Hello,

I just joined the Forest of Dean FHT Forum today, July 31, 2021, and haven't read any of the posts yet, so this comment may be old news for some or all of you: I live in El Paso, Texas and lived in rural Kentucky as a child. There are Pumphreys in small numbers all over the USA (and there is a possibly legendary story about why there are small pockets of Pumphreys all over the US).

The Pumphrey Pedigree is a big book written by an architect from California, Larry D. Pumphrey, quite some time ago that traces the Pumphrey family back as far as the year 1410, specifically to the two towns of Newnham and Little Dean is Gloucestershire, and also Charlton Kings near Cheltenham a little later. Larry organized the book in a very orderly way, and included some anomalies, such as the period in which some of my ancestors were known as Weale rather than Pumphrey because of a blended family in which a Pumphrey married a Weale and some (but not all) of the children adopted the name Weale rather than Pumphrey. Also, variations of the name covered in the early part of the book include the name Pomfrey rather than Pumphrey, for example.

Larry had to make some educated guesses in a few parts of the earliest known family history in England, and includes a disclaimer to this end. He also mentions that 1410 was as early as he could search the family history because birth and death records were destroyed in or around 1400 in a parish church fire.

In most coat of arms books and articles, Pumphrey is identified as a Welsh name, which has made me wonder if at some point prior to 1410, the family migrated from Wales to the Forest of Dean area which as you know is not all that far from the border with Wales.

Some libraries have copies of The Pumphrey Pedigree. You can search for libraries that have a copy at by searching "Find It In a Library" on any Internet Search Engine. I do not know if it is still in print or if there are used copies available on other online bookstore websites. The cost when I purchased it many years ago was $50.

On a side note, I hope to visit the Forest of Dean area someday once the pandemic is over. I have used a street view map to literally "walk" down the streets of Newnham and Little Dean and from that I feel like I am already intimately familiar with the area. -- Mark Edwin Pumphrey, 812 Dulce Tierra Drive, El Paso, TX 79912 USA 1-(915) 504-4925

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If you use the Parish Records on this site, also under Resources, there are Marriage Allegations and Marriages.

Put in the name PUMPREY and use the Soundex and many variations of this surname are on record, some relevant.

Searching the National Archives - Google: A2a

There is

PUMPHRET/PUMPREY, Matthew, Newnham

Date: 1571

Held by: Gloucestershire Archives .

---

Men in Armour for Gloucestershire 1608 which lists all available men to fight

is on Coaley. net (on the web)

again just type in the letters pu - as there are some variations - e.g.

PURLEWENT

there is at Maisemore ( Gloucestershire)

Gyles PURROCKE alias WEELL servant to John PURROCK alias WEELL

If you search Gloucestershire Archives

ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk

This lists Wills and include

William PUMFREY - 1576 - of Littledean
Margery PUMFREY - 1577 - of Littledean

and

Henry PUMFREY (alias) WEALE - 1584 - Maisemore

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Looking at Men in Armour 1608 for Littledean

George POMFREY - Yeoman
Phillip POMFRY son of George POMFREY A40 - lower Stature

A40 means aged around 40 - if you look at help page - this will show what lower Stature men were available for in this case

fit to serve as a caliver

https://coaley.net

Hi Mark,

I also have Larry's book "The Pumphrey Pedigree" and was lucky enough to find my grandfather listed and was able to follow my line directly back to John Pomfrey (1410-1472), through Richard Pumphrey who had the blended family that you mention. My line goes from Newnham -> Littledean -> Leckhampton -> Charlton Kings -> Baltimore County, Maryland (the immigrant). I am actually in Oxford, UK as I type this and plan to visit Newnham, Littledean, Leckhampton and Charlton Kings this weekend or next week.

I'm not expecting to have any eureka moments while there, but will be nice to see the country side and maybe try to feel some connection to ancestors of past. I would welcome any discussion of the Pumphrey family. In fact, I have started a Pumphrey Pedigree group on Facebook just recently.

Good luck on your searches!

Daniel Pumphrey

The name Pumphrey is an abreviation of the Welsh ap Humphrey meaning son of Humphry. Ap Humphrey may, indeed, have emigrated from what is now Wales in the dim and distant past, but his ancestry may just as likely lie in the Forest of Dean itself. You have to understand that the Forest of Dean was originally in the "Welsh Marches" i.e, part of Wales. Just a cursery scanning of the posts on this site will demonstrate that many of the surnames remain Welsh to this day.