The major original sources for these pages were Vera Jesty's several tree branches, handwritten and derived from years of work, all pre-computer, in the county records offices of Dorset and Somerset, parish records, wills, gravestones, and newspaper records. Another source, for the lower half of George and Adelaide's tree, is the Family History Society, who we think are the ones who produced a tree for Norman Sheldon Wright, of that line. This has been vetted and corrected by Paul Foster. Another, for recent generations of Wm Ainsworth's line, is Margaret (Jesty) Asquith of Edmonton, Alberta, of that line. A major source for the Yetminster-Yeovil sheet (C) is Pat Ricketts of Yeovil. More recently, I have used online censuses that are available on the Internet: the UK and US censuses of 1881 from the Mormon Church site, www.familysearch.org; and the UK 1901 census site, www.census.pro.gov.uk. The Canadian 1901 census is also online, with just the single Nova Scotia Jesty family being in Canada. The information about George and Ann Jesty in Newfoundland and the baptisms of their children and grandchildren came from the Newfoundland Grand Banks genealogy site, http://ngb.chebucto.org, but the large majority of the information about their Canadian descendants comes from Wanda Ross, gleaned from all sorts of sources, among them Chris Denney of Buffalo, NY.
The UK births-marriages-deaths (BMD) index until about the 1920s is online free at www.freebmd.org.uk. I think it reasonable to assume that from the 1840s the index is pretty reliable (though sometimes a bit illegible in the pre-typewriter years), but nonetheless it has gaps. The Societe Jersiaise of St Helier, Jersey, checked for me the 1861 and 1871 Jersey censuses (for a piece of sheet C, and also searching for Captain George, since placed as the son of Founder George in Newfoundland). At Lesley Grayson's suggestion, I have started using the Dorset Online Parish Clerks site, www.dorset-opc.com, which varies from thin to excellent depending on the parish and the all-volunteer people who transcribe the records. It is especially useful for really old records (pre-BMD, which started 1837). There is a notable country that is basically hopeless: Australia. Records are extremely thin pre-1900, and it seems that Australian law strips names from public census records, even beyond 100 years.
(A searching tip for those interested: Google allows restricting a search to a specific web site or domain. E.g. If you enter george jesty site:www.dorset-opc.com in the Google search box, you will pull up all dorset-opc.com entries that contain George + Jesty; more than 9 pages of them!)
Numerous Jestys or descendants have helped me out in the last 5 years. Among them are: Rowena Beadsmore, Philip Clark, Andrew Falinski, Paul Foster, Tineke and Justin Gill, Felicity Hann, Bob Ireland, David Hunt, Cam Jesty, Mary Gordon, Richard Jesty, Myra Keay, Lesley Grayson, Sarah Brook, Chris Jesty, Wanda Ross, Leonie Spiccia.
Readers might note two useful sources about Dorset farms and villages. One is A.D. Mills's excellent book, Dorset Place Names (Ensign Publications, Southampton, 1991; ISBN 185455-065-9). The other is the Dorset folios of the Domesday Book (1086), which I have in facsimile and in translation, from Alecto Historical Editions, London. Most (?all) villages that appear in the Jesty tree are recorded in Domesday, but only one of the Jesty farms that I have found. That is Lyscombe, between Piddletrenthide and Cheselbourne, which Harry Jesty (1918-1963, son of Harry Robert of Roke Fm) farmed, in the late 1950s. Most farms, however, do appear in Mr Mills's book, with references, and spelling variations, back to medieval times, 1200s-1400s.
Also recommended--a gift to me from Heather Jesty--is David Beaton's book, Dorset Maps (Dovecote Press, Standbridge, Wimborne, 2001, ISBN 1874336-79-2), which enabled me to identify the 1695 Robert Morden map on my wall (the background for these pages; also see Maps), and also Camden's earlier Britannia map on my mother's wall.
Sheet
A.
John and Magdalen Justy of Leigh are the first we know definitely.
While Vera has found
earlier hearth-tax records and the like for Yetminster and Sherborne
Justys (and other spellings) in the 1600s, John and
Magdalen's is
the first definitive trunk. It may also be noted that consistent parish
records do not start until the 1660s. Sheet A includes John &
Magdalen's children, and the line of the eldest son, John, through
Longburton to Liverpool, Manhattan, and Birkenhead, until the 1880s. No
present Jesty descendants of this line are known, but daughter lines
exist.
Sheet
B.
This starts the line of John & Magdalen's youngest son Robert
(Robin) and Edith (Harris) of Winterhays. Three sons are the founders
of major lines. John (1730) founded a line that
goes to Bath and Bristol, and from there into London and Essex. It
continues to about 1900. William (1734)
is the founder of a very large piece of the tree: sheet C (his
son Robert, 1765); and the descendants of his son William (1768), on
sheets D (Robert, 1798), and E + F (Charles, 1800). Benjamin,
the vaccinator's, tree is shown here so far as we know it, ending with
George and Thomas.
Sheet CAN.
This shows the Canadian line of Jestys originating with "Founders"
George and Ann Jesty in Newfoundland (a British colony) ca. 1850. Their
son "Captain George" and family emigrated to North Sydney, Nova
Scotia (Canada), in 1886. This line now stretches across Canada, from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to British Columbia.
Sheet
C.
This is the line of William (1734)'s son Robert (1765) and Jane
(Harris). Robert & Jane are the founders of the major Yeovil
line,
having moved from Yetminster to Yeovil around 1820. As well as
descendants still living in and around Yeovil, this line connects
through Alresford to present-day Melbourne, Australia; and possibly
also to Jersey, Channel Islands.
Sheet
D.
This is the line of William (1734)'s grandson Robert (1792) and Edith
(Minchington). A large branch descends here from their elder son George
(1827) and Adelaide (Hinbury), who had 16 children in Yetminster. Many
children in this line were daughters. This line also continues to the
present, but apparently with only one male Jesty surviving.
Sheet
E.
This is the line of the first marriage of Charles (1800, "Old Charles")
and Sarah (Salter), to his arrival in Bere Regis. This includes the
Weymouth line (including his eldest son, "Young Charles") into the
1900s and the present day.
Sheet
F.
This is the line from Old Charles's second marriage, to Amelia
Ainsworth of Bere Regis, to the present. Major lines are William
Ainsworth's and Henry Robert's, the latter being the main Bere Regis
branch (including Vera and me).
Sheet
I.
This sheet contains Jesty islands, or branches, that we have not
connected to the main tree (i.e. sheets A-F). At present there are
two in the 1800s: one in Gosport, Hampshire, which I suspect is
also
the branch of Trevor, the cricketer; and another in Chester, which may be
the branch of present-day Jestys in Cheadle. Also here is a small piece
of the Pope tree showing the descent of Benjamin's portrait from Edith (Jesty)
Pope to Frank Pope of Moteno, South Africa (d. 1925).
The Jesty name. The early spellings of English words
and names
vary a lot. Justy, Justin, Jesse, Jesty and variations are all recorded
around Yetminster, Yeovil, Sherborne, etc. Jesty seems to become the
preferred form in about the mid 1700s in all branches we know of. I
dare say there may be Justys descended from some of John and Magdalen's
children, but judging by a Google search the name is extremely rare.
When I started this, I knew of one Jesty Avenue in Weymouth, named for
"young" Charles, who was Mayor in the late 1800s. However, Richard
Jesty of Melbourne, Australia, told me of a Jesty Road in Alresford in
Hampshire, named for his grandfather Ernest, who was a headmaster there
and active in town affairs for many years. It was that e-mail that got
us going on the Yeovil branch.
Daughters. Unfortunately for daughters, it is sons
who pass on
family names. The information available about Jesty daughters' lines is
scant. Husbands of Jesty daughters (and of occasional granddaughters)
are shown in the trees in CAPS. (Note: Where
information is available, I have
continued the occasional daughter line for two generations.
Accuracy, Unclear links. We hope that the large majority of the tree is accurate in names and links, shown by solid lines. However, early names should be regarded as flexible even so. Speculation about names--i.e. is this the right person?--is shown by a ?. Unclear parentage is shown by dotted links, ----, and unconfirmed individuals are given (parentheses). Dates of births are commonly subject to error, +/- 1-2 years: i) baptisms may occur some time after birth; ii) census returns are based on a person's self-reported age at census time, not a confirmed year of birth; iii) the first UK census was in 1841; and BMD records are recorded quarterly. Central recording of UK births, marriages, and deaths (BMD) started in 1837. And of course I make mistakes as well.
To tell me about a bug, please give as much detail as you can, e.g. browser and version, and details of what went wrong, especially what pages you were trying to link from and to. However, computers are outstripping my years, and it may be better to call a child!
Jolyon Jesty
rev. November 8 2009
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