Sticklepath is said to derive from  words meaning steep path.  This photograph shows the steep path I suspect the name comes from (top left). Many surnames also refer to geographical features. 

One of the burials in Sticklepath Quaker Burying Ground is John Cann, Buried October 25th 1868 aged 61.   Ancestry tells us this name comes from an Old English word canna, meaning a deep valley. (Sadly not from “knowing a man who Cann”!)  So this is a topographic name as in “Samuel from the Valley”. The family name is also found in Scotland, Canada and the USA between 1840 and 1920. The most Cann families were found in the UK in 1891, when Devon boasted the most – 1,045 Cann families living in Devon – enough to give any genealogist nightmares! This was about 34% of all the recorded Cann’s in the UK in 1891.

Another sad burial is that of Mary Ann Huxtable Ching, Buried May 18th 1870, aged only a few days. The Ching family lived at Combehead Farm, Tongue End.  They considered themselves to be part of Sticklepath at that time. Ancestry tells us the Ching family name was also found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. (I wonder if this just means these are the areas they have most records for between those dates!) The most Ching families were found in the USA in 1920, but in 1891 Devon had the highest population of Ching families. There were 136 Ching families living in Devon, about 30% of all the recorded Ching’s in the UK. Ching also is a topographical surname, the family who lived near a ravine or a crevice, chasm, or canyon.

Ching is also a Canton romanticisation of Cheung, but was not one of the 100 original Chinese surnames.  The potential Chinese connection caused some confusion for those who knew my family as my Great Aunt was a Methodist Missionary in China before the 2nd world war.  There is no known connection, though I suppose DNA might prove otherwise! Here she is, Phyllis Finch, pictured with Grandma Ching, so about 1905. Taken in Bude this must have been a family outing to the seaside or perhaps a special trip to these renowned photographers.

Incidentally there is a great book about these pioneering photographers with great photos, written by David and Stuart Thorn:

THORN PHOTOGRAPHERS OF BUDE – 1850s to 1932

Back to my first household in the 1841 census, Mr and Mrs Mance.  This surname may have come from the family occupation – someone who made handles for agricultural and domestic implements, from an Anglo-Norman French word for handle.  It was the Normans who first introduced the use of surnames to identify people.  Identification became necessary when personal taxation was introduced. https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Mance

Incidentally Sticklepath ‘Quaker’ burying ground was only used by The Friends up to 1816 since when it has been open to all religions but affectionately still known by that name. Quakers believe all are equal in death, rich or poor and therefore Quaker burial grounds either have no gravestones (as here) or only very plain small uniform ones. Names can be traced to the Quaker meeting minutes of the time.

I attended a great talk this evening, zooming in with over 80 other people. One of the few benefits of Covid has been the increase in online genealogy and family history lectures. Devon Family History Society http://www.devonfhs.org.uk have excelled at this with a great range of talks and space for many more attendees!

Sticklepath was almost mentioned. Talking about ‘Curing’ the Family in the Seventeenth Century – Tracey Norman had a range of fabulous sources, including research done by Ruth St Leger-Gordon of Steddefords, Sticklepath. Ruth was a journalist and I have several of her articles regarding Sticklepath and vaguely remember her – I think she held a large stock of potential dressing up clothes for the various WI and carnival occasions! She had researched charms and witchcraft from Dartmoor and written about this, with much cross-over with the ‘medicines’ and homemade cures of history.

Her husband Douglas also wrote many books and chapters about Dartmoor. A photograph of their gravestone (found in Sticklepath Quaker Burying Ground) can be seen on: https://adriancolston.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/douglas-st-leger-gordon/

It says:

Remembering

Douglas Francis Edward

St Leger-Gordon

of Sticklepath

Died 8th April 1970

Chronicler of

Dartmoor

Lover of Nature

As was his wife

Ruth Eleanor

1893 – 1988

Tracey gave me a real sense of the women in the 1600s working hard to gather herbs in season, perhaps by moonlight or at particular phases of the moon, according to what custom dictated, making infusions and preserves of various sorts ready to deal with the families ills all year round. Sharing their medicinal secrets with future generations to ensure they too would keep safe. Then there were the more gruesome animal parts, worms, snails, mice and pheasant brains and the unpleasant things done with them! Fascinating.

Now to update you on my search for the first household of the Sticklepath Census 1841:

William Mance aged 49y miller, married to Ann aged 49y.  I think they are living adjacent to the “Western and Carnoll” mill complex just by Sticklepath Bridge at the Eastern end of the village.  

It seems likely (not proven) that these are William Henry Mance, who married Ann Grigg in Plymouth St Andrew’s 1825. (Marriage not on Ancestry Sept 2020, but is on Findmypast).

I then found a William Mance buried in Shaugh Prior, SW edge Dartmoor. With a likely corresponding death registered in Plymouth Vol9 p227 1848 Q3.

There is an Anne Grigg baptised in Shaugh Prior in 29 May 1791, parents William and Frances Grigg. A possible connection, but at this point I was stuck.

The fabulous Online Parish Clerk system of which I am pleased to say Devon has more than its fair share came to my rescue through Deborah O’Brien, the Devon OPC Co-ordinator. All online Parish Clerks are voluntary and are enthusiasts!

Through the contact on Genuki I made some enquiries and, bless her, she came back almost immediately with some fantastic information:

William MANCE buried in Shaugh Prior in 1848 had lived at 2 Mill Bay Road, Plymouth. An Ann MANCE married in East Stonehouse June qtr 1849. It looks as though she married Joseph PENROSE and her birthplace on the 1851 census was Shaugh. The address in 1851 was 2 Millbay Rd, Plymouth St Andrew. Ann PENROSE of Plymouth was buried at Shaugh Prior aged 71 15^th April 1863.

Did our Miller go to work at a Mill on Millbay Road in the Stonehouse area of Plymouth? The Plymouth Historical Appreciation Society tell us that Millbay was a developing area in the 1840s with a new deep dock and works and with the Great Western Railway under construction from the docks. https://www.facebook.com/PlymouthHistoryAppreciationSociety/posts/in-the-1830s-the-first-millbay-dock-began-construction-then-in-1840-thomas-gill-/1670860473006036/

It would be interesting to know if the increasing dock or railway workforce included William or whether the many new hungry mouths meant more millers were needed. There are always more questions! Plus a visit to Shaugh Prior to photograph gravestones is added to the genie wish-list!

Sticklepath near Okehampton, Devon, the village of my childhood, has fascinated me for a long time.  I have (finally) decided to do a “One Place Study” both a tool to help me put something on paper and further my research and as a way of passing the information on.  

The first census with individual’s names, as with most places in England, is 1841. On trying to investigate my first village household William and Ann Mance, I came across the two items you find below on workhouses.org and in the coroners’ reports on Genuki.  An Ann Mance is the matron of Newton Abbot Workhouse. Nothing to do with Sticklepath or, it turns out, the people I was looking for, but a shocking tale and a corner’s report with perhaps a final warning?!

For those unfamiliar with historic reports the language used sounds offensive to us but was in common usage at the time and not intended to be derogatory.  Those with special educational needs and disabilities were referred to as idiots or imbeciles. Those wishing to avoid gory details should jump to the next post!

The Newton Abbot “Jumpers” Scandal

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/NewtonAbbot/

Accessed 20 Sep 2020

In 1894, the workhouse officers became involved in a scandal which was the subject of an inquiry by the Local Government Board. Witnesses claimed that the “jumper,” a sort of sack used as a strait-jacket, was constant use in the workhouse, and that aged inmates had been placed in it naked, and then tied to their bedsteads. A Mrs. Bovey died five days after being confined in the “jumper,” and she was said to have been tied down within a few hours of her death. Other witnesses alleged that the wards of the workhouse were in a filthy condition, and many of the inmates infested with vermin.

One witness, a nurse named Alice Hinton, testified that she had found inmate named Mrs. Nicholls apparently dying. The woman was very dirty and covered with vermin. Her hair had been cut off, and her toe-nails were like claws, being 2½in. long. Another woman who was paralyzed had her finger-nails so long that they made wounds in her flesh.

In the workhouse yard, Hinton had seen an idiot woman crouched in a corner with her face bruised. The Guardians had built a shed for her in the yard, and witness had noticed that the boys threw stones and snowballs at her. When the master’s son was at home he was the ringleader. The boys said that they pelted the old woman to make her swear.

It was also alleged that Miss Ann Mance, workhouse matron for almost thirty years, neglected her duties, and had only been seen to visit the sick ward five time over a three month period. to her knowledge. It was further alleged that the fighting among the idiots was especially dreadful on Sunday morning, when the matron was in bed, and Nurse Hinton added that she had also complained to the matron of immorality that was going on amongst the inmates.

Miss Mance gave an emphatic denial to the charges, swearing that she had never bullied an inmate in. her life, and declared that she had exercised proper authority over the establishment. The idiots said to have been cruelly treated had not a single bruise upon their bodies. She had allowed inmates to sing Sankey’s hymns on Sunday mornings, but it was utterly untrue to state that the place had been turned into a Bedlam.

She never ordered any inmate to be put into the “jumper.” “Jumpers” had been introduced by a former nurse, named M’Connell, and they were supposed to be under the control of the nurse. She had never received a complaint respecting their use. In regard to the charges of misconduct among the inmates, the matron declared that it was absolutely impossible that men and women could have been in the laundry together.

Another workhouse nurse, Miss Pike, said she had been given sole charge of about 150 sick paupers in the nursery. The beds were unfit for pigs, and the children were under the care of two partially blind women. One day a child was tied up to the bed with a piece of string to prevent it from running about, as it had no shoes and stockings. Eleven children had only four nightgowns between them. Neither brushes nor combs were provided for the inmates, and their food was kept in the lavatories.

A temporary nurse named Elizabeth Wills said she one night found two men tied down in the bed. One was an imbecile and the other was so ill that he died the same day. Mr. John Alsop, union clerk, said the Guardians never ordered the use of jumpers.

Following the inquiry, Miss Mance was dismissed. She died from a heart condition a few weeks later.

Inquests Taken Into Suspicious Or Unexplained Deaths

For the County of Devon 

Articles taken from the Western Morning News and Western Daily Mercury [printed in Plymouth.] 1894-1895

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/CourtRecords/InquestsWMN1894

Transcribed by Lindsey Withers. Accessed 20 Sep 2020

Western Morning News, Friday 20 July 1894 At Newton Abbot yesterday, Mr Hacker held an Inquest relative to the death of ANN MANCE, 56 years of age, the late Matron of the Workhouse. Mr. C. Stevens being Foreman of the Jury.

Martha Cook, 27 Prospect-terrace, her sister, stated that deceased had lodged with her since Midsummer. On Wednesday she was out all day. Returning in the evening she took supper with two friends. She asked witness how she had got on during the day. Supper consisted of bread and butter and a drop of gin. She went to bed just after nine o’clock. On being told by a little girl who was generally with the deceased that she was asleep at about nine in the morning, she went to her room, and found her dead, lying on her left side.

John Cook, husband of the last witness, stated that about half-past five in the morning, as usual, he took deceased a cup of warm water. She was then lying on her right side, and stated that she had had a better night. She appeared as bright as ever.

Adam Nisbett, M.R.C.S., stated that he attended the deceased professionally in April last for diseased heart, asthma, and bronchial affection. When called that morning at 9.15 a.m., she had been dead several hours.

A post-mortem examination shewed that all the organs of the body were diseased. Death was due to fatty degeneration of the heart. The turning from the right to the left side was sufficient to cause the death of a stout person. The Jury returned a verdict of “Death from Natural Causes.”

(My bold emphasis). Being slightly older and somewhat ‘stout’ I shall take care when turning over in bed in future!  

However, my main lesson here is to avoid being distracted – progress made on one place study – Zero!