I have done pretty much all the paper-based research I can. The result is 16 Pursey trees based on location, including two trees predominantly containing Pursseys and one tree of Perseys.
In addition there are three trees of strays – Pursey, Purssey and Percy. Finally, there is one tree, the cause of untold hours of research, that of the individuals with links to the Percys of Northumberland – Thomas Percy, Gunpowder plotter and ‘pretender’ James the Trunkmaker.
Twenty in total.
I believe all these trees are linked and share a common genealogy. Excepting the discovery of hitherto unknown documents (wills, settlement exams, family bibles), the sole means available to advance the study is through DNA testing.
With luck, it will help those Purseys that currently cannot trace their ancestry back more than a few generations and shed some light on the inter-connectedness of the various branches.
I have taken a y-dna test which is logged with the Pursey DNA project – link. That should provide some sort of benchmark for the Pitminster Purseys. However, there is a long way to go and I need your help! Specifically, I’m looking for the male descendants of the following branches:
Somerset
- Bradford-on-Tone No known descendants
- Walton or Street – Thomas &Frances Frampton/Mary Palmer; William & Ann Taylor; James & Joanna Durston
- Stogumber (Purssey) – Charles & Elizabeth Sage; William & Joan Thomas; George & Elizabeth Pinn
- Taunton St James – Joseph & Joan Wood; John & Hannah Edmonds
- Taunton St Mary – any of the children of Thomas & Rebecca Pitman; Benjamin & Sarah Turner
- Taunton (Bishop’s Hull)
- Taunton (Wilton) – Christopher & Mary Greenway/Elizabeth Russell
- Pitminster & West Buckland – William & Mary Cross; Thomas & Eleanor Studley; William & Ann Wring
- Devon – William & Jane Herniman; William & Elizabeth Haddon
- Devon (Persey) – William & Ann Blackmoor
- Berkshire & Hampshire – Thomas & Ann Collyer; James & Mary Mileham; William & Jane Sumpter
- Kent (Purssey) – William & Susannah Bush; John & Caroline Harding; Joseph & Avice Seymour
- Buckinghamshire – John & Penninah Rogers; Thomas & Mary Ripley
- Hertfordshire – No known descendants
- Cornwall – William & Ann Bawden/Loveday Bryant
- Nottinghamshire – No known descendants
- Strays (Pursey) – John & Barbara Perfect; William & Hannah Kitch (or any Pursey hailing from Middlezoy); James Purcey & Elizabeth Tompkins
- Strays (Purssey) – William & Ann Prowse; John & Rebecca Cateley; Richard & Elizabeth Selvage
- Strays (Percy) – John Persey & Charity Crook/Hannah Holway; John Mary Blacklock/Isabella Bell; John & Honor Adams; Thomas & Emma Gothard/Susannah Gothard; Shadrach & Mary Jewell; Roger Percy & Grace Buckingham; Thomas & Ann Bickle
- The Percy of Northumberland – no known descendants