Comments on Jane (Trezise) Tonkin

Question

Basically, I've been trying to unf*ck the Tonkin lines of St Just in Penwith (It. has. been. a. nightmare.) and I'm stuck on these Janes. I went to FamilySearch and surprise surprise, the disastertree that was there had been brought into Wikitree. I've been cleaning that mess up too since it helps me pry the family lines apart if I have multiple avenues to approach from, but now I'm feeling stuck. Help! I've been trolling through Ancestry, FamilySearch, OPC Cornwall and I haven't found anything to break the cluster yet. I keep desperately searching for Banns to confirm the parentage but so far no dice. 

On 17 Dec 2020 Sarah Grimaldi wrote on Trezise-168:

I'm having difficulties untangling these conflated Janes on Wikitree. Still researching and trying to confirm which Jane Tresise married Thomas Tonkin, as there were two born in St. Just in Penwith, Cornwall, within a year of each other: 

*Jane Tresise, daughter of Henry Tresise and Jane - bapt. 28 Jul 1759 

*Jane Tresise, daughter of John Tresise and Mary Edwards - bapt. 05 Nov 1760 

& a third: *Jane Tresise, daughter of James Tresise and Thomasin - bapt. 05 Nov 1764 

There are three marriage records listed for Jane Tresise in St Just in Penwith, Cornwall in the right time frame by age and when children started manifesting: 

*Jane Tresise (s) and Thomas Tonkin (b) - 05 Nov 1787 

*Jane Tresise (w) and Tobias Clemens (b) - 21 Sep 1802 

*Jane Tresise (s) and Jakeh Grenfell (b) - 21 Jul 1804

Answer 1

Banns don't usually have the parents' names included. Have you tried searching for any wills of their respective fathers? They may have a daughter's married name or mention a son-in-law.

Also, contact the Online Parish Clerk (OPC) for St Just, who may have trawled through some other records and has info to connect families. https://opc-cornwall.org/Par_new/h_k/just_in_penwith_st.php

Comments

Will for John Trezise
 

Forename	John
Surname	TREZISE
Date Written	03-Jul
Year Written	1845
Parish	Just in Penwith, St.
Beneficiaries	Henry Eddy, John Mayon & William (sons), Mary Grenfell (wife of Jakeh), Sarah & Margarey (daus)
Document Notes	Proved 11-Aug 1845, testator died 27-Jul 1845
Will Transcription File
Transcriber

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Leandra,

I will definitely contact the parish clerk; I was trying to exhaust all options before I harangued them, but at this point...

I completely forgot I could search for Wills on OPC. That being said, I've gone through the lists they have for both Tonkin and Tresize/Trezise/Tresise and the only one I found that I can connect to Jane Tonkin dau. of Henry and Jane is one for her brother James - identified by his listing of their sister Johanna Toman in the will as a beneficiary. Jane wouldn't be present as she predeceased him, but it's a link, nonetheless.

I'm digging through the Wills listed on the Parish's site that you linked, so hopefully I can find something there.

Yet another moment where I shake my fist in rage at trees created willy-nilly and families that reused the same forenames over and over and over again, and intermarried so much that the trees have become webs.

Sarah

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There's a Johanna Toman in the 1841 census living with one of her sons, at Lafrowda, St Just.
 

Thomas	Toman	Male	35	1806	Cornwall, England
Margaret	Toman	Female	30	1811	Cornwall, England
Thomas	Toman	Male	7	1834	Cornwall, England
Edwin	Toman	Male	3	1838	Cornwall, England
Johanna	Toman	Female	64	1777	Cornwall, England
Elizabeth	Hutchens	Female	21	1820	Cornwall, England

Cornwall OPC has the marriage 11 Dec 1796 at St Just in Penwith for Thomas Toman and Joanna Trezise.
 

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Elaine

See who their eldest daughter could be named after her mother likewise second eldest son named after her father eg Cornish Naming

Roger Churm

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I have a slew of children to confirm, I will definitely keep that in mind, thank you.

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Thanks for that!

I’ve found the image collection on family search that houses the original images of the Cornwall wills for the time frame; now to dig through them. I’ve identified about 5 so far from the parish clerks website that are promising. I could get them through Kresen Kernow, but I don’t want to pay 10£ Per with a bunch of copyright restrictions if I can avoid it.

Answer 2

I guess you could ignore this marriage: *Jane Tresise (w) and Tobias Clemens (b) - 21 Sep 1802, as a widow, her birth surname would not have been Tresise.

& a third: *Jane Tresise, daughter of James Tonkin and Thomasin - bapt. 05 Nov 1764. I would guess that Jane Tresise are her fornames. Her surname is Tonkin. That leaves only one daughter with a birth name Tresise

Or, it could be the way that you have written it here!

Comments

Jane's surname is Tresise, and it is possible her maiden name was the same. Cousin marriage in villages was reasonably common back then.

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Her mother was a Jane Tresise who married a Tresise so it’s definitely possible. More to investigate.

Answer 3

Going off of Cornish naming conventions, I believe the Jane that married Thomas Tonkin was Jane the daughter of John Tresise and Mary Edwards. 

Children of Jane and Thomas:

NOTE: these were the only Tonkin children born in St Just in Penwith to a Thomas Tonkin and a Jane between 1780 and 1810, so I am comfortable assigning parentage based on that combined with the OPC Cornwall records and the FamilySearch ones.  

1. Thomas 1788 > 1st son named for paternal grandfather Thomas Tonkin 
2. Mary 1790 > 1st daughter named for maternal grandmother Mary Edwards Tresise
3. John 1791 > 2nd son named for maternal grandfather John Tresise
4. Henry 1793 > 3rd son named for maternal uncle Henry Tresise instead of father, as there is already a surviving Thomas Tonkin
5. Jane 1795 > 3rd daughter named for mother
6. Elizabeth 1798 > 4th daughter named for paternal great aunt
7. Sarah 1803 > 5th daughter named for unknown namesake
8. William 1807 > 4th son named for unknown namesake instead of eldest paternal uncle, as Thomas was the eldest of his parents two children.

I'm still working on the wills. Spent an hour transcribing a will to realize at the end that it wasn't for the person I had hoped it would be for, so I'm taking a small brain break...

Please let me know if you think this holds water.

Comments

Possibly. It's not infallible though. I spent some time today looking at my own Cornish ancestors and all that I viewed deviated from that custom for some of their children. The names in this case were all very common in Cornwall at the time.