Vincent family

Family History can be rewarding and frustrating. My Vincent ancestors provide one of the most satisfying days of any that I have had whilst pursuing my hobby.

Those who pursue their hobby via the internet without the joy or perhaps the ability to visit a local record office may not realise that there are many additional sources of information available to them within the parish records other than Births, Marriages and Deaths. Whilst exploring the aptly named parish chest records for Northolt at the London Metropolitan Archives I came across a box with various miscellanies. Included were the private papers of a Mr Shadwell, a genealogist researching in the 1890's. Amongst his papers were the hand drawn tree charts of the Vincent Family together with notes on the family. Shadwell had clearly painstakingly pieced together the chronology of the family. Some of the information must have come from manor records, especially the very early references. I have not been able to find these documents but a search in the national archives may one day be undertaken. So a veritable treasure chest can be hidden in various parish records and should not be overlooked.

Mary Vincent born 1798 begins my Vincent ancestry. She married William Crow. She was the daughter of Thomas Vincent who was probably the parish clerk at one point. Thomas had married Elizabeth Shackell who had died after the birth of her second daughter.

Thomas was the son of William Vincent and Mary Woolmer who married in Northolt in November 1763. The family can be fairly certainly traced through the parish records to James Vincent born circa 1560 who married Luce Bachelor.

By piecing the evidence and records together as provided by Shadwell the tree progresses to my probable 16 time great grandfather Thomas Vincent born c 1390. For ordinary people with no great nobility to trace this far back is an achievement. 600 years, and the family stayed within two parishes shows some staying power but perhaps a lack of imagination or sense of adventure. Alternatively this part of my family may have been very contented with their lives and found no need to move or change them greatly.