The author, Sir Frederick Pedler, has traced his line of Pedlers to the
holder of a tenure in Devon in 1205. To take his male line back to the early
16th century in St Breoke in Cornwall was comparatively easy. Use of tax
registers and manorial records took him a step further to James Pedler (or
Peddeler), a husbandman of Launcells who received a pardon from Henry VIII in
1509, and the methodology he employed to trace the next three centuries will
intrigue most family history enthusiasts as well as other Pedlers.
In his interestingly written and well-references account of his researches
and results the author has not confined himself to the male line. He has also
followed up many related families, particularly the families of Colebrook in
Sussex, to 1508; Angelly (sometimes Engelyss) in Cornwall, to 1525; and the
family of Dogo back to 1544. The author has also investigated and produced
significant information on the families of Carling and Rock in Bedfordshire;
Angelly, Bawden, Brown, Cann, Cowling, Dagg, Dogo, Henwood, Hicks, Illery,
Kellow, Mann, Mapowder, Oliver, Pitt, Potter, Slogget, Spettigue, Sweet, Taylder,
Vercoe, Wade, Williams and Years in Cornwall; Pedeleure in Devon; Johnson in
Durham; Brown and Cunningham in Lincolnshire; Carling and Mee in Nottinghamshire;
Dale, Evans, Holder, Jones and May in Radnor and Herefordshire; Colebrook in
Surrey; Colebrook, Dearling, Drew and Wisdom in Sussex; and Simpson in
Yorkshire.
It will be obvious that this very full account of one Pedler family includes
a vast amount of information of value to those interested in other
families. The book is not a mere string of names, however, but a lively story of
ordinary people through eight centuries - yeomen, blacksmiths, weavers, tanners,
butchers, ironmongers, inn-keepers, chairmakers, frame-knitters and a president
of the Wesleyan Conference. The Pedlers who played a part in the history of
Methodism and Congregationalism sent missionaries abroad and there are chapters
in the book devoted to emigrant Pedlers and Colebrooks who took those names to
Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
This account of one enthusiastic family historian's researches, his approach
and his results, will fascinate many among the growing numbers engaged in a
similar pursuit, as well as local historians in the counties concerned.
Contents:
List of Illustrations and Family Trees
Acknowledgements
1. Pedeleure in the Middle Ages
2. Pedler in the Reign of Henry VIII and Some Distinguished Descendants
3. John Pedler and his Wife Elizabeth
4. The Family at St Breoke
5. The Family Moves to Withiel
6. Century of Craftsmen
7. A Turner at Penryn
8. London
9. Charles Henry Pedler II and his Wfe Lucy Marian Johnson
10. Frederick Johnson Pedler and his Wife Esther Ruth Carling
11. Pedler Cousins in Australia, Canada and the United States
12. Up the Tree
13. The Family in Society
Index
