This is one of those months where I seem to have been doing a lot, but don't have any 'finished products' to show for it!
Last month I mentioned Wikitree and how useful it seems to be for projects now. Early in August, the One Name Studies Project on the site set up a Google Group dedicated to One-Name Studies1, which I've joined. Although I haven't actually posted anything yet, it's been interesting to read the contributions so far, and I am looking forward to being more active with the Parry study on Wikitree.
I have been keeping up with noting the new and updated databases that the various genealogical companies have added during the month. It was a relief to see that there were no Parrys in the "Edinburgh, Scotland, Death Warrants, 1759-1878" on Ancestry, although there were some in the "Scotland, Prison Records Index, 1791-1937". Finding 84 entries for Parrys in Ancestry's "Isle of Man, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1603-1910" was also useful, since it made me realise that the Isle of Man would make a good 'mini-project', in the same way that Ireland will - a specific area, with not too many results, and potentially less affected by border hopping than the individual English and Welsh counties are. (Although I did spot some "summer visitors" to the Isle of Man in the 1921 census.)
Talking of censuses, unlike many one-namers, who prefer to start with births, marriages, and deaths, I have always thought the censuses are a better place to start collecting data, since they provide a 'snapshot' of all the Parrys alive at a certain point of time, in a particular area. Tracking entries across the census years then creates a framework on which to attach the BMDs.
When I began the PARRY study, not all of the censuses from 1841-1921 were available, but I was able to collect many of the index entries for those that were, thanks to a little trick a Guild member, the late Gordon Adshead, had shared. I am now in the process of re-examining what I had previously collected, and also investigating the best method for collecting the rest. It is no longer possible to use Gordon's method, but at least some sites, such as FamilySearch, make it possible to download spreadsheets of the data.
That will certainly help, but it is still going to be quite time consuming to collect the information.
While I was doing that, I came across census entries for an "Owen Tudor PARRY" - I thought I had already spotted most of the 'stand out' names, over the years, but I must have missed him. (The famous "Owen Tudor", who lived from around 1400 to 2 February 1461, was the grandfather of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty.2)
Owen Tudor PARRY was born in 1867, in Bristol, Gloucestershire, although his parents were both from South Wales, according to the census entries. His mother's maiden name was LEWIS, so his middle name is not from her maiden name (despite at least one family tree on Ancestry showing that!) His father, another Owen, was a journalist/newspaper clerk.
So, was he given his middle name because of someone further back in his ancestry? Or were his parents expressing some sense of Welsh pride in the name?
We'll probably never know - but it certainly made him 'stand out' to me.
Notes and Sources
1. About the One-Name Studies Project Google Group: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/2066066/invitation-join-the-new-one-name-studies-project-google-group
2. Owen Tudor, ancestor of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor Dynasty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Tudor
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