|
|
Post by ettason on Dec 6, 2019 14:06:34 GMT -5
I have a marriage in St. Ives, September 18th, 1791...
Groom: George Hocking of Illogan, Miller
Bride: Catherine Dennis "of this parish," Spinster
Witnesses: Isaac Ninnes and James Wallis.
Having trouble locating/identifying the family of Catherine Dennis, as I do not see any "Dennis" relatives at all in St. Ives during the prior 20-30 years.
Any chance this "Dennis" should be a "Ninnes?"
George and Catherine Hocking go on to have the following children, in Illogan:
John Hocking (abt. 1795- )
George Hocking (abt. 1797-1834)
Fanny Hocking (abt. 1802- )
Catherine Hocking (abt. 1804- )
Joseph Hocking (abt. 1810- )
James Hocking (abt. 1813- )
|
|
|
|
Post by spikeharwood on Dec 6, 2019 17:21:43 GMT -5
I have access to the records of two independent researchers and they are both saying Dennis and that she was baptised at St Buryan.
I’ve had a look at an image of the parish record. It’s not conclusive but the placement of the dot above the i is suggesting Dennis. Also there are marriages in November and December with the D in December a better match. It also seems that there was a sister, Martha and she marries in 1799 at Illogan as Dennis. Coincidentally she marries a John Hocking, although not an obvious relation to George.
Perhaps Catherine had been living at St Ives for quite a while and considered herself as OTP.
Catherine and George had additional children to those on your list
Elizabeth (1792)
Mary (1800)
James#1 (1810-1811)
and your Joseph was bpt 1806
All of their children (except James d 1811) married and there are a considerable number of descendants.
I’m a member of the Hocking Descendants Society. Anyone interested in membership can contact helenbrooks13ATlive.com or for research enquiries, hockingdescendants01ATgmail.com (replace AT with @).
We also have a related Facebook Group (closed) - Hocking Family History- Hocking Descendants Inc.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cornish Terrier on Dec 7, 2019 0:03:23 GMT -5
The surname is definitely DENNIS. And although Catherine could not sign her own name the surname is also written as Dennis in the place where she made her mark in the marriage record.
If born/baptized at St Buryan then she is probably one of two of that name baptized at St Buryan in 1766. One was daughter of Richard and Rebeckah Dennis and the other a daughter of Richard and Margery Dennis.
I note there is a supposed sister named Martha but I would be careful accepting that conclusion without a good deal of research. It may be that Catherine and Martha were no more than cousins however the was a Martha Dennis baptized at St Buryan in 1770 to Richard and Rebeckah.
Two additional points:-
1. that Catherine was 'of St Ives' or 'of this Parish' when she married does not necessarily she was born at St Ives or that she had been a long-term resident. It merely means that she had been residing in the Parish for a certain amount of time prior to her marriage.
2. When researching the name 'Dennis' you need to be aware that it can be spelt in numerous ways - DINNIS, DINNES, DINIS, DENIS, DINES for example.
And remember also that someone named Catherine may not always appear as such but can sometimes be found alternating as Katherine, Christian, Christiana. Very confusing at times, especially when there might be two daughters in one family named Catherine and Christiana!
CT
|
|
|
|
Post by Cornish Terrier on Dec 7, 2019 5:01:07 GMT -5
I have done some searching through the PRs and have determined that the Catherine Dennis who married George Hocking was most likely to have been the daughter of Richard and Margery Dennis baptized at St Buryan 19th October 1766 and recorded as 'Katharine'.
Despite Catherine daughter Richard and Rebecca was baptized just a couple of months later also at St Buryan there is 'reasonable' evidence to suggest that this Catherine was buried at St Buryan 17th May 1767.
The reason for my conclusion is quite simple but certainly not 100% conclusive. However, we are dealing with the problem of two separate families of Richard Dennis with each baptizing children during a similar period. As mentioned above there was a Catherine/Katharine baptized to each family just a couple of months apart in 1766.
In arriving at my conclusion I considered a number of possibilities which included the fact that George and Catherine Hocking did not use the names Richard, Margery or Rebecca. This meant that Catherine might have belonged to either family but the more compelling reason can be found in the burial records.
In 1767 there were burials for two children of Richard Dennis:-
15th May - George son of Richard Dennis and Margery his wife was buried
17th May - Catharine daughter of Richard Dennis was buried
If these were children of the same Richard Dennis then I might have expected the second entry to either name the mother as in the burial of George or to say something like 'son of the above Richard Dennis'. It might also be worth considering the fact that when the daughter of Richard and Margery was baptized she was entered into the register as 'Katharine'.
Regarding Martha Dennis who married John Hocking at Illogan in 1799 - there is little doubt that she was the daughter of Richard and Rebecca Dennis baptized at St Buryan 3rd November 1770. Martha was buried at Illogan in 1822 at the age of 52.
CT
|
|
|
|
Post by ettason on Dec 7, 2019 15:00:47 GMT -5
I’ve had a look at an image of the parish record. It’s not conclusive but the placement of the dot above the i is suggesting Dennis. Also there are marriages in November and December with the D in December a better match. Uh huh. That’s reassuring, at least, as I worked through a similar progression of logic. The scanned image of that page on FamilySearch is a bit fuzzy. Well, that’s a good tip. I may finally do that. I don’t Facebook much... but I had considered joining the HDS at some point. It’s the Hocking branch (root?) of my tree that drew me to Cornish genealogy in the first place, just this last year or two... specifically the story of Elizabeth Goad Hocking (b. 1827), grandmother of my grandmother’s grandmother. ... 2. When researching the name 'Dennis' you need to be aware that it can be spelt in numerous ways - DINNIS, DINNES, DINIS, DENIS, DINES for example. And remember also that someone named Catherine may not always appear as such but can sometimes be found alternating as Katherine, Christian, Christiana. Yes, and with “Dennis,” the OPC search engine seems not to register most variations as “similar surnames.” Apparently “Downing” qualifies as similar... but “Dinnis” does not. Go figure. The Catherine/Christian switch did catch me by surprise, though both are used to identify this Catherine in baptismal records for her Hocking children - so I figured that one out. (Elsewhere I have encountered “Kitty” as a nickname for Christian or Christiana, as well as a “Chrissen”... though perhaps that’s actually a different name.) I have done some searching through the PRs and have determined that the Catherine Dennis who married George Hocking was most likely to have been the daughter of Richard and Margery Dennis baptized at St Buryan 19th October 1766 and recorded as 'Katharine'... Thank you. That’s helpful. I’ll take another look, as well. I saw the Dennis families in St. Buryan, but thought that might be too far away from St. Ives. I find that I tend to overestimate distances in Cornwall, and (occasionally) underestimate the mobility of the people. |
|
