Geneology References: Torbryan Parish Records Back

Selected Contents of

TORBRYAN PARISH RECORDS

Torbryan Parish Church (Holy Trinity)
Torbryan, Devon, England


Family lore had always held that the Harvey's of Southside (St.John's) Newfoundland had come from Torbryan. This was confirmed by records of the deaths of several members of the family who emigrated, so the next logical step was to look for their parents in Torbryan. Holy Trinity Church is the parish church of Torbryan - a historic 15th century building with an accompanying church house inn. The inn also has historic links with the Harvey family, as William Harvey was at one time the publican. The church house inn has it's own website with an entire section dedicated to Holy Trinity - worth checking out.

Torbryan parish records can be found in various forms at Memorial University and in England. Compiled below is data collected from these various sources.

Maritime History Archives, MUN, Newfoundland.
Society of Genealogists, London, England







Holdings of the Maritime History Archives
This collection, held at Memorial University (St.John's, Newfoundland) contains both transcribed copies of the Torbryan parish registers, as well as microfilm copies from the registers and bishops' transcripts. The records cover the years from the mid-1600's to 1834 (births), 1837 (marriages), and 1838 (burials). Regretably, I did not record which of these sources I used at any particular time.

Also, transcriptions occasionally suffer from omissions and typographical errors, and some of the microfilm records were virtually unreadable. Nevertheless, I could find no record of Harveys in Torbryan pre-1815, no Harvey births after 1828, and no records of Harvey marriages or burials. Never the less, I did manage to find birth records for a single family of Harveys in Torbryan, as described below.

The following records are not presented in the format in which they appeared in the transcribed records. I have placed the names and birth dates of the children under the heading of the parents' names, with additional comments from each record noted in parentheses. In fairness, I did not note at the time whether the dates given were for birth or baptism, so I would assume they are baptism dates. 


Parents William and Mary Harvey, both of Torbryan
	Nov.2,  1815		Jane[?]		(father = carpenter)
	Mar.[?] 15, 1818 	William		(father = carpenter)
	Nov.3,  1820		Edward		(father = labourer)
	Feb.16, 1822		James		(father = publican)
	[?],    1825		Elizabeth	(father = publican)
	Nov.30, 1828		Henry		(father = publican)
Note: Jane's name was difficult to pick out. Birth month was hard to read for William, and the day & month was not written beside Elizabeth's name, although, based on the date of the previous and next record, I believe she was born in early 1825. Notably absent is Richard, presumed to be the eldest son. This matter was resolved when I looked up the parish records at the Society of Genealogists in London, as described below.

Some of the other most common surnames in Torbryan, as found in these records, were Blackler (from 1674), Blake, Beard, Board, Bowden, Avery, Chapel, Coker, Dunn, Hannaford, Hill, Holwell, Holwill, Hext, Lovecraft, Luscombe, Murch, Palk, Rich, Windsor, and Winfer.



Holdings of the Society of Genealogists
The Society of Genealogists in London, England, also hold microfiche copies of the Torbryan parish registers - births (1653-1664), baptisms (1715-1812), marriages (1653-1664, 1715-1838), and burials (1653-1664, 1715-1811). There were three microfiche sheets...

Unfortunately, many of the records were barely legible, so I cannot claim this is a complete record of Harvey/Blackler baptisms, marriages & burials from Torbryan. I did a fairly thorough search (for Harveys & Blacklers) of the critical marriage records, from 1754 to 1812, which might have referred to Richard Harvey's parents, but found no Harvey marriage records. Of the legible baptism & burial records I looked over, there was no evidence of the Harvey surname, although there were numerous Blacklers mentioned. The baptism & burial records could use revisiting, but there seems to be little evidence from my efforts at the Maritime History Archives that there are any pre-1812 records of Harveys in Torbryan.

BAPTISMS 

Jul. 12, 1812	Richard, son of William and Mary Harvey 
Apr. 17, 1812	Ann, daughter of John Blackler & Mary, his wife
MARRIAGES 

Dec. 27, 1796	John Blackler & Anne Chaldish[?]
		- John & Anne both of this parish
		- witnesses Richard Chaldish[?] & William Matthews

Mar. 3,  1809	William Blackler & Elizabeth Hext
		- Elizabeth [& William?] of this parish
		- witnesses John Blackler & Juliet[?] Blackler

Sep. 22, 1816	John Colton & Elizabeth Blackler
		- both of this parish
		- Elizabeth = widow
		- witnesses Susanna Hext & William Hext

Dec. 13, 1822	Thomas Blackler & Agnes Clement
		- both of this parish
		- Thomas = widower, Agnes = widow
		- witnesses John Howton[?] & John [?]

Jun. 6,  1825	Edward Blackler & Elizabeth Tozer[?]
		- both of this parish
		- Edward = miller, bachelor
		- Elizabeth = spinster
		- witnesses Thomas Foxer[?] & [?] Tozer[?] 

Apr. 19, 1838	John Stephens & Elizabeth Blackler
		- John = bachelor, of the Parish of Woodland
		- Elizabeth = apinster, of this parish
		- married by Christopher Wolston, rector
		- witnesses Eliz[?] Blackler & Ann Blackler



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