John Glasson and Dorothy Verant

[colin]

Hello All
New member here, interested in John Glasson b1685 and his wife Dorothy Verant, i started researching the Glassons years ago , and got no further than John Glasson, John and Dorothy were my 8x greatgrandparents. i wondered if there were any new records that have come to light over the last few years to help answer the parentage of John. i have looked online at various websites, which has made me even more confused, and made me question my own research. i have a copy of Johns will from 1753 and the family were living in Lower Penponds, Camborne, is the actual house they lived in known?
Hope you can help.
Colin

[Cornish Terrier]

Hi Colin and welcome to Penwith Genealogy.

Our primary Glasson expert should pick up on this query soon. In the meantime the latest information I have is that your John was the son of another John Glasson from Gwinear. No marriage has yet been found and the name of the wife/mother is not recorded in the baptisms of known children. The details I have for all known children of the earlier John are as follows (all dates are 'Old Style' as recorded in the Parish Registers):-

Rebeckah daughter of John Glasson bp. 12th May 1678 Gwinear
Sarah daughter of John Glosson bp. 13th July 1680 Gwinear
Robert son of John Glasson bp. 10th May 1682 Gwinear (married Margery Werin 26th December 1711 Camborne)
John son of John Glasson of ye p'ish of Gwinnier bp. 1st November 1685 Camborne (married Dorothy Verrant)
Elibathes (Elizabeth) daughter of John Glason bp. 5th August 1688 Gwinear (married Aster Paul 17th July 1714 Camborne)
William son of John Glasson bp. 5th April 1691 Gwinear (also recorded at Camborne) - he was buried 9th March 1708 at Camborne (recorded as Glazon)

Hope that is of some help.

CT

[colin]

Hello, firstly apologies for not replying sooner, i just found the message today. thank you.
I only had a couple of Johns children, John and William, thank you for naming another four
Is very frustrating the mothers names are not often mentioned, i had found a death for a John Glazon in 1707, Camborne, who i thought could be John Glasson snr, father of John 1685.
My later ancestors left the tin mines for the coal mines of Scotland.

Colin

[Cornish Terrier]

i had found a death for a John Glazon in 1707

I have nothing to confirm it but I strongly suspect that 1707 burial to be that of the father of the John who married Dorothy Verrant. There were three children baptised to John Glasson at Gwinear (Rebeckah 1678, Sara 1680 and Robert 1682) before the family moved to Camborne where your John was baptised.

CT

[colin]

Thank you, i did have a look to see if i could find a will for John Glazon 1707, wills are very helpful, if our ancestors left one.

Colin

[Cornish Terrier]

Unfortunately it appears that John Glasson of 1707 did not leave a Will or, if he did, it has not survived.

I do not know if it is foolproof and 100% comprehensive but a very good source for finding what Cornish Wills are available is on the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks site. If you do not know this already then follow these steps:-

1. Log into the OPC site www.cornwall-opc-database.org/
2. From the Toolbar at top go across to the tab "Links to OPC website" and hover your mouse over it
3. From the drop-down menu select and click on "Parish Pages"
4. An alphabetical list of Parishes will appear with each being a link to the Parish Pages of the particular Parish
5. Scroll down and select whichever Parish is of interest at the time and click on that Parish Link
6. Within the Parish Page then scroll down until you find the "Wills" heading where you will find details of available Wills and where to look for them
7. Click on the first link "A list of available Wills and Probate Documents" and you will be presented with a PDF file containing a list of all Wills pertaining to that particular Parish

You can download the PDF for future reference.

This list contains the CRO reference numbers which can be used to locate the Wills on the FamilySearch site where they can be viewed.

CT

[colin]

Hello, thank you i did have a look on the Parish Clerks site, the only will was for a John Glasson 1704 from Crowan, there does not appear to be one. or like you say it has not survived.
Do you think the Elizabeth Glasson b 1668, Gwinear,is connected to my John, my reason for asking there is a 10 year gap between her birth in 1668 and Rebecha in 1678, Gwinear, there are also another 3 born between 1660 and 1664, all to a John Glasson ,Camborne, Margery 1660, Mary 1661, and a male 1664, is this one family or two different John Glassons family.

Colin

[Cornish Terrier]

Do you think the Elizabeth Glasson b 1668, Gwinear,is connected to my John

As there is no record of an Elizabeth Glasson (of any spelling) in 1668 I have to suspect you mean the Elizabeth baptised at Gwinear in 1688. That being the case then I have her as a sister to your John. (The children in that family being Rebeckah 1678, Sarah 1680, Robert 1682, John 1685, ELIZABETH 1688 and William 1691.

You can actually find Glassons (with many variants) at Camborne as early as 1543 when a John GLASAN married Bettrix daughter of John Rosewarne. The problem is that even though Camborne records do survive from 1538 onwards (c.1558 for Baptisms) there are many pages that are largely unreadable so names and/or other details will be lost.
And it appears the Camborne Glassons were also active in Gwinear and some other nearby Parishes whose surviving records commence from much later dates. Gwinear records survive from about 1560 but again many of those early records are very difficult if not downright impossible to read and others are fragmented.

As for the earlier Camborne records you mention - I do have them recorded in my spreadsheets but have not added them to my database as I have not yet been able to form a direct connection. Also, because we already have evidence of Camborne/Gwinear connections it is difficult to determine whether there might be more than one John Glasson involved.

The family you specifically mentioned (i.e. children 1660-1664) could actually be a continuation of a series of baptisms beginning in 1650 at Camborne. That 'may' be the family of your John BUT as there is no baptism for a John it is difficult to know.

CT

[colin]

I did mean Elizabeth 1688, the Glassons do seem to be well documented, there are gaps , unreadable like you say and probably missing pages as well, i think i am just going to have to accept i am not going to be able to get back past John Glassons father, its possible he married more than once, one side of my family the gentleman married 3 times, and it seems these are the missing records.

Colin

[colin]

I think there are two possible birth for John Glasson, one cr 5 march 1625, camborne, son to John, and a john cr 22 oct 1637, camborne, son to william, purely on naming, John and William are names through the generations of my line.
i have found a will of a William Glason of Camborne, 1677, i have ordered a copy, to see if that can help.

Colin

[Cornish Terrier]

I just checked and I do actually have a copy of that Will of William Glasson. I can see from my spreadsheets that I made an attempt to link him to the later Johns but was unsuccessful.

You will certainly find the Will informative and interesting but I think William is a bit early (most likely the 1634 marriage at Camborne) and the lack of Glasson baptisms in the area between 1664 and 1685 hampers any attempts to bridge the gap to John Glasson.

On reading the Will again I noticed the name of the husband of a married daughter. In the hope that he or she may have left a Will that might help bridge the gap I checked the Camborne list and found a reference to the husband for 1708. Just downloaded the document and unfortunately it is only an Administration Bond so of no use at all other than to confirm that the name of his wife who was granted Admion. was a match to the daughter of William Glasson.

The hunt must go on nevertheless! There may be other Camborne Wills that could provide evidence of links to one or more of these Glasson families and a combination of them could help solve the problem.

CT

[colin]

I do find wills fascinating, they can tell so much about our ancestors, i have collected a few over the years.
like you i think the John Glasson that dies in 1707 is the father of John, who married Dorothy Verrant.
He is the only John Glasson that dies after the 1691 birth of son? William. if the John that dies in 1707, age wise he could be the son of William, born 1737, he would only be 70 at death, he could have married late aged about 40 or indeed have two marriages.
Will keep looking. i had an ancestor on my dads side i searched for for over 20 years, found him, thanks to D.N.A, he moved to the US in the 1830s, that may be the way to find a link ,if no documents survive.

Colin

[colin]

The will has arrived, it is interesting reading, the children, daughter Jane, Richard Jacksons wife, son John, daughter Margret, and grandchildren William and Jane Glasson, must be Johns children. does not help us get closer.
you said you had a copy of the will, on the main page, 'Camborne 17 oct 1677', the last word, what do you think it says? i know what i think it says.

Colin

[Cornish Terrier]

on the main page, 'Camborne 17 oct 1677', the last word, what do you think it says?

I can't quite make it out on my copy especially as it is in Latin. That is actually the 'wrapper' for the Will itself noting that it contains the 'testament' and 'Inventory' for William Glasson.

CT

[colin]

to me it says 'in penponds' as William Glasson from Pendponds. the address of john glasson in his 1753 will.

Colin