My Ancestor was Captured by Barbary Pirates
My Ancestor was Captured by Barbary Pirates www.tree-sleuths.co.uk Where it all started My ancestor was a rating in the Royal Navy in 1760, what else can be discovered about him? This blog post is about some recent research that took an unexpected turn. It all began when I looked at the Marriage Register from Stoke Damerel (just outside Plymouth), Devon, for September 1760. It recorded the marriage of Nicholas Phillips, who was my ggggg grandfather, and Mary Davey. There was a family legend that an ancestor in this family line had had connections with the Royal Navy, but this was the first documentary evidence of this I had found: he was described as “of His Majesty’s Ship Portland”. Stoke Damerel, Marriage Register [1] (image: www.findmypast.co.uk) Was there a story to be uncovered here? The year 1760 was around the time that Royal Navy muster lists were changed to show the age and origin of each rating when they joined the ship so it may be worth looking at these at TNA to see if I