Will of George Blake of Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills on Ancestry, administered 31 Mar 1849

This will for George Blake is the likely son of George Blake whose will was dated 1832. George was living at Duntisbourn Abbots at the time of his death. John Blake, his brother, and also mentioned in the will of George Blake was living at Bagendon. George was a bachelor.

George Blake is listed on the 1841 census at Duntisbourn Abbots living on his own and is a Farmer. On the schedule is one page away from William Blake and Elisa. John Blake is on the 1841 census at Badgington as an Inn Keeper, 50 years of age, with wife Sarah also 50 years of age, Elizabeth 15 years and Eleanor 10 years. He is on the 1851 census still at Bagendon (Badgington is an archaic name for Bagendon) at Parrots Brook Head Inn and he is an Inn Keeper and has 15 acres of land. He is 64 years of age and born at Shipton in Gloucestershire. His wife Sarah is 60 years of age and born at Duntisbourne Abbot. Their children Sarah Ann is 24 years and unmarried born at Horcott near Kempsford. Their daughter Eleanor is 22 years of age, unmarried and born at Horcott near Kempsford. John would have been born circa 1787.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 29 Jun 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  George Blake (died 1 Mar 1849)
Place: Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:31 Mar 1849, administered 31 Mar 1849
Condition: 19th century English, legible copy


1    31st March 1849
2    Appeared personally John Blake of
3    Bagendon in the County of Gloucester
4    Yeoman and alleged upon oath that
5    George Blake late of Duntisbourn Abbotts
6    in the County of Gloucester Farmer deceased
7    died on the first day of March 1849 a Bachelor
8    without leaving any Father or brother him surviving
9    leaving Goods Chattels and Credits wholly
10    within the Jurisdiction of the Consistory
11    Court of Gloucester under the value of
12    one thousand pounds That he is the
13    natural and lawful Brother and one
14    of the next of kin of the said deceased
15    That he will well and faithfully
16    Administer the Goods Chattels and
17    Credits of the said deceased and under
18    an Inventory and account etc
19    Wherefore he prayed that Letters of
20    Admon of all and singular
21    the Goods Chattels and Credits
22    of the said deceased may be granted
23    and committed to him upon
24    giving good and sufficient
25    security and do forth
26    Let Admon pass as prayed
27    Sworn Under £1000
28    Andrew James Surrogate

Will of George Blake of Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills on Ancestry, no probate shown

This will for George Blake of Jackbarrows in the parish of Duntisbourne Abbots helps tie together the last will with this one. Elizabeth Blake was listed as the mother of William Blake of Duntisbourne Abbots. There is a William Blake at Jackbarrow Farm, Duntisborne Abbots, farmer, born circa 1784 on the 1851 census and at Shipton Moyne. I had to correct my previous post as I appear to have pulled up a different census then I recorded. George Blake mentions his children the eldest possibly William who is also his executor, his son George, his son John and his daughter Eleanor Howell wife of Harry Howell.

Is George the husband of Elizabeth Blake whose will was administered by William Blake? It would appear so but will leave it at that for the moment. There are more wills to come for this family.

Jackbarrow Farmhouse still exists as a Grade II listed building:

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/gloucestershire/duntisbourne+abbots

I did find a Harry and Elenor Howell on the 1851 census at Ashton Keynes. She was 60 years of age so born circa 1791. Living with them an unmarried daughter Ellen 21 years and two granddaughters Elizabeth Howell 6 (born at Cirencester) and Elenor Day 8 years (born at Avening). This Elinor though is born in Wiltshire at Shipton Main. The same family on the 1841 census at Coates with son Henry 12 and daughter Helen 10. Interestingly Duntisbourne Abbots is only 10 miles from Ashton Keynes. Shipton Moyne only 11 miles from Ashton Keynes. Duntisbourne Abbots is 13 miles from Shipton Moyne.

A little sleuthing brought up the marriage of Eleanor Blake and Harry Howell at Duntisbourne Abbots Ml from Boyd’s Marriage Index in 1813. I will check the Society of Genealogists site as I am a member to see if there is any more information for this marriage. No further details but the information from the census does point to this being the correct family. Plus William was also born at Shipton Moyne.

On the 1851 Census William is listed as a farmer with 550 acres. His wife was Ann 65 years of age. Their niece Hannah Hale is with them (16 years of age born same place as Ann, Berkley) and a cousin William Moss (widower, 28 years of age) born at Shipton. It is the 1841 census that has William Blake living at Duntisbourne Abbots 55 years of age and an Eliza Blake 35 years of age. His marriage to Ann was perhaps after the census was taken in 1841. There was an Elizabeth Blake who died in Cirencester RD sep quarter 1841. There was a marriage at Cirencester mar quarter 1843 of a William Blake and Ann Perkins is one of the names listed.

Looking at family search I did find a baptism for a George Blake 7 Jan 1788 at Shipton Moyne son of George and Sarah Blake. Was Elizabeth his second wife? There was a marriage of George Blake and Sarah Hillier in 1781 at Shipton Moyne from the Society of Genealogists website.


Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 29 Jun 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  George Blake
Place: Jackbarrows, Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:23 Apr 1832, probated - none shown
Condition: 19th century English, legible copy


1    This is the last Will and Testament of me
2    George Blake of Jackbarrows in the Parish of
3    Dunsborne Abbotts in the County of Gloucester Yeoman
4    I give and bequeath to my Son George Blake the
5    sum of Three hundred Pounds to my Son John Blake the
6    sum of Two hundred Pounds and to my daughter Eleanor
7    Howell Wife of Harry Howell the sum of One hundred
8    Pounds. All the Residue and Remainder of my Property
9    Estate and Effects of what nature and kind soever I
10    give and bequeath unto my Son William Blake for
11    his own absolute Use and Benefit And I appoint the
12    said William Blake sole Executor of this my Will and
13    I hereby revoke all former Wills by me made In Witness
14    whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this
15    Twenty third day of April One thousand eight hundred
16    and thirty two
17    Signed Sealed Published and Declared
18    by the said Testator George Blake as
19    and for his last Will and Testament
20    in the presence of us who in his
21    presence at his request and in the
22    presence of each other have hereunto
23    set our Names as Witnesses
24    James Sturns (?)
25    Will[ia]m Viner
26    Tho[ma]s White
27    George Blake

Buller Family

Just when you think there will not be any surprises out pops another one. My fourth cousin once removed on my Buller side tested Family Finder for me but we did not match. There was a 50:50 chance that she would or would not and the coin turned up empty this time. I was thinking that her match would show me that I had inherited more of the Buller line than the Pincombe line from my mother. But I was forgetting that when I am saying Buller I am actually looking at Welch and Buller. The X chromosome which my grandmother received from her father would have come directly unchanged from her grandmother Anne Welch and perhaps in the process I ended up getting mostly Welch. Perhaps one day I will be able to really prove that but in the meantime I am still left with having continental Europe (France/Germany) in my origins map when my siblings do not and a hefty amount of Scandinavian (33%) when my siblings have considerably less. Could I have acquired a lot of Gray (my Gray line was in the East Riding of Yorkshire (Etton area)) and a lot of Welch in the exchange instead of Pincombe and Routledge. I know I have some Pincombe but my siblings match with a fourth cousin shows twice as much for them as for me.

The interesting part in all of this is learning more about some of the siblings of my great grandfather and that they came to Canada after WWI. I always thought my Grandmother had visited this particular line when she went back in 1939 but I think it may have been another sibling that married into the Neal family. I can not clearly remember the names of the people that she saw when she was in England. I know for the most part everyone that she had known in the late 1890s and early 1900s had died. In her case she and her siblings were the youngest of all the first cousins in that Buller family line and due to the death of both of her parents they probably did not see any of those first cousins after that death.

My cousin had also tested at Ancestry and matched with a descendant of the Luckman family. Would love to do that test but it isn't for people outside of the United States yet so will have to wait on that. The descendants of this family would be my third cousins or third cousins once remove/twice removed. I have long generations. Anyway will wait to see if they write. I am always looking for pictures and when I looked at a picture of my grandmother's first cousin I could see some resemblance which surprised me. I thought my grandmother looked like her mother. The pictures my grandmother had were burned up in a fire unfortunately.

Getting back into my transcription of Blake wills and these are for the Diocesean Court at Bristol. The few that I am doing now fit together and it would be nice if I could take them back to the Blake family at Calne but will wait and see on that. As far as I can tell there are still Blake families in this same area. Always wonder if any of them will join the yDNA study at FT DNA as they could answer many questions with their results likely. The British Isles contains probably the greatest variety of Blake yDNA although Australia has a greater density per population. Only my father has come with his particular line to Canada so do not expect to see any matches except in England unless some went to Australia earlier of whom I am not aware.

This latest discovery of Buller atDNA matches with my fourth cousin once removed has inspired me to once again look at Buller wills. Now that they are up on Ancestry I could look at them each of my Buller research days.

No traveling plans for quite a while now. Three weeks in France will keep us busy for months and months catching up on gardening, cleaning and all those sundry things one does to keep a house going. Plus I lost so much time to my genealogical pursuits.

Will of Elizabeth Blake, widow, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills on Ancestry, probated 15 Nov 1851

Another administration and again in the same general area as the two earlier ones. Elizabeth Blake mother of William Blake of Duntisbourne Abbots. There is a William Blake at Duntisborne Abbots, farmer, born circa 1784 on the 1851 census.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 28 May 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Elizabeth Blake
Place: Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:15 Nov 1851, probated 15 Nov 1851
Condition: 19th century English, legible copy


1    Know all Men by these Presents that We William Blake
2    of Duntisbourne Abbots in the County of Gloucester Farmer
3    Edward Page of Swindon Wilts Ironmonger and
4    William Sutton Page of Coaley in the County of Gloucester
5    Gentleman
6    are held and firmly bound unto James Henry Lord Bishop
7    of Gloucester and Bristol and his successors
8    in the sum of six hundred pounds
9    of good and lawful Money of Great Britain to be paid unto the said Lord
10    Bishop or his Successors or to his or their certain Attorneys Executors Admins-
11    trators or Assigns To which Payment well and truly to be made We oblige ourselves
12    and each of us by himself in and for the whole our and
13    each of our Heirs Executors and Administrators firmly by
14    these Presents Sealed with our Seals dated the nineteenth day of
15    November in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign
16    Lady Victoria by the Grace of God of the United
17    Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith Etc And
18    in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and fifty one
19    The Condition of this Obligation is such That if the above bounden
20    William Blake Administrator of all and singular the Goods
21    Chattles and Credits of Elizabeth Blake deceased do
22    make or cause to be made a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the Goods
23    Chattles and Credits of the said deceased which have or shall come to the Hands
24    Possession or Knowledge of him the said William Blake
25    or into the Hands and Possession of any Person or Persons for
26    him and the same so made do exhibit or cause to be exhibited into the Registry
27    of the Consistory Court of Gloucester at or before the
28    last day of March next ensuing and the same Goods
29    Chattles and Credits and all other the Goods Chattles and Credits of the said deceased
30    at the time of her death which at anytime after shall come to the hands or Possession
31    of the said William Blake or into the hands
32    and Possession of any other Person or Persons for him do well and truly administer
33    according to Law And further do make or cause to be made a true and just Accompt
34    of his said Administration at or before the last day of Nov[embe]r 1852
35    and all the Rest and Residue of the said Goods Chattles and Credits which shall be
36    found remaining upon the said Administrators Accompts the same being first
37    examined and allowed of by the Judge or Judges for the time being of the said
38    Court shall deliver and pay unto such Person or Persons respectively as the said
39    Judge or Judges by his or their Decree or Sentence pursuant to the true Intent and
40    Meaning of a late Act of Parliament made in the two and twentieth and three and
41    twentieth Years of the Reign of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second
42    entituled an Act for the better settling of Intestates Estates which limit and appoint
43    And if it shall hereafter appear that any last Will and Testament was made by the
44    said deceased and the Executor or Executors therein named do exhibit the same into
45    the said Court making Request to have it allowed and approved accordingly if the
46    said William Blake
47    above bounden being thereunto required do render and deliver the said Letter of
48    Administration Approbation of such Testament being first had and made in the
49    said Court then this Obligation to be void or else to remain in full Force and Virtue.
50    Signed Sealed and delivered
51    in the presence of
52    Tho[ma]s Woodward
53    William Blake
54    Edward Page
55    Wm Sutton Page

Will of Elizabeth Blake of Up Hatherley, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills from Ancestry, probated 15 Mar 1724.

Another interesting administration and this time for Elizabeth Blake mother of Giles Blake of the City of Gloucester. Elizabeth lived at Up Hatherley which is just four miles from the City of Gloucester. There is a Gyles Blake son of Thomas Blake baptized at Prestbury which is just 5 miles from Up Hatherley 30 Nov 1687. Also baptized to Thomas at Prestbury 6 Jun 1686 a Thomas and 18 Dec 1689 John (deceased 19 Dec 1689). As well Thomas 8 Feb 1684, Martha 29 Apr 1683 and Frances 29 Jun 1684. Googling Thomas Blake at Prestbury did not reveal anything more about this family. There is a will for a Thomas Blake 1712 to come and a quick check shows it to be a probate only which mentioned a Johem Blake as executor. No particular place mentioned. 

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 27 June 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Elizabeth Blake
Place: Up Hatherley, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:15 Mar 1724, probated 15 Mar 1724
Condition: 18th century English, legible copy


1    Noverint universi per p[re]sentes nos Aegidius Blake de Civit Gloucs
2    Fabram Ferrarius Anthonie Walker de eadem Fabram
3    Ferrarius et Johem deo
4    teneri et firmiter obligari rendo in depo pre et duo dno Josepho
5    permisene dea Glouc Epom Qungentij
6    libris bouce et legalis monetae Angliae solvendis eisdem Epo aut
7    sno certo Attornato Executori vel Administratori suis ad quam quidem solutionem bene
8    et fideliter faciendam Obligamus nos et quemlibet no[str]um per se pro toto et in solidum
9    Here[de]s Executores et Administratores nostros firmiter per presents
10    sigillis no[str]is sigillatas Dat quinto die mensis Martij
11    Annoque Regni duo Georgij
12    dei gracia Magma Britania Francia et Hibernie Regis
13    The Condic[i]on of this Obligacon is such that if the abovebound Giles Blake lawfull
14    and N[atu]rall Son and Administrator of all and singuler the goods ch[at]ells
15    and credits of Elizabeth Blake late of Up Hatherley widow deceased
16    doe make or cause to be made a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the goods
17    chattels and credits of the said deceased which have or shall come to the hands pos[sess]ion
18    or knowledge of him the said Giles Blake or
19    into the hands and possession of any person or persons for him and the same so
20    made doe exhibit or cause to be exhibited into the Registry of the aboves[ai]d Lord
21    Bishop at Glouc at or before the last day of April next
22    ensuing And the same goods chattels and credits and all other the goods chattels and credits
23    of the said deceased at the time of her death which at any time after shall come to the
24    hands or possession of the said Giles Blake or into the hands and
25    possession of any other person or persons for him doe well and truly administer
26    according to law And further doe make or cause to be made a true and inst accompt
27    of his s[ai]d Ad[ministra]con at or before the last day of February udet
28    and all the rest and residue of the said goods chattels and credits which shall be found
29    remaining upon the said Administrators accompt the same being first examined and
30    allowed of by the Judge or Judges for the time being of the said Court shall deliver
31    and pay unto such person or persons respectively as the said Judge or Judges by his
32    or their decree or sentence p[ur]suant to the true intent and meaning of a late Act of
33    Parliament made in the two and twentieth and three and twentieth yeares of the raigne
34    of o[u]r Late Soveraigne L[or]d King Charles the second (Intituled An Act for the better
35    settling of Intestates (Istates) shall limit and appoint And if it shall hereafter
36    appeare that any last will and Testament was made by the said deceased and the
37    Executor or Executors therein named doe exhibit the same into the said Court making
38    request to have it allowed and approved accordingly if the said Giles Blake
39    above bounden being thereunto required doe render and deliver the said Lines of Ad[ministrat]con
40    (approbacion of such Testament being first had and made) in the said County Then this
41    Obligacon to be void and of none effect or otherwise remaine in full force and virtue
42    Sealed and Delivered
43    in the presence of
44    Ro Moore N P
45    Giles Blacke
46    Anthony Walker

Will of Elinor Blake of Bitton, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills on Ancestry, probated 18 Apr 1646

Elinor Blake is the testatrix and this would appear to be her second marriage as she has a number of children with the surname Jones. One married daughter Palmer perhaps. No mention of Blake other than her surname.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 26 June 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Elinor Blake
Place: Bitton, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:17 Apr 1645, probated 18 Apr 1646
Condition: 17th century English, legible copy

[Top]: T[estamentu]m: Elanorie Blake
[Top]: 58
[Margin]: 29

1    In the name of god amen, I Elinor Blake of Bitton in the
2    county of Glouc[este]r widow beinge sicke of body but of p[er]fect minde
3    and memory (thankes be unto god) doe make my last will and
4    testament this 17th day of Aprill 1645 in forme and manner
5    following: First I bequeth my soule unto the hands of god my
6    mercifull father through Jesus christ my redeemer and my body
7    to the earth to be buried in the churchyard of Bitton: as for
8    my wordly goods I dispose in forme and manner following
9    Imprimis I give unto my sonne Robert Jones one bed the worth
10    I have with yt clothes and bed sheat the unto appertainenye and commonly
11    used with him: Ite[m] I give unto my Grandchild Robert Jones one
12    Ewe and lambe Ite[m] I give unto my sonne Edward Jones one shilling
13    Ite[m] I give unto my sonne Mathew Jones one shilling Ite[m] I give
14    unto Mary Palmer wife unto Robert Palmer my best gowne
15    Ite[m] I give unto my sonne Robert Jones all the butchers
16    tooles except only two Clevers Ite[m] I give unto my daughterlaw
17    Deborah Jones my best Gloves Ite[m] I give unto my Grandchild
18    Elizabeth Jones my best Pewter cup Ite[m] I give unto Joane
19    Phillippe one old safeguard and one old smocke Ite[m] I give unto
20    Anne Longe one old smocke Ite[m] I give unto Sarah
21    Nicols my dayly wereinge petticoat and wastcoate Ite[m] all
22    the rest of my Goods moveable and immoveable I give unto my
23    sonne Henry Jones whome I make my sole and only
24    executor And by this act I disannul all former wills
25    whatsoever In Witnesse whereof I have set hereunto
26    my hand the 17th day of Aprill anno d[omi]ni 1645
27    Published and Signed
28    in p[re]sence of us
29    Elinor X
30    Blake   her marke
31    Signed
32    John X Phillipps
33    Joh: Carpenter
34    Probat fuit humoi testamentum apud _____________
35    18 die Apriles Anno d[omi]ni 1646

Will of Elizabeth Blake of Standish, Gloucestershire - Diocese of Bristol Wills found on Ancestry, probated 1592

Elizabeth Blake is the testator and she has been married twice as she mentions a son Richard Harryes, a son Walter Blake and a daughter Anne Blake. She lives at Standish which is near Stroud Gloucestershire.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 25 June 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Elizabeth Blake
Place: Standishe, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:27 Sep 1592, probated 9 Dec 1592
Condition: 16th century English, legible copy

[Top]: T[estamentum]: Elizabethe Blake
[Margin]: 38

1    In the name of god Amen, The xxvii th daye of September
2    in the yeare of our Lord god 1592 etc I Elizabeth Blake of
3    Standishe in the countie of glouc beying sicke in bodye
4    by the visitacon of god but ofe good and p[er]fecte memorye thankes
5    be given unto god doe make my laste will and testament in
6    man[n]er and forme folowyng (that ys to saye) Firste and principally
7    I yeld and com[m]end my soule into the handes of almyghtie god my
8    creator Redemer and onely savior And my bodye to be buryed in
9    convenient man[n]er
10    Item I ordayne and make my daughter Anne Blake my sole and
11    whole executrix unto whom I gyve and bequeathe all my goods moveable
12    and unmoveable and in consideracion thereof my Will ys that she the sayd
13    Anne shall gyve and deliv[er] Immediately after my decease unto Richard
14    Harryes my sonne one cowe which was at my desyre appointed to be
15    given hym in the parts of Walter blake my sonne And one flockbed
16    one boulster one peare of sheetes one blanket and one coverlet
17    Witnesses unto this my laste will and testament
18    John Harryes
19    John Ricards
20    Jo: Johnson cler[ic]
21    and others
22    Probat fuit humoi Testam[entum] suprascript in coram
23    nobis fuit salvo Indice in h__ pte

Administration of Edward Blake of Coaley, Gloucestershire - Ancestry - Diocese of Bristol Wills, probated 10 Aug 1684

Edward Blake died intestate before 10 Aug 1684 and his estate was to be administered by his daughter Mary Elliot (wife of Daniel Elliot yeoman). This is the earliest form that I have seen for an administration.

Note the Latin introduction and the English in the body of the administration document. Charles II has been restored to the Throne of England and the dating of his year of reign does commence with the death of his father in 1649.

Coaley (formerly Cowley) the location named for Edward Blake is near Stroud. There was a probate for an Edward Blake in 1648 which I am still working on but it does not appear to name a place other than Gloucester.

The only  addition to this document was an administration statement made by Richard Parsons. It is in Latin and I have merely recorded the date and the administrator was Maria Elliotts, his daughter.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 24 Jun 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Edward Blake
Place: Coaley, Gloucestershire, England
Type of Record: Probate
Date of document:application 10 Aug 1684, administered 13 Aug 1684
Condition: 17th century English, legible copy


1    Noverint universi per presents Nos Daniel Elliotts p de Cauley
2    com Gloucesti yeom de Samueliu Higgens de eadm
3    solute Rugg Maken et Oawgiu Ford de eadm Salut
4    teneri et firmiter obligari Reverendo in Christo patri ac Domino Domino Relecti
5    permissione Divena Episcope Gloucestrensi et Richardo Parsons Legum Bacclalaureo
6    Vicario suo in Spiritualibus generali in Centum Libris bona et legalis Monera
7    Angliae Solvend eisdem Reverendo Patri et Richardo Parsons Executoribus Admi
8    mistratoribus vel assignacis fuis, as quam quidem solutionen bene et fideliter faciendam
9    Obligamus nos et quemlibet nostrum per sepro toto et in solido Heredes Executores et Ad
10    ministratores nostros et cujuslibet nostril firmiter per praesentes sigillis nostris sigillat Dat.
11    x deciu tertio  die memsis Augus Anno Regni Domini nostri carol
12    sendi Dei Gratia Angliae, Scotia, Franciae et Hiberniae Regis, Fidei
13    Defensoris et c xxx vj Annoque Dom. 1684
14    The Condition of this Obligation is such that if the above bounden Mary Elliotts wife of Daniel Elliotts
15    reall and lawfull daughter and Administrari of all, and singular
16    the Goods, Chattels, and Credits of Edward Blake late of the parish of
17    Coaley Intestate dens
18    deceased, do make or cause to be made a true and perfect Inventory of all, and singular
19    the Goods Chattels and Credits of the said deceased, which have or shall come to the
20    hands, possession, or knowledge of her the said
21    Mary Elliotts or into the hands
22    and possession of any other person or persons for her and the same so
23    made do exhibit or cause to be exhibited into the Registry of the Lord Bishop of Gloucester
24    his Ecclesiastical Court, at or before the 13 day of September
25    next ensuing, And the same Goods, Chattels, and Credits, and all other the Goods, Chattels
26    and Credits of the said deceased at the time of his death; which at any time after
27    shall come to the hands or possession of the said Mary Elliotts
28    or into the hands and possession of any other person or
29    persons for her do well and truly Administer according to Law; and further,
30    do make or cause to be made a true and just account of her said Administration,
31    at or before the last day of June 1885
32    and all the rest and residue of the said Goods, Chattels and Credits,
33    which shall be found remaining upon the said Administratix
34    Accompt, the same being first examined and allowed of by the Judge or Judges for the
35    time being, of the said Court, shall deliver and pay unto such person or persons
36    respectively, as the said Judge or Judges, by his or their decree or sentence pursuant to the true
37    intent and meaning of an Act of Parliament entituled An Act for the better settling of Intest
38    ates Estates, shall limit and appoint. And if it shall hereafter appear, That any last Will and
39    Testament was made by the said deceased, and the Executor or Executors therein named
40    do exhibit the same unto the said Court, making request to have it allowed and approved
41    accordingly, if the said Administratrix above bounden being
42    first thereunto required, to render and deliver and said Letters of Administration (Ap
43    probation of such Testament being hand and made) in the said Court; Then this Obligation
44    to be void and of none effects or else to remain in full force and virtue.
45    Sealed and Delivered
46    in the presence of
47    Tho: Sabery
48    Ed: Owen Pub Nory
49    Signed
50    Daniel x Elliotts
51    Samuell Higgens
52    George Ford

Surprising Absence

Back again after a somewhat surprising flu bug acquired last week and from which I am convalescing and much improved. I accomplished nothing in terms of transcription but do hope to remedy that this week!

Tour of France 2014

We decided to do our trip to France from 26^th May to 14^th June. 3:00 pm. on the 26^th of May found us at Ottawa International Airport waiting for our flight to Toronto and then Paris. There is not a direct flight from Ottawa to Paris via Air Canada. We spent a little while beforehand practising French and in particular Ed had been very dedicated practising every day and it showed when we were in France. We had decided to try to be minimalistic in our packing for carryon and I managed with a large travel purse type bag which carried my tablet, charger, camera and anything else I might need in the short run to Toronto and then Paris. We were taking our netbook (rather ancient now as it runs Windows XP), Ed's camera and his Ipod. It is the leanest we have ever traveled to Europe in terms of electronic gadgets. But this was to be primarily a vacation; limited genealogy. I took some images for transcription but did not do any genealogy on the trip as it turned out. I have decided that from now on for every three weeks that I put into transcription I will take one week off of transcription. That will let me fulfill my new challenges with respect to my research. I will always have one week in four which will let me do analysis and reconstruction.

There we were in Ottawa airport awaiting our airplane and we were quite early but prefer that so we are quite settled in and ready to board. The tablet worked very well in the airport and the longer I have the tablet the better I like it. I can easily multitask going between internet, email and skype at a flick of the finger. I can type small notes to myself if I am so inclined. With membership in My Heritage my entire tree is at my fingertips whenever that crosses my mind. I could also do that with Find My Past or Ancestry but I rather like the layout with My Heritage. The 4:00 plane to Toronto was just loading when we finished with security and we watched as that was completed and then they departed nicely on time. We were a little nervous at our only 1 hour and 25 minutes between our landing in Toronto and leaving on the Paris flight. But we were in the same terminal at Toronto for both landing and departing. We boarded at 4:35 pm and liked our seats. It was quite clouded in so settled in to just do a little reading until we landed in Toronto. We quickly moved over to our gate for Paris and the lineup was already in place so we joined that. We knew they were feeding us on the plane so did not even bother getting anything to drink but just waited about one hour before we boarded. It passed quickly actually and surprisingly.

Soon we were aboard and everything settled in and had our dinner. I like the dinners on Air Canada and whilst we had been waiting for that I started a movie and between the two the first two hours of the seven hour flight passed by. I was actually rather sleepy and ended up falling asleep just before Newfoundland on the map and slept until the middle of the ocean. Then I dozed almost until we were south of the furtherest west point of Ireland. Dawn was breaking and I watched to see if I could see Ireland, Lands End or Jersey or Guernesy. The cloud cover was too heavy and so we flew on towards Paris arriving about 20 minutes early and we had the shock of being told that there wasn't a gate for us to land at and we would land out in the field and be transferred by bus to the terminal. It ended up not being a big deal but we had to move to our travel agent's transfer point and it was to be the terminal right next to where we were landing. However, the bus brought us to the correct terminal and we quickly moved through Immigration and on to find our Tour agent. She greeted us by name which was rather refreshing and we settled in to wait for the van which was picking us up to take us into Paris. I wondered why she would know our name so readily and discovered that our trip was just 20 people for the French Elegance Tour. That was a shock but they apparently run them at 20 and try to stay around 30 so as to give lots of room on the bus.

We met a number of the people on the trip with us as we waited for our transfer to Paris. We tend to find that most of the people are Australian, American or Canadian on our trips and this was also true this time.

We did our usual rest as soon as we arrived at our hotel and we were at Day two. Two hours later we were out walking in an area with which we were familiar from our earlier trip to Paris. We had planned to see a couple of items that involved just going and having a look. Heading straight out from the St James and Albany Hotel which is opposite Le Jardin des Tuileries we decided to do a walking tour around the blocks and it worked out very well for us. We were able to visit Place Vendome, Place de la Concorde and the Eglise de la Medeleine. We knew we had a Welcome Dinner at 7:00 pm so paced ourselves accordingly. Our dinner was at Chez Clement on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and we enjoyed the local cuisine and wine that accompanied our meal. The onion soup really stood out at this dinner. Paris is on Central European Time so that it is quite light until after 10 oclock pm. On our return to the hotel we walked up the street from our hotel to have a look at the golden statue of Jeanne d'Arc in Place des Pyramides. Our day in Paris was done and the next day we needed to be up at 6:30 am, luggage out at 7:30 am and breakfast at 7:00 am with a bus leave time of 8:30 am.

Day three of our trip saw us headed for Rouen and World War II beaches in Normandy. We spent lunch time in Rouen and we walked all the way down the old street in Rouen past the astronomical clock and as far as Rouen Cathedral which we toured. We purchased a light lunch and sat and looked at the Cathedral. Rouen Cathedral was quite interesting and I let my mind race back through the centuries thinking about Richard le Blak a merchant at Rouen asking to come to market in England in 1174. He would have walked those floors I am sure. No sense of belonging on my part because I do not think I descend from this Richard but it was certainly interesting thinking about a person who quite likely attended that church. It was badly damaged in WWII and is undergoing more repairs since the original rebuilding was done following the wars. The Churches in France in a number of cases belong to the Government of France and are rented back to the Church for 1 Euro per year. In France, we understood, only selected buildings are maintained by the government. Rouen is where Jeanne D'Arc was burned at the stake. There is church on the site to her memory.

After lunch we headed for the Normandy Beaches. The tour guide decided to stop at Juno Beach where the Canadian Army took responsibility for landing in 1944. He said he had some time and about a third of the people on the coach were Canadian. I didn't know we were going to do that before we came and I felt a shock run through me. I have watched the Canadians storming the beaches so many times in film that I felt I almost knew the beach by heart. We stopped the bus and I quickly headed for the beach. I raced out on the pier to get a view of the beach from as far out as I could go. I did not really know what I would see or feel. No one I knew died on that beach or even landed on it but Canadians landed there and I feel akin to all those people who lived and died on the beach that day. It was pouring with rain just like D Day but I was greeted with a huge expanse of sand in front of my eyes all the way back to the edge of the beach. I was used to seeing all the blockades that had been put in place to prevent the landing on the beach and all that is gone. The sandy beach looks so welcoming and it had been so harsh on our Canadian soldiers who did so well that day achieving their objectives and moving inland. The price they paid gave back to France that beautiful expanse of beach. I finally reconciled that in my mind. Their sacrifice had given normalcy back to the French; had given life back to the French and as I looked around me I saw Canadian flags everywhere. The French have not forgotten those young men of Canada who died on those beaches. I said a prayer for those brave Canadians who died on those beaches 70 years ago (this was May 28 and already the grounds were being readied for the 70^th anniversary of D Day on 6 Jun 2014). We walk freely on those beaches because they died and we must never forget that or let our children and grandchildren forget that.

The other item we were going to look at this day was the Bayeux Tapestry. I have heard of the Bayeux Tapestry since I was a child and this was one of my dream items to do on this trip. Its size is amazing, I guess I knew that it was very long, but seeing the actual length amazed me. The colours still so beautiful and the images so perfect. We had an audio guide and moved along in a group looking at all the images and listening to the guide. The time passed too quickly but there were so many people both ahead of us and behind us looking the Tapestry. We found a booklet that includes all of the images on the tapestry with a short writeup for us to look at when we return home again. On to the Novotel where we were staying the night at Bayeux. We had dinner at the Novotel.

In the morning we had an excellent buffet breakfast once again and on our way at 8:30 am and the forecast was for rain and it did rain. We were on Day Four. We were headed to the American beach at Omaha and the large American graveyard (only 50% of the people who died on the American fields of war in WWII are buried there; about 50% were repatriated back to the United States to be buried by their loving families). I said a prayer for those brave young men lying beneath their white crosses. The rows are so straight and they go on and on way out into the distance. We were all pretty wet by the end of our visit to the beach and the graveyard. We also visited Pointe du Hoc where many US Rangers lost their lives. They have left the grounds here as they were with bomb craters and pillboxes. The cliffs here are quite steep and high. We also visited Arromanches where the portable habours were set up about a week after D-Day. We then headed for St Malo and the rain was stopping. When we arrived the rain was gone and we walked through the streets of the old city stopping to eat a little lunch on the way. We tried two local desserts, Far aux pommes and Kurig naturelle. St Malo was about 90% destroyed by bombing but the recreation is absolutely perfect. I can never quite decide later whether I prefer the ruins in Italy or the reconstructions in the UK and France. Each had their own quality and if it was me I would rather rebuild like it was so that I can continue to enjoy the life that I had and so I think it is wonderful to have the reconstructions. It sort of puts defiance in the face of the enemy because you can recover from what they did. Perhaps not exactly the same but you make a new life in spite of the dreadful happenings inflicted on you by the enemy. We wandered around St Malo and walked up on the top of the walls until it was time to head for our hotel which was 5 star (Le Nouveau Monde Hotel). The old city is a walled city. Everyone thought a two night stay at this hotel would be awesome. We had dinner at a marvelous little restaurant on the beach looking out over the water. We had gone there at 6:30 pm but they did not open until 7:00 so we were back there right on time. I had fresh scallops and they were quite delicious – the best I have ever eaten I think. I had started off with onion soup. We had a brief walk on the beach at low tide. We could see the seaside from our hotel room and also hear the waves when the window was open.

On day Five the sun returned. We headed for Mt St Michel and this was a very special place. We had a guide familiar with Mt St Michel to lead us and she did an excellent job. We quickly climbed to the very top (probably 1000 to 2000 steps upwards) and the views were quite spectacular. The weather had cleared nicely and we could see for miles. This is a working area still with many many shops and places to live inside the walls of Mt St Michel. The Church is enormous and has a lot of interesting artifacts. In the shop, I found a bowl with our grandsons name and it was the first time that I had ever found anything so purchased that. Ed found a large cup and saucer and both were made in France. We did discover as we moved around France that they do have a lot of items for tourists which are made in France. We slowly made our way back down a different route looking at all the different shops as we moved towards the exit. This is a very busy tour area plus we were there for Ascension and it is a four day French holiday. The lineups were enormous as the weather had finally cleared and everyone was taking advantage of it. They have painted cow statues at the village and we bought a couple of miniatures to take home. We left the Channel coast and headed back across country to Cour-Cheverney which was nearly a five hour drive to our next resting spot. This was a renovated Chateau and we had a very pleasant dinner there. We had time before dinner to take a stroll through the town and enjoy a French village. We spent two nights at our hotel (Relais des trois Chateaux Hotel). The breakfasts were buffet both times with lots of cheese and fruit – my favourite.

Day Six was again sunny and saw us touring Chateau Chenonceu. This is a fascinating and famous chateau which is built across and in the Cher River quite literally. There had been a mill on the site and the footings from the mill were retained and a Chateau built across the river. It had been a Royal Chateau for some of its existence but was relatively small having just 20 rooms so did not remain a royal residence very long. The rooms were well appointed with period furniture and our guide was most knowledgeable on both the history of the Chateau and the families who lived in it. The grounds were quite extensive and we spent a very interesting morning there. We moved on to have lunch at Amboise where the weather was improved and getting warmer. Here we were to visit Clos Luce which had been the home of Leonardo da Vinci during the last three years of his life and he is buried in the Church there. We toured his house and saw some models built by IBM from his drawings. This evening we had the first of our optional events and this was a dinner out at the Restaurant de la Tour with authentic local cuisine and it was an excellent meal.

Day Seven and we were in motion once again, packing up and moving on towards the Atlantic coast this time. The sunny weather continued. Our first stop was Fontevraud Abbey which is in the process of reconstruction which includes a hotel attached to the Abbey. This is a large Abbey with many many buildings either attached or detached from it. We spent the morning there and took pictures of the tombs of Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and son Richard the Lion Heart (and his wife Isabella). These four effigies had been repaired and were quite awesome looking especially as they were the only items in the huge nave and we moved on to some of the other parts of the building which were extensive. I especially found the kitchens to be most interesting. An ancient building with a number of internal fireplaces and the cook would choose the fireplace to light based on the wind direction. Once again a huge building with huge fireplaces. We stopped for lunch at Parthenay. Because of the holiday only one restaurant was open to serve food. Time was precious to us that day as we were headed towards La Rochelle and Ile de Re. Perhaps one of the most important parts of our trip was to go to Ile de Re and St Martin de Re as this was the home of Ed's Huguenot ancestors. There were stories of enormous traffic jams and it was a mystery as to whether or not we could even get on the island until we actually arrived. Fortunately the traffic jam never materialized on our way onto the island but the weight of the bus forced us to take the long way to St Martin de Re. Here we were greeted with an ancient fishing village and we wandered the streets for about an hour and finally had a waffle with whipping cream (a specialty on the island) before we headed back to La Rochelle. Fortunately we had taken the time to stop at our hotel so just had to head back and have our dinner which worked out quite well. La Rochelle was also the home of our grandson's 15x great grandfather Isaac before he and his son came to Quebec in the mid 1600s.

Day eight and we headed away from La Rochelle towards St Emilion  bypassing Bordeaux where we would spend the next two nights and would be returning after our wine tour. At Chateau Franc Mayne we had a tour of the winery and then a wine tasting. A most interesting morning. We then moved on to St Emilion and lunch which we enjoyed at Le Trouher Creperie Bretonne and followed that with a tour of the old part of the village. In our wandering we found the ancient Church and spent a little time looking at it. St Emilion was also once a walled town. Then on to Bordeaux and a tour of the old City. The walking tour of Bordeaux with a walk-on Guide was quite interesting and we walked the “triangle” around the old square. The Guide was the most interesting part of this tour as she kept up a running history of the City of Bordeaux. We then had a driving tour of Bordeaux and again the old City and we ended our tour at the Cathedral Church which has its roots in a 1000 year old roman church Romanesque style with equal arms and you could seeing the footings of the early romanesque church. Then a huge latin cross structure was added in the 15^th 16^th century. Perhaps most striking for me was the similarity between the doors into this church and the doors into Notre Dame in Paris. Indeed, the doors of Notre Dame in Paris are a copy of the doors of this Cathedral Church of St Andre in Bordeau. By the end of the day the temperature was up to 27 C. We were in for warmer weather later. Hotel Pullman Bordeaux Aquitania.

Just a note to say that we stopped in several villages and towns that are on the pilgrim path to  Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Day nine and we didn't pack our bags which was very nice. Instead we were on the bus at 8:30 a.m. And on our way to the Dune of Pyla (Pilat) on the Arcachon Peninsula. This immense dune is the highest and largest of its kind in Europe and was a little different for us as it is entirely of sand with no green vegetation (several km in length). There is a flight of stairs up to the top of the dune (about 200 steps) but you could also just head up the side doing a crisscross pattern and get to the top. Once at the top the view was terrific and as I looked along the dune I noticed it was higher further on so headed that way; once reached the next point was also higher but decided not to do that as I have a feeling that it just always looks higher! Headed back down and our next stop near Arcachon was part of an optional tour and we stopped for a taste of oysters (or shrimp which Ed and I ate) . We watched people eat oysters. The shrimp were excellent and I managed to break off the head with eyes and descale my shrimps and then eat them. They were delicious – freshest shrimp I have ever had I think. The young lady gave us a short talk on Oyster fishing which was very very interesting. We then moved on to Arcachon where we wandered for a couple of hours and could have lunch. We settled for a nice walk along the beach and the promenade and then gelato ice cream which was very good. We then headed back to Bordeau and dinner.

Day ten and packed bags out at 7:30 and then breakfast. Excellent breakfasts with cereal and yoghurt to begin and then on to cheeses and fruits and toast. Our next stop was Brive-la-Gaillarde, Dordogne valley and we stayed at Hotel Le Quercy Brive la Gaillarde. This was a nice hotel and fairly modern (i.e. lots of plugs). But we had a busy day along the way as this was our time to stop and see the ancient cave drawings. There was a change in our itinerary as we couldn't go to the Rouffignac Caves and had to go to Lascaux II which is a copy of the original cave drawings of Lascaux I which were found by a group of schoolboys in 1940. In just 23 years the cave was infected by human environment and had to be closed but this exact duplicate was made and it was quite fascinating. I think what I most noticed was that the animals that had been drawn looked so real and had a feeling of being in motion. Seeing the original would be nice but I will believe from pictures of the original that this copy was exact (supposed to be 99% accurate). From there we went on to Sarlat-la-caneda which is a 9^th century limestone village. We spent our lunch time there wandering around and Ed had a Croque Monsieur and I had ice cream. The church was quite interesting again and in behind was a quite ancient mortuary and grave yard. We were then back on the bus and arrived at Brive-la-Gaillarde at 4:15 pm. That evening we took an optional tour to Collonge la Rouge and all of the houses in this village were built of red limestone. This village is a stop on the El Camino de Santiago or the Way of St James which is a major Christian pilgrimage route and there was one large symbol denoting that. We wandered about looking at all the red stone buildings and then Ed had a local beer and I had ice cream once again.

Day 11 and it was June 5 (the day before D-Day). Breakfast (no cereal but good cheeses and fruit cake) and then no bags out as this was a two night stay. We boarded the bus to go to La Roque-Gageac where the houses are built into the stone face of the mountains which tower above this stop. We had ice cream here – I had walnut ice cream which was excellent. Then on to Domme which is a walled City and we were to have our lunch there and enjoy the market. Here I bought a leather red arm band for me made by a local artisan ( I collected her card). As if that wasn't enough in our day we went on to the Chateau de Beynac (built before the 100 Years War) and was the property of Eleanor of Aquitaine and used principally by her son Richard the Lion Heart. This is a really ancient castle that is being refurbished by the owners. We went all through it and the views from the top of the walls were fascinating. Most of the castle is empty but the size of the rooms, the thickness of the walls are all worth seeing now hundreds of years later. Back to Le Quercy and dinner at La Truffe Noir where we had duck, whipped potatoes and stuffed tomatoes. I actually ate the thigh of the duck and it was very well cooked but I do not really like duck. But all in the name of local cuisine. By this day the weather was heating up, 28 C.

Day 12 and June 6 – imagine D Day in France 70^th anniversary. We had visited the Normandy Battlefields earlier and seen some of the preparations. We were off on the bus to Vichy today. But first on to the Massif Centrale and the dormant volcano of Puy de dome where we would have lunch. I had noted that there were Roman ruins (Mercury Temple) at this stop but had it in my mind that they were at the bottom of the hill. Actually they were at the top beyond the top of the funincular train station which brought us up the face of the mountain. We climbed up to this spot where there had been a temple to Mercury and there was also a museum there which we spent a little time in. I thought I would walk over to St Barbary's temple but got on the wrong road so could see it but not reach it readily. Headed back and we went back down the rather steep slope to the building for the Funicular Railway and had a rather good lunch. I had a salad mixture of potato salad, string carrots and a crab salad with a roll and chocolate cake and Ed had a salmon pastry and a cherry torte. A most enjoyable lunch which we partially shared. Then on to Vichy and the Vichy Spa Hotel Les Celestins. I was immediately attracted to the D Day ceremonies on the TV and sat there for a number of hours watching the main event at Ouistreham on the British Beachhead (Sword) and it was extremely well done. The French President gave a rousing talk which was followed by a creative dance depicting the war years. Then everyone dispersed to the various battle fields for the national memorials. Following that we went for a long walk which included a walk down the Napoleon Gallery which is a well known shopping area in Vichy. We were hungry so went and had our dinner along the Allier River at the Brasserie d'Alligator. Ed had a mixed grill and I had a pizza. Both were excellent. Temperature 30 C.

Day 13 and breakfast at this hotel was amazing. At least a dozen different kinds of cheese and so many cakes – pound cake (lemon, plain and chocolate), fruit cake and a walnut cake (all of which I sampled). Finally cereal again with yoghurt. Then a bowl of fresh fruits to go with the cheeses. There were also trays and trays of cold meat and hot meats which I walked by. Nice to look at but not my favourite! Then back on the bus for 8:30 am and on our way to Dijon. The landscape is rather interesting as there are hedge rows which we haven't really seen too much of here in Southern France. Very hilly and the farms look amazing. All the land appears to be tilled and France is the second largest exporter in the world after the United States of foodstuff. Row upon row of vineyards as this testifies to one of the larger wine areas in France. We arrived at Dijon around lunch time and had three hours to walk around the old market area of Dijon. Found a nice shirt for Edward. We toured the Museum of Fine Arts housed in the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy – namely Charles the Bold and Philip the Good which included the marble effigies from their graves in Notre Dame Church. The paintings were many that I had not seen before including one amazing one of David holding the head of Goliath. We went off to our hotel at 3 pm and it was a lovely hotel (Mercure Dijon Clemenceau) and again just a short stay. We had an optional tour in the evening to the vineyard of Phillippe Bernard at Fixin, Clos St. Louis. He has a large series of vineyards and gave us tastes from four different bottles of his various vineyards. Later we shared a club sandwich and salad for a light supper. Decided it would be nice to do a wine and cheese for Christmas Eve this year. Off to bed early; very tired but a long and interesting day. Temperature 31 C.

Day 14 and we are headed for Strasbourg via Colmar. The countryside has changed as it is more treed and the fields tend to be cash crops. It is a long drive to Strasbourg and we make our lunch stop at Colmar a rather interesting village in Alsace.  We bought two interesting desserts for lunch along with a coke – a strawberry cream cake and a chocolate layer cream cake. We wandered about the market area and found a stork on top of the church steeple of St. Martin. It was my first stork and I was quite captivated by the bird. Eventually as we moved about we discovered that there were two adult birds on the nest and probably some young although we could not clearly see them. We spent quite a bit of our spare time looking at them. We then moved on to the Dominican Priory which holds a couple of national treasures – namely the folding altarpiece and the painting of the Madonna with roses. There were a number of other national treasures also housed in this Dominican priory which we toured and that used up all of our time. I managed to purchase a copy of the folding altarpiece (an interesting paper construction). We then moved on to Strasbourg and our hotel right on the island in the centre of the city – Regent Petite Hotel France. Our hotel was marvelous. It was an old mill that had been converted to a hotel with all the rooms facing the canal and retaining much of the exterior look of the mill with the water still running underneath and all the machinery of the mill still visible. We found some time before dinner to walk to the Strasbourg Cathedral and it is even more impressive in reality than its pictures. Write-ups do not totally do it justice. Dinner was at the hotel restaurant and was an epicurean delight. We headed upstairs as we were both really tired and our three days in Strasbourg promised to be very very busy ones. Temperature 36 C.

Day 15 (breakfast on the patio) and this was a holiday but a walking tour of the old town of Strasbourg had been organized for us which ended at the Cathedral. The tour included the astronomical clock and we were then in time to see the hour change and all the interesting fixtures make their motions. I am sure if you lived there at some point in your life you would want to watch all of the various times occurring on the clock. Lunch for us was a light affair and we took a ride on the double decker Carousel. Then we were off to Colmar for our Alscae wine tour which involved going towards Colmar and then working our way back seeing the various wine fields, seeing more storks at Riquewihr and stopping in Ribeauville for shopping and then to a Reisling wine tasting. We then had dinner at Scherwiller which was a rather interesting meal given that we had already had several glasses of wine without any bread. Finished our dinner and home just after 10 pm. To bed early as tomorrow was going to be another busy day. This was our hottest day thus far temperature 38 C.

Day 16 and this was our tour of Baden-Baden in Germany and a tour of the Strasbourg canals by boat. Baden-Baden was interesting because it is part of the Palatinate (earlier name for the area) from which Ed’s ancestors came down the Rhine. We had the joy of seeing our flag flying in Baden-Baden and this was perhaps as a member of NATO. We walked about here and found a really interesting Roman Ruins site although we did not investigate that any further than looking into the windows which was quite a good view anyway. There really wasn’t time to do more than that. We had a light lunch and then made our way back to the bus as we had our canal tour to do in the afternoon in Strasbourg.  The heat was still intense (33 C) and the prospect of a boat tour was somewhat daunting although we knew the boats were air conditioned. But it was a very warm trip around the canals of Strasbourgh but I did get to see the European Parliament buildings located there. They meet in this area just once a month as the regular meetings are held in Brussels where we did see those buildings on our last European trip. We finished the tour at the Cathedral and looked around this area for a while and had a light dinner which, given the amount of food which we had eaten on this trip, was a good idea!

Day 17 (breakfast on the patio) and we were on our way to Verdun to see the Ossuary and memorial tower to the French soldiers there. First we had a stop at the remains of Fort de Douaumont where you can still see the trenches and underground fortifications. There wasn’t time to tour this rather large underground structure but it would have been interesting. We were soon on our way once again to Verdun. This was the place of the heroic French stand in World War I to break the advance of the German forces and basically the line scarcely changed in the four years and at a cost of 500,000 French soldiers and 500,000 German soldiers. So much death of youth and the visit to the European Parliament buildings came together in my mind as the future of Europe is just so much better with this historical community of nations working together. We walked through the grave stones reading names and spent most of our visit time doing that. I found the idea of visiting this Ossuary Memorial and then the Mercier Champagne tour to be direct opposites on the same day but much was to be learned about French Resistance and how the many peoples of France did their utmost to work against their oppressors during WWII and that included these great chasms in the earth which could help to hide the secrets of the Resistance. We enjoyed our tour and the drink of Champagne (Mercier) and as I drank I thought of it as a tribute to those brave young men at Verdun. The Cellars of Mercier are one of the oldest and were hollowed out by hand in the late 1800s. They and other Champagne producers in the area have millions of bottles of Champagne stored underground in various stages of production. Our hotel this evening was the Hostellerie La Briqueterie Vinay at Epernay and it was a perfect country spot. We had a lovely patio outside our room and we really enjoyed our stay there. Dinner was at the hotel and it was a superb group meal. When we are on such a tour I like to just be part of a large group personally and not break up into small tables. It is just fun to listen to the conversation around the table.Temperature 26 C.

Day 18 and our bus was headed for Reims Cathedral – the early French Kings were crowned there and Joan of Arc had lead the French armies to victory so that the young Dauphin could be crowned there. Her tragic death at the hands of the English army (burnt at the stake as a witch) is well known to school children here in Canada. We had visited the site where the burning took place earlier. There is a statue of her in the courtyard of Reims Cathedral where she is looking lovingly towards God and it is He that has told her to do what she did according to history. We spent an hour at Reims and then we were on our way to Paris – the City of Light and I do find Paris to be a beautiful City. Row upon row of perfect housing flowing out from the Eiffel Tower. We were there after a rather long drive because of heavy traffic and then taken on a "long" bus tour of the City of Paris. The Tour of two hours was perhaps too long although in retrospect I am glad that we did do the tour as we once again saw the sights that we had seen on our last tour of Paris in 2010. The refresher was nice but the tour was long and I just wanted to get off the bus! We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe from our hotel which was about 5 kilometres round trip. We had hoped to be there in time for the lighting of the eternal flame to the unknown soldier buried there. We did make it in time and it was a beautiful ceremony with a number of different military tunes played by the band and then ended with La Marseilles (French National Anthem) which we learned as school children in our French classes. We then took the elevator up to the top of the Arc and I have to say that this view is just as good as the view from the first level of the Eiffel Tour. As it turned out this was a crispy clear day in Paris and we could see for miles. We spent about an hour at the top of the tower and then had our dinner at the George V Café on the way back to our hotel (Saint James and Albany Hotel Spa). Temperature 28 C.

Day 19 and there were several optional tours planned but we had decided not to do these and instead made our way to the Louvre first thing in the morning. The lines were very short at this time and we, of course, made our way to the Mona Lisa once again. Last time we were on the outskirts of a large group surrounding this famous painting. This time we were right at the tape which held the people back but we were so very close. We spent a little time there looking at this world famous painting and then moved on to various other sections but principally the Italian, French and English paintings and of course the statue of Venus de Milo. We then found the area set aside for displays of the French Kings and by then the three hours had passed and we were hungry for lunch which we enjoyed at Pauls Cafe in the Louvre. Our afternoon was to be a walk to Notre Dame Cathedral where there was a huge lineup but we noticed that it was moving quickly so we joined it and soon we were in the Cathedral. This building was heavily damaged during the Revolution on the main level but the upper windows were still intact and quite beautiful. We spent a good hour touring the Cathedral and then decided on a bicycle taxi back to our hotel. This is an interesting way to see Paris. We moved quite a bit slower through the streets and had good views of various items which we fortunately remembered from our two tours of the city. Dinner this evening was to be a Closing Dinner at a local restaurant the Flora Danica on the Champs Elysee. It was well chosen and the meal was excellent. I will always think of the meal at Epernay as our Closing Dinner because I enjoyed the collegial seating all at the same table.

Day 20 and the day consisted of an early breakfast and then onto the airport and our flight back. This was to be a 30 hour day as we moved back in time. Our flight was on time at Charles de Gaulle airport and our seats were excellent as we could see once we left the clouds over Paris the coastline beneath us and the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, then we were delighted to see the southern most coast of England, Lands End which we had not seen before from the air. We watched two movies and by then we could see the coast of Newfoundland and icebergs glistening beneath us in the distance. Good views of Newfoundland as it was clear in the skies above that province but starting to cloud in as we reached the Gros Morne National Park area. Then cloud all the rest of the way to Montreal where we landed a few minutes early. We had just 2 hours to make our flight to Ottawa and we needed all of that time as we worked our way through customs and then waited for our luggage and then back through security and walking to the very end of the terminal to our small plane to take us to Ottawa. Airborne right on time and home a few minutes early to Ottawa airport. Home by 6:00 pm.

Next tour will be a boat ride on the Rhine coming downriver from Switzerland to Amsterdam and perhaps next year.

Will of Anne Blake, widow - Ancestry - Diocese of Bristol Wills

Anne Blake, widow, is the testatrix. She lived at Chipping Sodbury and now at Bristol. Her kinswoman Mary Day (mother of John Day) and wife of John Day soapmaker along with her son John are her legatees. Interestingly there is a reference to a Mary Day mother of John Day who was a sister to Joseph Blake of New Windsor, Berkshire. This Joseph may have married in 1777 but still somewhat late for the calendar date where this document is listed in Volume II Calendar of Gloucestershire Wills of 1763. The will itself is undated.

Blog for Joseph Blake:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2013/04/will-of-joseph-blake-gentleman-new.html

An interesting Bristol Stray listed by a researchers on the Bristol and Somerset L Archives:

John Day St Thomas Bristol married Mary Prewett 30 Mar 1749.

Gloucestershire Parish Registers. Marriages. Edited by WPW Phillimore volume XVI, 1912. John Day of Letchlade and Mary Ludlow of Great Hendred Berkshire by license 20 May 1725 at Fairford (page 95). Same book John Day of Letchlade and Ann Hitchman of Cullum by license 28 Feb 1730.

The Day family is also mentioned in the will of Nicholas Blake, yeoman of Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire blogged earlier:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2012/10/will-of-nicholas-blake-yeoman-of.html

No ideas on the name of her husband but of note two sons of Richard Blake and Mary Blake at Chipping Sodbury were buried there – Joseph in 1715 and Samuel no date given in the blog looking at Gloucestershire memorials:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2014/04/1248-blake-family-gloucestershire-notes.html

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 15 May 2014
Source: Ancestry – Diocese of Bristol Wills
Testator:  Anne Blake, widow
Place: Bristol, Gloucestershire, England late of Chippen Sodbury, Gloucestershire
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 1763, probated 1763
Condition: 18th century English, legible copy


1    In the name of God Amen
2    Anne Blake late of Chippen Sodbury in the County of Gloucester
3    but now of the parish of Saint Thomas within the City of
4    Bristol widow being in bodily health and of sound and disposing
5    mind memory and understanding (praise God for it) Do
6    make and ordain this my last will and Testament in man[n]er
7    following (that is to say) In the First place I resign my Soul
8    into the hands of almighty God who created it and my body
9    I com[m]itt to the Earth from whence it came to be decently
10    interred at the discression of my Executrix hereinafter
11    named and as touching such worldly estate wherewith it
12    hath pleased almighty God of his Infinite goodness and
13    mercy to bless me I give and dispose thereof as followeth
14    (to witt) I give devise and bequeath unto my Kinsman John Day
15    (son of my kinsman in Law John Day of the said parish of Saint
16    Thomas within the City of Bristol aforesaid soapmaker on
17    the body of my near kinswoman Mary his now wife begotten)
18    All that my Freehold Messuage or Tenement Closes
19    pieces and parcells of ground Lands hereditaments and
20    premises with their and every of their appurten[an]ces situate
21    lying and being within the parish of Little Sodbury in the said
22    county of Gloucester and also all other my Freehold Lands
23    Tenements and hereditaments whatsoever and wheresoever
24    which I now am or shall or may at the time of my death be
25    seized of interested in or intituled unto To hold to him
26    the said John Day the son his heirs and assigns for ever
27    Also I give and bequeath unto my said well beloved
28    kinswoman Mary Day All and singular my Leasehold Lands
29    Tenements and premises with their and every of their appurten[an]ces
30    Anne Blake

Blog statistics - week of May 18 - 25, 2014

Periodically I glance at the statistics for my blog and was rather surprised to see that in a one week interval just past 1117 of my pages had been looked at in China.

One week statistics

Page lookups by country (top ten only listed)

China  1117

United States   305

Russia   181

United Kingdom   125

Germany   123

Canada   65

Poland   40

Australia   35

Ukraine   28

Hong Kong   21

I became aware following one of the lectures that my husband attended that my pages were handy for anyone transcribing old wills as you can now bring the original will up on Ancestry and than compare it with my transcription. An interesting feature of my blog that I certainly did not anticipate!

I wanted to look at the countries which are listed (and only the top ten are listed) and think about why people would look at my blog with respect to the pages that they are reviewing and again only the top ten are listed.

Blog posts (top ten looked at in a one week interval)

Will of Edward Blake - The National Archives PROB ...  Nov 28, 2013        91   

Visitation of Devon 1564, 1620 and 1620 with addit...  Aug 31, 2011     91
   
H11 haplogroup  Nov 5, 2013  88  

Family Pictures - Samuel George Blake 1875 - 1953  Nov 22, 2011     61
   
Blake Family yDNA Study and Theophilus Blake (Blea...  Mar 23, 2011     58
   
Theophilus Blake  Mar 29, 2011, 1 comment     58
   
Dumoulin family  May 9, 2011     57
      
Larente dit Vinet family  May 11, 2011     57
   
Moggeridge-Mogridge family of Porlock and Wootton ...  May 5, 2011, 3 comments     54
   
       
The most looked at blog post in this group of ten during the past week is for Edward Blake who has property at Andover but asks to be buried at Ludgershall. This will probated in 1626 is quite interesting and especially I should be able to place this Edward at some point in the future. He had property at Andover where my Blake line was. One of his grandchildren is named Nicholas and I have hypothesized is he a grandson of Robert Blake son of Nicholas Blake who left his will in 1547 at Knights Enham.    

The Blog post for the Visitation of Devon was the next most visited and it captures the Pincombe family for anyone interested in that particular family name.

H11 haplogroup post is linked to the H11 mtDNA study at FT DNA and anyone looking at the results for that grouping will see the link to my blog post on H11. I continue to work away periodically on that particular subclade of H haplogroup.

The Blake family pictures was the next most visited post and that did suprise me that so many people would find my pictures that interesting in this random one week time period. No ideas on why actually. But I did place them online in order to clearly establish my line back pictorially in the Blake family.

The next most visited post was the Blake family and in particular the Theophilus Blake family in the United States. A mistake crept into this family line and they had been incorrectly linked back to the Jasper Blake family of New Hampshire and Wimbotsham Norfolk. It is actually good to see that this post is being looked at in this random weekly sample.

The Dumoulin family post receives attention from both here in North America and in France. This French Canadian family traces back to Jacques Desmoulins dit Lagiroflée and Marguerite Feray (Ferré) who were married in France (I still have to find their marriage in France) and their son Michel Desmoulins who married Judith Bigras 15 Feb 1729 at Pointe-Claire, Montréal. The parents of Judith Bigrass were Francois Bigras and Marie Brunet who had married 31 Aug 1693 at Notre Dame in Montréal. Both being fairly ancient Quebec families.

The Larente dit Vinet family post also receives attention both in North America and France. Barthelémi Vinet dit Larente married Etiennette Alton 13 Jun 1672 at Montréal and this family too is quite interesting and another early Quebec family with both sets of parents of this couple being born and married in France.
   
The tenth post is on the Moggridge-Moggeridge family of West Somerset and Philip Moggridge, a researcher, living still in England has assisted me a great deal with this family and referred to one of my blogs with a post on his which likely resulted in this particular post being popular.

I had written this up before we went off to France and forgot to post it. It will help to jog my memory to occasionally look at the statistics and to check my comments as I sometimes forget to do that. 
   
   
   

Jet Lag and thoughts about France

Usually I am not overly bothered by Jet Lag. I just sleep for a couple of hours when we arrive in Europe after an all night flight (and I do tend to sleep a couple of hours on the plane). Well I did sleep a couple of hours when we got there and did sleep four hours on the plane but this time I did seem to be somewhat sleepy for the first couple of days of the trip. Now on the return voyage, I was asleep before 9:00 last night and awake at 3:00 a.m. so decided to do a little tidying up of my emails and post a short blog before going back for a couple more hours of sleep.

France was really quite amazing. It was larger than I had really thought. Huge amounts of their land are cultivated. There are so many varieties of cheese produced in France and I am sure I sampled a lot of them being a lover of cheese. They also produce nuts which are a favourite food of mine as well. Walnuts are a special favourite of mine and I ate them whenever possible including walnut ice cream which is luxurious. Walnut bread is really a treat. Although I enjoyed seeing so much of France, my mind kept wandering across the Channel (particularly when we were directly opposite) and wondering what it would be like to travel the byways of the English counties that most interest me. We hope to do that in another year. Just spend five weeks meandering about in south west England.

But also, I must admit I was looking at France as a future spot to go with our extended family on vacations. Ile de Re is a wonderful vacation resort as well as many other places. France has so much beach front with both Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel (La Manche is the French name for the channel) giving them huge expanses of beach. There are so many rivers in France and I did know the Rhine, the Meuse, the Marne and the Seine as the lines of defense that were maintained through the ages. I also knew some of the rivers that flowed into the Channel along the Normandy beaches but France has many many more rivers. The landscape was I thought much flatter but France has many hills and valleys and mountains to the south and south west.

What was my most favourite item? I am still pondering that because there were a number of items that I really wanted to see, there were items that I had never ever heard about and there were items that I thought I knew well but ended up being much more complex. So all in all finding my most favourite item is probably going to be quite difficult as it tended to change daily as we traveled about France.

Long Absence, Transcription and France

Life has been incredibly busy these past few weeks since my last post and I rather thought I would have posted in that time period but it just didn't happen!

I was going to be doing some hand transcription during the period but that didn't happen either.

France though did happen and we spent three weeks in France - yes France on the other side of the ocean. We had planned to do a trip to France and the battlefields of WWI and WWII in September but the opportunity to take the trip suddenly appeared in May and we decided to go for it. We didn't actually book it until mid March when we had originally planned to book the September trip. We only did the trip of France though as we will do the Battlefields tour in 2017 now.

What inspired us to go to France for 21 days. Certainly it wasn't top of my agenda at all. My French Huguenot ancestors  - Horman, Question/Cuestion - first appear in England in the mid 1500s but I have absolutely no idea of their location in France. I have a strong interest in Richard le Blak of Rouen and planned to pay good attention whilst I was there to see if anything could be gleaned on this particular Blake line. But it was my husband Edward who discovered the trip and was really keen on doing it. We were to go to Ile de Re and St Martin de Re on Ile de Re. There was also the potential to be in the Palatinate (Baden Baden). But perhaps most importantly for me there were to be visits to some of the WWI and WWII cemeteries and monuments. I was keenly interested in doing that and there were several other items that had been on my must do one day list and those items are now fulfilled.

I have written up most of the days and need to finish that and will then publish it to a blog for anyone interested in what we saw in France.

Hopefully I will be starting back into my transcription of both the Blake wills and the Routledge material. However, gardening will come between me and my transcriptions for the next couple of weeks likely but will still try as most of the wills to come are fairly short.