Blake family

I found a new website for the Blake family

http://mattocks2.wordpress.com/category/generation-17/111856-john-blake/

which includes the book that I have for the Blake family by Edith Bartlett Summer published in 1848 in the United States and she has her information from a book by Increase Blake published in the mid 1800s in the United States. It also includes reference to a chart by another author at the Wiltshire Record Office that is 12 feet by 4 feet and is the lineal chart of the Blake family beginning in the 13th century and continuing up to the end of the 17th century. It apparently states that a younger branch of the Blake family at Calne moved to Eastontown (near Andover) in Hampshire in the 15th century. Hopefully I can acquire this information and verify what has been written about it. I let the main Blake researcher know as well since he has an extremely good set of Blake webpages including our yDNA study on the Blake family.

After more than five years we finally have a "match" with our particular set of markers. Although it is only 8/12 it is remarkable in matching with the first five and then slight deviations on fast moving markers. Since I do not have any cousins in the Blake male line going back to my 2x great grandfather the closest this match could be is before that. When I look him up he appears to be from the Wiltshire line. However, he hasn't contacted me and since he doesn't match me closely enough I do not have his email. I am hoping that eventually he/she will extend their markers past 12. They have now tested their haplogroup and it is I2a (ours is I2a2) and being somewhat unusual in this area that was also very exciting news. This person does have the surname Blake as well!

When we go to England this year though we will not go to Wiltshire; that will be for another time. The funny thing was that Barrie Blake mentioned this chart as well not too long ago so has perhaps seen this new webpage. He hasn't seen it either and would love to do so. Perhaps it will be possible to get a photograph of it one of these days before we make it there.

We are starting to look at our other days in London. On our arrival day we were thinking of taking the tour to Windsor, Runnymede and then a lovely fish and chips dinner back in London. We arrive quite early at Heathrow and just have to figure out how to join it. That brings us then to Wednesday and we have Thursday, Friday and Saturday to plan although Friday is more or less planned with our visit to St Mary Magdalen Church and then walking around that area - Long Lane, Bermondsey Street, St Thomas Street, Tooley Street, Grange Road and Trots Lane (this one I have not yet found on the map). Then we will check out of our hotel and move to our tour hotel which is close to the Alfred and Victoria Museum which we will visit after checking into our hotel. One of the days we will visit the College of Arms, Temple Church and the LMA if there is time. I would like to look around Westminster Abbey, St Margaret's Chapel and Parliament square again and then to Trafalgar Square which we only drove through last time on the bus. Then we can also visit the Canadian Embassy and Canada House since we didn't do that the last time we were in London.

That still leaves us with one day and we need to plan that one. We like to go with a tentative schedule of what we are going to do although we can always change it.