This page tries to show how my brother, Martin, and to a lesser extent, I, got to the 2010 version of the forebears of William Tudgee - shown on William Tudgdy & Sarah George

The father of William Tudgdy is uncertain. The strongest possibility seems to lie with a report in the Western Flying Post and Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury for 1778, which (in a summary note by Paul Mansfield, web link to source) reads "John Tudgee, father of bastard child, 20 b Frampton esc Dore" (source held in Somerset Studies Library, Taunton). Two candidates seem possible -

a) John Tudgey, a son of William Tudgey of Broad Chalk, Wiltshire, b ca 1760; that William could have been the son of William Tudgey, christened 1692 at Longbridge Deverill, seventh child of James Tudgey, m 1677 at Longbridge Deverill.

b) John Tudgey of Kingston Deverill, christened 27 Aug 1742, husband of Elizabeth; the eldest son of John Tudgey, christened 19 Feb 1694, in Longbridge Deverill, wife Priscilla; eighth child of James Tudgy/Tudgey, m 1677 at Longbridge Deverill.

BUT
In March 2003, Elaine Price, came across a list of the principal inhabitants of Bath in 1791 at http://www.allthecotswolds.com/ - TUDGEE, James, Baker, John-street; GEORGE, Bridget, Milliner, North Parade. These make much more sense as candidates for the parents of William Tudgdy and Sarah George respectively. A James Tudgay, chr 19 Mar 1748, is a younger brother of John at b) above.

All three [a) John, b) John and James] have the common ancestor James Tudgey, who in turn might be a son of Robert Tudgey, christened 1607, at Milton Clevedon, Somerset.

However, it is all speculation on my part and there is a big snag - the second son of James Tudgay, chr 19 Mar 1748, is William Tudgey, chr. 15 Oct 1769. This William seems to have married Sarah Norris at Fonthill Gifford, Wiltshire, on 15 Apr 1793. So this answer would require two sons both called William - not impossible as sometimes the records have people who are later known by their second name!

On 26 November 1565, a Leonard Tuggie married Elina Yerbery, at Frome [Frome Marriages, 1558-1652 - web link to source]. The Tuggie family, however, does seem to be completely distinct from the Tudgee/Tudgdy/Tudgay family.

The 1766 Land Tax for Frome, under West Woodlands Tything, has William Chapman, holding three houses, tax 7s 0d, as "Late TUDGAYs".

An impoverished family

In April 2007, my brother, Martin Taylor, sent me the following.

"This week I have spent a few days in and around Wiltshire and Somerset looking at the various places our Tudgay/Tudgee ancestors lived culminating with a day spent at the Somerset County Records Office in Taunton. I was able to view and check most of the Parish Records in Somerset to confirm various dates of baptisms, marriages and burials. I was trying to identify the family of William Tudgee, the top of our Tudgay tree and an elusive person. After 5 hours I was ready to finish when I decided to explore some Removal Order indexes.
I considered William's marriage entry to Sarah George, Leigh on Mendip, 17 August 1800. On this record it states William's place of abode was the Parish of Whatley, Sojourner and Sarah's Of This Parish, Sojourner.
In simple terms a Sojourner means someone who is a temporary resident, but in Parish Registers its meaning is a little more precise. When the Hardwicke Act was introduced in 1754, clerks were required to enter the parish for each party to a marriage. If they had been resident for more than 3 weeks then they were shown as “o.t.p.” (of this parish). However, for someone who had only taken up residence in lodgings to avoid the necessity for banns fees, this was frowned upon and the word “sojourner” was added to the entry to indicate that they had met the letter of the law but didn't really belong. So neither William or Sarah "belonged" to Leigh On Mendip.
Also on the marriage record one of the witnesses was names a Jeremiah Tudgdy. It is not unreasonable to assume that Jeremiah is a relative to William, either his father or his brother.

I therefore decided to seek a family with both William and Jeremiah Tudgay (or similar surname) in the area of Leigh On Mendip and Whatley.
Well back to my search of the Removal Orders .... I found a reference to a record that made me sit up and take notice. I found a Removal Order dated 26th March 1782 for the Parish of Marston Bigot. The order was to remove James Tudgay, his wife Ann and his sons William aged 5 and Jeremiah aged 2 from Marston Bigot to Nunney (Nonney). Now, our William was born about 1777 according to his age on burial in 1824 (47 years old). This William Tudgay would have also been born about 1777. He has a brother named Jeremiah, aged 2 (The marriage witness?). The village and parish of Nunney is adjacent to Whatley within a few miles of Leigh On Mendip. You can draw your own conclusions from the above but I feel that there is a high probability that this is our missing family. I reviewed the parish records for both Marston Bigot and Nunney for this period but found nothing. The Nunney records were in very poor condition on the fiche so I could have missed them. I have attached for you my photo of the Removal Order and the Original Orders Book with a reference.
I welcome your thoughts on this document and your views on whether this may be our family. Obviously the challenge now is to find them in a Parish Record. I believe that they are probably from the Wiltshire villages of the Deverills and had come to Somerset, just a few miles away, to seek employment. They were obviously very poor, hence the Poor support from each parish.

Original Order for Removal from Marston Bigot to Nunney

Removal Order to Nunney

Martin - 25 April 2007 - "I also explored the James Tudgee of Bath. I found that he married twice. His second wife was an Elizabeth Haymes or Haynes on 7 October 1798. I didn't see the name of his first wife. I think he is a different guy as this James seemed fairly affluent as a baker living in Walcot St. Swithin, a suburb of Bath. A genealogist I met at the CRO Taunton told me Walcot was the "in place" to live in the late 1700s. Our family were penniless. I also noted a large number of George families in the Frome Selwood parish. Somebody told me Sarah George came from a Bath family but I have not verified this. Still I think we can look some more for James and Ann in neighbouring parishes to Whatley and Nunney with fresh impetus".

Note - a William Tudgay m Sarah Hooper, 24 Jun 1819, at St John's Frome (web link to source) but this seems a different William; see Frome families.

Martin - 17 May 2007 - "I followed up the finding of the Removal Order showing James, Ann, William and Jeremiah. So far I have tracked the following which all looks very promising:-
Frome Selwood, 17 May 1780, baptism of Jeremiah, son of James and Ann Tudgay
Frome Selwood, 18 June 1783, baptism of Mary, daughter of James and Ann Tudgay
but... no sign of William so I assumed he was born/baptised elsewhere.
Following up my assumption his family came from the Wiltshire side of the border, I bought a CD from the Wiltshire FHS of baptisms in the parishes adjacent to Somerset and Frome. I found the following which fits beautifully:-
TUDGEY, WILLIAM Parents: JAMES & ANN, Baptised: 27 AUG 1776, MAIDEN BRADLEY
If you look at the maps you will see Maiden Bradley is the first parish in Wiltshire after Frome. Map of the Somerset/Wiltshire homeland of the Tudgay families

Labourer	James Tudgay*	Ann Tudgay	returned to Nunney from Marston Bigot in 1782
William Tudgay baptised 27/08/1776, Maiden Bradley	Jeremiah Tudgay chr Frome Selwood 17 May 1780	Mary Tudgay chr Frome Selwood 18 Jun 1783	backward link to Kingston Deverill

* Our confusing history remains baffling as the parentage of this James Tudgay is not obvious. Assuming he was born about 1750, Martin's candidate of James Tudgay, christened 19 Mar 1748-9, son of John & Priscilla of Kingston Deverill, is ruled out by the list of his children by marriage to Elizabeth.

There is, however, a James Frith Tudgee, christened 23 Oct 1746, son of Joseph Tudgee (Tudgy) of Mere.

The lineage there seems to be John Tudgy of Mere, whose first registered child was Sarah, christened 26 Apr 1683; then John Tudgy, christened 26 Nov 1685. That John fathers John, christened 20 Apr 1716 but the necessary Joseph is not recorded for that generation (i.e born ca 1720). There is a gap, however, between John, chr 1716, and Abraham Tudgee, son of John, christened in Mere 04 Oct 1722. After that, perhaps significantly, the are no more christenings of Tudgy's in Mere.

Migrations
There seems to have been a considerable emigration from the Wiltshire/Somerset area in the middle of the 19th Century. In my web browsing, for instance, the history of the Forward Family of Mere, Wiltshire, England, which includes a reference to Elizabeth Tudgay of Kingston Deverill who married Thomas Brimble in 1799, describes migrations to Australia and into South Wales. The latter includes Charles Forward, son of James FORWARD & Sarah. christened 29 Nov 1827 in Mere, Wiltshire, England, died 14 Jan 1919 in Abersychan, Monmouthshire, Wales, buried Jan 1919 in Varteg, Monmouthshire, Wales. William Forward, 1859-1933, son of Charles, was born in Abersychan and died at Varteg, his widow Naomi, neé Biggs, later emigrated to Salt Lake City, USA, to join her daughter, Mable Biggs. Mable with her husband and family were all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints prior to emigrating.

In July 2003, Zillah came across an indenture concerning William Tudgay - this in the Dorset Record Office for Poole Parish. Their summary reads - "OVERSEERS OF THE POOR Apprenticeship Indentures FILE - William Tudgay to Thomas Donnison of Whitby, Yorkshire - ref. PE/PL/OV 3/209 - date: 20 Jun 1791". Zillah wrote - "In 1791 William TUDGAY of Poole aged 13? and being a poor boy of the parish, was apprenticed by William Hayward and John Coutts (hard to read) overseers of the Poor of the parish, to Thomas Domcion (?? very hard to decipher) in Whitby". Purely conjecturally on my part - Our William Tudgdy would have been ca 13 at the time, appears possibly to have been born out of wedlock, and hence, may have been an orphan (or at least without a supportive father); it would make sense for him to be in the poorhouse at Poole, if he was born at Frampton, near Dorchester. Then, however, did he go to Whitby? Or did he work locally for a Whitby company (marine?), say, in Poole Harbour? We will have to see the full record.

Notes on Thomas Donnison of Durham and (presumably) a son Thomas Donnison: (all from records at http://flambard.dur.ac.uk)
(1) Papers of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers Catalogue Ref. NRO 3410 Colliery Leases Colliery Leases and Papers. FILE [no title] - ref. NRO 3410/Les/3/101 - date: 29 Jan 1756. Lease of lands and coal mines at Spring Farm and Mount Farm for 21 years from Lord Ravensworth, Edward Wortley and George Bowes to Thomas Donnison.
(2) Marriages from the Chester-le-Street Registers (1750-1774) have 23 Nov 1767 Thomas Donnison = Elizabeth Lax.
In the Church Commissioners, Durham records
(3) Counterpart Leases 1743 - (261982) 28 September 1743 Thomas Donnison Potter Raw Closes; (261983) 28 September 1743 Thomas Donnison Tenement at Monkwearmouth.
(4) In the Baker Baker papers - 30 April 1751 (1) John Ellison, William Lambe, Robert Catcheside, Thomas Donnison and William Peareth, 5 of the Trustees for putting into execution an Act for repairing the High Road from the City of Durham to the Tyne Bridge. (2) George Baker of Chester Deanery, Esq, and John Doe. Licence of (1) to (2) and their families and servants to pass toll-free through the turnpike gates at Sunniside and Chester for one year from 2 May next.
(5) Bonds c.1623-c.1770 - CCB B/138/10. (221534). 23rd November 1754 Bond for Debt of £500 to the Bishop of Durham by Thomas Donnison of Gateshead. Other - 10/40.
(6) The Consistory Court Papers - Kirsop v Huntley (et al.) 1783 - promoter: Mary Kirsop (heretofore Wilson), wife of John Kirsop of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, linen draper (niece and legatee of deceased) defendants: John Huntley and Thomas Laybourn of Gateshead, Durham County, gentlemen (executors of deceased) relating to: goods of Thomas Donnison of Gateshead, Durham County, gent (deceased).