Antecedents of George Dunn bap. Crowan 1775

[donne]

Following up on a DNA match, I have revisited some Crowan family history I did some years ago and I wondered if anyone could provide some further insight or comment. Basically I need to track the heritage of the John Dun who married Grace Shugg in Crowan 16 Oct 1756. Early Crowan registers are in poor condition and I visited the CRO some years back to consult the transcript of the Crowan registers by W.L. Bawden who filled in the gaps by cross- referencing the registers with the BTs. From my notes at the time, I found only one John Dun baptism which fits the bill and that was on 12 Jan 1733/34 (old style/ new style) when a John Dunn, 'son of John', was baptised (from other baptisms round about that time I deduced that the mother was probably named Elizabeth). That date fitted in quite neatly with a St.Erth burial on 13 Dec 1815 of a John Dun, abode Crowan, aged 85. The problem I have is that I have to account for a second John Dun for which I cannot find a birth - this is the John Dunn who married Margery Perry 24 May 1760 at Crowan - and who could equally well match the 1733/34 birth. I had thought they could be one and the same, with Margery being a second marriage, but the baptism dates for children from each of the marriages overlap (1761 to 1777 for Margery) and 1757 to 1780 for Grace).

My DNA match has provided a tree back to George Dunn and Jennifer Bartle who married in Crowan in 2 Sep 1800, and I believe that this George must be the son of John Dun and Grace Shugg, baptised Crowan 24 Dec 1775. However, any common ancestor I share with my match must be before this generation, hence my renewed interest in clearing up the pedigree of John Dun.

[Cornish Terrier]

I found only one John Dun baptism which fits the bill and that was on 12 Jan 1733/34

Exactly where did you find this baptism Roger? I can find no record of it in the OPC Database and nor can I find it in FamilySearch.

AHA! - it's okay, I just found it in the Crowan BTs!

Okay, adding to that one are the following that I've found with a quick look around. I have not followed up on possible burials or other marriages as yet but rather checked for a short-list of possibles for you to work with. I set the parameters at 1720-1745 although any after 1740 would be a touch young.

20th June 1720 Breage - John son of William and Elizabeth Donne (BTs)
28th January 1722 St Erth - John son of William Donn
15th July 1722 Madron - John son of Martin Dunne (I think we already have him sorted with another family)
28th June 1724 Madron - John son of Martin Dun (actually this might be the one that's been sorted)
29th November 1729 St Erth - John son of William Donn/Dunn jnr.
22nd November 1730 Illogan - John son of Edward Dunn
18th April 1736 Crowan - John son of John Dunn
25th December 1739 Breage - John son of Daniel Dunn

Only after 1740 at Gulval but there were are few others at Mevagissey, St Clement and St Martin by Looe that I ignored.

Like I said, no burials checked as yet but certainly a few in that lot to think about.

CT

[donne]

Well, there's quite a lot to get my teeth into there, CT! First thoughts are to just concentrate on the St. Erth/ Crowan entries because I know they share a common border at Kerthen Water and a lot of my family lived along this border, with entries, particularly burials, in the PRs of either parish. The 28 Jan 1722 St Erth baptism for John Donn I think can be discounted because I think he died soon afterwards, bur. 24 Feb 1722/23. The same set of parents (William Donn jnr and Margery) baptised the second John 29 Nov 1729 who I think survived and would be a candidate. The other John I found bap. 12 Jan 1733/34, son of John Dun and Elizabeth? would also seem to have survived and could be a second candidate. Now the 18 Apr 1736 Crowan baptism for John Dunn, son of John, becomes a bit of an embarrassment because he overlaps with another baptism which I have assigned to John Dun/ Elizabeth?, namely that of Diana Dunn, 1 Feb 1735/36.

Putting aside the niggle of the 1736 John Dun, I now have a candidate for the John Dun who married Margery Perry and also for the John Dun who married Grace Shugg - but I don't know which is which! Tentatively, one could say that the older John Dunn, bap 1729, is likely to have married first i.e. to Grace Shugg in 1756, and the younger one, bap 1732/33, to Margery Perry in 1760. Purely from the DNA point of view, it may be irrelevant which is which since both of these John Duns have a common set of grandparents, William Dun / Priscilla Roberts. I believe that it's likely this pair form the common ancestors with my DNA match - in addition to sons William and John whom I believe were the fathers of the two Johns under discussion, William and Priscilla had a third son Richard bap. 29 Jan 1705/06 who survived to adulthood and who is in my family line. I'm afraid all this is hardly proof, but let's call it a working hypothesis!

[Cornish Terrier]

A start is a start ….. and you have to start somewhere. Certainly the identification problem exists and may be difficult to solve especially as you cannot rely on the older John to have married first - it may well have been the other way around.
Ideally it would be nice if all the candidates waited to die until they had a Vicar who would record their ages and, perhaps, some other detail such as abode or marital state at the time. Any scrap of information might be helpful in sorting out the tangle.

Another obvious complication is that there now appears to be evidence that two John's were baptizing children at Crowan around the same time (conflict with baptisms of Diana and J in 1735/6) and that opens up the possibility that both were baptizing children at St Erth as well.

This has to be a case for gathering all the available information and putting it all together one tiny piece at a time.

CT