A WOMAN has been able to discover more about her family history through a recent story featured in the Post.

Clare Spicer, who lives in Kent, had been looking into her family history when she came across an article featured in the Post earlier in the year titled ‘Tales of death, ghosts and consequence in South Petherwin’.

The reporter who had written the story was assisted by Cornish historian and researcher, Barry West, whom Clare was keen to get in touch with.

The article detailed the story of the ghost of Dorothy Dingley, who supposedly died during childbirth and haunted the youngest son of a rich farming family who lived at Botathan House in South Petherwin during the 1600s.

The haunted son, thought to be Sam Bligh, was the youngest brother of a Bligh suspected of being the father to Dorothy’s baby, who made away soon after the birth. In more recent years, the Jasper family owned Botathan House, the ancient seat of the Bligh family, where they felt the presence of Dorothy on more than one occasion.

Clare has since provided some more details on her connections to the story, with her late mother, Kathleen, being a relative to the Blighs.

Clare has obtained all early information on the Bligh family from the Herald’s Visitation of Cornwall, due to parish records for South Petherwin not starting until the 1650s.

Although she says the Visitations are not a totally reliable source as some of the heralds relied on information from the families rather than checking original records, various wills and other documents are referred to. She hopes that she will eventually track these down.

She said: “The story is that the ghost appeared to a Sam Bligh in 1665. His father must have been Thomas Bligh (1603-1692), who was the squire of Botathan in 1665, and who sought help for his terrified son.

“My mother’s family are descended from a first cousin of Thomas, namely Anthony Bligh (1606-1676). Several Anthonys followed after this one. Anthony Bligh (1683-1730) had a son William who was baptised in 1729 in South Petherwin, sadly on the same day that his mother was buried. William’s surname was shown as ‘Blight’ on the baptism register, but he appears on the Bligh family record in the Visitation as a Bligh.”

William’s father had died only a year later, and it seemed that young William — now an orphan — may have been brought up by his mother’s family, as the next record for William is in nearby Lewannick, where he married, as Clare explains.

“Here, William’s eldest son was baptised in 1758 as Anthony Blythe. This Anthony Blythe was my four times great grandfather. He was probably illiterate and when his children were christened, several different spellings of the name were used, including Bligh, Blight, Blith and Blyth.

“The name Bligh is thought to have come from the Cornish word ‘Bleydh’, and this may also explain the variations. Different descendants of Anthony used different spellings for their surname — my mother’s family use the spelling ‘Blythe’, and this was her maiden name.”

Clare’s grandfather’s family were agricultural labourers in Lewannick, then moved to Stoke Climsland and worked as miners at Kit Hill.

“As the mining industry declined, my great grandfather joined the ordnance survey and moved away from Cornwall. However, my mother and her brother were still able to visit Blythe relations in the Stoke Climsland area when they were children, although they had no knowledge of the earlier family or any connection to South Petherwin.

“I have only found this through researching into the family history.”

A photograph held close to Clare’s heart is one of her mother, Kathleen, as a young girl with her parents, Harry and Emily Blythe, during a day out to the beach (below).

Harry, known as Stanley, was born in 1896, and died in 1956. Clare’s mother Kathleen is also no longer alive, but she has a brother who lives in New York and two Blythe cousins — James, who now lives in the USA, and his sister Sarah.

“There must be a lot of other living descendants on this line, but my family history research generally stops at the 1911 census,” Clare continued. “I have made contact with a more distant cousin in Canada, so the family has moved around quite a bit now, except for me — I live in Kent.”

Clare was delighted to hear that Botathan House, once known as ‘the Place’, is still standing in South Petherwin, adding: “My younger relatives will be thrilled to know that the ghost is still making her presence felt occasionally.”