Farmery of Northorpe

My oldest documented ancestor is probably Christopher son of Willyam and Jane Farmerie, baptised at Alkborough 22.4.1670. He married Ann Thomas at Burton upon Stather 29.6.1693 and it was their son Robert who was buried at Walesby in 1782.

Back in the middle of 2008 I spent a research weekend in Leeds with Malcolm and Veronica Farmery, looking specifically at the Northorpe Farmery family who were notable there in the 16th and 17th centuries. They are recorded in the Heralds Visitation but rather than take the printed tree as the starting point we instead reconstructed the families using their wills (proved at Lincoln Consistory Court, at Stow and at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury). Comparing these families to the printed tree in the visitation showed a couple of significant errors.

John Farmery of Northorpe (PCC will 1551) had children Robert, Margaret (wife of Edmund Yarburgh), John (clerk of Blyborough?) and William (born 1520?).

William Farmery of Northorpe (LCC will 1557) married Margaret Peake and had children William, John, George, Anthony, Robert, Elizabeth, Anne and Alice.

John Farmery (yeoman PCC will 1598) married Isabella and had children Ellen, Margaret, Jane, Christopher (named as his eldest son) and John.

Christopher Farmery married Barbara Bedford 11.10.1608 at Potterhanworth and was buried 19.12.1659 at Northorpe. They had children Amos (1609), Anne (1611), John (1614), Jane (1616), George (1618), Ellen, William, Christopher (1625) and Anne (1628/9); there are no baptisms at Northorpe for Ellen or William (who also does not appear on the tree in the visitation). The will of Christopher Farmery gentleman of Northorpe (Stow 1660) names "George my eldest son, Willyam my second son and Christopher my youngest son", suggesting that sons Amos and John were dead by 1654 (when the will was written) and that son William was born between 1618 and 1625. In 1661 William Farmery of Northorpe, and his brothers, released all their rights to the goods and chattels of their father in favour of their sisters Jane and Ann.

Could William (born 1618-1625) son of Christopher be the same William who baptised a son Christopher at Alkborough in 1670? The name Christopher does seem unique to this particular family and although William would have been an older father (aged between 45 and 52) in 1670 he could have had other children elsewhere prior to this date.

So can I trace my own Farmery line back to a death at Northorpe in 1551 and therefore a birth in the late 1400's?

First 100% 37 Marker DNA Match! Is this Farmery of Northorpe?

The test results for Farmery of Vancouver/Grimsby have now been received and are, as expected, a perfect match for Farmery of Binbrook!

The tree of the Vancouver/Grimsby family includes my 6 x gt grandfather Robert Farmery, warrener, buried at Walesby 16.11.1782 and his widow Ann, of Risby warren house, buried there 13.6.1785. It is thought that Robert and Ann had a son William baptised at Manton 27.5.1744 and he was buried in Walesby 9.10.1750. Elizabeth Farmery buried at Walesby 16.11.1765 age 16 (so born ~1749) is likely to be their daughter. This would suggest that Robert and Ann moved to Walesby between 1749 and 1750. It is possible that Robert is a descendant of the Farmery family of Northorpe, if so we now have the DNA signature for this well documented group!

The head of the Binbrook family was Robert Farmery who was, according to the 1851 and 1861 census, born 1787 Walesby. Although no baptism has been found it is thought that Robert was the son of John Farmery baptised at Walesby 2.2.1751 son of Robert Farmery and "Mary". As this is the only Farmery family in Walesby and they had only recently arrived in the village it is possible that John's mother was in fact Ann not Mary and this was an error of recording by the parish clerk.

John Farmery 1751 had a son John baptised Walesby 23.11.1777 - is this John the father of the illegitimate John Farmery Danby at the head of the North Ormsby family? The DNA signature for North Ormsby matches Binbrook and now Vancouver/Grimsby on 35 out of 37 markers, suggesting that Binbrook and Vancouver/Grimsby are the modal signature.

1911 Census Household Images

I spent yesterday at the National Archives in Kew where you can access the 1911 census (http://www.1911census.co.uk/) website and see the household images at no charge, printing out individual images for just 20p each. I was able to print out every FARMERY household for the whole country apart from the counties (Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire East and North Ridings) not yet available. I would estimate that I came away with perhaps 200 A3 photocopies!
Even allowing for the petrol to Kew and back, this was very cost effective compared to viewing the images on line at home which needs 10 credits to view the transcript or 30 credits to view the actual image - the minimum number of credits that can be purchased is 60 for £6.95 (or 12p per credit) making a single image £3.50; even buying 600 credits for £49.95 (8p per credit) makes a single image £2.40. There is no charge to see the online index.

The 1911 census has been released 3 years early as it was not set up under the usual 100 year restriction. The whole of the household image can be seen apart from the final "infirmity" column which will be hidden until 2012. For the first time each household is on a single page and the image is of the schedule actually completed by the householder rather than as told to and written by the enumerator; the only downside of this is where the handwriting is not easy to read (not that every enumerator in earlier censuses had copperplate writing!) Extra information for this census includes how many years a couple have been married and the total number of children from the marriage, indicating the number still living and predeceased. Each household schedule is signed by the person, usually the head of household, filling in the form.

Now I just need to add these 700+ individuals to the database ....

Thetford Warren Lodge

Whilst in Norfolk over Christmas I took the opportunity to visit Thetford warren lodge which dates from the fifteenth century and was built as a home and headquarters for the gamekeeper of the prior of Thetford who had hunting rights in the area.

The principal room of the square tower form building was at first floor level and defensive features included the narrow loops for windows on the ground floor and a hole for dropping missiles above the entrance.

Rabbits were introduced by the Normans as an extra food source. About ten rabbits per acre could be caught each year without decreasing the stock which needed to be closely guarded from poachers. In Norfolk rabbit farming was still a local occupation right up to the second world war.

Robert and Ann FARMERY (my 6 x gt grandparents) appear to have moved into Walesby, Lincolnshire, between 1744 and 1750 and they were both buried there - Robert FARMERY, warrener, in 1782 and Anne FARMERY, widow of Risby warrenhouse, in 1785. It is likely their daughter Anne married Francis SOWERBY, warrener, in 1769 and Anne may have had a brother John who was also a warrener. There are no remains of the warrenhouse at Risby, a hamlet in Walesby parish - now just a farmstead.

1911 Census Now Available

Indexes to images from the 1911 census are available online for most counties. Some information on the actual images will not be available until after January 1st 2012.

All counties of major interest in terms of FARMERY representation are available apart from Durham and the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire.

The cost of viewing the transcriptions and images is quite high so at this point I have simply downloaded all entries from the index into an excel spreadsheet. I am slowly rechecking the index for the relationship to the head of household (head, wife, daughter, mother etc) with the aim of reconstructing individual families by then sorting on county, district, age etc.

Detailed below are the number of individuals and households (based on the number of "head of household" from the index) in 1911, with a comparison to the numbers on the 1901 census:

FARMERY
704 individuals in 163 households (1901: 792, 179)

FARMARY
0 individuals (1901: 12, 2)

FARMEREY
2 individuals in 1 household (1901: 0 individuals)

FARMEARY
9 individuals in 1 household (1901: 0 individuals)