Two Thomas Keams marrying in 1750's Cornwall

Research Note by Wesley Johnston, begun 9 Sep 2014, last updated 10 Sep 2014

Overview

Two Thomas Keams married in the early 1750's in Cornwall:

1751 Jun 20 - Thomas Keame and Mary Prynn at Lanivet

1751 Nov 18 - Thomas Keam and Grace Colmer at St Mewan

But there is only a baptism for one Thomas Keam in the 1725-1730 period: Thomas son of John baptized 4 Oct 1730 at St Mewan. So which husband was the one whose baptism was found?

Making things more complicated, the Thomas married at Lanivet almost certainly settled in St Mewan, so that both families were living in St Mewan parish at the same time.

This research note assembles all the evidence and tells the conclusion of how I am carrying the two Thomas Keams in my database.

Thomas Keame and Mary Prynn, married at Lanivet

Mary Prynn was apparently baptized 4 Apr 1727 at Lanivet, daughter of John and Mary. The surname was spelled Prin in the record. So she was 23, going on 24, when she married Thomas Keame at Lanivet 20 Jun 1750. Presumably, Thomas was about the same age., thus born about 1727 and so probably not the Thomas baptized at St Mewan 4 Oct 1730.

I am carrying this Thomas as "Thomas - UNATTACHED - Keam". His origin is unknown thus far. He may have been from Lanivet, where Humphrey Keam lived in the late 1600's before moving to Luxulyan, where many subsequent Keam descendants were born and lived. Or the Thomas married in Lanivet may have been from St Mewan, since his family moved to St Mewan in 1759.

Here is the evidence for his move from Lanivet to St Mewan. It works backward from Richard Keam, who I now believe was the son of Thomas Keam and Mary Prynn and not the son of Thomas Keam and Grace Colmer, although both couples lived at St Mewan at the same time.

Richard was definitely a mason from St Mewan, according to his 27 Feb 1782 marriage record with Ann Harper. Unfortunately, the St Mewan records are mostly available only from indexes or transcriptions. FamilySearch has relatively few of the parish registers, and what they have includes some transcriptions and not original images. And, as noted above, even the indexes have no Richard Keam in the 1750's or 1760's baptisms.

The missing link turns out to be at http://www.cornwall-opc.org/Records/parishes/L-P/mewan_st_settlement_keam.php which is a page of the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks web site for St Mewan. It is a settlement record, showing that the parish of St. Mewan is officially accepting responsibility (in case of impoverishment) for the family of the mason Thomas and Mary Harper as of 6 Jan 1759. The record lists the entire family (underlind below) as of that date:

We The Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the parish of St Mewan in the said County of Cornwall, do hereby Certifye own and Acknowledge that Thomas Keam Mason, Mary his Wife Elizabeth his Daughter about seven years of age Mary his Daughter aged about five years Ann his Daughter aged about two years of age, are Inhabitants Legally Settled in our parish aforesaid In Witness whereof we have hereunto Set our hands and seals the sixth Day of January in the year of our Lord 1759

The only marriage in the CFHS DB that matches Thomas and Mary is the 20 Jun 1751 marriage at Lanivet of Thomas Keam and Mary Prynn. And I believe that this is the correct couple. The three daughters identified in the St Mewan record were all baptized at Luxulyan. And later in the same year, 1759, they baptized a son Richard at Luxulyan. And I believe that this is the Richard who later married Ann Harper.

Richard Keam's family clearly had officially moved to St Mewan in 1759. But that did not prevent them from having their son baptized in the same church at Luxulyan where they had baptized their daughters. (I have not yet researched additional children after Richard, but it does appear that Thomas and Mary had more children and that they baptized them at Luxulyan, even though they were probably born at St. Mewan.)

And Richard's father is clearly identified in the 1759 record as a mason at St. Mewan, so that the Richard identified in the 1782 marriage record as a mason at St. Mewan was most likely the 1759 son of Thomas and Mary. And that is how I am carrying him in my tree.

Thomas Keam and Grace Colmer, married at St Mewan

I am carrying the Thomas Keam baptized 4 Oct 1730 at St Mewan as the husband of Grace Colmer, married 18 Nov 1751 at St Mewan. This is primarily because the evidence for the other Thomas, the mason, clearly establishes that he married Mary Prynn at Lanivet in 1751 and then moved to St Mewan in 1759. But I could have these exactly wrong. So I am still open to revising all of this if new documentation is found that refutes it.