Search 30/03/1998
Dear Kevin
I returned to Dorset to devote another 3 hours to your research. I ordered out as many documents as I could find referring to the Percy family and struck lucky on the second document they brought to me. I was sure you would want a photo-copy and have enclosed one. I have promised on your behalf that it will not be reproduced without your permission, so if you ever write a book, please get in touch with them, or I will be banned! I’m not sure if you know about Settlements so I will explain. Skip the next paragraph.
The parish was expected to look after its poor, and collected taxes from the landowners, farmers, craftsmen etc for this purpose. The tax-payer didn’t want to be paying out for any vagrant who happened to wander in so there were very strict rules about who could settle in a new parish. Your ancestor would have been an ideal incomer, with excellent credentials and it is very lucky for us that his Settlement Papers have been kept. There is plenty of detail and helpful information. [ his father’s name and his own age would have been even better]. The paper states he had never been hired for as much as a year. If he had his place of settlement would have been in that town and not in Taunton or Crewkerne.
If you look carefully at his signature, you will see it is Pursey and not Pearcey. I think John in Crewkerne is probably a relative.
The other document I read concerned a Mary White of Wimborne, who had a base born child by James Percy, stone mason and timber merchant. He wanted her to get rid of the child then he would treat her as a gentlewoman. She refused saying she had committed sin enough. I feel sorry for her. She said her husband, a seaman, had gone to Newfoundland 18 years ago and she had heard nothing from him since, but had heard he had died about three years ago. Anyway, stone mason and timber merchant sounds as if James may have been a relative of Thomas.
So I still have a couple of hours to do in Dorset so I tied up some loose ends. In the Sherborne Register I found;- 1750 Mch Dan’l Pursey so Thomas and Rebecca, but I couldn’t find the marriage, perhaps it took place in Taunton.
Then I searched all through the 1851 census in other parishes [indexed] but though I found many Josephs, Richards, James etc they all seemed much poorer than your family. Cousins way back maybe.
Next I started on the census for 1841 for Sherborne and found the following;-
Long st. Edward Pursey 40 Land Surveyor 1801
John 45 Appraiser 1796
Park Lane came just before and Castle Inn was after wards. Easy enough to find if you would like some photo’s.
Next door to the brothers lived Emma aged 30 Independent 1811 with a female servant.
| Newland St | Maria | 45 | Ind. | 1796 |
| Bristol Rd. | Richard | 40 | Carpenter | 1801 |
| Martha | 35 | 1806 | ||
| Elizabeth | 10 | 1831 | ||
| Ann (Anne Sophia) | 2 | 1839 | ||
| Mary | 1 | 1840 | ||
| Ann | 30 | Ind. | 1811 | |
| Benjamin | 6 | 1835 | ||
| Elizabeth | 60 | Ind. | 1781 | |
| Elizabeth | 20 | 1821 | ||
| West End | Joseph | 40 | Builder | 1801 |
| Hester | 40 | 1801 | ||
| Joseph | 19 | 1822 | ||
| Eliza | 17 | 1824 | ||
| Henry | 7 | 1834 | ||
| Eunice | 6 | 1835 | ||
| Churchyard | James | 45 | Appraise | 1801 |
| Elizabeth | 48 | 1798 |
That is as far as I got. There is about ¼ of the film still to be done, but it was time to leave. In this census the ages of the adults are rounded up. We can see that Sophia Ann’s mother was Martha. Daniel who married Ann Watts is missing - dead already or in the East Indies? A surprising number of your relations remain unmarried or if married have no children. That is all the information I have for now, except to say that I had a quick look at a County index and found many Percy’s around Taunton. Unfortunately, Taunton is not included in the index, so I couldn’t find anything easily.
Yours Sincerely
Di