Information Sources
I have used a variety of information sources for this project,
which I will outline as best I can below.
- My father's type-written version of the family tree which
I have in my possession. He credits his information on the early part of
the tree (from Robert
Newman d. 1402 to Frances Holles
Newman 1671-1714) to a distant cousin Rev Grosvenor Bartelot F.S.A. Bartelot wrote a book called "The History of Fifehead
Magdalen Church and Manor" though I have not yet been able to discover
a copy of it. My father credits the latter part of his tree (from Francis
Holles Newman onwards) to Somerset Archeological & Natural History
Proceedings for the year 1890 which may well be the same Proceedings
of Somerset Archeological Society reference that appears below.
- Latterly, I have rediscovered a number of papers that
my father collected which contain lots of information which meant little
to me at the time of his death, but which has provided me with a lot of
useful leads. Amongst these is a hand-drawn pedigree
which I have included in these pages, and several letters and other documents
which I have either transcribed or scanned and incorporated in what I hope
are appropriate (and discoverable) places.
- Information supplied to me by Somerset Records Office
has come from from:
- Photocopy of Burke's
Commoners, ii, pp 111-113, covering the "Newmans of Thornbury
Park" who derive from the same ancestry as myself;
- Photocopy of Pedigree of Newman Proceedings
of Somerset Archeological Society Vol XXXIX pp 156-159 (according to
Somerset Records Office; Raymond Mercier found it to be Vol XXXVI); and
- Photocopy of John
Hutchin's History of Dorset (Third Edition 1870) pages 57 and 58 describing
Fifehead Magdalen and including a Pedigree of Newman. [In my notes about
Robert Newman of Fifehead
Magdalen (d. 1556) I record that the three above sources contradict
one another in relation to his wife and children, and it is John Hutchins
History of Dorset which comes closest to the information that was passed
to me by my father.]
- Yeovil census records for 1851, 1861, 1881 and 1891.
- I have received massive amounts of information from people
(mostly distant relatives) who have found this website and who have contacted
me as a result. These have included Jerry
Gandolfo in New Orleans USA, John
and David Newman in Devon UK, Clifford
Ranson in Cheshire, Raymond
Mercier of St Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK, Scott
Nourse of Austin, Texas, Geoffrey
Newman of Ontario in Canada, Helen
Proctor of the UK, Campbell
Newman of Queensland, Australia and most recently Jonathan
Newman-Rogers. All have contributed valuable information and leads
to other people, including cousins in New Zealand with whom I am now also
in frequent contact. In addition, I have to thank my cousins Ian
Caldwell in Surrey, UK, and Oliver
Suffield in the West Midlands, UK, and Ray
Farnsworth in Northumberland, for providing me with huge amounts of
useful information.
- Research work has been undertaken for me by Di Clements, Jennifer
Day, and Susan Moore,
all professional researchers based in Somerset. Amongst the sources that
Di has used in researching some of the Newman estates for me is Collingson's
"History of Somerset"published in 1791. My father also quotes
from Volume II of this work, but I have not yet seen it for myself.
- A large amount of information about the Newman family
may be available through the Newman Name Society with whose permission I have copied
a fascinating letter from
Wayne Dexter Newman that was published in the April 1998 issue of The
Newman Chronicle.
Last updated 25th Nov 2003