Could anyone help? Iam trying to trace back to 1753 for 4X Grandfather who was John Cobley born in the Minehead area. I think he married a Mary Pool in Dec 1784 had 3 children Thomas B1788 D1870 Mary B.1785 and Ann B1787 D. 1857. All information on these people gratefully recevied. Christi.

Hi Christi,

There was a John COBLY alias VALTOR bap 13 Mar 1753 at Minehead, son of John COBLY. It looks as though he was buried on 20 Apr 1815, Minehead, age 62. Some of the Minehead records are online at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Minehead/index.html

Cheers,

Sue

Thanks so much Sue, it does seem to fit the dates. Could you please explain at all the Valtor part of him.

I don't know anything about the reasons for adopting the alias, I'm afraid. It usually indicates that the person (or an ancestor) was illegitimate and had taken both parents' surnames, or that one of the surnames was adopted as an "extra" to keep in with some influential relative or acquaintance.

Hope you manage to resolve the mystery soon!

Cheers,

Sue

Thanks for your trouble Sue. I'll go further with my search and see if I can my any sense out of it somewhere.