I am looking for any information on the above family, especially any information on William buried 6/7/1766 at St Mary's Bluntisham cum Earith and his wife Elizabeth. I have all records from fiche of St Mary's Bluntisham cum Earith and information from VRI,NBI and IGI.

Hello

I am a descendant of William Collingwood (7th generation). William, buried in Bluntisham cum Earith, is as far back as I have so far been able to research. I guess this is your problem as well. The BcE parish records show a Thomas Collingwood, son of a William and Elizabeth Collingwood, being baptised on Nov 5 1770. There is no record of a William and Elizabeth being married in BcE, or a William being born in BcE. And that is the problem. There is an IGI entry giving a birth date as 1699 and a spouse of Elizabeth Ashwood, of Over. However, this appears to be uncorroborated and I don't know where the birth date is from. It is certainly true that the transcribed parish records for Over show that a William Collin[g]wood and Elizabeth Ashwood were married Sept 29 1732. However, I feel that it is a step too far to assume that this William Collingwood is the same one who is buried in BcE, although admitedly Over is just a few miles from BcE and there is a good chance that it is one and the same. However, I'd like to see a bit more evidence. Boyd's marriage index for Cambridgeshire also shows the marriage of a William to Elizabeth Brownknave in Whittlesey St Mary, in 1717 I think. Frustratingly, Elizabeth Ashwood only appears in the Over records for the marriage and nothing else (she was a servant). William Collingwood has no other record there either (he was a miller), so where did he come from? And that really is where I've come to a halt. Regards, Ian Collingwood

hi ,just seen your message, i am related to William and Elizabeth . my father was Spencer Charles Henry Collingwood. i can get no further back than Will and wonder if you had any luck
regards Anne goddard nee Collingwood

Hello Anne

We've already corresponded (about a year ago) through Genes Reunited, and I am afraid I have made no progress. To be honest I've done very little genealogy in recent times and am frankly at a bit of a dead end with William and Elizabeth. I am not sure what the next step would be, indeed even if there is one. Perhaps I need to take some specialist advice on this if I am to make progress.

Regards Ian