Ancestors of Alan Vince

Ancestors of Alan George Vince

Table of Contents

I've tried to put a name to each of my direct ancestors going back as far as I can. In most cases before personal or family memory that's the limit of my knowledge.

The Vinces of Hampshire and the families they married into were poor, mostly illiterate, agricultural labourers. It would be nice to flesh out their lives but unless they're mentioned in estate accounts it's unlikely. Not one made a will until the 20th century and they probably had little in the way of chattels to leave. Several lived and died in the workhouse.

I have found several hundred descendants of the earliest members of the family known, Thomas and Ann Vince, of Crondall as well as researching several families that, as yet, cannot be shown to be related (for example the family of John and Sarah Vince of Woodmancott.

The Parnells of Portsmouth and the Harrises of Worcestershire and Birmingham, however, were classier folk - shop keepers and artisans. My distant cousin,Tim Evans, is studying the Harris family of Feckenham and thanks to him we know the family tree back to the mid 18th century. My contribution has been to try to identify the members of the family in old photographs.

The Parnells can be traced back to the end of the 18th century but I know nothing of their origins before that. Several branches of the family exist and some include family historians, so we may find out more one day.

The Janeways of Kent are related to me through the Alexanders. There are very few of them, that I've managed to find and, again, I'd be pleased to hear from anyone who can flesh out this family tree.

Finally, the Alexander family is potentially the best documented and I get the feeling that I've only just scraped the surface of the available documentation (there's a whole series of papers in the PRO relating to a contested will, the outcome of which was the aquisition of parts of the estate of Isaac Newton, including a large part of Kensington High Street (ho hum). One day I hope to devote some time to the Alexanders and the Parletts. Meanwhile, if anyone can explain how my great uncle David Alexander came to be born in Altona, the old port of Hamburg, I'd love to hear from them...

Prepared by:

Alan George Vince
25 West Parade
Lincoln
Lincs
Tel: +44 1522 589992

Send e-mail to: alan@postex.demon.co.uk

This web site produced 29 Jun 2005 by Personal Ancestral File, a product of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.