Scottish Munros

The Ancestry of Marjorie and Les Milton

THE STORY SO FAR


In tracing a Family Tree it is a common policy to trace back the Family Name only.  This effectively usually means following the male line back from generation to generation.

However, although the main interest may well be with the Family Name, it is necessary to explore all avenues of "the tree" to try to find what our origins really are, as it is a medical fact that any one individual is the sum of equal parts of parents, grandparents etc.

In actual fact, so far as the name is concerned it is normal practice for a lady bearing an illegitimate child to give it her own surname, so a current surname will often have been handed down from a female line, and the true, male-line name, lost.

Additionally, it can be argued that to follow a female line is far more reliable than following a male line.  There is rarely any doubt as to who is the mother of a child whereas there is room for much more speculation as to whom the father was.

Information is available from many sources to try to "rebuild a tree".  Some of the major sources are;-

•    Church records of births, deaths and baptisms.
•    The Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages (From 1837).
•    The I.G.I. Index prepared by the Mormons from old church records.
•    Census returns.  These are available every 10 years from 1841 onwards but can only be examined after 100 years has elapsed.
•    County Record Offices and County Libraries.  These often have Voting Registers, Trade Directories, Apprenticeship details etc.


A discussion with any elderly relative will often invoke reticence at telling the full story, and will contain an element of glossing, or even untruths, to hide a skeleton in the cupboard.  This often misleads the researcher and makes getting at the truth more difficult....and it is difficult enough as it is.

Suffice it to say that it would not be a human story at all if it did not contain human elements.  At one time, surviving childbirth was itself a gamble, and single mothers is not a modern phenomenon.

Luck and patience are two paramount requisites for the Family Tree researcher.

IF a family has remained in an area for many years, AND local Church and other records have been fully preserved, AND the name being researched is reasonably uncommon, then, WITH LUCK , it is fairly easy to roll back the pages of history.

Apply the opposite scenario and it is a far different matter, or, putting it bluntly, a NIGHTMARE, and getting back beyond even 1900 can be a problem.  It is then that luck and patience are needed, and even then success is no way guaranteed, as is evidenced by this piece of research (which, admittedly, is in its infancy).

We have two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents etc., so, if we would trace ALL our ancestors we are looking for SIXTY FOUR people by the time we have gone back a mere six generations.  Each one has played an equal part in our being here.  These sixty four would probably all have been born between around 1750 - 1795.  To date, in this story, we have only sixteen definite Surnames.  We are slightly better with the fifth generation where we can now name eleven Christian names out of thirty two.

By the year 1800 we are looking at many different surnames, including MILTON, MORRISON, STAMPER, STEPHENS, CONEYBEAR, DAWSON, BOOTH, WINDER, BESWICK & BRAITHWAITE.


Our earliest trace so far is ROBERT BRAITHWAITE who was born around 1720 and lived for a time at IREBY, in the Lake District, round the back of Skiddaw mountain mass, around 10 miles North of Keswick, and 5 miles from Caldbeck the home of John Peel the famous huntsman. (Ireby Grid Ref  240390.)  It is likely that the Braithwaite family knew the Peels as young John Peel lived at Ruthwaite one mile south of Ireby, and the Braithwaites were here at the time of his youth.  The Braithwaites have a long tradition in the running of inns in the Cumbria area.  Who knows, Robert Braithwaite may have run the inn at which Peel celebrated after a hunt, and even have served him his first yard of ale, or, more likely, jug of home brew !!!
 
At the same time, in the area around St. Helens and Liverpool, the TOWERS family were following a craft that had probably been in the family for centuries, that of Shoemaking.  The very name itself comes from Tawyer being a person who works with leather and skins.

At the other end of the country, in Devon, we can trace the MILTONS who themselves also lived within what is now a National Park area.  They lived at a number of locations in and around Dartmoor, and at a time when the Braithwaites were traveling the short distance to Keswick Market, the Miltons would be regular attenders at Widecombe Fair. (6 miles).  It would indeed be strange if the Braithwaites knew John Peel and the Miltons knew Tom Pierce and his grey mare.  It is not at all unlikely because Uncle Tom Cobley and all were real people .  They were not from  the village of Widecombe itself, but came from the small hamlet of Spreyton about 9 miles North of North Bovey, and they would have to pass within 2 miles of North Bovey to get to Widecombe.  There are also Milton connections close to Spreyton.. 

In the days before the railway train and the motor car, before the industrial revolution and electricity, the horse and the ox provided power and transport.  Life would be spartan, particularly rural life,  working hours were long , the work arduous, living conditions sparse, and pay negligible.  Families relied on children working from the age of around 7 or 8 to bring in a few extra pence, the difference between survival and poverty.  There is every evidence in this story that life was hard for all those appearing

Grit and determination, and managing, and making do, would be the order of the day.