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.  

 

  

An interesting item

An interesting book that I spotted early on in my genealogy endeavours: 

Notices relating to Thomas Smith of Campden, and to Henry Smith, sometime Alderman of London; [written] by Charles Perkins Gwilt, a descendant of the family: London: Printed by George Woodfall. 1836

Interestingly Sir William Blake (Kensington) was one of the Trustees for the will of Henry Smith and there is a lengthy chapter preceding this one that I have reproduced from the original text. The book is primarily about Thomas and Henry Smith mentioned above and have nothing to do with the Blake story other than this brief profile of Sir William Blake which appears in the book mentioned above (published in 1836). 

[Chapter Title] A short account of the Trustees appointed by Henry Smith in Deeds executed by him, as well as of the Executors and Overseers of his Will.  (Page 64)

This next paragraph appears on Page 68 

Sir William Blake. 

Mr. Bray, upon the authority (as he alleges) of the late Sir Isaac Heard, tells us that Sir William was of the family of Blake, of Seton Delaval, in Northumberland, which however was  not the fact. He was of a family of Easton Town, or Essington, in the County of Southampton (a), and was son of John Blake, of that place, by Margaret, daughter of William Blake, of the same place; he married Mary, daughter of Henry Beverley, of London, and Borne, in Yorkshire, and purchased Hales House, in Kensington.  He was a justice of the peace for Middlesex, and was knighted at Whitehall, 13th Oct 1627; he died 30th Oct 1630, and was buried in Kensington Church, wherein a monument, with a long uninteresting epitaph, was erected to his memory. The estate at Kensington was sold at his death. William, his eldest son, born in 1602, married Anne, daughter of Thomas Hawker, of Halesbury, in Wiltshire, Gent, and amongst other children, had issue, Christopher Blake, to whom, in 1665, the trustees leased for seventy years the Smith estate at Kensington, &c., which adjoined the Hale House estate. (b)
    Sarah the sister of Sir William [Blake], married William Rolfe, a trustee. Sir William was both a trustee and executor. [There is also a paragraph in the book mentioned above immediately following this one referring to William Rolfe which I will reproduce at the appropriate time.]

a   Ped. in Vis. Lond. 1690. K. 9. 381, in Coll. Arms. [Pedigree of the Blake Family created by the College of Arms for Daniel Blake in 1690 (a descendant of the same Blake line as this Sir William Blake)]. 

b   The following occurs amongst the Originalia of the Exchequer, Addit. MS. 6386, p. 2, Ro. XVI: Midx. De tertia parte de anno xv Jacobi primi  Rex concessit Willmo Blake gen et hered  suis imppm libam Warrena in omnibus Maner et terr suis in Kensington Chelsey et al

At the time I collected this item, I was trying to locate information  mentioned on the Pedigree of the Blake Family which had been produced using  family information (according to the completed pedigree document) by the College of Arms. I also had discovered that another genealogist Edward J Blake of Crewkerne, Somerset, England had been in correspondence with an American genealogist Francis E Blake of Boston Massachusetts. Francis E Blake had written a book "Increase Blake of Boston, his ancestors and descendants" but he was concerned at the information which had been published on Horatio Gates Somerby's work as a genealogist (later shown to be a fraud) on the  Blake family of Andover. Edward is I believe the author of the Blake Chart held at the Blake Museum in Bridgwater, Somerset. Although no name appears on this chart and I did not have any conversation that would verify that particular item but one notes that the time frame is in the latter part of the 1800s. The difference between the Blake Family chart held at Bridgwater Blake Museum and College of Arms Blake Pedigree published in the late 1600s (held at the Swindon Wiltshire Archives) with additions into the 1700s is very simple. All that Edward J Blake did was to move back the link between the Hampshire Blake family and the Calne Blake family several generations (putting it back more than hundred years earlier) because the link given on the Blake Pedigree Chart did  not work with existing wills. 

I have often commented on Nicholas Blake who left his will at Old Hall in Enham clearly identifying his children and siblings. His mother Jone Blake's will equally mentioned her children. It was this change on the part of the possible author (Edward J Blake) of the Blake Family Chart at the Blake Museum that basically verified what my grandfather had said about Nicholas and set me looking for documentation on the various Blake lines that were descendant of the Andover Blake family. I continue to not agree entirely with the Blake Family Chart because it too doesn't fit the wills left by these individuals in the time frame on the chart (these wills were primarily probated at Winchester and possibly Edward J Blake did not travel to see them (he doesn't mention them in any of his work that I have seen)). So quite fascinating and the work of Edward J Blake agrees with a document which was created by an individual (I think he was a herald but I need to check that and will spend some time tomorrow gathering up that information). This individual published his information in the 1730s although I must verify that item. 

The published book ( Notices relating to Thomas Smith of Campden, and to Henry Smith, sometime Alderman of London by Charles Perkins Gwilt, a descendant of the family: London: Printed by George Woodfall. 1836)  is held by the Hathi Trust (link below) and it is also in the main branch of the New York Public Library. 

 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008693591  

I obtained the information above in the various New York repositories where we spent several years (2007-2009) for weeks on end exploring the collections of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. During this time period they donated their collection to the New York Public Library. I am not entirely sure at which place I collected this information which appears above but likely it was at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Library as the access we had there was fabulous since Edward was a member. He made great personal discoveries at this library as well as the New England Historic and Genealogical Society Library in Boston. We spent hours and hours at both of these places and the help of Gary Boyd Roberts was very instrumental in solving a couple of Edward's links backwards.  

So another constructive day as I continue to bring forward some of this information on the early Blake family of Andover collected by me from about 2007 on. I did not take on the Blake study at the Guild of one-name Studies until 2011 (in the early days I was overwhelmed at the actual size of this family surname worldwide to be honest). When Paul Blake stepped down as the researcher at the Guild I felt (after a good deal of contemplation) I should pick it up since I had collected so much material. When he was at a Conference in Ottawa, Canada he told me he had thirty boxes of Blake material. I told him mine was all online as images or text. He suggested I was probably descendant of Robert but I knew that I was likely descendant of Nicholas since my grandfather had made such a point about him not being what the Americans thought. I couldn't see why he would do that plus he could rhyme all of his ancestors in a line but I was just eight when he passed and I could clearly remember from Joseph (born in the 1730s in Andover) to the present but going back it was a jumble of forenames in my mind but Nicholas did stand out in my memory.  As I worked my way back in the records the memory of his recitation did come back to me on occasion but still the desire to find actual records was much stronger than relying on the memory of a child that was basically just eight when her grandfather passed. 

Another busy day. Cleaning the main floor is the main work of the day.  

Looking at Jone Blake's will

 Jone Blake was a widow when her will was written 23 Mar 1527. I only received one page when I ordered this will although I will at some point try to find the probate. It was in very good shape; extremely readable although the language is Middle English but none the less I did transcribe it 28 Aug 2013. I re-transcribed it partially yesterday and will complete it today. There were changes; I am more efficient and less tendency to think I see the letters so removed some here and there. So Jone does not name her husband but does name her sons Nicholas and Robert in that order implying that Nicholas is older perhaps. Elizabeth is named first so suspect she is the eldest. She is married but no grandchildren were named. This will is the linchpin that connects Charlou and myself. Fascinating really. We would be 14th cousins coming down from Jone Blake and her husband likely Richard. 

Source: Family Search, Film 186682, A-377, Page 163 
Testator: Jone Blake, widow
Place: Enham, Hampshire, England
Date of document: 23 Mar 1527

[Top]: copie test[ament]

1    In dei no[min]ie Amen the yer of owre lord gode oon thowsand fyve hundredth xxvij the xxiij day of the mon[e]th of marche
2    I Jone Blake wddow w[i]t[h] a hoyll mynde a[n]d goode memo[r]ye maketh my laste wyll and testi[me]nete in thys man[ner] Fyrst I
3    com[m]end my soll unto almyghty gode oure lady saynt marie a[n]d to all the saynts in hevyn and my body to be buryd in 
4    the chyrche or the chyrche lyttyn of saynt mykell of Enahm It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto ye mother chyrche of saynt Swy
5    thnye xij d It[em] I gyff a[n]d bequeth to ye chyrche of Enahm vj s viij d It[em] I gyff and bequeath xxvj s vij d to be dystrybute 
6    unto poor pepyll in peny doyll It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto my curat Sy[r] Rychard Mersser xx d It[em] I gyff a[n]d bequethe
7    to Sy[r] John Batte xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth to mayntenyg of the mor[r]ow masse prest in Andover xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth
8    to mayntenyg of Jhs[us] masse in ye chyrche of Andover xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeath unto the p[ri]or of the Freer Augustines 
9    in Wynchest[er] xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth to Sy[r] John Whyte freer xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeath to ev[er]y of freer of ye
10    sayde Augustynes a[n]y ye prest iiij d and to ev[er]y novesse ij d of ye sayde place It[em] I gyff and bequeth to ye chyrche of Fosket
11    to mayntenyg of ye light before Saynte Jamys and Saynte Sonday xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto my dowghter Elsabet   
12    Mylne xx shepe besyde thoose th[a]t she hathe allredy and oon Cowe th[a]t I bowght of hyr and xiij s iiij d of money and my gretst 
13    pann a[n]d fowre plater It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto my son Nycolas Blake my tabyll in ye hall a[n]d oon clothe callyd ye hallyg
14    a[n]d two yryne racks It[em] I gyff and bequeath unto my son Robert Blake oon yryne broche a[n]d xviij shepe ye wheche 
15    shepe he hath in kepyng It[em] I gyff and bequeath unto Thomas Iesra of Fosket oon yryne broche and the [re]seydew of
16    all my goods moveabyll a[n]d unmoveabyll Above not legate I gyff unto my chyldrne Nycolas Blake
17    Robert Blake a[n]d to Thomas Iesra of Fosket a[n]d ye sayd goods to be devydytt amongys them equaly  ev[er]y oon of
18    them elyke weche It[em] I make my sonys Nycolas Blake and Robert Blake my trew executors and Thoms Iesra of
19    Fosket my sup[er]visor th[a]t he see my last wyll and testament cumplet a[n]d fulfylld a[n]d the foresayd executors to dyspo
20    se for the heylth of my soll as thay shall see moyst expedient these witnesses Sy[r] Rychard Mersser Sy[r] 
21    John Batte Nycolas Blake Robert Blake w[i]t[h] other  
 

 I will be cleaning today and will add to this re-transcription as the day passes. The changes are very small mostly cosmetic as my reading has improved in the last decade for sure. I now think that Thomas Iesra is her son as well which hadn't occurred to me earlier. Since he is supervisor he is perhaps older which makes sense as her surname is Blake. I must have a look for a will for Thomas Iesra. Fascinating all these new thoughts. Some of the names in this will are the same as in later wills in the family. That may or may not be an assistance. I also never compared it with Richard's will which I will now do probably tomorrow between cleaning. Not mentioning grandchildren does concern a little but it is only 1527 and William (Nicholas' eldest son) died in 1582 and that is 55 years later and he does mention grandchildren. I shall have to have a look at Robert's will once again and those of his sons. I have transcribed all of them (both PCC and Winchester wills as well). 

My eavestrough has pulled away in one spot and a nail is popping so found this company that my Insurance Company has in their system that does repairs so we will see how that goes. I do hate owning a house but life just flows and one  must go with the flow. I will be owning for a while longer. It is nice to have this option in my Insurance Company recommending an agent and the quote came quickly and is reasonable given the current state of the value of money and he is coming tomorrow. That sounds really ideal. I will see if I can book him to come and clean the upper eavestroughs when it stops raining. The lower ones my daughter cleaned for me. She bought this gadget that you just stand on the ground and run it along so we might do that but having someone do the upper ones is better I think. Pulling down like that might be a problem. But it works really well for lower eavestroughs - a really good brush. 

My sister is  now in Long Term Care which I was sad to hear but her life became very complicated with her falls. I am so glad that I went to see her in 2018 when she was still herself. Going to see her now would be really difficult as I have to fly into Halifax and then figure out how to get to Prince Edward Island. So not doing that; sad to say. She is 86 now. We passed like ships in the night when I was a child mostly because I was a withdrawn child keeping to myself; living in the attic and writing my stories and reading so many books. We had more conversations in adulthood after we were both married and had children than we ever had as children (I was six years younger and a walking dictionary). Prayers continuing that she is comfortable. 

Nearly time to start cleaning and will do the Solitaire Puzzles first. It took me about an hour to figure out this setup for the company that will repair my eavestrough. 

Continuing to look at Robert Blake

 A beautiful Sunday and Church in a bit. Keeping to myself pretty much these days although everyday I am in conversation with my daughters. That is being 80 I think. Life is busy for them but they take minutes out of their day to be with me which is very kind of them. I appreciate it very much. Yesterday I wondered if I was getting a cold (I haven't had one in probably ten years of more) but I am wondering if I am using too many of my lemon (sugar-free) candies. My mouth was dry with the appliance that the dentist recommended so did that to keep the moisture level up. But I no longer use the appliance (I think I may have stopped grinding my teeth perhaps) and possibly I no longer need the lemon candies to a large extent. We will see how that goes. 

Yesterday I spent time looking for the gedcom that I uploaded to World Connect. Indeed I did find it but I added the wills and items after uploading I think perhaps as they do not show up in the gedcom file. Too bad but it was a long time ago and I was still on that learning curve for sure. It also resulted in my looking at the work of another Blake researcher who had linked back to Jone Blake who left her will in 1527 and was the mother of Robert, Nicholas and Elizabeth. Her line was going back to Robert and I never really thought about it at all but now I want to clarify all of this material. Unfortunately Charlou Dolan passed away in 2024 which I have only just realized. I am not the most frequent correspondent for sure but I do know she was somewhat suspicious of some of the connections and had done all that she was going to do a number of years ago as she moved to a different family. I do have all of her work and it is excellent. Nicholas was named in the will of Robert but not as a brother; he was a witness. However, Nicholas left his will in 1547 so thinking he was the brother of Nicholas sounds reasonable but at the time I was still a newbie when we were corresponding and I did not really think about Robert being anyone else at that time or even right up until yesterday. But is he the son of Robert Blake; that is really the question I think at this time. When I bought all of these wills from the Hampshire Record Office they had been probated in Winchester Diocese and were perhaps not available for purchase from afar (I purchased them around 2012 to 2014 I think). I could check that actually as I tend to keep receipts and things. The children mentioned by Robert who left his will in 1542 are named as such by Charlou. But these children are older than one would expect compared to the children of Nicholas although I need to really make some tables of all this information.

Nicholas, in his will, refers to the individuals who appear in the Berkshire Blake wills but this Robert does not in his will. I do have this theory about the Blake family in Berkshire being descendant of the le Blak family of Rouen, Normandy and eventually ending up in Calne as the founder Blake family there. Given their status I suspect that they were descendant of the Rouen family which had come to England in 1274 to setup a market. That one finds the le Blak family at Wargrave near Windsor is so very interesting and that they gradually moved to Calne fascinating actually (just  need to prove it beyond a doubt). Socially speaking the Blake family at Calne were at the "top of the ladder" so to speak in the 1300s and they continue at that social level through several centuries at least until the disagreement between the Blake family of Calne (refusing to accept a knighthood from King Charles I in the 1630s (need to check that date)) and they were basically chased off from the Calne area it appears for their refusal. Their manor house was demolished. 

But I digress. It does make sense that they are all related in this time period as there are not a lot of records for the Blake family in the Andover area this early (i.e. early 1500s) and the frequency of particular forenames does tend to give one the impression that this is one family. Looking at the Calendar of Patent Rolls for Blake between 1323 and 1452:

1323	Faxfleet	le	Blak	Simon	Hampshire		Edward II
1343	Westminster		Blake	Robert	Hampshire		Edward III
1352	Westminster	la	Blake	Alice	Hampshire		Edward III
1352	Westminster	le	Blake	Walter	Hampshire		Edward III
1352	Westminster	le	Blake	Henry	Hampshire		Edward III
1389	Clarendon Manor		Blake	John	Hampshire		Richard II
1389	Clarendon Manor		Blake	John	Hampshire		Richard II
1392	Windsor		Blake	Thomas	Hampshire		Richard II
1394	Westminster		Blake	John	Hampshire		Richard II
1402	Westminster		Blake	Andrew	Hampshire		Henry IV
1405	Westminster		Blake	John	Hampshire		Henry IV
1421	Westminster		Blake	John	Hampshire		Henry V
1452	Westminster		Blake	George	Hampshire			Henry VI

 The entries are rather interesting although do not in this list give the location in Hampshire but the presence of the le Blak in Hampshire most intriguing and the forenames of the family members also interesting. There are really not very many items in this list. As an aside the Le Blak family at Wargrave appears to move towards Hungerford and then Calne through the 1300s after they received the right to set up a market in England in 1274 (they were from Rouen, Normandy as mentioned). Robert, John, Thomas are all names seen in this Blake family at Andover. Alice la Blake is likely the daughter of Richard Le Blak (or a descendant) who applied for the license to set up a market. Alice la Blake is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1301 at Wargrave. My thought is that she married into the family at Andover that then took on her surname as they did not have one which was pretty typical of the times in England at the end of the 1200s and into the 1300s. The advantages to  having a marriage between a Briton and a Norman are large for sure in that time frame. 

So more thinking and considering the work of Charlou as I know she did a great deal of research but she did not have all the original wills for this family at Andover as I received only points from these documents from her. I do believe this is all the same Blake family (the la Blake family would be associated by marriage rather than being related) but will continue considering how to fit them together. Richard Blake does identify one of his sons as Robert and another son appears to be Nichi on the will which I interpreted as Nicholas (a daughter is mentioned but not names (she was Elizabeth)). I will continue looking at the wills to ensure that I have gleaned everything from them that is helpful. 

Robert (he appears to spell his name as Blayke but I do not think he wrote the will himself as the writing in English at the bottom is not quite the same but I am not an expert for sure). Robert is the father of Richard who left his will in 1521 and he did name Thomas and Richard as his sons so it does make sense that Robert is the son of Richard since Richard mentions his eldest son Robert. But the ages of the children seem to be not quite as expected so need to review that. Nicholas' sons William and Edmund appear to be younger than the children of Robert although William did leave his will in 1582 (35 years after his father passed). I guess I am a knitpicker but perhaps we all benefit in the long run from the knitpicking!

Washing clothes now and then breakfast and Church. Somewhere in between I will do the Solitaire puzzles of the day. God is in the Heavens watching and waiting for us to do the right thing to have that uplifted plain of peace where all can live in happiness.