pinch	Dau	U	F	28		Plymstock
John Pinch	Son	U	M	17	Stone Mason Apprentice	Plymstock
Robert Brooking	GSon	U	M	5		Deptford, Kent
Richard Brooking	GSon	U	M	4		Deptford, Kent

Plymstock, 1861:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John Pinch	Head		M	54	Stone mason	Unknown
Mary Pinch	Wife		F	52		Plymstock
John Pinch	Son	U	M	18	Shoemaker	Plymstock
Richard Pinch	Son	U	M	15	Shipwright Apprentice	Plymstock

There is another coincidence here, because the maiden name of Thomas' wife Matilda was Sloggett, and one of our St Kew Pinches married a Sloggett at about the same time. But I suppose that it is all just coincidence.