Findings

To summarise, the main findings resulting from my investigations were as follows:

1. I, my siblings and cousins one and all, are descendants of William Gribble and Susanna Retallick of Illogan Cornwall who were married on 18 October 1794.

2. The Australian descendants of this couple are many and distributed across the continent. On a variety of measures, educational outcomes, business and social success, family health, etc., these descendants have demonstrated a level of achievement their ancestors would be proud of.

3. A smaller but growing number of the Australian descendants, like their ancestors, are choosing to make their lives in other countries.

4. Descendants seem only dimly aware, if at all, of the details concerning their Gribble ancestry and relationships.

5. The parents of this copper miner William Gribble are yet to be established conclusively. It is possible (quite highly probable I believe) he is a descendant of the earliest Illogan Gribble family, that of Richard Gribbell and Grace (name unknown) married at Illogan on 2 Feburary 1694.

The certainty with which descendants could be related back to William and Susanna was a consequence of the availability of first class documentation. In the absence of such records the establishment of linkages can range from the problematic through to that approaching fantasy.

In Australia the key documents were birth, death, and marriage certificates. Simon Gribble's family was comprehensively recorded from the time of his marriage up until his death. His marriage record listed details of his parents such as names (including the spouse's maiden name), marriage date and place. The latter was of course Illogan in Cornwall.

In retrospect I was very fortunate that Simon's mother came to live in Australia on the death of her husband and that at the time of her death she was living in Northcote a suburb of Melbourne with Simon and his family. When Simon completed his mother's death certificate one of the items requested by the authorities was the name and age of all issue. For me it was such a pleasant surprise when I received this certificate to read off in chronological order the name, age, and status (dead or alive) for all of Simon's siblings. This information aligned perfectly with that on the Illogan cemetery tombstone and the additional details in the Illogan parish transcripts compiled by Bawden.

Bawden's Illogan and Redruth parish transcripts were invaluable. What a fabulous discovery at our local Cornish Association here in Melbourne Australia of all places! Especially as they were only purchased a few short months before I uncovered the information which allowed me to make maximum use of their contents. In retrospect it was fortunate it took me so long to get my act together - concerted effort in earlier years would have been simply frustrating and expensive in terms of time and results.

Over the years the Australian descendants of this Illogan couple have spread across the country. I am aware of people in places like Perth, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast, without counting the country towns and individual suburbs in which people reside. Descendants are engaged in a whole variety of occupations including trades, armed services, professions, and self employment. Many individuals have been outstandingly successful in their chosen endeavours. Not a bad outcome for the descendants of what was I guess a hardworking and proud cornish mining couple!

Within the past decade in particular, perhaps as an adjunct to the globalisation of business, more recent descendants are themselves moving back toward those parts of the world from which their ancestors originated! One of my nephews for example married a French lass and work took them to Scotland and beyond. Holidays in France are the icing on the cake. C'est la vie!

The fact that these descendant families are relatively unconnected and unaware of each other has been a topic for discussion with my wife. It is somewhat of a contrast with her Irish Catholic relations. These people seem to know everyone! We've come to conclude the most likely explanation was the tyranny of distance combined with a Protestant determination to better one's lot in life. Families as they sought to survive and prosper separated geographically. Distance combined with inadequate means of ready communication and lessoning social contact lead over a relatively short period of time to the complete loss of any relationship amongst descendants.

Another explanation might have been the upward mobility of descendants as family groups. Given their modest working class ancestral origins it is possible subsequent generations became less enthusiastic concerning reminders of their humble beginnings. Under these conditions knowledge of the family history could be lost rapidly. In Australia for example until fairly recent times the knowledge of convict ancestry was kept very quiet as it was seen as a definite negative. Nowadays however many people proudly point to their convict ancestry and take great delight in uncovering such "secrets" in family history. In case you're wondering I did not come across any Gribble transported to Australia from England during the convict era. The public record in England does however make reference to quite a number of Gribbles who either initiated court action or were the subject of action in the courts. Looking back through the prism of time many of these cases appear to my eyes relatively trivial although often it seems pursued with vigour. Yet few, if any, resulted in transportation of the so called 'felon'. Perhaps the justice system outside of the large cities showed a more humane face?

One of the observations made during this period of research was the extent to which Gribble descendants were cautious regarding requests for information from people unknown to a particular descendant family. On reflection I came to the conclusion this was a sensible and understandable course of action. While this might at times be frustrating to some researchers people do have in my opinion a right to privacy and if that was their desire it should be and was I trust respected.

Family Tree