James Trewheela of Scilly

[Cornish Terrier]

A new twist to the tale of the Trewhella family of Towednack perhaps!

I have just found the following entry in the Register of Burials 1599-1711 St Just In Penwith (Transcribed by Canon T. Taylor)

8th September 1688 James son of James Trewhela

James Trewhela, Churchwarden of Towednack, was almost certainly the first of the Trewhella family in that area and probably came from St Erth.

There is no indication of other members of the family in Towednack and those at St Erth seem to have gradually disappeared.

The last occurences of the name James at St Erth were in 1605 and 1625 with both living only about 1 year.

In fact from about 1696 until the 19th Century James can be found in the Trewhella families on only a couple of occasions.

And apart from an instance at Crowan during the 18th Century it can only be found in the Towednack families.

So the question is - just who was this James Trewhela who buried a son of that name at St Just in 1688?

It seems there can be only one answer.

James Trewheela wrote his Will 29th January 1699/1700 and mentioned two brothers and numerous cousins but no wife or children.

A reconstruction of the family from the remaining pieces of information indicates that he was probably a son of James and Blanch Trewhela with his father being son of James the Churchwarden.

James of Scilly was the last of this name until 1692 and then 1696 when his brothers John and William each named a son James.

Sadly little or no information prior to about 1726 survives for the Scillies.

I have no idea what James was doing out there or how long he was there.

Logic suggests that this James Trewhela must have been the father of the child buried at St Just and it therefore indicates the probability that he married at some time prior to 1688.

Perhaps he married out on the Scillies and his wife died there but the burial is the only clue we have.

CT

[myghaelangof]

No Trewhella's in the Parliamentary Survey of Duchy lands for Scilly in 1652.

[Cornish Terrier]

Thanks Mike - good to have you around again.

1652 would have been too early but I would like to know if there are any other similar documents surviving for the Scillies.

By my reckoning James Trewheela would have been born probably in the 1640's or possibly 1650's.

The earliest record I have for his immediate family is the baptism of sister Ann at St Erth 8th November 1644.

I have linked him to Ann because of a mention in his Will to 'Ann wife of Nicholas Bryan'.

Nicholas Bryan married Ann Trewhella 26th April 1674 at Towednack.

His father, also James, is believed to be the James Trewhela buried at Towednack 9th March 1697 and also the same James mentioned in the Rosewall Deposition in 1680 as age 65.

So I would be looking at the younger James possibly being on the Scillies sometime in the 1680's.

He may have been there earlier and possibly moved back and forth but by his Will he certainly appears to have been there in 1699/1700.

Unother unknown in this is the age of son James when he was buried in 1688.

I am finding indications with the Eddy family at St Just that some were possibly as old as 20 when buried as 'son or daughter of .....'

CT

[myghaelangof]

Ian,
Thought it worth looking in 1652 in case of any family connection.
Pardon me if I've missed something, but how do we know James was 'of Scilly' Is it purely from the wording of the will of 1699

[Cornish Terrier]

Always worth a look Mike.

Yes the only connection to the Scillies is that Probate was granted there 15th April 1700.

With Probate taking place on the Scillies it would suggest his Will was made there and this then suggests he may have been there for some time.

There is no mention, other than Probate, of the Scillies in the Will.

In fact the only land that is mentioned is a share in the Lady Downs which is in Towednack.

The bulk of the bequests are in lots of 5 pounds with a couple of 20 shillings and some deeds and leases involved.

All very perplexing.

CT

[Cornish Terrier]

Seems that Spring has caused a flurry of 'resurrections'!!! This is the THIRD thread I have resurrected this week I think!!

The Will of James Trewheela of Scilly has one particular bequest that has always puzzled me - in fact it is the very first bequest he made:-

Item I Give and Bequeath unto Elizabeth Trewheella Daughter of Thomas Trewheella ffive pounds

Puzzling for a couple of reasons -

1. There appear to be but two Thomas Trewhellas who could be involved
2. Of the records available the only Elizabeth baptised to a Thomas Trewhella was at Breage in 1680

The two Thomas Trewhellas are;-
1. son of James Trewhella the Churchward of Towednack who would have been born sometime after 1622 as he did not sign the 1641 Protestation Return. He married Katherine Buswin at St Erth in 1651
2. son of Thomas and Katherine (Buswin) born sometime after 1652 but he married Phillis Hosking at Towednack in 1686 and had one know daughter, Dorothy, baptised at Towednack in 1690

In the Will of James Trewheela 'Elizabeth Trewheela daughter of Thomas Trewheella' seems to imply that her father was still alive but available records suggest it was he who was buried at Towednack in 1685. If that were the case then Elizabeth would have to have been the daughter of the younger Thomas.

James did leave a bequest to 'William son of Martin Trewhella' - William was the first of six children of Martin who were living at the time James wrote his Will.
James also left a bequest to John son of John Trewhella this being the eldest of three children of brother John who were then living.
But he left bequests to two children of brother William - son William and daughter Elizabeth - where were the two eldest of five children then living.

I cannot explain the bequests to two children of brother William but the rest seem to indicate bequests only to the first born living child of each relative. That would suggest that Elizabeth daughter of Thomas was the first born living child which in turn suggests Thomas may have either been married before or that the baptism of Elizabeth is missing despite Towednack records from 1676 onwards being reasonably well complete except for some gaps between 1703 and 1720.

But then the exception becomes Matthew Trewhella whose son Matthew was baptised in 1679! Perhaps the fact he acquired the Lady Downs is the reason for that. (And that was likely due to some wording in a Lease on the property)

Final point to make on this is regarding the 1680 baptism of Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Trewheela of Rengy (Rinsey) 14th February 1680 at Breage. If this was Thomas from Towednack then there is yet another marriage missing but if not it would mean that the baptism for Elizabeth is missing and this Breage event is another family. And that opens another can of worms ................. !

That 'other can of worms' being the family of Trewhela als Polglase sometimes known as Polglase als Trewhela of Cury!!!

CT

[Cornish Terrier]

As a follow up to my last post - I have just spent a little time looking at the problem of 'Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Trewhella' and have arrived at a somewhat uneasy conclusion. It does appear to be the only logical answer to the problem but I am still 'uneasy' about it.

First thing was to check again for any possible marriage for Thomas Trewhella (var.) prior to 1681 that might account for Elizabeth Trewhella baptised at Breage in 1680. Even down to searching on a surname using the minimum characters plus wildcards such as t%l produced no possibility.
I then checked, using similar search terms, for the possibility of a female Trewhella burial between 1681 when Elizabeth was baptised and 1686 when Thomas married Phillis Hosking - again with no results.

And then I went back to look at the Trewhela als Polglase/Polglase als Trewhela family. The elder Thomas died in 1686 and left a Will along with six childen, one of whom was married in 1672 indicating Thomas himself was probably married before about 1650. He could not be the father of Elizabeth and, it appears, nor could his son Thomas who did not marry until 1687 and died just a few months later.

It would appear that there may be no option but to accept that Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Trewhella baptised 1681 at Breage must be the girl referred to in the 1699 Will of James Trewheela of Scilly. That then suggests that Thomas Trewhella of Towednack may indeed have been married twice and possibly widowed soon after the birth of his daughter.

There are a number of places Thomas could have been married and for which now some or all of the records for that particular time are lost. It is also possible that his wife could have been buried at Towednack with no record of the burial surviving. The earliest burials in the surviving Parish Register begin in September 1683 whilst the BTs survive for 1681 and 1684 but nothing more until 1690.

I think then that, for now at least, it must be accepted that Thomas Trewhella married twice and that the record of marriage and that of the burial of his first wife are lost. That does seem to be the only logical solution to the problem of 'Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Trewhella'.

Or course there just has to be one more problem to contend with! .............. what happened to Elizabeth

CT