Our Bewcastle Ancestry

I posted a history of my Routledge family on a blog a couple of years ago but discovered that I was in error on the names of one of my 4x great grandparent's parents. I added two comments and the proof to correct this earlier error on my part.

http://ourbewcastleancestry.blogspot.com/2009/10/routledges.html

I was led somewhat astray on Grace's line by a bit of family lore that had George Routledge and Grace Routledge (married 16 June 1763 at Bewcastle, Cumberland) as first cousins. Actually they were both descendant of the Oakshaw Routledge family but not first cousins. They were possibly third cousins. The parents of Grace were Thomas Routledge and Mary Routledge who were themselves married at Bewcastle 18 Nov 1733 and this family (Mary was widowed by 1767) was identified in the will of

Carlisle Record Office Will of Archibald FORRESTER of Cleughside, Bewcastle [Bc] 1767, pg 63.
Grace Forrester, deceased poss. The mother of John Routledge
John Forrester, Wit
Adam Routledge s o Mary, Wid
George Routledge, of Oakshaw, Bc, father of 2 children
Grace Routledge, daughter of [d o ] Mary Routledge, Wid
Henry Routledge, s o Mary R*
Henry Routledge of Borderrigg, dec., father of 3 children
John Routledge s o Mary R*, Wid
John Routledge, my “sister’s son, possibly s o Grace
Leondard Routledge of Oakshaw
Mary Routledge of Crossgreens or Strandsheads, Wid, mother of Grace, Mary, Adam, John & Henry
Mary Routledge, d o Mary, Wid
William Routledge of Oakshaw, deceased, father of William R*
William Routledge of Oakshaw s o late William Routledge
Francis Armstrong, Wit
Catherine Dowglass of Ash w o Thomas Douglas
Thomas Dowglass [sic Douglas] of Ash husband of Catherine
Catherine Henderson d o Robert & Helenor Henderson
Helenor Henderson wife of Robert and mother of Catherine
Robert Henderson husband of Helenor & father of Catherine
Alexander Kennedie of Cleughside, Friend husband of Sibella
Catherine Kennedie of Cleughside, d o Alexander
Elizabeth Kennedie of Cleughside
John Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander
Sibella Kennedie of Cleughside w o Alexander
William Kennedie of Cleughside s o Alexander

and interestingly enough three of my 4x Routledge great grandparents (George, Grace and Henry) appear in this will along with several 5x great grandparents it would appear. I would like to purchase the original will as it would be helpful to see the context around this abstract. I will look into purchasing that will along with a couple more shortly.

I have also continued working on the Blake marriages and will soon be back to 1901 which means a complete list from 1901 to 1951 is matched up with the correct spouse (although there are some that I can not yet determine; will probably require looking at emigration  and burials).

The yDNA study for Blake is progressing slowly and it is probably still our best means as a group of separating out different Blake lines in the British Isles and elsewhere.

Once I have all the marriages then I will start working on the census by Registration District pulling out the families and then the births/deaths from Free BMD coincidentally in case I am able to match any families in that way. Once I have that work done then I can start looking at the Parish Registers which I already have and decide on whether to purchase or borrow other parish registers. It is easier to purchase them as I have a microfiche reader but some can not be purchased and I do have to consider the cost although fiche are relatively inexpensive. There is also the problem of storage. I already have several thousand fiche.