Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Minus 26 degrees celsius with a windchill of minus 34

 A cold morning today and surprisingly a bit cloudy at 8:00 a.m. The polar vortex is upon us and the furnace has been running steadily for quite a while. Nice that the car is in the garage although it is still pretty cold even there. The atmosphere is shrinking what snow there is and the laneway looks fairly clear this morning. The snow will be like fine powder with all moisture sucked out of it. 

Yesterday I accomplished all of the cleaning - the top floor is completely cleaned except for all the closets which remain full of Edward's boxes and other belongings. I would like to give his clothes to the Union Mission especially coats and boots but they are not accepting donations because of COVID. I will keep them all a little longer. 

Today the main floor and the robot vacuum is streaking across the floor at the moment sucking up the dust. Robot vacuums are such a great idea. Still need to do the corners somewhat although surprisingly there isn't much dust there but the robot doesn't dust the baseboards or the furniture or wash walls or windows. One day I suppose but not yet. 

After such an intense week of working on the Kip-Kipp Family Newsletter my mind went into a quiet area and I did not accomplish much yesterday in terms of my work as I call my pursuit into my parent's surnames. Surnames are relatively new as the world goes. Blake is an old one found in the records in the 1100s in France particularly but also in England. The 1330-1550 English Emigrants Database has nearly 40 Blake males who emigrated to England from the Continent. Pincombe may also be old but I have not found it earlier than the 1100s either. You find the original Pencombe spelling in Herefordshire in the Bromyard area. St John Parish Church in the parish of Pencombe with Grendon Warren dates back to the 12th century for the original building. The earliest record for a holder of the surname thus far:

1395 20 May Westminster (membrane 5)
Licence, for 100 s. paid in the hanaper by Philip Webbe, chaplain of a
chantry of St. Mary in the parish church of Bromyord, for the alienation
in mortmain by John Falke of a messuage in Bromyord, and by John
Hunte or another there, and by Thomas Pencombe and Robert Stanford
of five messuages and half an acre of meadow in the same place, not held in
chief, to the said chaplain and his successors, in aid of their maintenance.
18 Richard II, volume 5, page 582

Surnames themselves mostly tell you so much about your family revealing ethnicity and location but there can be surprising twists especially finding so many with the surname Blake on the Continent.

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