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Before I visited the records office I took a detour to Oreston
and Plymstock in order to search out family memorials.
It took quite a while to find Plymstock church but I eventually
found it and within a short time I had discovered the five
stones I was looking for.
You can find them all here, just look under memorials.
http://www.geocities.com/mr_mephistopheles/
After the records office I set off across the Tamar bridge over
the border into Cornwall.
I knew where most of our ancestors lived and died so I had a
good idea where to look.
However it seems we Coaths were not too big on memorials.
The places I visited were as follows:
St Blazey (Par) - nothing found (although I already have an
inscription from this churchyard)
Lanreath - nothing found
Tywardreath - nothing found
Pelynt - nothing found
Millbrook - nothing found
Talland - nothing found
Fowey - nothing found
Lanteglos - nothing found
Lansallos - 1 found (out of 47 Coaths that I know were buried
there)
Maker - 1 found
I then spent the night in the delightful village of Polperro
where several Coaths were known to live.
A word of warning, Polperro made its name as a haven for
smugglers and to this day they still hate revenue men. Best not
to mention them.
I could find absolutely no mention of any Coaths in the local
museum however, despite the fact that the ancient manor house of
Raphael was bought by a George Coath of Pelynt in 1813 (the
first time in seven hundred years it had not been owned by the
Lords of the Manor) whose family lived there right up until the
1950's.
For those who have not visited the area I will warn you, It is
very vertical. In addition the roads are the width of a family
car and ever so often there are passing spaces.
I visited Talland church which is on top of a hill but there was
a wedding going on so I could not look inside the church.
When I left I had a lot of problems on the road. It was full of
blind bends sometimes nearly 180 and was so steep that my
parking brake could not hold the car.
I negotiated about 6 of these turns without once passing a
passing place and started praying that I would not meet anyone
coming the other way.
Sure enough as I came around the next bend I came bumper to
bumper with a huge white Rolls Royce complete with Bride.
In order to get out I would have to reverse back through six
sharp turns on a hill that was about 1 in 2. There was no way
the Rolls was going to back up. However the decision was taken
out of our hands when I put the vehicle in reverse only to
discover my wheels continually slipping.
There was no way I could reverse back up this hill and so I had
to get and inform the other driver, who was none to pleased.
This resulted in the Rolls Royce having to back up through a
further 4 sharp bends scratching his vehicle up on the hedges
either side.
These roads were built for walking on, not for today's traffic.
Regards
Steve Coath
researching COATH One-Name Study
Listowner COATH-L
As promised I have returned from my brief travels which yielded
some good results and some disappointments.
I left London at 6am and arrived in the Plymouth area around
9.45 which was not bad going seeing as I was driving.
After a brief stop at Plymstock (of which I shall cover in Part
two) I arrived at the Plymouth and West Devon Records Office
which is tucked away by the Aquarium at the Barbican, and is a
nightmare to find as it is not clearly advertised.
Incidentally it is located at Clare Place on Coxside which is
where a William Coath then his son Jabez Coath held their
ropemaking business from the early 1800s until the 1860s.
The documents I was going to look at I discovered through the
A2A website which lists archives held throughout the UK.
It told me I would find the following documents there:
Magistrates orders to bind Thomas Coath of Brixton aged 9 to
James Symons, Farmer dated 21 sep 1821
the same for Jane Coath of Brixton aged 11 dated 20 March 1832
A document granting Francis Coath the right to farm Oysters in
Catwater from 25th March 1811
Private family papers from Walter Coath from Ireland.
I could not copy anything (more on this later) as they had no
facilities for anything larger that A4.
The magistrates orders turned out to be a complete waste of
time. These were standard forms and did not tell me anything
that I did not know.
The document of fishing rights again did not provide any new
information.
However the third document proved to be very interesting.
Walter Coath is related to several of you (the father of David
Decimus Coath and John Williams Coath, the slaver)
He spent some time in Ireland due to his job (Inland Revenue
Inspector) where several of his children were born.
Now researching in Ireland is very difficult as most of the
documents relating to birth, deaths and marriages were destroyed
in the uprisings.
What I was expecting, as per the catalogue were family papers
which I hoped might mention these children.
What I got was very different.
It was basically a huge 4 sided document (Which I was allowed to
photograph) which was an agreement between Walter Coath and
Arthur John Smalls of Newry, county Down for a fee farm grant of
tenement and premises, dated 3rd of March 1864.
The property was No2 Margaret Street in the Town Parish and
baroncy of Newry and County Down.
"The said Arthur John Small, his heirs and issues yielding and
paying therefore and there out yearly and every year henceforth
for ever during the continuance of this grant unto the said
Walter Coath, his heirs and issues the aforesaid clear yearly
rent sum of four pounds, thirteen shillings and two pence over
and above all taxes, subsidiaries and impositions whatsoever.
It then went on to say that in the event of non payment
additional penalties would be imposed.
I have photos of this document if anyone would like a look.
Regards
Steve Coath
researching COATH One-Name Study
Listowner COATH-L
Hello everyone,
I hope this finds you in good health.
I have just returned from my first holiday in 9 years which
explains why it has been so quiet.
Before I left I visited the family records centre and double
checked the copies of the birth, marriage and death register
index's that I have and I am pleased to announce that they are
all correct (well okay, 2 were wrong but out of 2000 that's not
bad odds) however those that I found on FreeBMD were completely
wrong. In some cases the entries did not even exist in the
official register.
I then wrote a message to the roots web LONDON list mentioning
this in passing and to be honest, the degree of hate mail I
received has been staggering.
I merely mentioned that in my opinion the records should be
checked against the originals prior to going on line.
The general reply was "How dare I criticise other people's work
as they are all volunteers" only some did not quite put it so
politely.
Therefore if you are going to order certificates based on
freeBMD I would suggest that you contact me first and ask what
reference I have, as ONS will keep half the fee if incorrect.
On a happier note I have just discovered that the Devon Records
Office holds some very interesting Coath papers including:
Walter Coath, - the Income Tax Inspector's- papers from his time
in Ireland,
Several indenture papers from various Coaths
Many Quarter Sessions involving Coath's - Either as aggrieved
parties or as members of the court.
I should be able to get down to view these at the close of the
week and if time allows, stray over the border into Cornwall and
take a look around Lansallos and Talland churchyards.
So hopefully by next Saturday I should be able to provide each
of you with another link to the past.
Regards
Steve Coath
researching COATH One-Name Study
Listowner COATH-L