Parnell Family Page
Rebecca PARNELL was born about 1750 in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall. She was the daughter of Thomas PARNELL and Mary HAMBLY. Rebecca married Henry BRABYN in Egloshayle, Cornwall on 22 February 1770.
Henry had previously been married to Catherine STEPHENS by whom he had two children; John b 1766 and Catherine b 1768. It is not known when Henry's wife, Catherine died but he was a widower in 1770 when he married Rebecca.
Henry and Rebecca had three children together; Mary b 1771, Rebecca b 1776 and William b 1779. Henry died in Egloshayle and was buried there 23 November 1780. Rebecca then married William GREGOR on 11 January 1785 in Egloshayle. They had three children: Henry b 1785, Thomas b 1787 and Ann born 1791.
GREGOR is spelled in various different ways: GREGORY, GRIGOR, GRIGORY being a few. I have used the name GREGOR throughout on my database in order to locate decendants of Thomas more easily.
William Gregor died in 1817 and Rebecca died on 26 July 1837 at Wadebridge, Cornwall and was buried on 30 July 1837.
DNA matches confirm that I am descended from the marriage of Henry BRABYN to Rebecca PARNELL and their son William.
The DNA matches also linked me to James TRIPP (5th cousin) who descended from Henry GREGOR's marriage to Jennifer Jane BRENTON.(see the CAMPBELL Connection) The line descends through GREGOR and BENNETT to TRIPP and on to Canada.
Recently I have discovered more descendants of Rebecca Parnell connected through her son Henry GREGOR and showing as DNA matches. Many of these descendants made their homes in the USA.
Rebecca's father Thomas PARNELL married Mary HAMBLY at St. Breock on 31 May 1736. Mary was the daughter of John HAMBLY and Mary BALL, she was baptised at St Breock on 23 March 1713. Mary had a brother Christopher HAMBLY b 1696 and a sister Jone b 1713
Thomas and Mary had seven children: Mary b1736, Elizabeth b 1738, John b 1742, Jane b 1745, Rebecca b 1750, William b 1753 and Ann b 1757
Mary died and was buried at Egloshayle on 30 July 1781 and Thomas was also buried ther on 24 November 1778.
The CAMPBELL Connection
My husband and his nephew were both born in the Reigate/Redhill area of Surrey and both ended up marrying Cardiff girls. Sarah and I discovered that we had Cornwall Ancestry in common and both families had come to Cardiff from the Padstow area, Sarah was researching the BRENTON line and I knew this name appeared on my BRABYN Family Tree. My great 2xGreat-uncle William Brabyn had married Maria BRENTON at Padstow in 1829. I could find no direct link to Maria though and it wasn't until I discovered the GREGOR line through a DNA match that we discovered the link. Rebecca PARNELL had married first Henry BRABYN and I am descended through their son William. When Henry died she next married Willam GREGOR and their eldest son Henry in turn married Jenifer Jane BRENTON. I could find any baptism record for Jenifer to establish who her parents were. John Buckingham though, on St Issey Folk website has a note that records for the year covering Jenifer's baptism are missing but he had a date that he recorded and then shows Jenifer being the daughter of Henry BRENTON and Frances OLD (OULD). Henry and Frances' second son, Henry born 1789 married Elizabeth POPE and I was able to continue researching this line down until I came across Sarah's birth in Cardiff. So although Sarah and I aren't blood related and share no DNA we have this double link to our past and our Ancestry in Cornwall.