I had often surmised where did the Symonds
ancestors come from. Leaving aside the matter of where our first footprints
were found, this headline question I ask myself regularly. Most, I am sure,
have recognised the effects wrought on the spelling by illiterate people giving
their names to parish recorders such as the local clergyman.
Lots
of variants exist but, to give just a few here they are; Symons, Simons,
Simmons, Symmons, Symonds, Simonds, Symmonds. Quite a few of these appear in
the family history, sometimes in the same family, perhaps indicating that the
parish recorder was changed during the expansion of a particular family.
Although
my line is about Somerset and Dorset, it may seem awkward to have to admit that
Symonds is not a name with its origins there. The original view was that it was
quite probably Norman and came to England with William the Conqueror, as least
in many cases.
In
the early days of the search for family background, a well-known Somerset
researcher was asked if he could assist with information on several family
names. He indicated that he would not be interested in Symonds as much as
several local names, as it was not local, nor even Devonish or Cornish for that
matter; Nevertheless, he remarked that our ancestors from Somerset would most
certainly have had a good mixture of blood from those with "true“
Somerset/Dorset names after all the intervening generations; so let us call
them West Country anyway.
Perhaps
the most interesting collection of material about the Symonds derivation is in
letters that John Addington Symonds wrote to a friend (see Brown, Horatio, John
Addington Symonds, A Biography, Nimmo c.1865):
“Though obscure at present we happen to have a very long and full and
varied pedigree dating from Adam Fitz Simon who was a large holder of lands in
Herts, Essex and Norfolk under Bishop Odo. … The family Symonds, one branch of
which I represent, is supposed to have descended from Adam Fitz Simon, Lord of
St. Sever in Normandy. This Simon of St. Sever is said to have been brother of
Richard de Goy, Viscount of Arranches who was the father of Hugh Lupus, Earl of
Chester. The pedigree prior to the conquest of England is traced to Raungwalder
of Moax and the Orcades in the 9th century. Simon of St. Sever died in 909
and was buried in the church of his fief…
Adam received lands and manors
in Threxton in Norfolk and Almeshoe in Herts and died sometime before 1118. In
the third generation after him, the family divided into two branches; the
eldest continued to flourish for many generations in Herts and Essex. Its most
distinguished member was Richard Fitz Simon, one of the founders of the Order
of the Garter. The second branch settled in Norfolk at threxton, Suffield,
Ormesbury, Runham Hall, and Cley by the Sea. Already in the beginning of the 14th century, they
Englished their patronym to Symonds.”
Here JAS notes that Fitz Simon does not
mean Son of Simon but Son of Sigmund:
“Our name is probably derived from Sigmund and not from Simon. This
accounts for the short ‘y’ and for the ‘d’ which survives in the
termination.Fitz Symond was the son of Siegmund and the accent fell upon the
last syllable –
‘Beke et Biroune
Sanzpour et Fitz Simoun’
In
the course of time the ‘I’ of biroune and of Simoun hardened and the accent was
thrown back so that the pronounciation settled into Byron and Symon (with a
short ‘i’) that cannot rhyme.
… Though a numerous family, the
Fitz Simons of Essex and Herts expired (it seems that the main line produced a
great batch of daughters only, at one point), and they are now only represented
by the Cornish Symons of Hatt and the Irish Fitz Simons. Richard Fitz John,
uncle of Sir Richard Fitz Simon K.G., married an heiress of the house of
Tregarthyn in Cornwall and settled there about 1297….”
There
are many interpretations available, but that of John Addington Symonds appears
to be the most extensive representation of the Symonds derivation, out of
Sigmund.
I have
been researching my family tree for nigh on 30 years now - mine is the Dorset
branch, - but as is the way, researches turn up all sorts about other branches
and dead-ends.
I have discovered that the Oxford Symondses came from
Shropshire; The Essex stock were at Black Nosley in that county. One of them -
Rev Edward Symonds wrote a well-known pamphlet on Charles I.
The Norfolk family were at Clay and Stockley,. their
pedigree is, I believe, in the Proceedings of Norfolk Archaeological Society. I
read it many years ago but cannot remember the precise reference to it. I fear
nothing actually useful came out of it.
The Cornish family have always spelled their name without a
"D", as we, in fact, did in the 18th century as a rule. G.Boase's
"Collectanea Cornubiensia*" contains much information as to Symons of
that County. Unfortunately, Boase did not give authorities for the various
descents that he prints and it may be that some of them are more or less
apocryphal. I have always thought it quite possible that we descended from a
branch of the Cornish clan, but have never found a link that satisfied me even
approximately. The Parochial History of Cornwall deals with the Symons of Hall.
* I would caution anyone to regard Boase's pedigree with
some degree of scepticism. It is an interesting document that, unfortunately,
gives no historical references by which the various descents can be tested. A
serious fault when a genealogist is dealing with a period before the earliest
parish registers, say 1540 or thereabouts. The persons mentioned by Boase
probably existed, but whether they were related by blood in the manner stated
by him is quite another question! I regard some portions of the pedigree, when
unverified by external evidence, as being distinctly untrue, invented or of
doubtful authenticity.
For example, with regard to one Thomas of Woodsford
(d.1566), Boase has hitched him onto the bottom of the Cornish pedigree without
showing any reason for so doing, beyond the fact that the date was suitable.
We should remember that Hutchins was printed before Boase
wrote his book; it is therefore not impossible that the latter author simply
"lifted" Thomas Symonds from Dorset into Cornwall! Another point,
Hutchins pedigree is itself wrong, I fear, as regards the earliest persons
mentioned, because the compiler has confused men of the same Christian names
who were living in the same part of Dorset at the same date. I have satisfied
myself that there were at least two Thomases and two Giles in the district
around Woodsford at the material date when Hutchins starts his pedigree. The
Thomas who died in 1566, according to Hutchins, was a bastard son of
Strangways; consequently he cannot be presumed to be identical with the Thomas
mentioned in the visitation of Gloucestershire about 1620 (see Harleian
Society).
The question of the Grants of Arms to various members of the
Symonds family in Dorset is similarly confused, but I shall not deal with this
issue now. At all events, I have no evidence whatsoever that we are connected in
blood with any of the persons mentioned above.
If you are interested, you may also care to consult the
autobiography of Simonds D'Ewes whose mother was a Symonds of Chardstock, the
daughter of Richard Symonds of Coxden in that parish. D'Ewes discusses his
mother's ancestry in various pages of the first three chapters of the book.
I know little or nothing about North Country genealogies,
but one day it would be worth searching the proceedings of (a) The Shropshire
Archaeological and Natural History Society; (b) The Lancashire & Cheshire
Historical Society; (3) the appropriate County Histories; (4) The Herald's
Visitations in the Counties named (Printed by the Harleian Society.)
I have mentioned above that Brown's biography of John Addington
Symonds, states that his family originally came from Shropshire, however, it is
also worth mentioning that Hutchins (II, 237) records that a daughter of Giles
Symonds of Woodsford, Dorset, married a man from "Hodnet" in
Shropshire.
What has all this to do with Dowlish Wake and Edward Symonds? I
hear you ask. Well, it will be remembered that in the 18th century
each parish supported its own poor, tended the sick and aged who needed help
and provided the necessary funds by a rateable levy on the parishioners. In
Dowlish Wake a house was set apart for the purpose and the accounts of the
overseers of the poor were balanced every month, showing the disbursements in
the parish, the sum collected by rates and the “stock” remaining in hand, if
any. The book was produced from time to time at a meeting of the parishioners
who signed and “allowed” the account as being correct.
When in 1903 a forbear of mine examined these records, and made a
few extracts the first entry in the earliest volume ran as follows:- “This
book was begun April 23rd in the year of our Lord 1769 by Mr Giles
Symonds, overseer”; he prepared the first account which was signed on
October 15th by himself and approved by Abraham Rooke, John James,
William and Richard James and other persons. In November 1769 the signature of
John Symonds was among those assenting.
In April 1770 Abraham Hull as overseer presented his account that
was agreed and allowed by Honour and Giles and Edward Symons, with others. It
was here that was found an unusual instance of a woman overseer, namely Honour
Symonds who held that office in 1771, her account being signed by John and
William James and by Edward and Giles Symons; the signature of the last named
appeared again in 1772.
In 1788 John Symonds acted as overseer and also subscribed the
figures for the years 1789 and 1790. A resolution in 1792 was signed by one
Giles Symonds - not identical with the earlier Giles of 1769-72 - but rather the latter’s nephew, as the
handwriting differed. Edward Symonds similarly approved the reckoning for 1796,
but here again he should not be confused with the Edward who appended his name
in 1771 and died in 1785. The account for the year 1796 was the latest in which
was noticed the signature of any member of the family, but some names continued
in the list of ratepayers until 1817 when they presumably ceased to be resident
in Dowlish although they still owned certain lands.
Today, alas, these memorials of village economics are no longer in
existence. When in 1921 my forbear wished to amplify the brief notes taken in
1903 he was informed by the assistant-overseer, who was almost in tears, that
the old books together with loose papers in the chest had been destroyed by
burning in the course of an uncontrolled “spring-cleaning” in the church. Such
was the untimely fate of the parish civil records, which included
apprenticeship bonds, and the returns from Dowlish in connexion with the
defence of Somerset in 1803 (Som. & Dor. N. & Q. x. 169). It was
therefore a happy chance that led him to the village church on the occasion
when the foregoing extracts were made; otherwise any knowledge of the
interesting contents of those records would now of course be unobtainable. The
lamentable destruction of the books and papers, other than the church registers
which most fortunately were kept in another place, caused my forbear to make
further enquiries from the rector in 1924 when he learnt that the earliest
surviving rate book begins in 1834, in which year John Symonds owned just over
13acres in the parish, of an annual value of £18 4s 0d. The rector also
confirmed the nature of the fate of the manuscripts in the parish chest during
the incumbency of his predecessor.
With regard to the church itself, we as a family are concerned
only with two visible records, but with how many invisible appeals to memory?
There is a mural tablet to the brothers Richard and William James, and another
to Edward Symonds over the south door in the nave, the inscription on which is:
“To the memory of Edward Symonds
of East Dowlish who died aged 51, 20 march 1727, this tablet has been placed here in 1907 by
one of his descendants.”
In the
churchyard lies an Altar tomb of Ham stone, inscribed:
“ Here lieth the body of Edward Symonds who died March
20, 1727, aged 51 years.
Here I am laid down in ye dust
All men that live here too they must
Death took its stroke you plainly see
Therefore prepare and follow me.
Here also lies ye body of Ann Symonds wife of ye aforesaid Edw.
Symonds who departed this life the 14th day of December 1745 being
in the 74th year of her age.
In memory of Edward Symonds junr. He died ye 4th day of
July 1752, aged 45.
A faithful friend
A husband dear
A loving father
Lieth neare.
Here lies the body of Ann Symonds who
departed this life the 4th day of march 1739 being in the 2nd
year of her age. Here lies also the body of Edward Symonds who departed this
life the 9th day of August 1739 being in the 4th year of
his age. Also here lies the body of John Symonds son of Edward & Ann
Symonds & father of the two children aforesaid who departed this life the
21st day of January 1741 being in the 27th year of his
age.
Underneath lieth the remains of Giles
Symonds of Pilsdon, Dorset, gent. Who died 27 June 1819, aged 75 years. Also in
memory of Ann wife of the said Giles Symonds who died 22 ugust 1821, aged 72
years.”
On a flat stone near the altar tomb:
“In memory of Sarah daughter of Giles and Ann Symonds of Pilsdon,
Dorset,
who departed this life the 6th of June 1793. aged 8
years.
Near this place lieth the body of George Symonds son of Giles and
Ann Symonds
who died January 23, 1829, aged 35 years.”
The bells in the tower are now 5 in number, the 5th having been added in 1906. One of the bells, cast in 1634, bearing an inscription “Mr John Simons: Mr James Bulgin: wardens 1736” “Geo Rooke gave this bell 1634” was recast in 1736 when John Symonds was the senior churchwarden. Without doubt many of our forbears were wardens at one time or another, but as there is not a list of those who held that office and as the churchwardens’ accounts are no longer extant, the evidence derived from the bell is more than welcome. We may perhaps regard it as a probability that the donor of the bell in 1634 was an ancestor of Abraham Rooke of the same parish who married a Symonds bride in 1757.
Having regard to the long association of
my family with the mill and the adjoining land it will perhaps be fitting to
chronicle some stray facts that are within my knowledge. Although this little
mill cannot show a record beginning in Domesday Book, like its neighbour in
Donyatt parish, nevertheless corn was being ground in feudal times and most
probably on the same site. I have seen an ancient charter by which a bishop of
Bath confirmed a gift by Ralph Wac (Wake?) of the mill at Duvelicium (Dowlish)
to the monks of Ferleia in Wiltshire. The deed is undated and the bishop’s name
is denoted only by the letter R, but the Ralph wake therein mentioned may be
the member of the family who was living in 1285 and Lord of the Manor, as the
script is of that period.
A long interval then elapses, during which
the manor passed to the Keynes family and subsequently by marriage to the
Spekes. In the days of Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth the depositions in a
Chancery suit yield a few particulars: one witness states that in 1651 the
life-hold property included the dwelling house, the mill house and tenements, a
back-side (yard) and a close of 3 acres, which were worth together about £24
yearly. The miller John Davys, then aged 51, deposed that he occupied the
mill-house and a garden plot from which he paid 6 shillings rent weekly to the
holder of the other part. The buildings then needed repair and a tree had been
provided for the purpose, but the defendant objected and consequently £9 was
spent on the timber. (Hutchins vs. Moore, Chan. Dep. Mitford 640/35).
In 1680 the miller was William
Vincent; he was succeeded about 1688 by William Milbourne, my ancestor, whose
daughter Anne married Edward Symonds. Thenceforward our kinsfolk successively
held the mill in lifehold tenure during
a long period. When an invasion by Napoleon was threatened, returns were called
for, in all parishes in maritime counties, as to their resources in men,
animals and food. The tithingman of Dowlish made a return in July, 1803,
stating, among other things, that there was a miller in the parish but that the
want of water prevented him from engaging to supply a greater quantity of meal
than his usual customers consumed; if there was no scarcity of water he could
supply tem quarters of meal weekly, over and above his usual needs (Som. &
Dor. N. & Q. x, 169).
The existing stone walls and main timbers
of the dwelling-house and the mill-house, which face each other across a yard,
can be dated as 17th century work, if not a little earlier; the
modern slate roofs being doubtless substituted for the original coverings of
thatch. In each building there is a large open fireplace framed with oak, one
being 7ft 9 ins wide; alongside the fireplace in the mill-house is a small
arched recess in the masonry 14 ½ in, x
11 in., perhaps for a food vessel when heated, which suggests that this portion
of the building was formerly used as a dwelling, not improbably by John Davys
in 1651 as above mentioned.
Until recently there was an inscribed
block of Ham Hill stone in the exterior face of the north gable of the
mill-house, about 12 feet above the ground level. On examining the inscription
it read as follows:
S
E A
1710
My forbear was allowed to remove the
stone, and it remained one of his cherished possessions until his death. The
meaning of the inscription is sufficiently clear, namely, that Edward Symonds
having married Anne Milbourne became, through his wife, the yeoman miller; then
having altered the mill-house, he caused his own and his wife’s initials, with
the date, to be cut upon the stone (18 in. x 17 in.).
One final word of caution, recently
through the internet I have been contacted by various relatives claiming descent with wildly different origins - hence my scepticism.
One said we were former Dutch jews escaping 18th cent persecution, and our name
originally was Sijmons (where the i and the j in the Dutch name has been
angliscised into y), and another claimant says we were Hugenots fleeing the
French persecutions. There is certainly a case for deeper research so I began the exploration further on this
absorbing matter. I started with the Dutch suggestion, and found that perhaps there was a Dutch connection, but not Jewish. Let me explain.
As I have been thus far unable to find any record of our Grand-sire Edward’s birth (Edward A1 on chart), despite an intensive search in both Somerset and Dorset Records offices, parish records, and other archives, I am just wondering whether he was actually born overseas – particularly in the Low-Countries, and perhaps my researches ought to be continued over there.
My reasoning behind this theory is based on old family folk-lore whereby (or so oral history would have us believe) we originally stemmed from Thomas Symonds of Woodsford Castle (died 1566) who married Alice, daughter of John Bond, living 1566 and had a son, another Thomas (died 1576) having married Agnes, daughter of Richard Femel “a wealthy Dutchman” and had 5 sons, William, Richard, Thomas, Laurence, and Robert. Through these lines descended the clan further, with one offspring marrying into the D’Ewes family, and others into the Small and Pybus lines. Suffice it to say that, without delving too deeply into these lines, we eventually get to the Civil War during which the Symonds’ clan sided with the King and consequently suffered the humiliation of defeat and banishment, the Castle having been “slighted” by the Parliamentary forces, or in the words of an observer of the time “The castell is nowe allmost ruinated, and the neighbour inhabitants have a tradition that it was beseiged and beaten downe with ordnance; as a testimonie wherof they will show you not farre offe in the warren, Gunhill, where they sawe the ordnance planted, and whence it tooke that name”.
Might I suggest, therefore, that having escaped to Holland, possibly in the wake of Prince Charles’ flight thereto, they became impoverished. This is all pure supposition, but did they re-establish contact with their Dutch kinsmen, the Femels, and was Edward, perhaps, a grandson of these original “Cavaliers” and having been born in Holland in 1676, returned to Somerset to eventually marry a miller’s daughter and himself become a miller in turn?
A survey of family Surnames was recently carried out in the Netherlands and, whilst it might only be considered circumstantial evidence, it is nevertheless interesting that among those names, Symonds (together with its Dutch version, Sijmonds whereby the letter “y” has been divided into its original constituent letters “i” and “j”) figured prominently in the survey. The map below shows the distribution of our family name as number of namesakes per municipality, - the areas of darkest colouration representing the densest population.
Edward may well have retraced his family roots back to England, but it may well also be that others of his clan decided to remain in Holland and subsequently thrived there.
Enough speculation methinks, so I shall leave the thought there for the time being.
