The Somerby Chapter needs to be well organized

My plan today is to organize the Somerby Chapter so that I include what really needs to be there but try to minimize the size. I have a huge amount of material that could go into this chapter but the mistake he made for whatever reason is relatively small but quickly picked up by genealogists who wrote about it in various American genealogical journals. 

The  Third Sunday of Easter and we continue thinking about the Risen Christ and the promise of God but fundamentally we also need to be thinking about the Two New Commandments that God sent to us and were told to us by His Son Jesus Christ. To love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbour as ourself. Of all the words in the Bible I always think these are the most meaningful and the most powerful for humankind to follow. Following these commandments would bring us to that uplifted plain of peace and the prosperity for all that can come with it. Prosperity is only possible though if people lose their greed; greed is the worst along with envy and jealousy and they keep the world from becoming the perfect place that it could be. I am 80 now and the world ahead of me is much shorter than the world that I have lived through. I was born into a world that had been ripped apart by yet another World War. The names of the youth of Canada lost in those wars written on the walls all over this country (the ages of those young people barely into their twenties and even younger and older). They were lost forever but never forgotten. The torch they passed to us was their last gift that we would find a way to bring peace to our world so that all will prosper but the worst fault continues to be greed. To have the opinion that you are better and that you deserve more because you are better needs to pass from this world as we are all born alike into this world and we all depart from this world in that same state. How we live those lives is very very important and one needs to remember the Great Sins of the world that Satan created and we continue to display which creates huge poverty for many and wealth for a few. God be with us as we learn to live the Two Commandments that He sent to us with His Son Jesus Christ. 

I keep remembering the deer that were outside in the yard whilst I was watching the dogs, the cats and the fish. The older dog jumped down from an ice hill when she slipped and started to limp a few days before the end of my retreat. She is still recovering although I have not seen her again since I was looking after her a month ago now. The two dogs are perfectly bonded and cousins actually. They are so perfect and I was so sad that she slipped on that ice hill but she saved herself from what would have been a worse fall. Just a quick turn and a jump and she was on her feet. She was more careful after that staying away from the ice hills once she recovered enough. But even with her sore leg she would run and run. Dogs are amazing. But the deer were fascinating. At first nervous because I was new and they knew it but gradually they would stay for a longer and longer time. The dogs and I watched them out the window. They were so beautiful. What a gift to be able to see them. 

Must get the clothes washing done and then it will be time for Church. Another beautiful Sunday in God's World. The flood watches are up for the Ottawa River but hopefully all will pass and all that moisture was so needed in the ground but it is now saturated and soon ready to plant as the season of growth begins once again. 

 

Somerby Chapter was really a must and I didn't really think about it until I did basically

 I have written quite a bit about Somerby particularly because well known genealogists have done so trying to correct the errors that this individual created with his "fancy" books which deceived people into believing something that was not true. Unacceptable at best and at worst detrimental to genealogy itself - the printed word does mean something and corrupting it is just loading a huge burden on the public that will be hard to erase. I need to decide now how much to put in the chapter. Do I just put in the sections that correct his mistake and tie it together with my personal thoughts plus the family lore from my grandfather and my father and indeed my second cousin Ivan Kent (grandson of my grandfather's youngest brother)? That would seem to be the best path and the one that is simplest to write. 

I have begun with whom Nicholas Blake was by putting in the will of his mother written in 1527 and probated the same year. I found it interesting that she listed her younger children before the eldest Robert Blake. This is just five years after Richard Blake left his will in 1522 probated the same year. I am suspicious that he is the father of Nicholas as he mentions his eldest son Robert and his brother Thomas and asks that his wife raise his younger children. This is only five years later and Nicholas (her son) and Elzbeth (her daughter) are no longer young as Elzbeth is married to (unknown Mylne). So if Robert was of age in 1522 then presumably he was born by 1501 or earlier. Elzebeth could have married as young as 16 or 17 (it was not unusual) so born by 1509 (or earlier but not before 1501) or 1510 which could see her just 13 when Richard died. Richard left his unnamed daughter a cow (one notes in the will of her mother she mentions that she is giving a cow to her daughter that she had bought from her - interesting comment given that a cow had been a legacy to the daughter of Richard in his will). Nicholas left his will in 1547 and his eldest son William left his will in 1582 (55 years after 1527) and William and his wife (or wives) had ten children and some were now married at his death so one is left to think that William was born not long after 1527 so Nicholas was probably born between 1502 and 1506 since his mother does not say that he is under age in her will. She does not mention grandchildren and Robert (her eldest son) leaves his will in 1542 so perhaps he was born before 1501 since he names grandchildren in his will and his family was six male children (the second son John the Elder died in 1572). Continuing to work on all of these wills as they do mention each other and all live at Enham. 

Realized I stopped putting out my camera at the front window when I went off on my retreat (dog-sitting). I had put it there after the police mentioned that they found it valuable to have the footage on the cloud to look at; I think there had been an incident somewhere; maybe Toronto and that inspired me to put it in the window. But it is in the way in the window so probably I will stop doing that. 

Continuing on with the Somerby chapter today and I have a lot of material. I want to put in enough material to stress that Somerby had been a fraud and that the material he produced concerning Nicholas Blake completely incorrect. 

Breakfast all completed. Drinking my tea and doing my solitaire puzzles.  

 

New Chapter begun

 I did work on Chapter 7 yesterday - Somerby's Fraud regarding Nicholas Blake. I will continue with that today. 

A beautiful sunny day in God's world and we are waiting to see how the Ottawa River does as it is at flood stage already at Montreal and the melting is still ongoing in the north so lots more water to come down that river. We are high here but there is lower ground about 2 kilometres to the east although we have never seen it back up this far fortunately. But I always watch it just because I came from London, Ontario where the Thames used to flood when I was young although once again we were high ground but it is ghastly to see the bridges isolated with water all around them for sure between the south part of London and the downtown. However they built Lake Fanshawe and that ended the flooding for the most part although it still used to flood somewhat at Springbank Park. 

Lots of work today but  no cleaning; that is all finished for the week and begins again on Monday. 

Already the second Sunday after Easter this Sunday and the weather is behaving more like Easter time with all the sun today. A joyous time in the Church Calendar. God is with us always watching and waiting for us to do the right thing. Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. That will bring us to the uplifted plain of peace in our time and the youth of this country lost to two World Wars will rest easy knowing that the torch they flung to us from their dying hands has been held high and peace has found a permanency in our world. Prayers that that will happen. Thank you God for this beautiful world we live in. 

Prayers continuing for my sister that she is comfortable in Long Term Care. 

Breakfast time and Solitaire puzzles still to do.  

Continuing on the same theme

The origin of this crest used by the Calne Blake family is a mystery? I am curious if it is a French coat of arms that the originating le Blake/le Blak family used in France and decided to change to the arg. a chevron between 3 garbs, sab. which is the usual arms associated with the Blake family at Calne (and some individuals at Andover although always penciled in rather than printed).

A little more searching has brought up another interesting publication of the Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms and on page 1023 I found the following:

Arg.  a pile issuing out of the chief az. charged with three martlets, or.                Blage

Slightly different from the Blake crest used by the family at Calne and Andover but the surname attached to it is rather interesting - Blage. It is an aside though and not part of the Blake Family of Andover; just interesting. I do tend to pay attention to interesting asides on occasion. 

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7130641M/An_alphabetical_dictionary_of_coats_of_arms_belonging_to_families_in_Great_Britain_and_Ireland

 
Does all of this detail constitute another chapter I wonder  and perhaps I will do that at the moment and label it Chapter 7 - Thoughts on the Blake Fraud created by Horatio Gates Somerby.

It is mostly created in these blogs and just needs to be organized a few more images inserted and I rather think that I will do that. 

I did speak to the College of Arms when we were in London about the footnote on the Blake Pedigree that said family records had been used. The College did not retain those records and they suggested I write the family. Not really have knowledge of this family line as to whom to write  however I continued pursuing the documents that are available and the comments made by other genealogists through the years. 

I was sort of surprised when I discovered some of the information as the Blake family at Calne had refused to accept a knighthood and for that Pynhills was basically demolished by King Charles I's orders. When my great grandmother's cousin Sir John Carling was knighted the family, according to my grandfather (who repeated it to his wife and children later), were very pleased to see this  honour bestowed on one of their own. Interestingly my grandfather used to say that people having titles live in a fishbow. When Edward was first unwell in 2011 I decided to acquire support letters in favour of his being nominated so that Edward would receive the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and he was thrilled to receive it. It now belongs to his grandsons as a Medal which was given to their grandfather. So I can understand why people would be excited to receive such honours but I also understand why people avoid it. Edward was thrilled; he loved to be the centre of attention. 

I note that just three years after Sir William Blake received the knighthood he passed away so perhaps a lot of this misinformation on his family line coming down from John Blake and Margaret (Blake) Blake is a product of his not being available to make any corrections; no ideas on that. Daniel Blake, the family member who worked with the College of Arms to produce the Blake Pedigree Chart,  was not directly descended from Sir William Blake. Daniel was the son of William Blake and Margaret Fountain with this William being the son of Thomas Blake and Eleanor (Hall) Blake (Thomas was a brother to Sir William Blake). This Thomas Blake was also a son of John Blake and Margaret Blake which takes us back on this chart to William Blake and Avis Ripley (the suggested extra son for Roger Blake and Mary Baynard for whom there is no documentation). On the Blake Pedigree Chart this William is said to be of Easton Town alias Essington near Andover, Hampshire. 

The will probated for William Blake of Easton Town 1582 is actually the will of William Blake of Eastontown near Andover dated 27 Jul 1582 and probated 14 Nov 1582.  He names his brother as Edmunde, his sisters as Elizabeth and Alice which fits him very neatly into the family of Nicholas and Margaret Blake. His eldest son was John Blake married to Margaret Blake (the parents of Sir William Blake). William (father of John Blake)'s wife was named Elizabeth in his will but I am suspicious that he was married twice. Still working on that. This William, in his will of 1582,  includes mention of the Blake family of Speen, Berkshire in his will which is significant as I believe this to be the le Blak family of Rouen, Normandy and later Wargrave near Windsor, Berkshire that eventually, as they moved towards Calne, used the spelling Blake for their surname. One does not have an impression that they were anything beyond friends these two Blake lines (at Andover and Speen) reading the will. If there was a relationship as I have suggested it was the individual living at Enham in the 1300s who married into the le Blak family (namely Alice la Blak or another; why is Alice in Hampshire in the records along with a couple of other le Blak) and took her surname. That it would be a reasonable thought comes from the idea that Britons did not have surnames until the coming of the Normans and taking on the surname of a Norman offered huge advantages for sure (particularly security). 

Paying attention to the news for the  moment and pleased to see a Majority Government - I think of it as a Unified Government to be honest that will support the rapid transition of Canada from a somewhat dependent country to a more free-standing country which we were right up until the early 1960s. Perhaps it is a sort of deja vu that it is the Liberal Party that is re-working their time in government since the late 1990s when our military was no longer properly supported and we were rapidly slipping into too-dependent a relationship on our neighbour although it was equally enjoyed by both and then included Mexico as well and has been beneficial to all of us. Now as the government once again the Liberal Party is busy building up our military, encouraging industry to diversify its trading partners both within Canada and around the world. Prime Minister Carney is ideally suited I will admit to being that guardian of Canada at this time and in this place. His experiences, his knowledge all being put to use as our trade around the world increases rapidly and our attention to the potential of more pipelines and mining the rare earths and minerals will rapidly increase. His ability to stand back and let his Cabinet and the members of his party be very much part of this growing process is very much to his credit and seldom seen in government. The desire to be part of that particularly if you have been in opposition in the Conservative Party or the NDP (I do think Avi Lewis will be a good leader although unlikely I would ever vote NDP except perhaps for Wab Kinew if he ever goes federal) or the Green Party is very understandable - knowing that your skills are such that they will improve the ability to move this along more quickly. I would support my candidate if they happened to be Conservative moving to the Liberal Party at this time. I think we have to be wise and attentive to make the most of our opportunities in the world. Our relationship with our good friends and neighbours - the United States and Mexico - continues to be something we would like to see carry on but we leave that up to our government to seek the best trade deal for Canada and for all of us in North America. Our trading relationship has been the best in the world and we all benefit. We too lost some of our home-grown industries and we will re-invent them over time if necessary in order to support our economy. But in essence we had no complaints really about CUSMA. It provided a good life for North America. 

No more news for awhile I must work on the books; they are my life work I believe although I am very late in starting as they were begun when I was 79. 

Tea all drank and must do my Solitaire Puzzles to sharpen the brain.  Cleaning all completed and breakfast soon.

 

Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Volume IX, 1866

 Volume IX of the Wiltshire Archeological and Natural History Magazine, published under the direction of the Society (formed in that County A.D. 1853) looking at Pages 223-224. There is an article which discusses descent and arms of families and was written by Mr. Clarence Hopper. He was using the notes of the Richmond Herald at the College of Arms appointed in 1721 and the notes referred back to Robert Dale (possibly he was an heraldic painter prior to  his appointment as Richmond Herald at the College of Arms). The information was principally from the time period of the Visitations of 1620. The notes were on the Blague/Blake/Blaake family. Looking back at the Visitation of 1565, Roger Blake and Mary (Baynard) Blake had three sons according to this Visitation namely Thomas Blake living at Pynnell, Robert Blake living at Lacock and John Blake living at Hilcott. Perhaps most startling they did not have a son William. 

The Blake Pedigree Chart is available for purchase from the Swindon and Wiltshire Archives and I did purchase eight images of this Chart which is 12 feet by four feet. 

 

It is this family in the centre pretty  much of this chart that is of interest. It is Roger Blake and Mary Baynard and their children. 

 Lifting this information out of the chart and enlarging it slightly the children are mentioned as Thomas, Sibil, John, Joane, William, Mary and Robert. The wills of Roger and his wife Mary (their parents) are semi-helpful. Although Roger only names Thomas (the eldest) and Mary (the youngest) in his will. Mary however mentions her sons Thomas, John and Robert. It is really a strange thing that William is not mentioned in one of  these wills. Even more interesting that Edward J Blake moves this William back several generations to another family on this same chart in terms of content and has the Hampshire Blake family connected at that point. But the individual who eventually was appointed the Richmond Herald at the College of Arms wrote in his notes (in 1693) I note that the College of Arms produced the first Blake Pedigree in 1690 and later additions were added in the early to mid 1700s:

Blague/Blake/Blaake family [these two alternative spelling are very interesting and I did find some information on Blage as a surname; doubling up the a sort of inconsequential I think]

Dorsetshire, 27. Blague, alias Blaake, now Blake of Quemberford [Quemerford], Calne and Pynhills - 1st, arg. a chevron between 3 garbs, sab. [this is the usual arms associated with the Calne Blake family but it was penciled in on the Andover Blake family in the Visitations]. 2nd, arg. on a pile, az. 3 martlets, sil. both by this name. Crest on a chapeau, gu. turned up erm. a martlet, arg. Kent 83.

Blague of Lacock, a second branch from Quemberford. Kent 83

Blague of Hilcot, a third house from Calne. Kent 83

This fits in with the Visitation of 1565 which states that Roger Blake and Mary Baynard had three sons - Thomas at Pynnell, Robert at Lacock and John at Hilcott which matches the information found in the Wiltshire Arms and Descents article mentioned above.

Why was Edward J Blake so interested? I suspect he was providing proof that the Somerset Blake line at Plainfield was descendant of the Calne Blake family. I have written about that and I suspect that they are actually. But a yDNA test for this family has not yet appeared with conclusive genealogical tree evidence as far as I know. I need to go into the yDNA results at FT DNA this next newsletter for Blake and perhaps write about that. It could drum up interest perhaps as sometimes when I write articles that directly refer to the study new testers do appear.  

All of this information fitted in perfectly with what my grandfather had said about Nicholas Blake being given siblings he didn't have and parents that were not his but still living at Old Hall, Enham. Why would he even talk about it I did wonder as I under covered all of this information. The reason somewhat obvious in that Horatio Gates Somerby's private book was published after his death. Other genealogists through the years have written on this very item and have declared Somerby to be a fraud writing "fancy" books to please people thinking that no one would ever find his machinations (they were private publications) and that he was quite safe writing such books perhaps. One of these genealogists was Paul Reed publishing an article in The American Genealogist (TAG), Volume 74, 1999 (Two Somerby Frauds or "Placing the Flesh on the Wrong Bones).  

Basically the remainder of this chart above is mostly committed to the descendants of this William Blake of Easton Town (Hampshire) who died in 1582 and indeed there is a will for such a person but his father was Nicholas not Roger. 

Today is the basement cleaning day and this week has been a foray on my part into dealing with an item that had to be fixed. Namely my eavestrough. It is now fixed and I thought to get ahead of myself and set up an appointment in a month or so to have the eaves troughs cleaned out that we can not reach readily. I sort of regret it now as I do really hate having to enter back into the real world and so I will think about it for a bit because I just simply can not deal with so many new people. I am 80; that is normal for 80 really. I just want to work on my books. But I am pleased with the repair on the eavestrough - all fixed and the draining is as it should be; it no longer looks like it will fall off and indeed when he placed the ladder against it I was surprised that it was so solid. Anyway all done and it took him maybe 40 minutes but he was very efficient. I must say that. The Insurance Company that looks after the house has the link that takes you to this company and you send it the work you want done and a quote comes (actually two quotes). I just wanted one. I simply didn't want to deal with a whole lot of people but two quotes is probably a good idea. However, I sent off my requirements once again and got back a quote and I shall soon reply but must run it by my family and they are busy at the moment so will wait a couple of days. I am sure these people are very busy people - people in the trades are run off their feet I think often enough these days. There are not enough of them and I find that strange as the tools in the trades are fascinating. It is a busy life and you are not sitting behind a desk and many times now it is an AI doing the work that you were doing anyway. Going into the trades is a good move these days. Both my father and my grandfather were well read people and had very intelligent conversations but they chose the trades and they loved being in the trades. It is simply a different way of working and much healthier I think that sitting at a computer. My father was 94 years old when he passed back in 1998 and my grandfather was 79 years of age when he passed back in 1953. Both of these ages were quite good to live to in that time frame. They had very good retirements especially my grandfather as my father had a stroke which took away the use of his legs sadly at 88 although he was still working when he had the stroke. But still when I visited all day perhaps four or five times a year (sadly actually as I would have gone oftener if I lived closer) we had some lovely conversations that still come to mind. As I recall he did talk about the Blake family and the book that Edward had written (I did the leg work) and some of what he said reinforced what Grandpa had said. Interesting contemplating that. 

I will deal with the eaves trough cleaning soon but not today (actually my daughter cleaned the ones that she could reach readily which were full because of their location. The one at the front is likely full but the back ones never have much in them when Edward cleaned them. I need a rest away from people. Family is fine but I have spent too much time with people in my 80 years and now I just want to be away from people as much as possible unless they are family. I have done my work helping people for twelve years at the hospital and other jobs before that plus all that volunteer work; it is time for me to have a rest from people. 

Will this book of mine get published? I rather think it will although I am still debating some of the chapters that I might embargo and only publish in the copy I put into the Guild of one-name Studies Library and perhaps Family Search as they also do embargo I believe. I shall be careful to say that some of this is my thoughts and opinions based on conversations as a child with my grandfather and my father (although those conversations were as a child as well as an adult). 

Must do my solitaire puzzles but first breakfast. I am hungry. Listening to people having trouble losing weight; I am the opposite I tend to run it off in the day and have to remember to eat more or it slowly sinks down perhaps just a couple of pounds but I usually weight myself most days and then put effort into eating a bit more and bake my favourite banana bread which has 3/4 C of brown sugar - very tasty especially buttered. I prefer to butter cake rather than icing on cakes. I do not have a sweet tooth.