Writing

[MarkJ]

At the wedding of John Jose in 1804, John signed the marriage register with his own hand - and the writing is actually far better than my own (and neater than the Reverend Hocker who officiated).
John would have been around 28 years old at the time.
Throughout his life, John was employed as a labourer.
Having seen many entries in parish registers, it seems unusual for someone with a manual labouring position to be able to write at all, never mind with such neat handwriting.

John is my brickwall - hence my interest in his writing! He seems to have been beamed down from space and arrived at the age of 28 or so outside the church to get married....
Hopefully I have added the relevant register entry!

 

[mugwortismy cat]

Who is the witness Thos. Jose -- father or brother?

 

[AnnB]

Have you discounted the John Jose who was baptised at Gunwalloe 22nd June 1777, son of Francis and Jane? It may be that that was all John could write - his name

 

[MarkJ]

Who is the witness Thos. Jose -- father or brother?

No idea. I suspect a brother, but have no evidence to back it up.
John literally appears from nowhere. He claims at various times to be from St Enoder parish, but no parish register mentions for a baptism for him (or any other Jose family entries until you go back to the 1600s!). It is as if the family moved in from elsewhere.

Of course, having worked on him for many, many years now (since the early 1980s at least), I have some ideas and theories. None is cast iron though - all based on circumstantial evidence!

John's descendants for a period lived at a place called Sunrising. It was literally on the border between St Enoder and St Stephen parish - the border passed through the gardens of the cottages!
John may have been born there perhaps, but again, no proof or evidence in either parish (the Jonathon in St Stephen seems unlikely to be him).

The majority of other Johns born around the 1775/6 period can be discounted for various reasons - marriage, distance (e.g the Gunwalloe chap Ann found, although that is not guaranteed) etc.
My most promising John is the one born in Helland. I have some circumstantial evidence to support him - such as a brother called Thomas and other things, but also some dis-provers, such as the failure to carry forward parental names. If this was the correct family, I would expect - following tradition - the first male child to be named Henry after the father there, but no Henry in the family of John.

 

[Figgs]

A thought here......he identifies himself as a "yeoman"......weren't yeomen rather wealthy or landowners? I have a few in my Whitehaven families. And have always meant to ask.....where did the name Jose come from?? Portugal or Spain. Got those in my husband's family, of course. Just curious. Very different pronunciations for Spanish and Portuguese.

Presently looking up Rendles, Lidstones and Tuplins in Devon....a lot in Chittlehampton. Do those towns, etc. figure in your transcriptions? Dad did belong to the Lidstone FHS, so have newsletters going back to the early days.

Have a good (rest of) the weekend......Heather.

 

[MarkJ]

Sadly Heather, pretty much every entry states "yeoman" unless the groom has a job worthy of mention. On that particular page there is a Carpenter, but the rest are all yeomen.
Like you, that was my first thought when I spotted yeoman - but typically, he was just a labourer.

Jose - as a Cornish surname and pronounced to rhyme with dose - is Romano-Celtic. Plenty of them around the ports in Cornwall - Truro, Penzance, Falmouth etc.

Devon is the other side of the Tamar
Most of my stuff is Mid Cornwall - from the Newquay area across, through the middle towards St Austell on the other coast. I do though work on other areas occasionally - but don't think I have had any Devon stuff.

 

[Figgs]

Thanks Mark. Naturally my husband's ancestors are pronounced Ho-say. But when we were in Portugal it is more like the way you say it. Or Josey.

I have books on our families in the Devon area and so on, but basically for the names I mentioned. They then came out to Prince Edward Island in the early 1800's so concentrating on that area this summer. Have met up with some really amazing people on the PEI Genealogy FB group and wanted to head down there this summer, but looming dental surgery messed that up. Still haven't had it, but I will go down next year. (need those teeth to munch on lobster and mussels, lol).

 

[MarkJ]

Have met up with some really amazing people on the PEI Genealogy FB group and wanted to head down there this summer, but looming dental surgery messed that up.

EEEK!
I have a dentist phobia! Despite my ongoing medical problems - which can involve some pretty unpleasant things, I would still rather have them than go to the dentist - even just for a checkup!
Strange isn't it?

 

[Figgs]

Nope!! I am absolutely terrified myself. I have been putting this off for months!! I will spare you the details but they want me to get several out at once. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!

And the new surgeon refused to put me out with a general anaesthetic.......cuz I am too OLD!! (insert curse words here). I had dental surgery in December for 2 with a general, so how did I suddenly get too old? My family doctor was not impressed. Nor am I.

 

[MarkJ]

You are frightening me Heather!
I would have clicked "Like" but it doesn't seem right!
The beggars really hate me when it comes to anaesthetics - because of my heart, it means they have to ask the cardiac guys about that, then the diabetic guys turn up, then the oncology people....

You are not old Heather! They worry because of the modern day way of finding someone to sue
It is getting silly that people with conditions which may need help are being scrutinised in case anything isn't perfect and the lawyers crawl out.

Top tip from me: I would rather they bloody sorted it than ******** about wondering if somebody might sue!

 

[Figgs]

Thanks Mark!! You hit the nail on the head. My heart is fine and my health is good. I have allergies to painkillers and antibiotics, and he also said I don't use a general on people your age!! I knew he was lying and that there was another reason. So I put him on the spot and questioned his reasoning. He did not like that. My teeth are fused into the bone......I am still not over having 4 removed a year ago.....nerve damage, to be honest.

Not sure what will happen, but will go back to the one who did last year's. I know what you go thru b/c my husband has been battling cancer for 13 years. He has some kidney problems due to the cancer meds. Getting old is not for sissies.

Oh, and I won't tell them I worked in law for 30 years....grin. But as you can imagine, this is driving me nuts. I didn't mean to scare you but it does help to talk about it a bit. Dentist is pushing to get it all over in one fell swoop. Ron and I think just half of that. Thanks pussycat....take care of yourself too.

 

[Findem]

John signed the marriage register with his own hand - and the writing is actually far better than my own

I have some pages copied from a family bible, the info would have been written by either my paternal great grandfather George Theobald or his wife Sarah. George was an Ag Labourer until he, his wife and family moved to Chelmsford Essex around 1890, he then was stated to be a General Labourer and finally a council worker. Sarah's father and brothers were all Ag Labourers. The writing is in a great hand with style and like in your case far better than mine, it does make one wonder how it came about doesn't it.