Rundell/Paynter Families

EARLIEST RECORDS
Paynter families in the county of Cornwall, England, are first recorded in 1240 A.D., hence the name is 0ver 700 years old in this area.  The first record is of Simon le Paintur, a landowner of Helston in 1240, who had a tin mine.  Next, Jon le Payntur, owner of a saltworks at Falmouth, is recorded in the Feet of Fines list of 1320.  THe word is derived from the Old French "peintour" meaning painter.  A search of Cornish parish registers shows other spellings of the name as: Peinetour, Paynetour, Peyntur, Paintur, etc.

Thomas Payneter was a naval commander who replused the French off the Cornish coast in 1401; he was overtaken by a storm and drowned.  In 1529 Giles Paynter was a composer and published canzonets.  In the later 1500's parish records first appeared, though sparse.  Abstracts of these show three Paynter landowners; Captain James Paynter, 25 acres of Trure, 1572; Edward Paynter, 40 arcres at Newbridge, 1589; Sidney Paynter, 15 acres at Cury, 1594.  For the Boskenna Branch most records appear to have been destroyed.  No parish, village, or hamlet, was ever formed in this area, which is five miles southwest of Penzance.

The earliest occupation was by Neolithic men from France, and remains left by them, a cromlech and a circle of nineteen stones (known as Stonehedge), can still be seen.  A castle a Boskenna is noted as being loyal to King Charles.  Manor houses were built at Boskenna in the 1400-1600 period and Georgian and Vistorian mansions were built between 1750 and 1860.At Boskenna the Paynter branches lived by agriculture on t heir lands of some 50 acres.  John Paynter, the sheriff of Cornwall in 1735, who collected fossils and minerals, was a member of the Boskenna branch.  However, no genealogies of family histories can be located on the Boskenna Paynter branches.  They lived in a wild and rocky region of moors, a remote and lonely region until recent times.  Burkes Armory, however, shows them to have been prominent in the Cornish "Landed Gentry".

William Cambarne, alias Paynter, of Deverell, obtained in 1569, a grant of the amorial ensigns, now borne by this family. He married Eleanor Walton, and was survived by his son, George Paynter, who married on 29 April, 1565, to A. Anthorne, and was father of William Paynter, Esq., who married in 1632, to JaneKeigwin, the daughter of Richard Keigwin, of Penzance, had issue, Francis Paynter, married secondly, Agnes Lean, who bore him two sons.  The second son, Francis was born in 1685 and was survived by his son William Paynter, who married Elizabeth Hawkey.  William and Elizabeth were the parents of twelve children, one of whom was Johnson Paynter, the father of Betsy Paynter Rundell.

Betsy Paynter, daughter of Johnson Paynter and Katherine Hender, was born at Boskenna Castel, St. Burgan, Cornwall, England, in May of 1791.  About the year 1810 or 1811, she moved with her parents to Little Trevisker,  a farm in the parish of St. Eval, Cornwall, England. Here she met and married James Rundellwho lived on an adjoining farm known as Great Trevisker.  The young couple went to live in an adjoining village called Penrose, where they worked for James Rundell's parents, Richard Rundell and Elizabeth Truscott.  Leter they moved to Little Tetaherick, Cornwall, England, to a farm which tehy leased for forty years.

Fourteen children wre born to this union.  The father passed away in 1839; a son, James in 1842; and a daughter, Sarah, also in 1842.  As the remaining children grew to maturity, eleven migrated to America.  While none of them engaged in mining, they settled in  the lead mining district of Platteville, Wisconsin.  They were; Eliza Rundell (Mrs. Stephen Carhart), in 1842, William, Thomas, and Samuel Rundell, 1848, Richard and Ann Rundell (Mrs. Richard Biddick), in 1850, Catherine Rundell (later Mrs. Peter Biddick), in 1851, and Betsy Paynter Rundell with Hercules Paynter, Betsy (Mrs. George Paul), Mary Jane (later Mrs. James Nichols), and Johnson Paynter Rundell, in 1853.  They left behind the eldest son, John, who remained on the old home farm.

Betsy Paynter Rundell lived in Mitchell Hollow until she and her son Jphnson bought part of what is now the Dale Rundell farm north of Rewey, Wisconsin.  They bought this farm on 19 May, 1858.  Later, sho moved back to Mitchell Hollow to be near her daughter, Betsy Paul.  THere she passed away on 27 September, 1877, at the age of eigthy-seven years. She is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery, Platteville, Wisconsin, Grant County, Lot 9, Block B.  Among the things she brought to this country were twelve china cups and saucers.  She gave one of these to each of her children.  She also brought a pitcher of old English pottery, which she gave to her youngest child, Johnson, who in turn gave it ot his oldest grandchild, Marcia Rundell Grindell.  It is one of her most prized possessions.  THe following lines were inscribed on the old pitcher:  Let the wealthy and the great, Roll in splendor and state, O envy them not, I declare it.  I eat my own lamb, My own chickens and ham, I shear my own fleece and i wear it. I have lawns, I have bowers, I have fruits, I have flowers, The lark is my morning alarmer.  So jolly boys now, Here's God speed the plough, Long life and success to the farmer.


Rundell Family

James Rundell (1787-1839) – Betsy Paynter Rundell (1791 – 1877)
Married May 4, 1811
          Their children were all born in Little Petherick, Cornwall, England 

  1. Eliza Rundell :           Aug 18, 1811 - Sept 1902                  (Buried Mapleton, IA)
Married: Stephen Carhart

  1. John Rundell :           1812 - Dec 7, 1897                             (Buried St. Eval, Cornwall)
Married: Johanna Taylor

  1. James Rundell :         Oct 5, 1814 – Sept 23, 1842             (Buried St. Eval, Cornwall)
Unmarried

  1. William Rundell:       April 6, 1816 – Feb. 6, 1908             (Buried Platteville, WI)
Married: Elizabeth Roberts, Elizabeth Hooper

  1. Betsy Paynter Rundell: July 3, 1817 – May 21, 1897         (Buried Platteville, WI)
Married: George Paul

  1. Catherine Rundell:   May 3, 1819 – Jan 28, 1908              (Buried Montfort, WI)
Married: Peter Biddick

  1. Hercules Paynter Rundell: Dec 3, 1820 – Dec 1904           (Buried Boulder, CO)
Married: Elizabeth Eddy

  1. Samuel Rundell:        Nov 14, 1822 – Mar 31, 1904            (Buried Livingston, WI)
Married: Kezia Biddick

  1. Thomas Rundell:       Aug 13, 1824 – Dec 20, 1884             (Buried Platteville, WI)
Married: Emma Foxen

  1. Sarah Rundell:          Nov 27, 1825 – Oct 9, 1842               (Buried St. Eval, Cornwall)
Unmarried

  1. Richard Rundell:      April 30, 1827 – Aug 2, 1904            (Buried Mifflin, WI)
Married: Hannah Biddick

  1. Ann Rundell:             Oct 28, 1829 – April 21, 1918           (Buried Livingston, WI)
Married: Richard Biddick

  1. Mary Jane Rundell: Nov 14, 1831 – Apr 29, 1896                        (Buried Platteville, WI)
Married: James Nichols

  1. Johnson Paynter Rundell: Oct 9, 1834 – Nov 14, 1922      (Buried Platteville, WI)
Married: Martha Swiers, Alvira Ruble