Hi from Ruth Ruth Dovaston Stant was born in
Warwickshire but over the years has moved home many times, living in Leicestershire
and Cornwall. Happily married since the 1970's, Ruth has two children and four
grandaughters. She is now semi-retired, with homes in the North of England,
and the Black Sea. Ruth is a professional Designer, Seamstress and Collectible
Doll Costumier; it must be in her blood, several of her Dovaston ancestors were
Tailors and Seamstresses. Ruth loves gardening, horse racing, and visiting ancient
sites. She loves to travel, having toured most of Europe, and the Mediterranean
islands of Italy and Greece, as well as Cyprus, Malta, and Cairo, Luxor and
the Red Sea, Egypt. Ruth's favourite holiday destinations however are the Western
Islands of Scotland, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
Ruth started her interest
in the DOVASTON Family Tree back in the 1980's. After much painstaking research
in dusty libraries, she soon realised her family went back to one man, Daniel
Dovaston at Kinnerley in Shropshire, so she drew up the first Dovaston Ancestral
Chart and later published it during the early days of the WWW. Her original
Dovaston website began in the 1990's and she has since helped many genealogists
find their link to her extensive DOVASTON Family Tree. Ruth has recently turned
from investigating paper records towards DNA, keen to discover the YDNA of Dovaston
males so that the family tree can progress further back beyond the 17thC. Unfortunately,
not one Dovaston male has yet been tested YDNA, or has published his result,
so it is impossible to prove all the paper records and the line of descent.
However, two Dovaston Cousins have tested autosomalDNA [FTDNA Family Finder
and AncestryDNA], and Ruth has tested many of her family. Ruth believes the
surname Dovaston comes from several sources, quite unrelated families, and that
only DNA will prove all.
One of the first recorded DOVASTONs was Daniel DOVASTON, a farmer b.c.1600 [Ruth's
8th Great Grandfather]. Daniel's parents are uncertain, but his father may
have been John DOVASTON of Ford, Shropshire, in which case Daniel's siblings
would have been Thomas [1605] Alice [1607] and William [1608]. Another sibling
may have been Samuel who married Johanne, their children being Richard [1618]
and Harry [1626] all born at Ford.
Daniel
[1600] DOVASTON's
Family Tree
Other DOVASTONs who lived
earlier, in the 1500's, in Shropshire, are:
Katherina [1540] born at Pontesbury, Shropshire; her father was John DOVASTON also, Roger DOVASTON is mentioned at the same time period,
several DOVASONs are recorded at Lincoln, Lincolnshire and in London Early Marriages: Ann DOVASTON married John GRIFFITHS
in 1613 at Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Thomas DOVASTON married Catherine in 1622 at Ruyton XI Towns, Shropshire
Thomas DOVASTON married Katherine MANERING in 1622 at Oswestry, Shropshire [thought
to be same as previous] John DOVASTON married Catherine
GRIFFITHS c.1624 at Great Hanwood, Ford, Shropshire
The surname DOVASTON appears to have had several 'later origins'; English
and/or Anglo-Welsh, of local origin, derived from the name of the place of residence
of the initial bearer. In one instance, the surname derived from the place-name
DOVASTON a township of Kinnerley, in the County of Shropshire, England.
However, the surname obviously pre-dates that place, so it must
also be of an earlier, so far unknown, origin.
Adolphus Dovaston told us Daniel Dovaston was the "Owner of a freehold
estate at DOVASTON which had been held by his family since the days of Good
Queen Bess and still so remains". He came to the adjoining parish of West Felton
in the year 1675, the Old Farm, West Felton.
So it must be that DOVASTON a township of Kinnerley must be from the days
of Queen Elizabeth the First [1558-1603]. It would appear John Dovaston at Pontesbury
and Ford would have held that estate at Dovaston, before Daniel, long before
the family moved to West Felton in 1675.
So it follows, there was an original pre-Elizabethan family named Dovaston,
not named after a place named Dovaston, and there would have been families later
named after the estate at Dovaston [eg William of Dovaston] who were genetically
unrelated.
Ruth believes the original
pre-Elizabethan surname came from 'ancient origins', named after RIVERS,
the River Dove and River Dovey ... hence 'Dove'
and 'aston' as well as 'Dov[ey]' and 'aston'.
There is a River Dovey
that runs north-south through the centre of Wales.
An ancient [Roman] settlement 'Dov[ey] - Aston = Dovaston'
seems likely, hence the place-name DOVASTON on
the Welsh-Shropshire border ... 'Aston' probably signifies a fortification against
raiders from the west. The River
Dovey rises in the small lake Creiglyn
Dyfi at about 1900 feet above sea level, below Aran
Fawddwy, flowing south to Dinas Mawddwy and Cemmaes
Road, then south west past Machynlleth to
Cardigan Bay at Aberdyfi. It shares its watershed
with the River Severn and the River
Dee before flowing generally south-westwards down to a wide estuary.
The only large town on its route is Machynlleth.
There are others; the River
Dove in the Peak
District, Derbyshire bordering Staffordshire [see the Dovedale
Gorge], where the surname Dovaston may
also have originated and is frequently found as a surname. It is possible the
surname originated in Shropshire or in Derbyshire [or elsewhere] and was brought
to Derbyshire or Shropshire, or vice-versa. Or it may have originated separately
in both locations or several locations. There is a River
Dove near Thornham
Magna in Suffolk. Also one in North Yorkshire
at Farndale.
And one between Swinton and Barnsley in South Yorkshire,
now part of the Dearne
and Dove Canal.
Ancient meanings of the word 'dov[e]'
had many uses in different languages, but it was often connected to 'water',
a 'bog' and 'dark/black'.
Since there are a few dozen variations
in the spelling of the surname DOVASTON, such as DOVESTON, DOVEASTON, DOVINSON
and DOVESON, it would appear that each surname probably has a separate origin
and that the families are totally unrelated. All will become clearer once males
have had their DNA tested and the results are published to enable comparison,
and to see what matches there might be.
Hi from Ruth
