Vol. 17 No. 3 September 2002

Vol. 17 No. 3 September 2002

Table of Contents
Editor’s Letter
A seventeenth-century manuscript re-discovered!
An unusual gravestone
Milestones
Letters

Editor’s Letter

Dear Cousins,

This issue starts off with the discovery of an interesting document from more than three centuries past and goes forward to news of the most recent generation.

Those diligent workers researching the Blencowes and Blencoes of New York and Wisconsin have sorted out some of the problems with family trees. Their efforts would take up too much space in the newsletter so I am enclosing a separate sheet that you can slip into your copies of the book. Another will follow at Christmas.

I thought that it would be nice to share this picture of Bob and Helen Simpson with you. They need no introduction to most of us, but — for newcomers — they were the two most responsible for creating our Association and for keeping it going for more years than they care to count! We look forward to meeting up with them again in Vancouver next year.

Jack Blencowe, Oxford, September 2002

‘The life of Christopher Blencowe’: a seventeenth century manuscript re-discovered!
The cover illustration is part of the fly-leaf of a small booklet that reached me in a most interesting way. At the end of April I received a letter from Peter Roden who lives in Bradford:


I am prompted to write to you by the review of your book in the current edition of the Journal of One-Name Studies which I received this week. About 40 years ago, whilst I was an undergraduate at Cambridge University, I saw an old book on a stall in the Market Place there with the following title page:

The Life of Christopher Blencowe, of Blencowe, Esqre [1598-1669]

The book measures 6 x 7½ ins, contains 44 handwritten pages, and one of the notes in it is dated June 7th 1740. I bought it from the market trader simply because it was ‘old’, and it seemed like a good idea at the time to ‘rescue it from oblivion’.

I have no idea what I paid the market trader for the book originally, nor any idea of what its current market value might be, nor any intention of seeking commercial gain from the original investment. But it does seem to me that the book was compiled for, and intended to be a family heirloom, for the Blencowe family. How it got to the market stall in Cambridge 40 years ago, I have no idea.

If you would like to have it, I would be happy to pass it on to you’ and to keep unquantified commercial aspects out of the transfer, perhaps a ‘swop’ for a copy of your recent book on The Blencowe Families might be appropriate?

Interested?’

Of course, I jumped at the offer and soon received the little book, together with a full transcription that Peter had made some 40 years ago. It has slightly tattered red hard covers; the main text is written in ‘secretary hand’ and probably dates from before the death of Christopher’s widow Mary in 1674. The writer of the extensive notes dated 1740, mentions ‘my brother H.B.’ who visited Oxford in 1736. This would have been Henry Blencowe (1712-1765) who married Mary Prescott of Thoby Priory in Essex, the grand-daughter of Sir John Blencowe of Marston St Lawrence — the marriage that re-united the northern and southern branches of the family. The writer was probably Henry’s younger brother William (1714-1769) who married Elizabeth Latus (Layton?) and through her inherited Lowick Hall in Lancashire. For convenience I will refer to William as the writer of the notes from here on.


It appears that Christopher Blencowe had written a collection of religious ‘Meditations’ that his widow wished to be published, and she had asked Rev. Gabriel Smallwood, Vicar of Appleby, to write a preface for the book; Gabriel was son of Rev Dr Alan Smallwood, Rector of Greystoke 1663-1686, and I imagine that he must have based his account on his father’s reminiscences.

Our book is the text of the preface; we have not seen any record of the ‘Meditations’ having been published, but William wrote, ” This book of Meditations is still remaining in the hands of Mr Tenant of Chapel House in Craven, Yorkshire, whose Mother was one of the said Mr Blencowe’s Daughters…”

Smallwood sets out to rebut unjust remarks made about Christopher at the time of his death but draws a picture of a rather strange man and, if anything, damns him with faint praise.

Christopher was born in 1598, third son of Sir Henry Blencowe. After a spell at Magdalen Hall, Oxford he studied civil law at Grey’s Inn in London and was called to the Bar. Smallwood describes him as ‘of a Pregnant & industrious Disposition’. The other sons pleased Sir Henry less: William includes a copy of a letter from Sir Henry to his eldest son John in London in which he complains, “For thy Brother Anthony I can say no more than I have written, only this much, I utterly mislike his idle carriage since his coming thither”.

Back in Blencowe, Christopher is described as of ‘Swarthy Visage and Ebon Hair’ (that had since turned white); ‘it must be confessed that he was neither of a gracefull Countenance nor winning Presence … As to his Stature, He was of the lower Sort, & of a spare & weakish Body. [he] Delighted not in boistrous Altercations, …but in solitudes & Private Retirements, … He Delighted more in his Study than in his Dining Room … He was of that Frugality that he would never be guilty of the least vain Expence’.

He spent so much time at his studies that it was said ‘that he knew not his own Cattell’. He ‘used no Recreation but only to walk sometimes in his Garden or Oarchard … Which Innocent Divertisement malevolent Tongues Misinterpreted as done to the Preservation of his Apples.’ Dismissing this allegation, Smallwood recounts that ‘once espying a Youth in the Top of one of his Trees, & bidding him to come Down, the Malepert Boy replied that he wou‘d there hang himself upon one of the Bows unless he wou‘d Promise to let him go without Punishment. Whereupon the good old Gentleman … freely Dismist him with Pardon & Impunity.’


Smallwood continues at considerable length to excuse Christopher of the local accusations of miserliness. However, after his death on 23 April 1669 the Inventory of his Goods & Chattells (taken on 13 May) reported £1,544 in gold and money and £286. 19s. 0d. of debts owed to him. In his Will he had made charitable bequests of £20 and left 5 shillings to each of his servants, in the circumstances this cannot be regarded as munificent!

Smallwood does make one lighter comment. His father had told him that, on the last time Christopher had taken Communion he ‘Invited the old Gentleman when the Sacrament was adminstred, & the Service ended, to Partake of the consecrated Wine that remained, which he cheerfully accepted’. Two weeks later he died ‘Suddenly in the Field by a Fall from his Horse’.

The history of the book remains a mystery. I would guess that William took the ‘core’ manuscript by Smallwood and added notes at or about the time that his brother‘s marriage to Mary Prescott was being arranged. It looks as if he was researching the family history at the time of the reunion of the two branches of the family. The coat of arms on the flyleaf, beautifully executed in pen and coloured inks, shows the union of the arms borne by the southern branch with those of the Cumbrian family. There are several other sketches of coats of arms pasted inside the covers, including one labelled ‘Blencow of Northamptonshire’ and another that appears to be a drawing of the Blencowe arms still displayed in the church at Marston. The colours of the latter had ‘run’ and a note on the back reads, ‘ This was spoiled by throwing water upon It, as it being up in a Room when a Fire happened.’!

However did it find its way to Cambridge Market? To add to the puzzle, Peter Blencowe has another transcript of some or all of the text written in a quite different, 19th century hand!

I am making a facsimile of the original and will face the images page-by-page with a fair copy of Peter Roden’s transciption. As we already have transcripts of Christopher’s will, the inventory of his possessions, and even the cost accounts of his funeral, it could make an interesting little book. I will get an estimate of cost and we can decide whether it is of sufficient interest for the Association to publish it.

An unusual gravestone

A graveyard is an unlikely place for amusement but during the 1930s Jill Dudbridge spotted this stone in the graveyard at Winchester Cathedral. Thomas Thetcher had no known Blencowe connections, but maybe we could make him an honorary member?

In case the smaller print is illegible, here it is:


In grateful remembrance of whose universal
good will towards his Comrades
is placed here at their expence as a finall
testimony of their regard and concern.
‘Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier,
Who caught his death by drinking cold Small Beer.
Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall,
And when yere hot drink Strong or none at all.
This memorial being decay’d it was restored by the Officers of the Garrison A.D.1782
An honest Soldier never is forgot
Whether he die by Muskett or by Pot.
This Stone was placed by the North Hants
Militia when disembodied at Winchester,
on 26th April 1802 in consequence of
the original Stone being destroyed
Milestones
There have been celebrations amongst the descendants of William Blincow; in our last issue I printed a picture of Kendra Maissen at Cropredy Bridge where William and his family embarked in 1871 on their journey to Nebraska. Now Kendra’s grandparents Beverly & Ken Varcoe have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Sandy & Doris Nelson went from Spokane to Yakima for the occasion. They also went to Nebraska for the 80th birthday of Doris’ brother Merlin Greer and their sister Eva Taft. alt=”173nelson1.jpg” width=”360″ height=”270″ align=”left” />Doris Nelson (centre) with Beverley Varcoe and Kendra Maissen
Doris with her brother Merlin & sister Eva
Our condolences to Bill Blenko on the death of his elder son William H Blenko III. ‘Billy B’, as he was affectionately known in Milton WV, passed away in August after a long and distressing illness; he was 55 years of age. William George Blencowe, helping his son James R. to build his first home in Painted Post, NY in 1937
Letters

As you will have gathered, correspondence has been flashing back and forth about Blenco(w)es of NY and Wisconsin. Laura Pruden spotted it and sent a photo of William George Blencowe which she dated 1912. I copied it around and Joyce Gould replied that this was her grandfather WGB (1865-1940) and that it was actually taken much later, in 1937, when he had been helping her father build his first home, hence the claw hammer in his right hand!

Tony Benyon, a stained glass artist who is researching the history of mouth-blown glass, contacted me for information about William Blenko, founder of the Blenko Glass Company. He commented that William was involved in historically important glassmaking in London before his first trip to America.

Brian Shuckburgh had seen the mention of his family name in the Spring newsletter and contacted me – from Hawaii! This reminded me that I had not followed up the mention of John TownsonÅfs letter of 11 February. He had seen our website and wrote from Somerset:

I enclose a copy of a family tree that I did some years ago, which shows the connection between the Blencowe family of Marston St Lawrence and the Shuckburgh family of Bourton Hall, Warwickshire. I am descended from Elizabeth Blencowe (1796-1851) through her son Richard Henry Wood, later Shuckburgh. Although Richard and Ellen had five children, there were not many descendants and my Grandmother and Great Aunt, their grandchildren, were the last in the family to bear the Shuckburgh Name and Arms. The only surviving descendants today are my two Aunts and their families, my sister and her family and myself.

Rev Charles Blencowe was Rector of Marston St Lawrence for ten years before inheriting Bourton and I have the silver bowl presented to him by the parishioners on his leaving the village. I also have a nice oil portrait of him by Henry Pickersgill RA. and his spoons and forks! On inheriting, Charles Blencowe added the name Shuckburgh and moved to Bourton. He shortly afterwards rebuilt the church there. He and his wife, Arabella, had no children and, on his death in 1875, he left Bourton to his second nephew, Richard Henry Wood, on the condition that he change his name to Shuckburgh. Due to the agricultural depression of the late l9thC, Richard could not afford to live at Bourton and let it for some years before selling it in 1906. The contents of the house eventually arrived at Hatch Court, Hatch Beauchamp, where our family lived until 2000.

I don’t know what became of Edward Blencowe Wood and Samuel Frederick Wood, the two younger sons of Richard and Elizabeth, but by a strange circumstance, I do know a bit about the elder son, Rev Charles Robert Wood. My grandmother always said that the Wood family had been somewhat put out that my g-g-grandfather had been the one to inherit Bourton and also that he had dropped the name Wood completely in favour of Shuckburgh. There had therefore been no contact between the families since the late 19thC. I visited Bourton Hall in the late 1980s and learnt of a Miss Mary Wood who had corresponded with the then owners. I wrote her and she told me that she was a descendant of Charles Robert Wood who hadn’t wanted to inherit Bourton as he was a bachelor parson at the time that these things were being discussed. After Charles Blencowe Shuckburgh’s death, he did marry and had numerous children! He lived in Suffolk where Mary Wood still lived. She was obviously proud of her Blencowe ancestry and the name had continued to be used as a family name up to recent times. Mary Wood died in 1991 and I was amazed to be contacted by her solicitor to tell me that, apart from leaving me a print of Marston St Lawrence and a silver salver with the Blencowe coat of arms on it, she had made me her residuary legatee. A week later, I was to be found in Suffolk as a chief mourner to someone I had never met, in a church full of perfect strangers. I then had her cottage to sort out. Luckily everything I heard about Mary from her friends showed what a fun person she was and with a great sense of humour, so it wasn’t at all creepy. Family history has some strange results!

I seem to have written more than I meant to, but it shows that, although our connection to the Blencowes has become somewhat tenuous through time, we still have an interest in the family and our descent from it.

John Townson,
Hatch Beauchamp, February 2002

The Shuckburghs had descended in an unbroken male line since the 13thC, it was only in the 1700s that they started running out of male heirs! John Townson’s Blencowe ancestor Elizabeth was a daughter of Samuel Jackson Blencowe by his second wife Elizabeth Biker. ElizabethÅfs aunt, also Elizabeth, had married John Slowe, another man who took the Shuckburgh name (in 1762). Meanwhile, Samuel Blencowe’s son John Jackson Blencowe had married Louisa Biker, Elizabeth’s half-sister. The family relationships were truly complicated! I will try to set out a family tree in the next issue to make things clearer!