Like many other families in the area the Vellenoweths can be a little confusing.
I did a little work on this lot a good while back and have been reminded via email in the last couple of days just why I never got any further at the time!
It all boils down to two marriages.
1. William Vellenoweth married Margaret Laity of Perranuthnoe 23rd April 1728 at Ludgvan
2. William Vellenoweth married Margaret Morish 8th May 1736 at Perranuthnoe
Between 1730 and 1735 there are three children baptised at Perranuthnoe to William and Margaret Vellenoweth and there can be no doubt that these belong to the first marriage above.
During this time there are no baptisms to William Vellenoweth at Ludgvan.
Things seem to go to pot from the time of that second marriage with children being baptised at Ludgvan and also at Perranuthnoe.
I had considered the possibility that Margaret Laity died around 1735/6 and that William remarried, again to a Margaret.
But having now been able to check burial records and after looking at all the baptisms I have to conclude that we are dealing with two different William Vellenoweths.
The confusion with children begins in 1737 when we have one child baptised at Ludgvan to William Vellenoweth and one also baptised at Perranuthnoe to William and Margaret Vellenoweth. (This is part of a long period at Ludgvan where the mother's name was not recorded.)
Question is - just which children belong to which marriage?
William marries Margaret Laity
of Perranuthnoe but they marry at Ludgvan and then proceed to baptise children at Perranuthnoe.
And then we have William marrying Margaret Morish at Perranuthnoe in 1736 and both appear to be resident of that Parish.
It reads almost like a comedy sketch - William and Margaret marry at Ludgvan then sneak back to Margaret's home town to baptise a few kids.
But then they decide to hightail it outta there just as the other William marries Margaret Morish. It is almost as if the first couple knew they were trespassing and didn't want to get caught!
From that time on it seems that the two families can be separated but there remains some slight confusion over the identity of the two Williams.
I cannot guarantee this will be correct but I have decided that the William who married Margaret Laity at Ludgvan is probably the one who belonged there and so eventually returned there in about 1737.
One thng that perhaps supports this is the fact that he had at least two sons named William. The first of these was baptised at Perranuthnoe in 1730 and the only possible burial I can find is back at Ludgvan in 1732.
So here now is the lineup of children I have arrived at for each family. All dates are taken from the original Parish Registers.
One point of note - for all children baptised at Perranuthnoe both father (William) and mother (Margaret) are named in the record. For those children baptised at Ludgvan on the father is named.
William Vellenoweth married Margaret Laity 23rd April 1728 Ludgvan
William bp. 1st January 1730 Perranuthnoe (buried 11th October 1732 Ludgvan)
Henry bp. 6th March 1732 Perranuthnoe
Margaret bp. 11th August 1735 Perranuthnoe
William bp. 1st September 1737 Ludgvan (privately)
Elizabeth bp. 15th April 1739 Ludgvan (privately)
Mary bp. 29th May 1743 Ludgvan
William bp. 4th May 1746 Ludgvan
John bp. 18th October 1747 Ludgvan
William Vellenoweth married Margaret Morish 8th May 1736 Perranuthnoe
Joan bp. 8th October 1737 Perranuthnoe
Thomas bp. 5th November 1741 Perranuthnoe
John bp. 11th December 1743 Perranuthnoe
James bp. 21st November 1745 Perranuthnoe
Robert bp. 24th August 1747 Perranuthnoe (buried 7th April 1748 Perranuthnoe)
And now we do run into some problems!
In the first family I now have two sons named William baptised at Ludgvan but I have not been able to find a burial for the son baptised in 1737.
But it gets worse when I look at marriages of the children.
29th December 1760 Perranuthnoe
William Tocker married Margaret Vellenoweth
18th October 1765 Perranuthnoe
George King married Jone Vellenoweth
In both cases one of the witnesses was a William Vellenoweth and in each case that signiature is identical.
The problem is that in the families above we find Margaret in one family and Jone/Joan in the other.
So - with the signiature of the witness being identical the indication is that Jone and Margaret are more likely sisters.
That then means that Joan baptised at Perranuthnoe in 1737 belongs with the Ludgvan family while William baptised at Ludgvan in 1737 must belong with the Perranuthnoe family!
I might have to take a rest from this for a while to allow the brain cells to cool down!
CT