The only BISHOP-WINDEATT connection I can find is a MARRIAGES notice from the Exeter Flying Post:

1874, May 28, at Moretonhampstead church, Mr. Cyprian WINDEATT, of East Coombe, North Bovey, to Sarah, only daughter of the late Mr. Thomas BISHOP, of Moreton.

James Cyprian Sawdye WINDEAT belonged to this Moretonhampstead farming family and his bride was Sarah Tucker BISHOP [GRO Ref 5b 250 - should you want to buy a copy of the certificate.)

Regards, Sandra

Further to the FITZHERBERT/BISHOP connection I notice that on FREEBMD there is a birth of a John Rowden BISHOP in the March quarter of 1841 in the Newton Abbot Register Office District [Vol 10, p. 144]. I would suggest it might be worth paying the money and getting a copy of the certificate. If his mother is registered as Mary BISHOP then I think it might be your man.

Why he changed his name, would be a fascinating further investigation. Could be that a FITZHERBERT took on him or his mother as a charitable effort (the Victorians were keen on doing good), or could be that his mother was related to the FITZHERBERTs and he had to change his name as part of an inheritance deal, or, as often happened, he could have been illegitimate and FITZHERBERT was the name of his father.

There is no law about what you have to call yourself in England and you can call yourself whatever you like and it is legal so long as other people know you by that name. Lots of people do, indeed, change their names by DEED POLL to make it offical but, legally, you don't have to.

Good luck!

Sandra

Hello Giles

Thanks for getting in touch. I know very little about this branch of WINDEATs - although there is quite a bit of documentary evidence around if you want to research them - a whole catalogue of documents in the Devon Record Office. What little I know is mentioned briefly on my Trees page - scroll down to the section marked EAST DARTMOOR WINDEATs:

http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/windeatt/tree.htm#list

I have never found a connection with the Totnes (solicitors) or Tavistock families although I have often wondered if they were connected because the Moretonhampstead people were also reasonably well off - although they were farmers rather than in trade.

There is a FITZHERBERT connection but email privately about it because it falls within the hundred-year privacy guideline (although it is in the public domain and I guess you will already have found it).

I would suggest you start by having a look at the file in the DRO archives - if you haven't already. I would be very interested in anything you find out so do keep in touch.

Sandra

Edited by author 28-01-2010 19:38
Hi :)
Have recently come into the possession of some old (1981) correspondance which included the following:

John Raoul Brian FITZHERBERT was born in a place called Bishop in the Moretonhampstead area. His father married a WINDEAT whose family were solicitors in Devon and involved with the FAIRCHILD family of Newton Abbot.

The author lived, as a small child, with JRB FITZHERBERTs widow so may be accurate in what she writes. On the other hand old people do get confused :(

JRB FITZHERBERT is believed to have been born circa 1829/1840.

The referrence to the FAIRCHILD family is because the author of the letter was descended from that family.

My own branch of the FITZHERBERT family, descended from JRB FITZHERBERT, have the oral tradition that he "changed his name from BISHOP to FITZHERBERT which he was entitled to do and the truth lies with Mary BISHOP in Moretonhampstead". (whatever that might mean)

I spoke to Mollie WINDEAT (nee MORGAN) the widow of Rowden Sawdye WINDEAT (d.1989) many years ago and she recalled that her husband had mentioned FITZHERBERT cousins.

I know there is a connection between my family and the WINDEATs/ROWDENs/BISHOPs but in 30 years of trying I haven't yet found it.

Lots more information about Corelli Windeatt (Horrabridge tree) now uploaded.

http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/windeatt/horrabridge/corelli.htm

Edited by author 14-12-2009 04:49
Hello Anna

Yes, it is good to see that the family surnames are still being passed down through your own family.

And I also don't know how the inventory found its way onto eBAY. However, I notice that on the copy of your family tree (which I was sent by Totnes museum) there is a stamp in the top left-hand corner which indicates that it was sent from a company called BEARNES to a company called WINDEATTS. I assume that WINDEATTS was your family's branch of solicitors in Totnes but I know their records were deposited in the Devon Record Office a few years ago (and the inventory was obviously not with them).

I am not sure why BEARNES would have been sending a family tree to WINDEATTs rather than the other way around but a quick google search seems to indicate that it might have been a company of fine art valuers. In which case, the annotations on the family tree about portraits could be related to the company's attempts to identify provenance for some paintings. Perhaps the solicitors were selling the portraits at the same time as they got rid of the papers by depositing them with the Devon Record Office?

Of course this has nothing directly to do with the inventory but it shows how the inventory might have become attached to another solicitors' or other professional company's records (such as a fine art valuers) and then, when they go out of business or want to get rid of some of their old files, the papers end up with a seller of ephemera.

Anyway, I have now sent the inventory to Totnes Museum where it can be preserved for anyone who may have an interest in seeing it. Curiously, the museum curator who replied said she wondered where the paintings were now. You don't know what happened to any of them, do you? If my speculations about the link with BEARNES should happen to be correct then it's possible that they may have been sold at some time.

I have also now replied privately to your original message and apologise for leaving it so long. I have a few outstanding queries at the moment - apologies to anyone else still waiting to hear from me - please do remind me if I appear to have ignored any previous messages.

Sandra

re mary fabyn windeatt belongs to our family our eldest son is jonathan knowles windeatt as i told sandra francis windeatt is my husband davids grandfather his father lt col john windeatt devonshire regiment deceased dont know who would have put all her goods on e bay

Edited by author 30-11-2009 21:02
A kind contact from the Staverton branch has sent me a splendid article on Corelli Windeatt (Horrabridge branch) from a 1911 copy of The Dancing Times. I will be posting it on the website shortly.

I've also typed up the inventory of Mary WINDEATT's possessions (Totnes branch) - and it was Phil from the Horrabridge branch that alerted me to the existence of this document. I have sent the original to the Totnes Museum for their archives.

Many thanks to everyone who has sent me all this historical information - much appreciated.

Sandra

Thanks Bob for all this information. Could you send me your email address privately - (i.e. not on this message board in order to avoid spam) - my address is at the bottom of the Home page? Sandra W

Hi again,
         I can confirm you are on the right track with Mary Parslef and John Damerell (just about as many variants of this latter name as yours) as they are both related to Wingate. Mary d/o Robert & Mary Parslef (also appears as Parsley) baptised at Dodbrooke 20/03/1836 and born 01 Mar, father a labourer & Mary his wife nee Damerell. Mary Damerell is born & baptised here, d/o Robert & Elizabeth Damerell nee Jeffries and Robert is a son of Michael who married Sarah Merrigane at Kingsbridge hence the I.G.I. is useful here for both the marriage and the children of Michael & Sarah Damerell. Thus Robert their son is a brother to Sarah who married John Wingate in Dodbrooke. Robert & Elizabeth Damerell, nee Jeffries have a Robert who married Elizabeth March (possible link with Jane March who married William Wingate) and they had a son John Damerell who is the lodger with Edwin in Lambeth 1851. Hope this is of interest? Best wishes Bob.

Hi and thanks very much for the information. I am researching the interaction between Damerell and Wingate etc in the parish of Dodbrooke because, as you have also, Sarah Damerell etc married John Wingate here, she the daughter of Michael & Sarah nee Merrigame. Baptised at Kingsbridge (see I.G.I) her father Michael was of Loddiswell when he married Sarah Merrigame at Kingsbridge (see I.G.I.). Michael Damerell was actualy baptised at East Allington son of Michael & Elizabeth Jane, and Michael senior was also baptised here, s/o John & Priscilla Damerell nee Jarves. Thus we can get back to 1688 at East Allington with the marriage there of John Damerell & Priscilla Jarves but still looking for their origins. Thanks again Bob Shephard.

I have now transcribed the Inventory of Mary WINDEATT née KNOWLES of the Totnes tree (grandmother of Francis Knowles WINDEATT) and given her a page of her own, here:

http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/windeatt/totnes/mary_knowles.htm

Sandra

Edited by author 19-11-2009 21:00
Hi Dave

Thanks for getting in touch. A family tree I have shows an Agnes WINGET (married John DART in 1801) as the sister of Robert WINGET (born perhaps 1787) who is at the head of the TORQUAY tree - details on that page:

http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/windeatt/tree-torquay.htm

as you can see Robert WINGET was married in June 1810 in Churston Ferrers.

I have not researched this family myself and am not sure why Agnes was added to the tree as Robert's sister but certainly Robert's grand-daughter was named Jane DART Windeatt (born 14/11/1848 - see http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/windeatt/bmd/births1837.htm for a transcription). That could be entirely coincidental - however it could suggest a continuing family connection. Against this theory, however, is the apparent lack of any of Robert's descendants being given the name Agnes which would be strange. However, again, this family moved on out to Brixham - amongst other places - which would suggest that she may well be connected to the Torquay tree.

Do you know when she died? If she died after 1837, there might just be a death certificate which would give a Date of Birth? I couldn't see her listed in the 1841 census on Ray Osborn's pages though - have you tried looking for her on the 1841?

If you get no further then I could certainly suggest some parishes where you could start looking for baptism records - based on what we know of this family's likely movements. However, this would be a slow process given that probably quite a lot of them are not indexed.

Possibly someone else who has researched these trees more closely may be able to help more?

Sandra W

No-one trying to research my family has been able to identify AGNES WINGET (my ggggrandmother) who married John Dart at Churston Ferrers, Devon, 14th April 1801 (she was a sojourner in that parish), and after his death in 1811 remarried, to John Skelley at Brixham St Mary, Devon, 15 Nov 1814.
The IGI gives a baptism at Landulph, just across the Tamar in Cornwall, 22 Oct 1769, parents Thomas & Agnes Winget, but I could not find that on the Bishop's Transcript in the Exeter record office, and anyway the date seems a little early.
Does this ring any bells please ?

Thanks Andrew, I have updated the link on my ORIGINS page, and slightly changed the wording of the paragraph:

http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/windeatt/origins.htm#winniate