John INSKEEP

                   Names of children from 1755 letter from Isabell Inskeep Jones to nephews, James and John Inskeep.


http://genforum.genealogy.com/inskip/messages/288.html

Vist Report to Staffordshire re: Fulford INSKEEPs
Cree Newbold                  Date: September 18, 2001

Greetings to the Forum: This is rather long, but I hope informative. For context, my relationship to the surname INSKEEP is via my grandmother, Callie INKEEP b. 1892 of Mt. Carmel IL, whose father was James E. INSKEEP b. 1851 of Mt. Carmel IL and Culpeper VA; James W. INSKEEP b. 1824 of Culpeper VA; Joel INSKEEP b. 1771 of Culpeper VA and New Jersey; James INSKEEP b. abt 1734 of Culpeper and New Jersey; John INSKEEP b. 1701 of New Jersey and Saverley Green in Staffordshire England; John INSKEEP b. 1677 of New Jersey and Saverley Green in Staffordshire England; and finally John INSKEEP of Fulford Staffordshire England.

As those who also descend from John INSKEEP b. 1667 in "Saverely Green" in Staffordshire know, the knowledge about our English roots comes from two sources: first, John's actual tombstone, which lists him born in "Saverley Green Staffordshire England"; and a letter from one Isabell INSKEEP Jones to her nephews, John INSKEEP b. 1701 and his brother James in New Jersey, in the year 1755, wherin she describes herself as "... the daughter of John INSKEEP of Fooford in Staffordshire, and sister of your deceased father." The father being John INSKEEP b. 1667 and died in Marlton New Jersey in 1729.

What I have never seen, is any direct evidence of the existance of "John INSKEEP of Fooford in Staffordshire". Having determined the obvious connection that "Fooford" refers to "Fulford" in Staffordshire, which is a small village to this day only a couple miles from an even smaller hamlet still known as "Saverley Green", I had the unique opportunity recently to perform some direct research in an attempt to discover in the record the existance of John INSKEEP.

I was most fortunate to have made the acquaintence a couple years ago via Internet of Mr. Derek INSKEEP, who lives in Staffordshire, and who has been researching his INSKEEP roots in that County for a number of years. His lineage is sourced from the town of Madeley in Staffordshire, which is not very far from Fulford. But he had not to date traced his roots much beyond the mid 18th century, and in no respect were any of his links to the immediate area of Fulford. But when I found myself with the opportunity to spend a day in Staffordshire recently, I arranged to meet Mr. INSKEEP where he would act as guide to visit the Staffordshire Record office, where we would spend some time poring over whatever records we could find related to Fulford in the late 17th Century. Mr. INSKEEP's familiarity with doing this type of research, and his knowledge of what these type records might contain, was invaluable to being able to do this in a single day. I want to repeat that the successes of this visit are directly and materially attributable to his guidance and skills and access and previous research. In other words, I was merely an extra set of eyes with some time on my hands, and having the idea to want to look at Fulford documents because that is where my lineage originated.

The following is a brief listing of what we found in the records. In my opinion, we did demonstrate both that Fulford was a domicile for INSKEEP individuals in the timeframe indicated by John INSKEEP's tombstone and Isabell INSKEEP Jone's letter, --and-- that we probably in fact also found in the record mention of "John INSKEEP of Fooford".

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A visit of the Staffordshire records office in Stafford was made, where original documents pertaining to the Fulford Manor land and court activities of the late 17th Century were reviewed. Following is a summary of what was found with respect to instances of the appearance of the surname INSKIPP, in chronological order:

16 October 1657 - James INSKIPP is mentioned as called to perform public jury duty for Fulford Manor.

22 October 1659 - James and Thomas INSKIPP are both listed as called to perform jury duty for Fulford Manor.

1666 - Thomas INSKIPP is listed on the Fulford Manor Hearth Tax List for one hearth. [This is from Hearth Records, and was not found on this visit. But it was what helped inspire me to visit Fulford]

21 October 1667 - Ann INSKIPP is mentioned on a document regarding the disposition of land after her death. It is entirely unclear whether this is a prospective statement or an "after the fact" statement. It is also not revealed what the relationship is of this Ann INSKIPP to any other INSKIPP in Fulford.

1667 - Thomas INSKIPP is mentioned as called to jury duty for Fulford Manor.

11 Sept 1668 - Thomas INSKIPP is listed as a party of a land transaction in Fulford and Staffordshire County with Robert Launder.

13 Sept 1668 - Another record of the same land transaction mentioning Thomas INSKIPP as a principal, with a mention made of James INSKIPP in the text.

1 October 1668 - Thomas INSKIPP, "yeoman", is mentioned in a property transaction (probably same as above) which describes the affected property as of "Fulford and Saverley" in Staffordshire County.

8 March 1668 - In another property transaction, Thomas INSKIPP is mentioned along with his wife, whose name is Ellen.

30 March 1669 - Thomas INSKIPP is recorded as leasing land in Fulford to James ???? for 99 years after the death of his wife, Ellen. Land described is in "Fulford and Saverley".

29 September 1669 - Another land transaction is described listing Thomas INSKIPP, "yeoman" of Fulford. He and William Ford of Eccleshall and Robert Launder of Fulford are selling land to two other individuals in Staffordshire County for "five shillings of lawful money". The document states that the land in question is where "É Robert Launder and Thomas INSKIPP do now inhabit and dwell and all the dwellings and appurtances situated in Saverley in the County of StaffordshireÉ."

1671 - James INSKIPP is listed as called to be a juror for Fulford Manor.

1672 - James INSKIPP and Thomas INSKIPP are both listed as called to be a juror for Fulford Manor.

1673 - Thomas INSKIPP is listed as called to be a juror for Fulford Manor.

1675 - James INSKIPP is listed as called to be a juror for Fulford Manor.

1677 - James and John INSKIPP are both listed as called to be a juror for Fulford Manor. Also mentioned in the body of the document is Thomas and James INSKIPP.

1682 - John INSKIPP is listed called to be a juror for Fulford Manor.

1686 - Thomas INSKIPP is listed called to be a juror for Fulford Manor.
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Some brief comments on the documents reviewed:

All were original vellums, many with seals still attached and signatures of individuals when appropriate. The land transactions were in English, although of a variety hard for me [Derek did better] to read at times because of the timeframe's spelling and syntax and actual letter formation, not to speak of it all being handwritten. All of the calls to jury duty were in Latin, as well as of a writing style [actual formation of the letters] making it almost impossible for me to transcribe, much less translate. However, the surnames of individuals being named in these Latin documents was clear, although first names were in the Latin form - thus "Jacobus" for James, and "Johanes" for John. In all cases but a couple, the name was spelled INSKIPP, with the exception of a couple cases of INSKIP.

It is my opinion that the two instances of "Johanes INSKIPP" in the record, in 1677 [the year John INSKEEP who went to America was born] and 1682 are most likely referring to "John INSKEEP of Fooford". There was nothing in the record indicating the familial relationship between this John INSKIPP and the many mentions of James and Thomas INSKIPP. Or between James and Thomas INSKIPP, for that matter. However, the appearance of both James and Thomas in the record as many as 20 years prior to John's first appearance would seem to indicate they are of a previous generation, and thus suggesting that one of them may have been John INSKIPPs father.

The record did name as wife of Thomas INSKIPP a woman named "Ellen". It would therefore be likely that the mention of "Ann INSKIPP" is not his wife. But what the relationship is of Ann to Thomas, James, or John, is not revealed in the record that we reviewed.

Mr. Derek INSKEEP promised me that he had found enough in the record from our visit to want to dig some more, so hopefully there will be more to report sometime. But I am satisfied that at the least we have documented the reality of INSKEEPs in Fulford, and most likely the existance of the John INSKEEP from whom all of us trace our roots via the John and Ann INSKEEP who came to America at the beginning of the 18th Century.