Read Psalm 119 yesterday; the longest Psalm. It is Jesus who made us aware that the Psalms have so many lines that mention the coming of the Messiah. But the actual coming was told to us by the Prophets and that is to come in the books of the Bible. Continuing reading the Psalms and there are 150 of them in total so I am into the last 31 Psalms which will probably take me a while as I do enjoy them although as I read through them I see passages I probably did not truly appreciate in my younger days. Reading the Bible when you are old (I am in my 82nd year) is a very wondrous experience. The Bible has a place in our lives from young age to old age.
Not so much research today as it is my day of rest mostly having managed to rake up another two bags of the droppings of the walnut tree. All trees of God's creation and they abound in the part of the world that I live in. We are blessed to be the benefactors of so much of the bounty that God created eons ago.
Thinking of where I am at these days with the books.
Blake, my current study, is in the beginnings of the Generational Chart. The first three generations appear to be straight forward as there are many wills to help with that. Who the other Blakes are in the area is a mystery somewhat. The association of the Blake family of Andover with the Blake family of Speen an interesting occurrence although they do not state a kinship which leaves me to believe they are further apart than say second or third cousins who might have rated the label kinship with first cousins being very close relations. In the mid 1500s that would mean that there was an association back in the early to mid 1400s if 2nd or 3rd cousins. It is just interesting that this existed since the distance between Speen, Berkshire and Andover, Hampshire is 18 miles or 28 kilometres. Not a huge distance but far enough for sure in the 1400s/1500s unless of course you had a horse which shortened that time of transit considerably. Similar forenames between the two families also interesting. The surname Blake was often said to be a characteristic surname and the scribes certainly did most of the writing in those days. But I wonder if a family that held property in a manor would choose a surname that was used by a number of individuals within England going back into the 1200s. Adopting the surname of a wife (say Blake or le Blak) seems more reasonable and does tend to support this idea that there was a relationship between the Calne Blake family and the Andover Blake family although a number of interesting family stories emerged from this very thought. That these thoughts differed over time also interesting as it implies a not really sure of the origin mindset. So keeping the family lore in mind and using the wills I am building the generational chart commencing with Robert Blake who left his will dated 16 Dec 1521 at Enham and named his living sons as Richard and Thomas. Did he have a third son married to Jone Blake of Enham who left her will in 1527 and named her children Robert, Nicholas and Elizabeth? The children of Richard and Thomas do not match these children and yet we find Nicholas at Old Hall, Enham when he leaves his will in 1547. I will indicate that this is a postulation by me naming a third son for Robert (will dated 1521) as possibly Robert and carry on with this generational chart but first I will have a discussion with the AI on my thoughts.
Pincombe, my other study, is waiting for a document from 1617 which is an Inheritance Dispute for the heirs of John Pincombe at South Molton. This will be incredibly helpful I hope as it is six pages in length and both of the named individuals do not have the surname Pincombe so are daughter lines which is even the more intriguing. John Pincombe (son of John Pencombe (1486)) had two known sons Christopher and John and a likely daughter Margret who married Philip Kingdon (15 Nov 1539 at North Molton) and they had two daughters Johane and Emote (it does cross my mind that Margret could be a daughter of Thomas very often). It will take a couple of weeks before the document arrives and I will switch back to Pincombe at that time or close to it.
Last night was dreaming night I guess; I do not always dream but the births of my two children were on my mind perhaps no idea why. I do not really remember either birth very well as for both I was over 30 hours in constant labour and absolutely exhausted. I wondered years later if it was my back that was the problem as I have very very weak back muscles. I had a fall when I was about fifteen or sixteen down a flight of stairs. That was not an unusual thing as I have fallen down the stairs many times. Now since my cataract surgery I can actually see the stairs very well but I hold on tight. But this one time I remember my back hurt for a long time after that but I got up and walked right away. So no blame there on anyone but now in retrospect I wonder if that was the problem with my long labours and so I did ask for a caesarean section for my second child when I was six months pregnant as she was definitely heavier than my first (about half a pound actually although checking it was actually three quarters of a pound) but I had delivered the first and the doctor said no he wouldn't refer me for that. I remember asking the nurse at the hospital for a doctor but the nurse said I had to wait until he came; it seemed so strange to be in a hospital and there not to be an obstetrician there. I have no memory from that point onward until she was delivered and didn't cry. I think maybe I passed out then as she was crying when I remember again but then I fell asleep I believe as no memory then until much later in the morning. I awoke last night with that terror for her in my mind I guess. But time soothes many things although the memory still sits there inside haunting me every once in a while. I did check my Fitbit and I had Sleep Apnea last night several times which perhaps accounts for the suddenness with which I woke up no idea on that. Not an expert on child birth or Sleep Apnea. My current physician said she didn't have a family history for me. So I said when asked for a history that I was 75 years old and that was pretty well all that mattered at that time in my life. I always find it fascinating that at night my heart rate goes down to as low as 42 although generally around 45-46 when I am sleeping. In the day at rest it is around 52 - 54 beats per minute. When I learned that bears sleeping in the winter have a very depressed heart beat I wondered if it is just a characteristic of mammals that do a lot of cardiac exercise.
Thank you God for another beautiful day in your world.
