Nurse Ancestors

This section will document my research into my male line, the Nurse ancestors of my great-grandfather Robert Francis Nurse. In addition to researching my male line, which I have managed to trace back to late 17th century North Somerset, I have done research into the origin of the family name Nurse.

William Nurse of Chew Stoke (born ~1675)

In an article on the Origin of the Surname Nurse - I discuss that I have traced the family back with a high degree of certainty to a Robert Nurse of Compton Dando. Robert and has wife Sarah were living in Compton Dando by the 1730’s.

While less certain I believe that Robert was the son of William Nurse of Chew Stoke. William was living in Chew Stoke at the end of the 17^th century - in 1694 he married Rebecca Cox (in the neighbouring parish of Norton Malreward).

There is no undisputed evidence of where William was born, but one theory is that he was the William, son of William and Margaret Nurse who was baptised in Wells on 19^th February 1667.¹ (Figure 1) William and Margaret were married in Wells 10^th April 1665. Wells is about 18km from Chew Stoke, so it would not have been a huge undertaking to move from Wells from Chew Stoke.

However, an alternative that does not require much movement could be that he was born in Chew Magna and baptised on 14^th November 1672,² the son of William Mourse. (Figure 2)

In the baptism records of the 17^th and 18^th century it is not unusual to find mutliple variations of names used, as most common people were illiterate and the priest who entered the information often misheard, misspelt or just miswrote names.

Early References to Nurses in the Chew Magna Area

There are quite a few references to Nurses in the Chew Magna area in the 16^th and 17^th century although there is not enough evidence to categorically link any of them.

• Will. Nures is mentioned as a witness in the will of Agnes Webbe of West Harptree – proved on 10^th April 1535.³
• There are several references in the parish register of Chew Magna, including the baptism of Marie, the daughter of Richard Nure on 5^th April 1587, and the burials of Joane Nurse of Stoke on 19^th November 1573 and Richarde Nurse on 17th March 1597, probably the father of Marie.⁴

Origin of the Surname

Can we be sure that the family originated in Somerset? In an article on the origin of the Nurse surname, I discuss two approaches to determining the possible ultimate origin of the surname.

1. The first approach is to study the etymology of the name, to determine if there is a unique source.
2. The second approach will be a statistical geographical approach. Through the use of various records I will attempt to determine the geographic location of the surname.

Ancestors

As I do my research I will be creating biographies of many of my ancestors.

I have completed articles on all my male Nurse ancestors that I have confirmed.

• William Nurse (b. ~1675) of Chew Stoke
• Robert Nurse (b. 1709) of Compton Dando
• Samuel Nurse (b. 1748) of Hanham - Maltster
• Robert Nurse (b. 1782) of Hanham - Maltster
• Samuel Nurse (b. 1809) of Hanham - Maltster
• Robert Nurse (b.1821) of Hanham - Innkeeper and Maltster
• Robert Francis Nurse - Maltster

References

Footnotes