BUDGE

Kehaulani Kamaunu - aka Lorene Edward Budge Caunter (1829-1910) Bill Budge (1934-2016)

 

There have been families in and around North Hill who have revelled in the name Budge for centuries. St Torney's parish register shows that on 31 October 1630 Thomas Budge brought his son, John, to be baptized..

As Budge is not an uncommon name in the area around the Tamar Valley it is not surprising that not everybody named Budge can show a family relationship to every other Budge.

The 1906 Rate Book for North Hill shows a Budge family and the Peter Budge family listed:

 

Kehaulani Kamaunu - aka Lorene

Those local folk with longish memories may have spotted a lady walking around North Hill and Coad's Green wearing a Hawaiian garland about her neck. This would have been in 2016 and about five years before that as well. That lady, who can be seen in the centre of this photograph, is 'Lorene' who rejoices in the wonderful Hawaiian name of Kehaulani Kamaunu, a resident of Honolulu. Lorene made her third visit to the area on the 27th of July 2021 and stopped at Coad's Green Church to lay some flowers on her family's ancestral graves. She came with her daughter, Lori (on the right of the photograph), and her granddaughter, Pomaika'i (second from the left in the photograph). The image on the left is from her 2021 visit to Coad's Green and shows Lorene and Pomaika'i. Lorene wrote a report on her visit which you can read here or by clicking on the pdf icon.

You will be wondering why she would come half way around the world from her island paradise to our own little bit of Cornish paradise. Lorene's great great grandfather was Edward Budge Caunter who was born at Botternell and baptised in St Torney's on 23rd January 1829. Lorene's granddaughter Pomaika'i is shown here at St Torney's; click for a larger image and the family's ancestral line in North Hill.

The family's known Cornish ancestry goes back to the late 1400's. Through connections with the Spoure and Vincent families of North Hill, the Lampen family of Linkinhorne and the Lower family of St Winnow we have been able to trace the earliest known ancestors to John Lampen of Padrieda in Linkinhorne and Nicholas Lower of Polscoth in St Winnow in the late 1400's who are Lorene's 16 times great grandfathers.

A notable ancestor is Thomas Vincent who died in 1607 and whose magnificent slate tomb is in the north aisle of St Torney's, shown below.

Lorene is a direct descendant of Edward Budge Caunter and Agnes Craddock (see below).

 

Edward Budge Caunter (1829-1910)

Edward married Mary Cundy in St Melor's in Linkinhorne in 1859. They lived in Linkinhorne, Lezant and North Hill. Mary died in 1887 and Edward died in 1910. They are buried together in Coad's Green Methodist Churchyard. Their gravestone is shown here in 2021 with flowers left by his great great granddaughter, Lorene.

Edward and Mary had two sons and three daughters and their youngest child was Emily Budge Caunter who was born when the family lived at Kingscombe in Linkinhorne. In 1889 she married William Gartrell in "Big Wesley", the large Methodist church in Launceston shortly before they emigrated to the north west corner of the United States of America. Their faith was such that they named their son Richard Wesley Gartrell when he was born in Montana in 1890. Emily died in Washington state, USA, in 1928 and William died ten years later in British Columbia in Canada. Although buried not too far apart, their final resting places are in different countries.

Richard moved to Hawaii and married a local girl there in 1916, Lucy Kanae Thelma Kunukau. Aren't these names wonderful!? Their daughter was Ada May Gartrell and you wonder what happened to those splendid Hawaiian names. Ada married Franklin Kamaunu in 1938 and from this marriage Lorene was born. Being an avid family historian, Lorene travels across the planet to get her fix of her 'other' homeland whenever circumstances allow.

The question arises as to why Edward Caunter was given the middle name of Budge? The answer lies in Linkinhorne almost a century before Edward was born and the story starts with the following baptism in the Linkinhorne parish register.

Richard ye Base Son of Elizabeth Caunter .. Baptised 7th January (1732/3]

Elizabeth Caunter had a son Richard whom she presented for baptism when she was, as yet, unmarried. Having children outside of wedlock was not socially acceptable at the time and the entry in the parish register reflects that attitude. No father's name was recorded and to this day we don't definitely know who that man was. Almost twelve weeks later, however, Elizabeth's reputation was restored when she married in the same church:

Marriages in ye Year 1733
Richard Budge and Elizabeth Caunter were married by Banns .. 29th of March

It could, of course, be a coincidence that Elizabeth named her son Richard and then married a Richard soon afterwards but it would appear likely that the son was named after his father, Richard Budge. The circumstances that prevented Elizabeth marrying before her son was born are not known today, but we shall leave that to you to speculate upon.

Elizabeth had six more children with Richard in the period from 1736 to 1748. All of these children were baptised, as we might expect, bearing the Budge surname. It is clear from later records that whilst young Richard was brought up in this Budge family, the circumstances of his birth remained public knowledge. When he married Agnes Craddock in 1760 he did so as Richard Caunter, a husbandman. In 1799 he was assessed for Land Tax as Richard Caunter of Botternell. He was buried, having died at the grand old age of 89 in St Torney's churchyard as Richard Caunter.

Richard and Agnes had six children, the second of whom was John, born in 1762 and baptised as John Caunter. It seems, however, that the association with the Budge family was still strong as John married Ann Jasper in 1795 and had four children, all with the surname Caunter but with the middle name Budge. It is possible that was not a middle name but the double barrelled unhyphenated surname "Budge Caunter". This may seem unusual to outsiders but such surnames prevail in the parish. The "Peter Budge" (that is an unhyphenated double barreleld surname) family that live here today, and are shown in the 1906 Rate Book at the top of this page, are also direct descendants of Richard Budge and Elizabeth Caunter.

John and Ann's second of their four children was Edward Budge Caunter born in 1798 who married Mary Dingle in 1826 and are the parents of Edward Budge Caunter (1829-1810), who is Lorene's great great grandfather.

 

Bill Budge (1934-2016)

Bill (Richard Billy Martin Budge) who lived and farmed at Kingbear was a highly active member of the community throughout his life and a founder member of the North Hill Local History Group.

Bill died on the 8th May 2016 aged 82. The eulogy for his funeral was written and delivered by his son, Richard. You can read the eulogy by clicking on the pdf icon.

Part 1
14 min 56 sec
Part 2
12 min 41 sec
Part 3
2 min 27 sec

3 movies on YouTube of Bill Budge talking in 2015 about different aspects of North Hill's history.

 

 

The banner image shows an extract from the 1906 Rate Book and a prize Aberdeen Angus in the hands of Bill(?) Budge.