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Archiver > DEVON > 2009-07 > 1248364755


From: "Tompkins, M.L.L." <>
Subject: Re: [DEV] The Mayor of Bideford and the Lost Colony Project
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:59:15 +0100
References: <bfd.5e22a7d3.3799a290@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <bfd.5e22a7d3.3799a290@aol.com>


<<A further article on the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island has been published
in the North Devon Gazette. Roanoke Island was one of the first places in
America to be settled. The ships were probably built in Devon and sailed
from Bideford. Many of these first colonists were believed to be from Devon
and particularly from the Bideford area.>>


That's very interesting, Debbie - I didn't realise the Roanoke colonists were believed to have come from the Bideford area. I'll be interested to see what conclusion the project eventually comes to. Certainly one of the colonists, Richard Tomkins, is rather unlikely to have come from Bideford or anywhere near it, as Devon was pretty much a Tomkins-free zone in the 16th century, though there were families of Tomkinses in western Somerset and central/south-eastern Cornwall.

Matt Tompkins

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