Kisbey

Judge William Henry Kisbey (1828-1910)

At last I've managed to finish (and upload to my Kisby website) the annotated pedigree sheets (IR1A) for
Richard KISBEY of Dublin, who gave us the surname variant KISBEY. There are KISBEYs today in the UK and also on the West Coast of the United States.

The KISBEYs are particularly notable, in contrast to the generally humble KISBYs. Richard's namesake son Richard was a parliamentary correspondent for The Times newspaper in London. Another son William became a wealthy County Court Judge in Belfast and Dublin. Several of Judge William's children emigrated to Canada. There is even a town in Saskatchewan named Kisbey after William's son Richard Claudius KISBEY, who had settled in the region, married the local MP's daughter and ran the local mail driving contract. Richard invested in land, some of which he sold in 1904 to become the site of a new settlement that took his name.

One day I need to work out where the Dublin KISBEYs originated. Ireland was part of Great Britain at the time, so I suspect Richard Snr's father may have arrived in Dublin from the mainland, though this is entirely conjecture at the moment based on his status and religion (Church of England). Watch this space!

http://kisby.one-name.net/kisby-family-lines.htm

Westminster Wedding

What a pleasant experience it was to visit the Westminster Archives last week! They are located on the top floor of a modern red brick building, only a few minutes walk from London's Westminster Abbey.

I'd gone to the archives because I spotted a reference online to a marriage of James Kisbee in the Church of St Margaret. It turns out that St Margaret's is immediately next door to Westminster Abbey and, presumably, must have had some elevated status as a result! The parish register of the 1770's was a lovely document, also including a contemporary hand written index of all surnames.

James Kisbee married Catherine Holme in July 1774. He is most likely to be the same James Kisbee as the one was employed by the Duchess of Montagu. James knew the famous black writer, Ignatio Sancho, who ran a grocery business in Westminster.

James and Catherine produce a daughter later in 1774 but afterwards the trail runs dry. Either they moved to another parish, or maybe something untoward happened to Catherine?

Musgate

Paid a short visit today to the London Metropolitan Archives during my lunch hour. One of my discoveries was the marriage of Susan Kisby in 1853. Susan came from Norfolk and had been widowed in 1845, she consequently came to London, as did her son Emanuel (and probably some of the other children too). Several of Susan's children emigrated to the USA, including Emanuel.

Susan married a labourer called Edward Musgate. Maybe Susan and Edward emigrated to the USA as well. But would you believe it, Edward seems to be the only Musgate that has ever existed. So the trail immediately runs dry! Now, let me tell you, I thought Kisby was an unusual name but, for a surname as plausible as Musgate, I would have at least expected to find more than one!! Maybe Edward was an immigrant and had Anglicised his name, surely there must be a logical explanation. Neither Edward nor Susan could write, so maybe the local priest misheard the name? Edward's father was Sampson Musgate, which is an even more unusual combination!

Any suggestions anyone?