We’re now in the land of the Burills (Judy’s side) and the Libbys (Jon’s side). The genealogical records are confusing but raise some tantalizing questions. Could two America-bound men of about the same age known each other? Come from the same town? Sailed on the same ship? Dated the same girl? Probably not, but sitting here it’s hard to say “no” with certainty.
Doing some last-minute sleuthing this afternoon, we find that John Burrill, Judy’s great-whatever on her grandmother’s husband’s side (Leslie Burrill) was born in Drewsteignton in 1609, came to America on the Blessing in July of 1636 at age26. He settled in Weymouth, MA and died in 1711 and is buried in Roxbury, MA where I believe his tombstone can be found. It was his son, born in Weymouth who married the Alden girl.
Oops, I found a passenger list for the Blessing sailing July 1635. No Burrills on the manifest. This genealogy stuff is tough going sometimes.
The Libby side, coming from my mother’s father’s side (Clifford Libby) is more confusing. Two sources conflict as to origin of a John Libby who ended up in Scarborough, Maine. Everyone agrees he died in 1681 and had the required child to carry on the family tree. Someone has erected a monument about him in Scarborough:
John Libby
First Libby Settler on this continent and progenitor of the American Libby Family
Sailed from Plymouth England in Dec 1635, Arrived at Richmond’s Island Feb 13, 1636, where he faithfully served his time, three years at the Trelawny Plantation.
He sailed on the Hercules from Plymouth. Everyone agrees on his wife’s name. But his origin is a question mark.
One source says he was born in Broadstairs, Kent, which is on the extreme southeast point of England. Many of those sailing on the Hercules were religious escapees from Kent. Why they traveled the considerable distance from Kent to Plymouth to depart is a question. John Libby worked for a businessman who was the mayor of Plymouth England when he settled in Scarborough, ME. John Libby’s connection to this region, and Plymouth in particular, is well documented.
Another source suggests he was born on March 31, 1611 in Lanlivery and married Judith there in 1635. The rest of the story in Scarborough matches the other sources.
Whatever. Tomorrow we’ll visit Lanlivery and Plymouth and other parts of Cornwall and see what we can see.
Today, it was Drewsteignton, undisputed home of John Burrill. It’s a small village perched on top of a hill surrounded by farmland. All the roads leading in and out, both of them, are single lane. It sports an ancient church, dating well before 1609 and a graveyard with the usual tombstones that are totally illegible if dating earlier than 1850.
Some of the houses in Drewsteignton sport real thatched roofs. Very different from the stone roofs we’ve seen many other places. Unfortunately, one building had a fire in its thatched roof last March. Repairs are underway.
The village also sports a pub, where we had a light lunch and met two absolutely great guys, John and Glynn. They were standing by the kitchen drinking beer when we went in for lunch. They were standing there, beers in hand when we left town two hours later. Judy asked, “do you guys work or just drink beer all day long?” (Our relationship had advanced to that level by then). “We put on suits when we leave home to make our wives think we work and then eat lots of mints when we go home.”
The trip from Snowshil to Drewsteignton sported over 100 miles of M50 driving, a real nice reprieve from the rural cow lanes we’ve been traversing for much of this trip. We did manage to get lost again in a complex series of six roundabouts, trying to find a loo stop half-way along. But all ended without mishap.
By the way, remember the church in Stanton with the nice lady from the night-before restaurant? Reading her late husband’s history book, we learned that John Wesley – THE John Wesley, founder of Methodism – preached there back in the day. Turns out he was there with friends. He proposed marriage to the vicar’s daughter; she turned him down. But he was invited to the wedding and danced at her reception.
This evening, we drove from our Airbnb in the village of Mary Tavy where our best-ever Airbnb is located to the Peter Tavy Inn where we had our best-of-trip-so-far dinner of lamb and mint sauce (Judy) and Steak and Stilton Pie (Jon). No idea what the relationship between Mary and Peter is/was. Mary’s is the bigger village. Peter’s village is much more diminutive.
Our house looks out on a beautiful garden with pasture lands on the distant hills – Devon is much hillier than what we’ve seen so far. Lots of birds at the feeders to entertain us too.
