Introduction to "The Wimborne Project"
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The Tilsed surname is nowadays found around the world, but the heartland remains in Dorset, specifically Poole. The first-known Tilsed event in Poole was the arrival of a parish apprentice from Wimborne Minster in 1696, but the earliest Tilsed event I have so far identified anywhere is in Bere Regis in 1566 when one Lewis Tylsed witnessed the will of Edward Wolfrey. In between those dates there are a number of Tilsed events in Wimborne, where the family initially thrived and multiplied, then hit harder times and began the move to Poole. My research on Tilsed events in Bere Regis and Poole will be posted separately; this document concentrates on the family in Wimborne.
Having spent a number of years tracking down as many Tilsed references in Wimborne Minster as I could find, my family tree project file contained far too many disjointed “bits” of families. Some of them I felt had to be duplicates, but it was all too confusing to work out which. The original point of the exercise was to work out which were my own ancestors, but there were just too many undifferentiated Williams, Thomases and Johns to understand how everything fitted together.
(There are of course almost as many undifferentiated Marys, Elizabeths and Anns, but as the objective of this project is to follow back my own Tilsed line, in general it is the male Tilseds who are the ancestors.)
Eventually I decided to look at things from the other direction - to start at the beginning and work forwards. My thinking was that if I knew exactly who was living in Wimborne at a particular time, I might be better able to judge, for example, which James christened a son called William in 1657 and which Thomas got married in 1658.
Starting at the beginning involved identifying the very first Tilsed in Wimborne. That identification is detailed in chapter 3 of this project; analysis of when that first Tilsed might have arrived in Wimborne forms chapter 4, while a consideration of which other Tilseds may have moved to Wimborne will be posted in chapter 5. Later chapters will follow subsequent generations in the town.
The project is unfortunately taking a very long time: for every event there may be four, six, even eight candidates, and my approach has been to document my thinking in great detail, firstly so that others can check my logic, and secondly so that any new information found can be assessed in terms of its impact on conclusions already made.
So far my research has been restricted to what is available online; I am aware that there are many documents at the Dorset History Centre (formerly Dorset County Record Office) which may contain relevant information, but so far I have not had the opportunity to visit. I do keep a close eye on the online catalogue and order a copy of the occasional document when I can afford it.
If anyone has anything they want to add or discuss - whether that be new information, new sources, or you want to query, or argue with, any of my assumptions or conclusions - I will be genuinely delighted to hear about it. You can contact me by commenting on this post, or via my Twitter account , or at Ancestry.co.uk where I'm kjt127.
Return to the Wimborne Project contents list
Return to Home Page
Return to Home Page
Return to the Wimborne Project contents list
The Tilsed surname is nowadays found around the world, but the heartland remains in Dorset, specifically Poole. The first-known Tilsed event in Poole was the arrival of a parish apprentice from Wimborne Minster in 1696, but the earliest Tilsed event I have so far identified anywhere is in Bere Regis in 1566 when one Lewis Tylsed witnessed the will of Edward Wolfrey. In between those dates there are a number of Tilsed events in Wimborne, where the family initially thrived and multiplied, then hit harder times and began the move to Poole. My research on Tilsed events in Bere Regis and Poole will be posted separately; this document concentrates on the family in Wimborne.
Having spent a number of years tracking down as many Tilsed references in Wimborne Minster as I could find, my family tree project file contained far too many disjointed “bits” of families. Some of them I felt had to be duplicates, but it was all too confusing to work out which. The original point of the exercise was to work out which were my own ancestors, but there were just too many undifferentiated Williams, Thomases and Johns to understand how everything fitted together.
(There are of course almost as many undifferentiated Marys, Elizabeths and Anns, but as the objective of this project is to follow back my own Tilsed line, in general it is the male Tilseds who are the ancestors.)
Eventually I decided to look at things from the other direction - to start at the beginning and work forwards. My thinking was that if I knew exactly who was living in Wimborne at a particular time, I might be better able to judge, for example, which James christened a son called William in 1657 and which Thomas got married in 1658.
Starting at the beginning involved identifying the very first Tilsed in Wimborne. That identification is detailed in chapter 3 of this project; analysis of when that first Tilsed might have arrived in Wimborne forms chapter 4, while a consideration of which other Tilseds may have moved to Wimborne will be posted in chapter 5. Later chapters will follow subsequent generations in the town.
The project is unfortunately taking a very long time: for every event there may be four, six, even eight candidates, and my approach has been to document my thinking in great detail, firstly so that others can check my logic, and secondly so that any new information found can be assessed in terms of its impact on conclusions already made.
So far my research has been restricted to what is available online; I am aware that there are many documents at the Dorset History Centre (formerly Dorset County Record Office) which may contain relevant information, but so far I have not had the opportunity to visit. I do keep a close eye on the online catalogue and order a copy of the occasional document when I can afford it.
If anyone has anything they want to add or discuss - whether that be new information, new sources, or you want to query, or argue with, any of my assumptions or conclusions - I will be genuinely delighted to hear about it. You can contact me by commenting on this post, or via my Twitter account , or at Ancestry.co.uk where I'm kjt127.
Return to the Wimborne Project contents list
Return to Home Page