Trist Families of Devon: Volume 4 Forbears: Their Farms & Sidelines: Trist Families of Devon, #4

By Peter Trist

This is the fourth volume in a series attempting to write a social history of Trist families in Devon. It is the first of four volumes devoted to farming and village life in the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian eras (roughly 1530-1830). This social history is not unique to the Trist family. Nearly all English-speaking families today would have had many forbears who followed a similar way of life in a rural community.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Trist
• Release date: Nov 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9780648499145

Book preview

TRIST FAMILIES OF DEVON:

Volume 4

Forbears: Their Farms, & Sidelines

TRIST FAMILIES OF DEVON

Volume 4

Forbears: Their Farms and Sidelines

by Peter J. Trist

Trist Families of Devon:

Volume 4

Forbears: Their Farms & Sidelines

By Peter J. Trist

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the author, except for the inclusions of brief acknowledged quotations in a review, thesis, article or published work.

The author and publisher have used their best efforts in collecting and preparing material for inclusion in Trist Families of Devon, Volume 4: Forbears: Their Farms & Sidelines but do not warrant that the information herein is complete or accurate, and does not assume, and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in Trist Families of Devon, Volume 4: Forbears: Their Farms & Sidelines whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Copyright 2023 by Peter J. Trist

Published by Australian eBook Publishers

ISBN-13 978-0-6484991-4-5

CONTENTS OF OTHER VOLUMES IN ‘TRIST FAMILIES OF DEVON’

Vol. 1 Research Methods

Vol. 2 What’s in a Name? An Etymology

Origins of Trist Surname

Vol. 3 The Medieval Period

Vol. 5 Their Farmhouses

Vol. 6 The Farming Calendar

Daily Life and Work in Devon Farming

Vol. 7 Life in a Farming Community

Everyday life in a farming household (diet, clothing, bereavement & re-marriage, size of families, kinship networks, education, parish governance, litigation etc in a village community)

Vol. 8 Local Gentry & Country Parsons

Genealogy for two Trist politicians & various Trist churchmen (Charts 2 & 3)

Volume 9 Politics and Trade in Devon

Plus, a genealogy of Trist families on Dartmoor & at South Brent

(Charts 4, 4A, 4B & 4C)

Vol. 10 Farewell to Devon:

Genealogical charts for Devon Trists in USA (Charts 8A & 9); Canada (Chart 8), Australia (Charts 6, 6A & 7); New Zealand (Chart 5)

Vol. 11 Selected Documents, Wills & Court Cases

Vol. 12 Trist Names Index

Including Unresearched Family Groups (UFGs)

GENEALOGICAL CHARTS AND NOTES

Genealogical Charts and Notes are located as follows:

Volume 1

Charts 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D (Harberton, Cornworthy, Dittisham, Dartington)

Chart 2 (Harberton and Totnes)

Chart 9 (Philadelphia, USA)

Volume 8

Chart 2 (Harberton)

Chart 3 (Veryan, Cornwall)

Volume 9

Charts 4, 4A, 4B, 4C (South Brent)

Volume 10

Chart 5 (N.Z.)

Charts 6, 6A (N.S.W. Australia)

Chart 7 (Victoria, Australia)

Chart 8 (Canada & USA)

Chart 8A (USA)

Chart 9 (Philadelphia, USA)

Volume 11

Selected Documents, Wills and Court Records

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 4

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 Homely Swains

Chapter 2 Forbears: Their Farms & Sidelines

Chapter 3 John Trist of Diptford (ca 1469-1533, Chart 1/7)

Chapter 4 Richard Trist of Aveton Gifford, (bn ca 1498 d. 1571, Chart 1/8)

Chapter 5 Stephen Trist of Harberton (bn ca 1533 d. 1619, Chart 1/1)

Chapter 6 John Trist of Harberton (bn ca 1576/80 d. 1637, Chart 1/2)

Chapter 7 Thomas Trist of Harberton, Cornworthy and Dittisham (bn ca 1619 d. 1702, Chart 1/5)

Chapter 8 Ambrose Trist of Cornworthy (1672-1750, Chart 1/42)

Chapter 9 Richard Trist of Dittisham (1705-1774, Chart 1/55)

Chapter 10 Richard Trist of Dittisham (1739-1792, Chart 1/67)

Chapter 11 Richard Trist of Dartington, 1763-1855, Chart 1/70)

Chapter 12 Robert Faremouth Trist of Launceston (1813-1894, Chart 1/95)

Chapter 13 Genealogy

Appendix A Land Tenure Records

Appendix B Key to Fields of Hernaford Farm, Harberton

Appendix C Population Statistics & No of Trists in Devon

Appendix D Key to Fields of Court Prior Farm, Cornworthy

Appendix E Key to Jaspers Farm

Appendix F Key to Fields of Gitcombe Farm, Cornworthy

Appendix G Key to Trists Farm at East Cornworthy

Appendix H Key to Fields of Kiln Farm, Thornwell Cott and Lang’s Cott at Dittisham

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Endnotes

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

Volume 4

Figure 1 Satellite Map of Hernaford Farm, Harberton

Figure 2 Satellite Map of western section of Hernaford Farm

Figure 3 Satellite Map of central section of Hernaford Farm

Figure 4 Satellite Map of eastern section of Hernaford Farm

Figure 5 Satellite Map showing proximity of Hernaford Farm to Crowdy (or Crowda) Mill

Figure 6 Photo of Stanthills at Hernaford Farm

Figure 7 Photo of Poulston Downs at Hernaford Farm

Figure 8 Photo of Crowdy (or Crowda) Mill (originally a fulling mill)

Figure 9(a) Satellite Map of Cornworthy

Figure 9(b) Colour diagram map of Cornworthy showing different farms

Figure 10(a) Satellite Map of Court Prior Farm and Jasper’s Farm with field numbers

Figure 10(b) Colour Diagram Map of Court Prior Farm and Jaspers Farm

Figure 11(a) Satellite Map of Gitcombe Farm with field numbers

Figure 11(b) Colour Diagram Map of Gitcombe Farm

Figure 12 Photo of the ‘Four fields upon Smallabridge Way’ looking uphill

Figure 13 Photo of the ‘Four Fields upon Smallabridge Way’ looking downhill

Figure 14 Ruin of Gatehouse to Cornworthy Priory

Figure 15 View of Cornworthy from ruined priory gatehouse

Figure 16 Satellite Map of Cornworthy Grist Mill location on River Wash confluence with Bow Creek

Figure 17 Cornworthy Grist Mill at Tuckenhay (Thomas & Ambrose Trist)

Figure 18 Satellite Map of Kiln Farm, Thornwell Cott and Langs Cott at Dittisham

Figure 19 Enlarged Satellite Map of Kiln Farm Dittisham showing field numbers

Figure 20 Enlarged Satellite Map of Thornwell Cott showing field numbers

Figure 21 Photo of Kiln Farm fields, Dittisham

Figure 22 Photo of Kiln Farm fields, Dittisham

Figure 23 Photo of Dittisham Mill Creek & Kiln Farm fields

Figure 24 Photo of Kiln Farm fields, Dittisham

Figure 25 Author indicating the lime kiln at Kiln Farm

Figure 26 Author on access road above the lime kiln at Kiln Farm

Figure 27 A working lime kiln at Combe Martin in about 1825

PREFACE

This is the fourth volume in a series attempting to write a social history of Trist families in Devon. It is the first of four volumes devoted to farming and village life in the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian eras (roughly 1530-1830). This social history is not unique to the Trist family. Nearly all English-speaking families today would have had many forbears who followed a similar way of life in a rural community.

Amateur historians have many varied and personal reasons for starting a family history. My own motivation has been simply to satisfy my curiosity. How did each generation of my forbears live their lives? Discovering each link in the chain and joining them together into a coherent narrative, from past to present, has motivated my writing of this family history.

My motivation owes very little to genetics because a surname is a legal, not a biological, construct. I cannot claim any close genetic connection with any of my ancestors except perhaps my parents. Modern biological science tells us that the gene pool is halved with each passing generation, roughly every twenty-five years. Consequently, even my paternal grandfather is seventy-five per cent biologically different from myself, even though the male surname remains unchanged. After only one hundred years, or three generations, the resemblance is down to about twelve per cent. By the fourth generation what remains of the original gene pool is so negligible that one’s ancestors should really be considered as genetic strangers. My genetic similarity to Richard Trist, my great-great-great grandfather born in 1763 is theoretically a mere three per cent, so that he is genetically quite a different person. Any biological resemblance we may have is insignificant and roughly equivalent to my thirty-one other forbears of the same vintage from whom I am also descended, most of whom I have not identified. For this reason, we cannot really claim an identity with our ancestors on a biological basis. The idea that one can inherit a blood-line is illusory: a mirage created linguistically by the inherited surname.

Whilst a one-name study is largely independent of genetics, it is a lot more relevant when considered from a social and local point of view. Suppose that I could investigate the lives of all thirty-one of my forbears back to 1763. What would I find? In all probability, their social histories would be remarkably similar to those of the Trist families described in the next four volumes. Most people in the pastoral age married (and were usually obliged by community pressure to marry) within their own social class and did not generally move very far away from their parents’ parish.1 There was considerably less social and geographical mobility than there is today. Consequently, the experiences of one family would be subject to the same influences as other families belonging to the same social class living in the same region at the same time.

In this sense, a family history is really a branch of local or parochial history. Any generalizations that can be adduced apply mainly in the local area or region. A family history establishes two facts basic to any history, namely a time and a place. Knowing where an ancestor was at a particular time supplies a focus and narrows the range of possibilities. For example, the acquisition and disposal of leasehold farms by tenant farmers was of enormous importance to the farming families examined in this history. This is a topic which would probably only be investigated by a family or local historian. Likewise, the details of the rise and fall in the fortunes of this or that branch of the Trist family is of less importance than recording what windows of opportunity were opening and closing at the local level. These opportunities and problems were similar for contemporary families from the same social class living in the Dart Valley or South Hams.

We are living through an era launched in the nineteenth century by the industrial revolution. As a consequence, we have largely lost touch with country life. What preceded this urbanised way of living was the long period of the pastoral age which was dominated by farming the land. And I felt that by resurrecting the lives and times of my ancestors in this history, I was repaying a debt of gratitude. And perhaps my deep subconscious mind wishes to leave something tangible relating to the family. For I have no children, yet each previous generation nurtured and brought up their children no doubt at considerable sacrifice to themselves. I felt it was a type of gratitude to be curious about their lives and to find out about each generation as they travelled towards the present.

INTRODUCTION

Volume 3 ended with some guided guesswork about the Trist men who lived in Devon, before the keeping of any systematic family records. Making any family connections with these medieval Trist men is hazardous due to the sparseness of written evidence.

However, if we want to connect the medieval with the Tudor era, the most likely candidate is the John Trist who took out Letters of Protection in 1429 to guard his property or leasehold at Nytheway or Netheway while he was absent from England on military service.2 Netheway, near Dartmouth, was the normal residence of Sir John Cole, who at one time was sheriff of Devon and a Member of Parliament and was active in maritime affairs in Dartmouth. He was also a second generation familiar of Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon and was liveried as was his father Sir Adam Cole who had been a steward of the earl’s household in 1381-2.3 He died about 1434 and his estates at Netheway and elsewhere went to foeffees.4 However, several generations later there was an association between the two names (Cole and Trist). This may be a coincidence (the Cole name is not uncommon) or it may be a sign of continuing contact between younger members of the same families. An example of such cooperation might be helping each other to secure favourable three-life leases on barton farms as John Cole and John Trist seem to have done at Diptford during the reign of the Tudors (1485 onwards).

‘Cole’ was not an uncommon surname in Devon so perhaps the occurrence of the Trist and Cole surnames together a few generations later could be dismissed as merely a coincidence. Nevertheless there were three occasions when the two names appeared together on documents. In 1532 a John Cole and his wife Blanche (nee Byrte) bought back Blanche’s mother’s interest in Farleigh, evidently her father’s barton farm at Diptford. One of the witnesses to this Cole agreement was John Tryste.5 A second occasion when the two names appeared together occurred when a John Cole (probably from West Alvington) witnessed the marriage settlement document of Stephen Trist at Harberton in 1560.6 A third document which is undated but refers to a sale of property in Aveton Gifford in 1573 by Christopher Copplestone Esq. was witnessed by six people including both John Cole and John Tryst.7

The Coles connections with a John Trist in 1429 and also in 1532, 1560 and 1573 may be merely coincidental or they may suggest that the 1429 John Trist was a relative (maybe the grandfather) of John Trist of Diptford (Chart 1/7).

Making such connections between the medieval and the Tudor world is hazardous but the rest of this volume is less speculative because of the great increase of baptismal, marriage and burial records from the middle of the sixteenth century.

The central event of the sixteenth century was the Protestant Reformation of the English Church by Henry VIII beginning in about 1533. The Reformation, more than any other single event, marked the end of the medieval world. And for the family historian it marks the beginning of the system of parish records which enable a family history to be constructed from about 1538, provided the parish registers have not been lost or damaged.

This present volume concentrates on identifying the farms of my Trist forbears and it will be followed by three more volumes resurrecting their way of life in the Devon countryside. I have deliberately put the practice of farming at the heart of this family history because for at least three hundred years, my traceable ancestors were involved with a farming way of life which would have been familiar to the ancestors of many English-speaking people. The farming culture permeated society from top to bottom.

This farming way of life, once so influential, has largely disappeared from the experience and racial memory of most English-speaking (indeed most European) people. In the words of Peter Laslett, it is ‘the world we have lost’. This family history will attempt a reconstruction of life in the pastoral age as it was experienced by the ancestors of many people living today.

CHAPTER 1

HOMELY SWAINS

O God! Methinks it were a happy life

To be no better than a homely swain;

…..

So minutes, hours, days, months and years

Pass’d over to the end they were created,

Would bring white hairs to a quiet grave8

In previous volumes I have speculated that members of the Trist family moved