Rainy Season has begun

 The rainy season has begun with a good rainfall anticipated over the next couple of days. Soon that will turn to snow and the world will take on this perfect picture card look with fresh snowfall spreading out as far as you can see. The days of  computer work are coming replacing the outside work which is always a treat for me. Outside work is very healthy; looks great but is not one of my fondest ways to spend time. 

I really like working on my computer peering into the recesses of the past through the long lens of DNA. It is intriguing and will likely occupy me the remainder of my days. My computer hard drive is full of interesting tables looking at interesting sets of data. Eventually they will tell me a story about my Blake and Pincombe families that stretches far into the past. I did share my brother's yDNA with a project looking at the deep ancestry of the British Isles and as time passes that could be most revealing. My grandfather was so convinced that his family had simply always lived in the area in which he spent the first 23 years of his life - Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England. His father had told him so and had also told him about their ancient ancestor who lived at Old Hall with the first name Nicholas. 

It was that piece of information that drove my research backwards in time eventually letting me reach a Nicholas Blake who lived at Old Hall, Knights Enham and left his will in 1547 naming his siblings and his children. Nicholas had been named in his mother Jone Blake's will of 1527 taking me back one more generation and I have become convinced that her husband (and Nicholas' father) was Richard Blake who left a will in 1522 and the father of Richard had left a will in 1521 naming his children. 

Who was this Robert Blake (father of Richard) who left his will as an elderly man in 1521? He is a mystery man but there are clues for him in the manor records of Andover, Hampshire. Do they take him back to the John Blake that I find in the early 1300s in the Manor Books? Perhaps this winter I will delve into those manor books and have a look at the surname Blake that appears throughout the books in those early years. My Latin still too weak to do much more than that but time stretches ahead of me God willing and my direction is clear to me. 

But I also want to work on Edward's research boxes and try to pass all of that material on to other researchers in his family lines. I have talked the talk in my blog but have not yet set that into motion. Another project for those long dark days of winter coming my way. On to the day!