Research days are so pleasant

 Sort of lazy days but I am very busy reviewing items that I have thought about through the week. Finally subscribing to British History Online lets me look at some of this information that I am curious about for both books actually - Blake and Pincombe. The significance of John Pencombe accompanying John Lord Zouch to North Molton in 1486 has always been something that I wondered about since I first saw the Visitation of 1620. The very wording of it is  memorable " Pyncombe of Northmolton came there with Lord Zouche about the beginning of H. 7." Significant to this family as they recorded their lines coming down from John Pencombe between 1486 and 1620. But I digress as I have set Pincombe aside for the moment. 

Continuing to look at the Close Rolls and today I will read through Edward II. Edward I covered 1272 to 1307. This is a particularly interesting time in the Andover Blake family as the first mention of Blake I saw years ago and I do wish I had photographed it but do not appear to have done so. It was a John Blake and it was all in Latin. Early 1300s but I did  not find anything, which did not surprise me, about the Andover Blake family in the Calendar of Close Rolls for Edward I. Edward II covers the period 1307 to 1327. The spelling at this time appears to be primarily le Blak but I believe this is predominantly the Norman Blake family. Interesting how many lines of Blake came to England from the continent. 

Surname    Forename    Nationality    Day    Month    Year    Residence
Blake    Adam        8    Aug    1456    London
Blake    Agnes        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    Alice        21    Apr    1440    Gloucestershire, St Nicholas
Blake    Gunna    Dutch    12    Jul    1440    Huntingdonshire, Huntingdon
Blake    Hayn        27    Sep    1456    Kent, Ospringe
Blake    Henry            Oct    1441    London, Castle Baynard ward
Blake    Henry        18    Jan    1443    London, Castle Baynard ward
Blake    Henry        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    Henry        5    Sep    1449    London, Farringdon without ward
Blake    Henry        aft 3     Dec    1450    Kent
Blake    Herman    Dutch    12    Jul    1440    Huntingdonshire, Huntingdon
Blake    Hugh        5    Sep    1449    London
Blake    John        9    Oct    1441    London, Cripplegate ward
Blake    John        11    Oct    1441    London, Queenhithe ward
Blake    John        18    Jan    1443    London, Cripplegate ward
Blake    John        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    John        18    Jan    1443    London, Queenhithe ward
Blake    John        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    John        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    John        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    John    Scot    26    Sep    1465    Lincolnshire, Rathby
Blake    John    Dutch    11    Jul    1440    Hampshire, King's Somborne hundred
Blake    John        10    Aug    1441    Gloucestershire, All Saints
Blake    John    Fleming    24   Jul    1484    Devon, Exeter
Blake    John    Norman    18    Apr    1524    Dorset, Eastbury
Blake    John    Breton    bef 16    Feb    1525    Cornwall, Bodmin
Blake    John    Dutch            c 1524    Essex, Aveley
Blake    Katherine        14    Jul    1467    London
Blake    Lodewicus    Dutch    18    Aug    1441    Northamptonshire, Yarwell
Blake    Lodwico    Dutch    24    May    1440    Northamptonshire, Yarwell
Blake    Patrick        7    Apr    1440    Essex, High Roding
Blake    Patrick        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    Peter        6    Sep    1463    Bedfordshire
Blake    Peter        20    Sep    1455    Bedfordshire, Dunstable
Blake    Peter        10    Jul    1406   
Blake    Philip        5    Jul    1440    Shropshire, Shrewsbury
Blake    Richard    Scot    15    Sep    1451    Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne
Blake    Richard    Irish    10    Jul    1440    Wiltshire, Salisbury
Blake    Richard    Irish    10    Aug    1441    Gloucestershire, St Leonard
Blake    Richard    Irish    7    Sep    1441    Wiltshire, Salisbury
Blake    Robert        28    Aug    1441    Warwickshire, Coventry
Blake    Robert        21    Apr    1440    Gloucestershire, Holy Trinity
Blake    Robert        10    Aug    1441    Gloucestershire, Holy Trinity
Blake    Robert    French    19    Sep    1441    Wiltshire, Great Somerford
Blake    Stephen        11    Jul    1440    Hampshire, Millbrook
Blake    Thomas        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    Walter        18    Jan    1443    London, Billingsgate ward
Blake    Walter        aft 29    Sep    1441    London
Blake    William        18    Jan    1443    London, Tower ward
Blake    William    Breton    4    Apr    1524    Devon, Morchard Bishop
Blake    wife of Henry Blake            Oct    1441    London, Castle Baynard ward
Blake    wife of Henry Blake        18    Jan    1443    London, Castle Baynard ward
Blake    wife of Walter Blake        18    Jan    1443    London, Billingsgate ward
Blake    wife of John Blake        18    Jan    1443    London

The Calendar of Close Rolls Edward II is primarily in the London Area but the period from  1313-1317 includes a John le Blake of Southhampton (since the addresses are generally referring to the county but could also be the City of Southampton). Again interesting but it is known that Richard le Blak came from Rouen Normandy in 1274 to set up a market in England. Again in 1318-1323 there is a reference to John le Blake but Gloucester is  mentioned in the margin so a slight mystery. The period from 1323-1327 again contains both le Blak and le Blake. 

 The Calendar of Close Rolls Edward III from 1327 

Another busy day

 I just suddenly realized that I did not write my blog today. I did groceries this morning and then flu shot around lunch time and the day has just flown by. 

Worked for a bit on the Close Rolls during the time of Edward I, II, and III. We do see a Blake family in England but primarily in the Norfolk area and into the Midlands but generally they are le Blak(e) and I assume they are Norman. The text around them seems to verify that thought. Will continue with that project over the next few days. Still contemplating a meeting with the AI on Saturday to discuss what I am trying to put together at the moment and see if over-reach is perhaps a factor and it is good to have the AI to share my ideas with as I have found the results of the conversations to be most interesting. The AI has picked up a vast amount of knowledge these last nine months and their recall makes for very interesting conversations. 

Flu shot is making me a bit sleepy so will leave any more writing for another day. Solitaire puzzles completed and it is already 4:00 EST and we have had some heavy rain today although I was lucky when I went shopping that it was clear and when I walked up to get my flu show it was also quite pleasant. It deteriorated quickly actually after I got back and a heavy rain storm was our weather for an hour or so. 

Tomorrow continuing with the research and the Close Rolls. What I am looking to see is the emergence of Blake as a surname by the local population in England. I do know of a few instances but the Close Rolls might reveal more to me; since they are available I will review them.  

An early start to the day

 Wide awake at 4:30 a.m. and a Crescent Moon in God's sky. Beaming down on us here the bright light streaming across the earth to moon space. Thank you God for another beautiful day in Your world. You never forget us; but we must try harder to make peace the nature of this world; peace to all. 

Today the basement to clean as the main floor also completed yesterday including scrubbing the floors. I will start the Robot around 9 as usual. 

Not much research done yesterday. Mostly prodding my databases to see what I could find in wills written before 1522 but nothing found that I could attach to a proposed third son of Robert who left his will dated 16 Dec 1521. The logic is good around that thought and maybe I will actually find proof although having wills for the two sons of Robert and one daughter in law does leave one with a little bit of a cushion of support for the proposal of a third son who has died before his father. A little work on the generations but not too much mostly looking at the accumulated wills for the Blake family at Andover. I did find one for an Andrew Blake (a Blake name  mentioned in Robert Blake's December 1521 will) at  Kings Somborne about 11 miles from Andover in 1551. This is thirty years after Robert's will though so did not expect too much from it and nor was there. He mentions a Richard Blake, Joane Blake and Edmond Blake the last being a slight surprise. One of Nicholas' Blake's children was named Edmund in his 1547 will. 

Today I will continue working on the first and second generation getting the relevant material into each of the members of these two generations. Then I can move to the third generation where I also have a lot of material to enter into the database. 

Still thinking of that magnificent starry night that Hallowe'en was. Absolutely perfect evening for a walk about when all the world around us was walking about house to house. It was refreshing and a family moment captured in time when there was enough time to do that. Life moves very quickly even for this person in their 82nd year of life. I have lived a quiet life; the first thirty years were lived in London and the last 52 years lived in Ottawa. My impact pretty much nil to be honest; I did do various items with my children working in their groups and at their schools plus working and some volunteer work. But for the most part I have led a quiet life these 52 years avoiding too much as my health coming here was very fragile. Amazingly that fragility although it is still there has seen me through to my 82nd year of life on God's earth. Thankyou God for the privilege. 

I have been blessed to have worked at home whilst my children were young proofreading and copyediting although it started with marking papers for the professor with whom I was going to do my masters in Chemistry all those years ago now. Do I miss that? Absolutely not I would never have given up the time with my second child to have another person look after them that was not family. Simple as that. I have been blessed also by living here in the same house that saw both of my children go off to school for the first time and prepare each morning to go to school in the years that followed from this very same house. It has been a wondrous memory. We could have bought a larger single house but I liked this one for its family centered life; it wasn't meant to be more than that really - all the rooms are geared towards a family life. We did stretch that a little to accommodate Edward's United Church as it grew from a small group meeting at a school to building the large Church that now exists. A lot of Edward went into that Church for sure (Senior Choir for seventeen years and Treasurer for ten years) and he always thought he would go there forever I think but a chance item in the Bulletin of this Church (in the mid 1990s I think but maybe a little later) sent him off to a series of lectures at Dominion Chalmers at a time in his life when he needed to listen to the meaning of life I think and we went as our children had passed that moment of sitting with us at Church and were on their way. It was an excellent series actually and I quite enjoyed it as well. Edward chatted with the Minister at the end of each service all of those weeks and we just never went back permanently to the Church that had occupied so much of his spare time. He even helped to build it. Amazing really; it surprised me that he didn't go back full time but my commitment has always been to my own Anglican Church to be honest although I did attend (and was part of the volunteer supporting group for many years) his church as I had promised when we talked about that years and years ago. When the Dominion Chalmers Minister retired I thought he would go back but he decided that he should go to my Church (I went to his about seventeen years he said) as we were becoming rapidly empty nesters although like everything life changed in that regard as the empty nest filled with the next generation for a while. But go to my Church we did and I am still there although online but supporting none the less with my monthly tithe. Actually going is not really practical for me. Perhaps one day I will live close to my Anglican Church but I really do enjoy the online service. 

Thank you God for the beautiful life that has surrounded me in this tiny corner of the universe. Perhaps it is being one of seven children but I can walk away from anything really and just move on without actually leaving. I do not bear grudges although I do tend to just reject what doesn't fit into the life I am living; I just like my own life as a loner and each new day gives a promise of God's love for His creation. God is especially with the youth of this land as they are the next generation to carry the torch passed to my generation by the fallen and there were so many fallen. The memory of that very strong from my youth as we remembered year after year in my childhood all those who had gone in their late teens and twenties to bring peace to our world but they did not get to enjoy that peace but threw the torch to us to carry it high and bring it to fruition. Our time of remembrance is near now - November 11. Forever in our hearts and minds those who died to give us peace. 

Another research day has dawned partially as it is shared with the cleaning and I am ready for the challenge. Writing these books for my loved ones has been the honour of these past months and soon years as it will take time plus I will proofread the index! My eyes so much stronger than before the cataract surgery. I never realized how weak they had become and to be restored is amazing especially not having to wear glasses except to read; truly amazing. Modern medicine has gifted the old with so much actually. 

 Solitaire games next and then breakfast but first my early morning exercises. 

I have now read through to the end of the 110th Psalm. The 110th Psalm is mysterious and religious researchers see it as a foretelling of the coming of the Messiah.  

Bought a subscription to British History Online to let me into some of these old documents. Close Rolls of Richard III 1484-1485 revealed a William Blake at Windsor being employed as a smith (British History Online, Version 5.0. Accessed 19 April 2016. www.british-history.ac.uk). Will have to work these documents to see what I can find in this time period when Robert Blake who left his will in 1521 was probably alive. I suspect he was born circa 1540s and part of all of this is to determine whether the Richard Blake who came from Ireland to England in the Emigrants Database to Salisbury, Wiltshire should be traced a little more if such information exists. 

Emigrants Database:

Richard Blake (Irish) 10 Jul 1440 Wiltshire, Salisbury

Richard Blake (Irish) 7 Sep 1441 Wiltshire, Salisbury 

Robert Blake  (French) 19 Sep 1441 Wiltshire, Great Somerford (Interesting actually where the Calne Blake family is concerned). I had forgotten about that entry. 

The yDNA of my brothers indicates a Western Hunter Gatherer line ancient to the British Isles so more likely the Irish coming to England. Interestingly the best match to my brothers lives/lived in Dublin, Ireland at the time of his test. So I keep this piece of information close at hand. But when my grandfather talked about his family living at Andover  and area it was that they had lived there forever and somehow six hundred years does not really sound like forever having now heard the stories of the First Nations here expressing their ancient heritage. If he hadn't remembered Nicholas Blake I might not be so cautious in looking back in time but Nicholas died and his will was probated in 1547. To me that remains amazing that both my grandfather and father mentioned Nicholas. 

Why did I think William Blake at Windsor in 14 Feb 1484-1485 was interesting? We are talking about Windsor Castle in this Close Roll of Richard III and a payment they are making to a local tradesman. I know that Richard le Blak was at Wargrave, Berkshire (50 km approximately) in the early 1300s and this family was gradually moving towards Hungerford Wiltshire by the 1500s as well as down into Hampshire. It just caught my interest that a William Blake was there as a Smith in that area. 

Produced an offline register for what I gleaned today from British History Online. Very interesting actually. 

Today I mostly looked at information on Blake in the 1300s and 1400s. Quite fascinating; I always meant to subscribe to British History Online and have now done so. 

 

Day two of cleaning and it is the main floor

 Top floor all accomplished pleased to say. Today the main floor and will start about 9:30 still need to have my breakfast as I ate a slice of banana bread before I exercised and it is rich in brown sugar. Funny as an old adult I really do need that sugar in the morning but I do not have a sweet tooth so seldom have any more sugar all day long. 

I did not look at the wills but might take a few minutes now. Reviewed the wills I have in the Books file but have to boot up the other computer to look at all the wills I have collected from various depositories for Hampshire. Searched all of my wills and there isn't a Robert but those wills were all collected from 2008 to 2013 on three different trips which included days at Kew. Searching on the Discovery Search on the UK Archives website as new items have appeared through the years. Verifying that I did not locate a will for a Robert Blake other than the ones I already have transcribed. I remain though with that thought in my mind that Robert who left his will dated 16 Dec 1521. Robert mentions a Robert without stating his kinship but certain leaving everything to Robert and Richard is interesting. Richard identifies a Robert as the first signer but says that this is not his Robert. He does not have a son. Thomas does have a son Robert but he is the younger son John being the eldest. I am still committed to the idea that Robert (will dated 16 Dec 1521) had three sons and that Jone/Joan who left her will dated the 23rd Mar 1527/8 was the wife of that missing son as she is not married to Richard or to Thomas his other two sons. Her eldest son was Robert (with all of her children being of age in 1527/8). Of course I did note any name on the early wills prior to 1521 but there are not very many in Hampshire; more early wills for Blake in Wiltshire actually. 

Today I will continue building the information into the genealogical tree for the first and second generations of this Blake family headed up by Robert (will dated 16 Dec 1521 at Enham) and his three sons (one tentatively named) Robert, Richard and Thomas.  That will be interesting to work at during my break times from cleaning. 

 

When I look out of my work room window

It definitely is still an early fall period here in  Canada. Winter is still in the distance, no snow yet here. People out running and they are always younger now as I seldom see anyone my age out running (I run on the nice soft carpet in the basement, about 3km per day. It keeps my heart healthy and my limbs well exercised. How long will I do that? I have no idea I  just keep running and one day I will know it is time to stop probably but that isn't yet. I love to run; I especially love to run out side and maybe when my daughter returns one of these years in the future permanently we will run outside as I only do not do that because I do not wish to make myself a burden on the medical system by any accident. If I am with someone the chances are much fewer that such a catastrophe would happen. No idea when that might be in the future sometime. My older daughter is my caregiver whether here or there. She spends her research time with me which is lovely. She has a big setup here to do that research and all that time which is great. She corresponds with her students all summer long helping them with their PhD quests and some Masters students as well. Some of them go back to their families during this open research time. So the internet keeps buzzing as their thoughts go back and forth on various grants and studies. Having my younger daughter as a care giver would not work because she already has many many people that she looks after and they must come first before me. I am fine with that as it is her chosen career.  

Today cleaning the top floor; I reverse it each week so technically it is just five days since I cleaned the top floor but it works well and means I am not carrying a heavy vacuum up and down stairs. I have adjusted my life to minimize the chance of accident in order to not take up the medical system's time anymore than absolutely necessary on my part since it is  my age group (I am in my 82nd year) those over 65 who have the greatest medical care needs. 

The weekend was lovely and I will remember it as I do all of our Hallowe'en days together as a family. There is just something wonderful about walking about in the dark with family and going house to house and thanking the neighbours for the treat to the children and wishing them a Happy Hallowe'en. It is just so neighbourly; everything God asked for of us to be towards our neighbour. I thanked God for the beautiful starry night; it was absolutely perfect not a cloud to be seen. Cold but pleasant. It is on such nights that one can really be so thankful to God; He makes it so easy to do that. 

So Blake is my focus once the cleaning is done and I continue with the first and second generations. This habit of mine of creating what I consider to be a missing person continues. We  have three women married to three Blake men at Enham and possibly a fourth if the wife of Robert (will dated 1521) is still living. Probably a decade or two back (about the time that I actually started doing genealogy with my course work to write that Pincombe Profile in 2003/2004) there used to be a will for a Maude (Snell) Blake in the Hampshire Archives but that particular will no longer appears for whatever reason. I  have removed Maude from my new tree but she is still present on many Blake trees. I try not to be too positive these days without proof and there is none in this case other than other people's trees. So there are three women associated with Blake males at Enham in this time period the 1520s - Richard and an unknown and they have possibly two daughters (also not named in Richard's will), Richard was the eldest, then a widow Jone Blake (does not name her husband) and her children are Robert, Nicholas and Elizabeth, I have proposed that her husband could be a Robert and tentatively have him on my new chart. I hope over the next two years to find something to defend that we will see. The third  wife is Agnis married to Thomas Blake and they have two sons and two daughters namely Sybil, Margaret, John and Robert. Because their father Robert has named his sons Richard and Thomas in his will along with a Robert (no relationship stated) who inherits the same as Richard. Richard in his will says that the mutual accord on a particular party with first signer Robert (still living) is not his son. The exact words "not mine." This Robert is presumably over 21 years of age which by 1527 in Jone's will her son is and hence could possibly be in 1522. There is  my logic; Jone was not married to Richard or Thomas or Robert (will dated 1521) as their children do not match. That is my proof that a third son existed as Robert also referred to a Robert in his will. He also referred to an Andrew Blake and a William Blake but in a less family type comment and I will continue to see what I can discover about these two men. But the first generation Robert Blake (will dated Dec 1521) and the second generation his sons Richard (will probated 1522), Robert (tentative and will look at the wills today as I have a lot of them in this time period), and Thomas. I want to get everything into each of these individuals in the Legacy database before proceeding to Generation  three but Generation three is visible. Now that I have this thought clearly expressed I will have a meeting with the AI (Copilot as I use Microsoft 365) and discuss my random putting together with perfectly good reasons but I find the Copilot to be very helpful (the name is especially expressive and I must compliment Microsoft on their choice). 

The idea of postulating events is not my own creation; it comes from my science background as the world entered into the nuclear age such events did occur and were then proven (I was lucky to have been studying Chemistry and Physics way back in the 50s and 60s (60s at university) when Science was about to go into a huge leap forward and with many knowledgeable scholars as our instructors. It was the march of Science forward into time. With the advent of the DNA age in genealogy (which also indirectly began in the 1950s quite capturing my attention when I realized I couldn't be an astronaut with my poor eyes); the same will likely occur and certainly it is there in my Siderfin book. First you postulate when there is obviously missing information and then you seek the proofs in the written record or in DNA if it exists but for the most part unless it is yDNA information the autosomal does not extend that far although I do have cases where an obvious fifth to eighth cousin is matching me out of the past (albeit in a common area sometimes so one must be cautious about making too strong a claim on these areas) because of endogamy which I have particularly in my Blake-Knight lines. 

So a combination of thoughts and ideas and postulations to take to my discussion with the AI and looking forward to that. Generally we agree but sometimes the AI takes it just that little further back with suggestions from information it has acquired since its inception from other researchers or simply by reading the available literature which is huge out there in the world of genealogy (which I generally do tend to know but have not included for our discussion perhaps) and reminds me of the words that I should consider using like tentative which was such an excellent choice at that moment in time.  I find that into my 82nd year my brain is not quite as fast as it once was so my youthful companion in this project  has been a very pleasant addition to my research (I have, with the assistance of the AI, already written my statement of co-operation with the AI Copilot in this case for these books (which I can add to as the time passes)). 

I should add though these scammers who phone me (I will avoid naming the country that they are calling from because you need to be cautious about that as people disguise their whereabouts so one must be aware of that) are disgusting and my reaction still quite quick as I demand that you get off my phone (of course they can not hear me) as I appear to have to listen to your rude interruption in my day before I can delete the message that you leave.  Get a legal job. 

Breakfast completed and solitaire puzzles to do. Then the cleaning will begin.