     
|
||||||||||||
|
This page will be used to compile
information about Stithians and post readers' questions and surname
interests. Contents : St. Stithians - Where did the name originate? There appears to be some confusion regarding the origin of the name of St. Stithians Parish. Ancient authorities claim the parish is dedicated to St Stithian, or St Stedian, or St Stedianus, who, some assure us ,was a woman. However, no such person by these names, nor any derivative of these names, is listed on any Catholic Church roll of the Saints. Nor can I find any reference to Stithian being used as a forename, in any language. Not to be outdone, others say the church was dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, thereby explaining the Stithians Feast Day being held on the 7th of July. However, no contemporary record is given as evidence and nor is any explanation given for the name Stithian. Furthermore, the current St. Stithian's feast day is July 13th. The parish was not specifically mentioned in "Domesday" (1086). In 1268 we have "Ecclesie Sancte Stethyane". In 1291; "Ecclesie Sancte Stediane",1421; "Stythiane", 1733; "Stedians, or Stythians"; indicatiing some question about the correct pronunciation of the name. It surprises me that no one seems to have considered St. Swithun as the patron saint of the parish and the person to whom the church was originally dedicated. Born about the year 800 AD, St. Swithun rose from ordained priest to Bishop of Westminster in 852, under the patronage of Egbert of the West Saxons. He died in 862 after having built several churches and was beautified (made a saint), sometime around 971. His name was recorded in various Anglo-Saxon documents as Swiððhun, Suuiðun, Swyðun, and Suitthun. His feast day is July 15 as opposed to St Stithians July 13. It's not hard to imagine a couple of Anglo-Saxon missionaries venturing into Cornwall in the late 10th century, building a church and dedicating it to St. Swithun, or Swithin. Time, isolation and the Cornish tongue may very well have transformed the name. If anyone has a better explanation I'd like to hear it.
Ron Reed is reseaching.... REED - all Cornwall, TRELOAR - Wendron, Sithney etc., CURNOW - Mawgan-in-Meneage, St Martin-in-Meneage etc., WEARNE - Wendron, Constantine etc., CHEGWIDDEN - Constantine, ROBERTS - Wendron, Constantine, etc., MOYLE - Wendron, DOWAR/DOWAH - Wengron, Helston etc., EDDY - Wendron, Stithians, etc. GUNDRY - Wendron. Michael Bath is researching English and Irish Baths, anywhere, anytime. Brian McLean (EMail address available upon request to persons of interest - contact OPC.)
Hello from ?&%$/"!&
Australia, I hope you can give me some guidance. I am searching
for any records for a James Williams whom I think moved to Stithians
from Wales pre 1654. He is said to have built a home he named Bushahan
(not sure of spelling) at Stithians. I also think that it is his
Grandson John Williams, born c 1685 who managed the Poldice mine and who
purchased Burncoose in 1715. I am hoping that you can advise me on where
to look to find imformation on James, his spouse and children so that I
can try to connect James to John. I note on the Poll Tax records
1660 there are a couple of Jam. Williams on the 1 shilling list. Is
there any way of investigating these on line? Any suggestions
would be gratefully received.
Regards, Brian.
Ida Stockwell, nee Orchard (EMail address available upon request to persons of interest - contact OPC.) Hello, My name is Ida Stockwell, nee Orchard. My Aunt Dorothy left me some notes several years ago and as I am now 72 and in the winter of my years I am interested in trying to get more details.This is what I have:- The Orchard’s – 1600
Edmond Orchard was
Curate of Camborne, 1613-14. Became Vicar of St.Stithians 1614 until his
death in 1667. He was the brother of William Orchard Vicar of Breage with
[???] Ceury… and Gunwalloe from 1608. Another brother Richard Orchard
of Breage in his will dated 1634 made a bequest to the Parish of Week St.
Mary from which the family originated. The above
is exactly and all that my Aunt wrote.I found all the following information
in the St.Stithians Death Register notes for the Orchard’s:-
16/01/1639 Breage – Johan Wife of William vicar of this
24/08/1680
“ James
29/091681 “ Walter
23/08/1682 “ Mary
22/02/1683 “ Alexander
15/12/1686 “
I also have some items from the marriage register:- Orchard, Edmundus 12/11/1610 - Sparnon, Jana Orchard, “ 07/02/1613 - Harding, Jana Orchard, Gabriel 15/06/1629 - William, Katerina Orchard, Georgius 26/04/1625 - Cood, Dorcas Orchard, John 28/03/1649 - Peers, Margaret Orchard, John 28/03/1649 - Peers, Jane daughter of Benet Peers Orchard, William 27/04/1648 - Sparnon, Anna daughter of Edward Sparnon Orchard, William 23/04/1649 – Teag, Christian Orchard, Gabriel 23/06/1656 - Humbrel, Jane My Grandfather Thomas Robert Orchard [one of eight children] was born at Penlean, Poundstock on January 31st 1890 and married Elsie Constance Congdon, who was born at Penfound Manor [which is, I believe, mentioned in the Doomsday book], near Bude. I am am looking into joining one of the Ancestry search sites, but have to be careful as I am on a fixed and tight income!!! I don’t know whether you could help me to fill in any of the gaps, but I thought as I found Edmond mentioned a couple of times on your web-site, Poll tax 1660 [clerk??] and Hearth tax 1664, you may be interested in the above anyway. It would appear that they are all my ancestors and I think it’s quite exciting. Thankyou, Ida E, Stockwell John Bath (EMail address available upon request to persons of interest - contact OPC.)
Dear Michael
My name is
John Bath and I live in ?%$/"!,
*&?(%$/. I hope you don't mind me contacting
yourself, as I found your name on the
http://www.cornwall-opc.org/Par_new/q_s/stithians.php web site.I am
currently researching my family tree and I have strong evidence of family
connections in Cornwall , especially in Stithians and
Perranarworthal. Please find attached an excel page showing my
family tree. The last record I have is William
Henry Bath born 26/09/1822 from Stithians and married on 13/05/1854 to
Sarah Jane Stephens born 04/04/1822 from Deveron William's son Robert
John Bath was a foreman at the Perran Foundary.
I wonder if yourself as the Parish clerk can help me or guide me in anyway
to proceed further with my family tree.
Much appreciate if you can help.
PS - Are we related !!!!!!
John Bath
(OPC note- John Bath and I branched off some 10 generations ago)
Michael J McCormick (EMail address available upon request to persons of interest - contact OPC.) Hello Michael Hello Michael Rgds Janet Ralph (EMail address available upon request to persons of interest - contact OPC.) Hello Michael From everything I've read so far, St. Stithians is and always has been primarily an agricultural community. Despite most of the parish having a substrata of granite Stithians did not share in the wealth of tin and other metals that its near neighbours enjoyed. Perhaps that's for the best as Gwennap is described as an industrial wasteland in the mid 19th century. John Daniell's 1880 "Compendium of the History of Cornwall" states "...formerly a mining parish, it has yielded large quantities of tin in times past- very little is however obtained at present, indeed very few mines are still at work in the locality." One exception appears to have been the copper mine at Tresavean that had reached 1572 feet in 1837 and 2112 feet by 1858, making it the deepest in Cornwall at that time. An 1838 report to the Royal Institute of Cornwall states that, " ...recent examination of registers of Gwennap and Stithians by Mr. Blee... gives the average longevity for miners as 46 and 60 for other males." Destitute individuals became a "charge on the Parish". This was particularly the case of women that became pregnant out of wedlock when their families rejected them and the biological father could not be identified. For obvious reasons many women refused to name their lovers and the churchwardens sometimes went to extreme lengths to to force it out of them, so that the man could be obligated to support his child. The parish officials also tried, whenever possible, to claim the destitute individual as belonging to another parish, to which they could then be transferred, sometimes forcibly. Barring that, they might compel a local tradesman or farmer to accept a parish charge as an apprentice, servant or farm worker and thereby relieve the parish of the responsibility of supporting them. Some cases from the Quarter Sessions Order Books: Sessions
held at Lostwithiel - date: 13th July 1802 Sessions held at
Lostwithiel - date: 10th January 1804 Sessions held at
Lostwithiel - date: 12th January 1808
Sessions held at
Lostwithiel - date: 11th January 1814 |
