Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/274

 214 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. for many years and only discovered after close search. It was needed then as evidence in a prolonged dispute about boundaries between the Colonies. Some zealous partisan may have thought to destroy the validity of the Patent by defacing the coat of arms on the Council Seal. It is to be hoped that somewhere a perfect impression may be found. Howard M. Buck. N.B. — The circles on the chart are taken from the impression at Plymouth. 178. Stoke Gabriel Sextons (IX., p. igo, par. 159). — I have searched the early entries in the transcript of the Stoke Gabriel Register made by Mr. A. J. P. Skinner for the Devon and Cornwall Record Society and now deposited at the Exeter City Library. This register is one of the most complete in the county. It commences in 1538, but the earliest entry relating to the Narracott family appears in 1604, when Roberte Norkote married Elizabeth Crappinge. After this date the name frequently appears. The following extracts will remove any doubt which may arise in the reader's mind as to the relationship of Norkote to the modern form Narracott, and provides an excellent, although, in this case, conclusive example of the difficulties with which genealogists have to contend owing to the unstable state of the orthography of our ancestors. Baptisms. 1604. 10 Feb., Alexander, s. of Robert Narcott. 1607. 20 July, David, s. of Robert Narocott. 1636. 5 May, Matthew, s. of Ellexander and Iset Narracott. 1639. Edward, s. of Alixander and Isate Narracott. Burials. 1609. Robert Narakatt. 1642. Grace, d. of Alexander Narracott. From this evidence it would appear that the name Narracott was unknown in Stoke Gabriel prior to 1604, when Robert, who was probably a stranger to the parish, married Elizabeth Crappinge, probably a native, and settled there. This appears to me to dispose of the contention that the " office of Sexton has continued in the Narracott family since 1440," a statement which, if true, would be difficult to substantiate, owing to the fact that documentary evidence