Trewren and Mitchell

[tonymitch]

OK folks....many moons ago I became intrugued by an 'alias' I stumbled across. I found that in Sancreed there was a Trewren with an alias of Mitchell (various spelling).

Tonight I have looked via the OPC site for other instances and found (blow me down) that between the years 1570 and 1639 there are no fewer than eleven such records. The spelling of Mitchell being variously Myhell Michel and Michell.
No other alias' being atributed to any other Trewens.

Why are there so many Trewren alias Mitchells during this 69 year period? There are also a couple of Mitchells alias Trewren. Any ideas anyone?

[Cornish Terrier]

Tony - some interesting reading that might help provide part of the answers for you.

myweb.tiscali.co.uk/truranfamilyhistory/new_page_10.htm

It seems:-

the first Cornish recorded Trewrens resided in the manor house at Drift in 1340

The first paragraph here indicates that a Trewren of Drift married a widow around 1400 and had four sons by her.

Amongst his grandchildren was a MICHAEL Trewren and perhaps this is the origin of the alias.

A little interesting reading here also:-

west-penwith.org.uk/sancreed2.htm

CT

[tonymitch]

Thanks CT.....but!!!

Straw grasping has been my forte for most of my life, however this 'Michael' suggestion I think is far too fragile.

Why not Trewren alias Thomas for example? Most of the Trewren/Michell crowd are named Thomas.

The Trewren site will probably prove very useful and is certainly interesting reading. I'll post any info I find regarding my 'probelm' when I discover any solution.

Tony M

[Cornish Terrier]

Tony - working on patronymics and considering the time period I would not consider it too fragile at all.

Besides ............... it's the best answer you have so far!

Certainly worth keeping in mind anyway.

CT

[tonymitch]

Yep....I agree about patronymics, but one child named Michael (ok...two) whilst there are several Thomas Trewerns including a Thomas the younger alias Michel. Why not pass the patronymic of Thomas on to the family? Why pick on poor old Michael?.....

Take the baptism of Thomas Trewern in 1639.....Why not Father Richard alias Thomas Trewern instead of alias Michell Trewerrn?........I'm not a happy bunny ......sensible theory but I think there is another even better one.

Tony M

[Cornish Terrier]

According to at least one Cornish Surnames site I have viewed we have this:-

Michel, Michell, Mitchel, Mitchell - from MYGHEL Cornish form of Michael

Could the name not be an indication that those who used it were descendants of Michael Trewren?

There may well be another explanation and I am far from an expert on the subject of alias names but this seems a logical answer.

CT

[tonymitch]

OK....but you will owe me a pint if I'm correct....there is more to this than meets the eye.....This Michell alias Trewern or Trewern alias Michell is more than just patronymic juggling......It's the best we have so far, but I have tis feeling in my water........

Tony M

[lipkatatar]

I looked into this last year as I have them in my own ancestry. The earliest example I could find is Thomas Myhell from Sancreed who married twice around 1570 and 1581. Thomas Myhell, his children and his grandchildren sometimes appear as Trewren alias Michell, sometimes as Michell alias Trewren and sometimes just as Michell.

[tonymitch]

There's buckets of Michel/Trewern/Trewern Michels floating around in Sancreed in the 16th Century. Lipkatatar, I'm not sure upon what you base Thomas Myhell married twice and his children and grandchildren alternate twixt Myhell and Trewern. Sure, we have Thomas Trewern alias Myhel marrying in 1570 and again there is a Thomas Trewern alias Myhell marrying in 1581. Very possibly the same chap but we also have Walter son of Thomas Trewern the younger alias Michell being baptised in 1607. Therefore there must have been at least two Thomas Myhell/Trewerns.

I reckon there's 70 years (1570-1637) of this crowd muddying the pristine waters around Sancreed. I've contacted Helen Truran (see CT's message on this thread) and she can shed no light on the matter except to postulate that a Trewern married a Michel who already had children before 1570 and the children were known by the Michel name.

Helen actually says]...."Judging by what I have seen in the lines, this practice only lasted for circa 40 yrs. and not all the children carried the name. Given the dates of birth for the children, it is very likely that the alias relates to the second marriage. All the children born of the second marriage appear to adapt this Trewren alias Mychell but interestingly, the practice isn't uniformly used and doesn't seem to recognised on formal documents ither than parish registers. Depending on how far you can go back with the Mychell line, I wouldn't be surprised if you see a Thomas Trewren marrying a Jane Mitchell in 1602, a William Trewren alias Tremwearne marring Jane Mitchell (2nd marriage in 1586) and a Walter Trewren marrying Margaret Mitchell in 1607"].......This is fine except the first record of the alias creeping in is 1570, 16 years before William marries Jane and there is no evidence that Jane was a Myhell, but fair doos Helen...I wouldn't be surprised either.

As CT points out (see entry for 14 August) there is a very useful site about the Trewerns and this next quote is rom that site (copyright Helen Truran..."On 2/8/1768, Charles was baptized as the son of Henry/Ann Trewren and he later married twice, Elizabeth Mitchell/Elizabeth Thomas, both of whom were married in Madron. Again the marriage alliance to the Mitchell family provides a further link to the Madron Trewrens lines of descendant and their children (Charles/Elizabeth) were brought up in the village of Madron".]...Not as useful as I first thought. Charles marries Elizabeth some 200 years after the first Trewern alias Myhell is recorded.

I'm no nearer to a resolution, but it's been fun trying.

[lipkatatar]

I have come across an interesting article that could possibly explain the Trewren alias Michell situation.

"Some Devon Surname Aliases" by Mike Brown. genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonMisc/Aliases.html

Brown argues that there is little evidence to support the theories that aliases were used to denote illegitemacy or to indicate a family's place of residence. However, he argues that there was a convention that aliases were used to preserve the previous names of females who had been named in property leases or wills and who had subsequently married. The alias form could also be applied to the children of the marriage to clarify their inheritance position in relation to their parents' families. This would explain why the alias form often disappeared after a few generations, when it no longer had any relevance.

My theory on the Sancreed "Trewren alias Mychell" descent is set out below. This is, of course, pure speculation and is bound to have some errors, but I believe it is a plausible explanation. (I have only included the lines of descent with the "alias").



(1) Thomas Trewren alias Myhell

11 Feb 1570, Mar, Thomas Trewren alias Myhell & Jenat
6 Apl. 1609, Bur, Thomas Trewren alias Michell

(2) 27 Aug 1573, Bap, Thomas s. of Thomas Mychell
29 Jan 1603, Mar, Thomas Michell alias Treuren & Jane

(3) 12 Dec 1604, Bap, Henrye s. of Thomas Michill jnr.

(3) 23 Mar 1607, Bap, Walter s. of Thomas Trewren the younger alias Michell

(3) 15 Nov 1609, Bap, Richard s. of Thomas Trewren

(4) 10 Oct 1637, Bur, Marie d. of Ric. Trewen alias Michell

(4) 27 Apr 1639, Bap, Thomas s. of Richard Trewren alias Michell & Elyzabeth

(3) 31 Dec1612, Bap, Tamzen d. of Thomas Trewren alias Michell

(3) 1 Aug 1615, Bap, Elyzabeth d. of Thomas Trewren alias Michell

(2) 6 Apr 1576, Bap, Willyam s. of Thomas Trewren

(3)16 Mar 1601, Bur, Son of William Michell alias Trewren not being baptised

(3) 23 Feb 1619, Bap, William s. of William Trewren alias Michell & Elizabeth



25 Jun 1581, Mar, Thomas Trewren alias Myhell & Jane

(2) 6 Oct. 1584, Bap, Francis s. of Thomas Mychell
5 Mar 1666, Burial, Francis Trewren alias Michell

(3) 30 Jan 1606, Bap, Christian, base s. of Frannces Michell alias Trewren

(3) 1 Aug 1610, Bap, Argent d. of Frannces Michell
17 Apr 1637, Mar, Argent Trewren alias Michell and Richard Trembah

(3) 24 Oct 1613, Bap, Gabriel s. of Frannces Trewren alias Michell


(2) 26th Dec 1594, Bap, Stephen, s. of Thomas Treuren
04 May 1619. Mar, Steven Trewren and Jane

(3) 27 Feb 1622, Bap, Thomas s. of Steven Trewren alias Michell & Jone


The only other "Trewren alias Michell" record I can find is the burial, on 13 June 1674, of Alice Trewren alias Michell.

[tonymitch]

This is a right can of worms........Do we here have 3x Thomas Trewern alias Myhells or only two? Did Thomas who married Jenat in 1570 also marry Jane in 1581 or was there yet another Thomas who married yet another Jane in 1603? Or was there a rather energetic and stubborn Thomas who managed to marry all three? Then again, according to one family source there is another Thomas (6 April 1609) ....Also....there is a Mychell son of James Treuren baptised 20 Nov 1594 just before Stephen son of Thomas....NOW....WHO THE HANGMAN IS JAMES???

I also note that Trewern is sometimes spelled TREUREN abs well as Myhell being transformed into Michell or Mitchel

However, I much prefer this inheritance theory than the patronimic suggested by CT.

Cold compress needed, dark room and a call for help from my friend Johnny Walker.

[Cornish Terrier]

Tony - I think JACK might be of more help and with a surname like DANIELS he seems to be more Cornish than Mr Walker! ;D

On the information provided I reckon you must have certainly two men of the name involved.

What I don't understand is your concern with the possibility that there might be two men of the same name who each married someone named 'Jane' (var.)!

I have more than one example of the same man marrying more than once with the bride in each case having the same Christian name as her predecessor!

In fact I believe I have one example in my database of one man having three wives who all shared the same Christian name!

But we are also now dealing with people and records (or lack of) in a period where the recording of vital records was still in its infancy and also where Surnames were far from being stabilised in many parts.

You only do this 'cus ya luv 'ut!

CT

[tonymitch]

Jack Daniel's paternal grandparents immigrated to America in the late 18th century. His grandfather Joseph “Job” Daniel was born in Wales. ..... So sayeth Wikipedia.

He was of Welsh descent.....Jack Daniels' grandfather came from Bala about 20 miles from where I am sitting.

I have no concern about two Janes...how could I have when my g-g-grandfather had two wives (not con-currently) with the name of Elizabeth and on another line a g-g-grandfather with two wives one of whom had been married twice before. It's just HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO ME??

[trencrom]

The issue of alias surnames has been discussed in this forum in the past and I would encourage those who might not have seen those earlier posts to check them out.

I don't subscribe to the idea that it had to do with inheriting property leases. If that was the case, then why do we see alias surnames in Penwith within a certain period of time, and not also later on? Why would not the majority of the local populace in that time frame not then have had alias names?

Most likely explanation is that Michell was in this instance a patronymic, as it often is elsewhere in Penwith, and that Trewren was a place name. It does not have to be a place name within Sancreed either. Trembaths (not an alias I know) are named after a place in (from memory) Morvah but are often to be found in parishes some distance away from there.

Trencrom