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 children 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 and he always thought he would go there but a chance item in the Bulletin of this Church 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 and we went as our children had passed that moment of sitting with us at Church and were on their way. 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. Amazing really; it surprised me 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. 

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. 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? 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. 

Another interesting item an Inquisition Postmortem 29 Apr 1490 for a Thomas Norres mentioning a Robert Blake, gent, manor of Newton and with lands in Swindon etc, Wiltshire, The Norres family lived in Calne.  

 

 

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.  

 

 

 

 

A weekend with family

Spent the weekend with my family which was very nice. We only really see each other occasionally as everybody is busy. I may not look busy but my days are somewhat carefully planned but a break is always very nice. 

Hallowe'en is one of my favourite family times; all the preparation and the pumpkin carving are the highlights of the beginning. Then the long walks down the streets you live on and the streets nearby. Adults dress up at the door some times and it is just all fun. 

All Saints Day is one of my most favourite Sunday services and will shortly be watching the YouTube as life was too busy this morning to do that. God is ever with us and we just have to remember the rules he sent to us when Jesus was on earth - to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourself. These two commandments capture the essence of God's message to us by Jesus and collectively refer to all of the Ten Commandments sent to us by God Himself through Moses. 

I have now passed over three of the Family Binders that I have completed and the fourth is nearly done. I hope to complete five by Christmas. That will leave at most two binders to do and my task will be complete except I have about 2000 pictures to shred. A lot of them are from Edward 's and George Anderson's trips to the Northern United States over a fifteen year period and I did ask the Ottawa Branch Library of the Ontario Genealogical Society if they would like them but they said no and I can not think of anywhere else that I would place them. I suspect Edward gave copies to the branches involved in the trips which would be the only other case.  

Blake is now back in the limelight and work will continue next week. I am working on the first and second generations beginning with Robert Blake (will written 1521) and his three known sons Richard, tentatively Robert and Thomas who all lived in the Knights Enham area of present day Andover, Hampshire, England. The tentative Robert did not leave a will as far as I can determine thus far but will review that Monday with all the wills that I have in my database. 

The boxes are now out for the Poppies and I am hoping to see the Veterans setup at the local Metro as they have an ability to tap and give them a donation. I actually do not need any poppies as I have a number from years earlier and one I bought last year that has a black plastic centre with a clip that keeps it on your coat. It is a good way to just make a donation tap on the box they bring with them. If every adult in Canada gave just $10 that would be around 300 million dollars to the Veterans to help with all of the needs of those who have served Canada so faithfully. 

 This week coming I will rake up the leaves from the walnut tree and get them out to the street. I will take the leaves from the maple trees and put them on the garden gradually over this next month. All gradual, in my 82nd year I shall slow down ever so slightly more. 

The big debate is do I renew my BIFHSGO Membership and my OGS membership? I have belonged to BIFHSGO  since it was created in the mid 1990s. It sounded like such a great idea and I do think so but I do not want all the emails that go with it I guess - However BIFHSGO did some sort of a check to see if I received their email  which I did not actually so perhaps there is a way to shut off all the emails and just support the idea of the society; the same with the OGS. I do think both societies are very worthwhile but all the emails is inundating to be honest as I do not attend the meetings and likely will not in the years that remain to me for whatever reason. 

I will keep my Guild Membership until I have finished writing books as I will put copies in the library. When I no longer feel I am supporting the Blake and Pincombe studies adequately then I will stop being a member. 

 

 

A starlit night

 What a beautiful view out the window at 4:00 a.m. The stars are blazing in the sky. God's view of the earth is perfect on this clear night. All Hallows Eve which precedes All Saints Day and what a perfect sky to behold. 

Woke up contemplating the why of my writing two books and came to one surprising reason as my writing the Blake book has always been for my grandfather Samuel George Blake. Born in England in 1875 he grew up in Upper Clatford hearing about his Blake family which had lived at Andover and before that at Knights Enham in Old Hall - he clearly remembered the name of the house where his ancient grandparent had lived back in the early to mid 1500s - Nicholas Blake of Old Hall who left his will in 1547. He was of Enham he said in his will. So that one was easy and takes no contemplation on my part. But the other book never really settled on an individual other than my mother wanted to write a book about her Pincombe family but really in my mind I now realize that it was all about the grandfather I didn't know as he died in 1925 when my mother was just eight years of age. She mourned him all of her life I do believe although had begun once again to live in her early teens when she became a Girl Guide and made such wonderful friends at that time. So really this book is all about John Routledge Pincombe - really the saddest person I have learned about in all my life in many ways. Coming to that conclusion in the middle of the night as I very often do actually do was not surprising; it was always sitting there at the base of my brain waiting to be discovered. I shall do my best grandfather that I knew and loved so well and grandfather that I never knew personally but his very being breaths within me because I am half Pincombe/Gray and that 25% give or take Pincombe is my heritage from that very grandfather. We share, my cousins and I, some unique areas in the chromosomes which is fascinating in itself. That is the gift of DNA and it will keep on giving through these centuries ahead as we learn more and more about each individual gene that contributes to who we are. 

In creating us God made us a product of those thousands of people way back into the past who contributed to the person we are today. Thank you God for another gift to us from you. 

Yesterday some work on both books but now I will set aside the Pincombe book until the document I ordered comes to me and then back to Pincombe once again. Having walked the grounds of St Mary the Virgin Bishops Nympton Anglican Church and feeling a closeness there because from early childhood the place name Bishops Nympton grounded me to the earth and attached me to the lines of my past. But am I actually interested in genealogy. Not like some people who live and breath genealogy; for me it is a research trip into the past collecting which is collectable and postulating possibilities on just how particular unlinked individuals fit into the pattern. Then there are the missing links that seem obvious to me but finding the proofs difficult. Those are the links that someone may pick up in the future as more and more documents are transcribed from this exciting period of the life of mankind in the Pincombe sphere hundreds of years ago. But as I slowly draw inward and quiet in my 82nd year, my energies will now go entirely to writing those books and then moving on to the next project which really must be to redo the index in the Siderfin books and add in the new information that I have located. An update to that revision of my cousin James Sander's book on the Siderfin family of his mother Elizabeth (Siderfin) Sanders. He did an excellent job of collecting up all that information that he put into his almost 50 page book and produced enough copies to spread it around the world to his cousins in America, in New Zealand and Australia and Canada. Thank you James for your work. He said he wasn't a genealogist in his foreword. I have taken the course work and passed the course work but am I truly interested in genealogy? 

I suppose in some ways I am which is a product of old age mostly I think rather than the kind of driven interest that my husband had from childhood looking for his father in everything around him. I will always remember when he found the only picture that exists of his father holding Edward as a one to two year old in a family picture with his mother and older brother as well. The excitement was wondrous to observe as he looked and gazed at that picture that had sat at the bottom of his mother's hope chest hidden under a loose piece of wood face down. Possibly it had not been out of that chest since it was put in all those years ago when Edward was a small child living on the farm with his family before the loss of his father.  

 

I was very happy to share that moment in time with him when he was 67 years of age. It took him a while to go through the Hope Chest - but suddenly he did that the couple of months before we went to Europe the first time together in 2008. He was a genealogist in  his retirement  (his research skills finely honed by his years in science research and it was good to see him working away at that); the desire to be searching into the past was in his veins (and his research skills as a scientist found a new place to do good work). With me, it is just a desire to write the book my grandfather Blake wanted and the book about the Pincombe family that my mother wanted. But discovering it was really also about my maternal grandfather to me was a surprise I think in the middle of the night contemplating. 

Coming from a small village Edward did not have a chapter there as far as I know for the Ontario Genealogical Society and University kept him pretty busy working through his bachelors and then PhD and then an MLS but he worked with one of the people in  his village on a number of items including the Story of Princeton revising an original copy (a Mrs. Williamson who was known to him from his young childhood). When we settled where we are now Edward did look at the Society I must admit but I was not to be persuaded to go (my time with our young daughter was special and I wasn't going to miss a moment of it). However his cousin had been attending for a while I guess (no idea on that) but he asked Edward to come with him to a meeting and so they did and Edward loved the entire idea and spent the next fourty years as a member of this group until he passed away actually. But this cousin and Edward used to pour over all these Kipp documents that Edward had accumulated. Can not remember now how long but it was before our second was born as I vaguely recall but it was very early in 1980 so a year or two actually. I was never part of those discussions for sure - I always stayed away from genealogy. Perhaps it reminded me of my grandparents that I truly loved and grieved in a child's way and just avoided such types of activity as they had both talked about their families although primarily my grandfather. Sometimes I think that as a much older adult into my mid 60s when I took up the mantle of the Pincombe Profile that I came much closer to letting that grief turn into beautiful memories. One could feel the desire to remember again all that these two people had said when I was a young child. I think that might be one of the really great values of genealogy; the continuance of life albeit in a different way. The very act of testing one's DNA is a life beyond death act in a way as I think about my siblings who have passed but I still have that little bit of them stored up in databases that I can think about whenever I am doing DNA work.  

Must get back to bed and have an hour or so more of sleep. Going to bed at 9 gives me that freedom to wake up in the middle of the night and work away for an hour or so and then back for another hour or two before waking up in this beautiful new morning in God's world. He asks so little in return for what He has given us - Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourself. Thank you God for Your love through the ages.