Probable ancestors, not yet proven

Morebath, Devon

A small parish about two miles north-north-west of Bampton, whose Tudor parish accounts survive in print. Normans fill its Tudor records and its parish registers without a break from 1558. Our own line is proven there from 1700.

What the Morebath parish register proves

register From the Morebath (St George) parish register:

• 20 June 1700: "Edwardus Norman" married "Maria Blackmoor", daughter of Christopher Blackmoor, at Morebath. These are Edward Norman ?–1745 and Mary Blackmore 1672–1744.
• Their children were baptised at Morebath between 1701 and 1721: Edward, Maria, Robert, Joan, Christopher, Elizabeth, Ann, Christian and Thomas.
• 24 March 1708/9 (1709 in today's calendar): Christopher Norman 1709–1776 baptised, son of Edward and Mary Norman. He's Donald's direct ancestor.
• Christopher and his wife Sarah then moved to Bampton, about two miles away. There their son Christopher Norman 1750–1798, the next ancestor in the line, was baptised on 13 April 1750.

Source: FreeREG transcription of the Morebath St George parish register (free at freereg.org.uk), and the Bampton register. Dates before 1752 use the old calendar, in which the year began on 25 March.

Normans in Morebath for two centuries

register Morebath's burial register survives from 1558 and has Normans in it in every generation. The same two first names, Edward and Christopher, keep coming back:

1. 1573: Edwarde Norman buried. Probably one of the Edward Normans named in the Tudor accounts.
2. 1590: Christopher Norman buried. His wife Sydwill and daughter Ann were buried in 1585.
3. 1609: Christopher Norman buried.
4. 1616: Edward Norman buried.
5. 1664–1698: a Christopher Norman whose children John (buried 1664), Elizabeth (1669) and Thomas (1672) died young. His wife Thomasin was buried in 1672, and he was buried in 1698.
6. 1700: our Edward Norman married Mary Blackmoor at Morebath.
7. 1709: their son Christopher baptised at Morebath. He is Donald's direct ancestor.

Normans never left the parish in those two centuries. That fits an unbroken descent from the Tudor Normans of the churchwardens' accounts, but a pattern of names isn't proof. Other Norman households, such as those of Thomas, John and Silvester, lived in Morebath at the same time.

The best candidate for Edward's father

probable, not proven Christopher Norman, buried at Morebath in 1698. He's the right age, he was there, and Edward named his own son Christopher. But that name may equally honour Mary's father, Christopher Blackmoor. Only Edward's baptism, or a will naming "my son Edward", can settle it.

Where the trail stops

The Morebath register itself has a gap from 1645 to 1684, exactly when Edward was born. Copies sent to the bishop (the Bishop's Transcripts) survive for some of those years (1664–72, 1675, 1678 and 1684–87), so his baptism may be there. FamilySearch has filmed them, but the images can't be viewed from home. They can be seen at a FamilySearch Center (free), or a search can be ordered from the Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter.

Sources: Morebath parish registers and burial index (Devon Record Office, via FamilySearch, England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1529–1974); FreeREG transcription of the Morebath register; FamilySearch catalogue (Morebath registers, 1558–1645 and 1684 on; Bishop's Transcripts, 1615–1838).

The Norman households of Morebath, 1520–1750

Here are the Morebath Normans the records let us group into families. A household is only grouped where a record says "wife of", "son of" or "daughter of", and several men share the same name, so two cards with the same name may be different people. Solid lines are proven by a parish record. The dashed line is the probable link that Edward's baptism would prove or disprove.

Tudor households, 1520s–1590s

Stuart households, 1600s

From Morebath to our proven line

Reconstructed from the Morebath churchwardens' accounts (1520-1573), the Morebath burial index (FamilySearch, 'England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1529-1974') and FreeREG transcriptions of the Morebath and Bampton registers. Households are grouped only where a record says 'wife of', 'son of' or 'daughter of'. Links between households are NOT proven unless status is 'proven'. Several men share the same name, so two entries with the same name may be different people.

The Morebath accounts

Sir Christopher Trychay was vicar of Morebath from 1520 until his death in 1574. The parish wardens' accounts from his time survive, and were published as The Accounts of the Wardens of the Parish of Morebath, Devon, 1520–1573, edited by J. Erskine Binney (1904). The historian Eamon Duffy used them to tell the village's story through the Reformation in The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village (Yale University Press, 2001).

• Read the 1904 edition free: archive.org
• Name index to the Morebath churchwardens' accounts: GENUKI

Normans in Tudor Morebath

We've now searched the whole of Binney's 1904 edition. The Norman name appears more than 400 times. The Normans weren't one stray family. They were one of the leading households of the parish, farming at Court, Wood, Poole, Loyton, Rill, Exebridge and Holwell. The vicar often calls a man by his farm, for example "John Norman at Courte".

Some of the Normans in the accounts

• John Norman senior and John Norman "ye yonger" are both named among the parish's leading men in 1526.
• John Norman at Courte was High Warden, the chief churchwarden, in 1526 and 1539. He appears from 1521 to 1556.
• Thomas Norman was High Warden in 1525 and 1538.
• John Norman at Wode (Wood) was High Warden in 1531. He was "buryed yn ye yle be fore sent sydwyll", in the church aisle before the St Sidwell altar, and his bequest bought candlesticks for the church.
• John Norman at Pole was High Warden in 1545 and 1559. In 1549, the year of the Prayer Book Rebellion, he "payd" Christopher Morsse 2s 6d "for hys sword". Later he and John Norman at Ryll were paid "to serve the Quene at Exceter".
• Alsyn (Alice) Norman at Courte, a widow, served as High Warden in 1563.
• Edward Norman at Wode was young men's warden in 1536 and High Warden in 1568. He may be the Edward Norman buried in 1573.
• Christopher Norman of Wode was active in the parish in the later 1560s. His son John was chosen as a young men's warden: "John Norman the sonne of Christofer Norman of Wode" (1565–66).

Quotations are from the 1904 printed text, as scanned (spelling as in the original). The full list of every Norman entry, with page numbers, is in the project's research notes (research/morebath_normans.md).

The research plan

1. Done: every Norman in the Tudor accounts is listed.
2. Done: Edward's 1700 marriage and Christopher's 1709 baptism are confirmed in the Morebath register.
3. Done: the Morebath burial register shows Normans in the parish in every generation from 1558.
4. Next: look for Edward's baptism in the Morebath Bishop's Transcripts for 1664–72, 1675, 1678 and 1684–87 (FamilySearch film DGS 5751459), and in the register from 1684. They can be viewed at a FamilySearch Center, or through a search by the Devon Heritage Centre.
5. Look for a will or administration of Christopher Norman (died 1698) in the Devon probate indexes. Many Devon wills were lost in the 1942 Exeter blitz, but indexes and some copies survive.
6. Check a Bampton baptism of "Edward, son of Beniamen ?" (11 May 1683), whose surname can't be read in the transcription.
7. Rule out another Edward: "Edward, son of Henry and Elizabeth Norman", baptised at Halse, Somerset, on 26 February 1682, about 12 miles away. He's unlikely to be ours, but hasn't been ruled out.
8. DNA: no DNA match reaches back to Edward Norman or the Morebath Normans yet. Five matches do support the line from Christopher Norman (1750–1798) down.

Useful places: GENUKI: Morebath · FamilySearch Wiki: Morebath · Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter.