Interesting reading came from a couple of the entries that I found in the database. I was able to put together one line starting with Robert le Blake, his son John I and his son John II. It would also appear that Richard Blake is a son of Robert le Blake as well which matches the pedigrees. The only item to try and determine would be that these two Robert le Blake entries are a single person. It does feel like I am moving along a good trajectory. All of these entries are at Calne or close by. The Parliament online database proved to be most interesting with regard to John Blake I and John Blake II as the latter individual actually has a page in the database with a hypertext link to John Blake I that is still empty at the moment but perhaps to come along one of these days. All of this is from the early 1300s to the early 1400s so quite exciting. Entries from the 1200s would be equally exciting but I have not yet discovered very many where a location in England is mentioned. But I can be pleased with the work on the 1300s thus far. This line of Robert le Blake to the two Johns also leads to the Blake family at Pinhills during the 1600s when this family home was destroyed because the Blake at the time refused to accept a title. I always thought that was interesting in that my grandfather had a rather strong opinion on such things. He always felt that the monarchy lived in a fishbowl and he much preferred life outside of that fishbowl but had enormous respect for the monarchy which he passed on down to his child and grandchildren for sure. He scarcely moved as he watched the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II other than to stand at the appropriate times. We did learn a lot about being "English" from him.
I do always find that English Heritage in Canada has been lost over time and for most people is just part of the maze that is "English-Canada" so to speak. Definitely English-Canada does not remind me very much of English roots at all to be honest. It is a mixture of so many ethnicities and faiths that the English part of it is long gone and really should be just referred to as Canadian. Canadian is unique really; we are the greatest conciliators in the world I think. We have managed to peacefully live together in this country for nearly 300 years since 1759 when Quebec City surrendered to British Forces and then 1760 when Montreal was taken and the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which ended the Seven Years War with France. The Quebec Act of 1774 was really the beginning of this tendency towards finding a middle plain that we could all live with here in what became present day Canada and we have tried to maintain that middle ground ever since. As a country we are stronger together and that general rule of thumb tends to bring us again and again to the Table of Compromise that we have honed to a fine art. Now having a First Nations Governor General has given us an added incentive to be together and we should consider having one of the First Nations always very much in the forefront of our governing body. They have good ideas and are interested in the environment and have the local knowledge of a great deal of Canada to help in that quest.
But returning to the Blake family at Calne. I have no idea if the Blake line at Andover is related to the Blake line at Calne. My first instinct is that my Blake line, at Upper Clatford, Andover, Enham, and very ancient to the British Isles acquired the Blake surname (like everyone in the British Isles since there were no surnames prior) after the Norman Invasion. I have seen the Manor Books at Andover and I did find the surname Blake in them in the early 1300s but I have not read them all; they are in Latin and my Latin is at best very poor. There are at least two marriages in the 1500s/1600s between my Blake line (male) and another Blake line (female). Both of the female lines are perhaps from the Calne Blake line. Autosomal DNA Matches that I have with known descendants of Richard Blake of Andover (now living in the United States and have been since the 1600s) does point towards a likelihood that those two Blake/Blake marriages have slanted the atDNA to a stronger match even though the generational difference is quite large. One day perhaps I will write to them and we could perhaps determine where we match as there are a couple of chromosomes that appear to be very strong matches in the Blake lines of present day.
Must get back to working on the entries as I want to complete them today perhaps. I am satisfied that this decision to move to these documents this time was a good idea. I just do not have time at the moment to go the Family History Library and look at the Subsidies for Somerset. The other plus is finding locations in Somerset very early on for the Blake family at Calne - not Pitminster or Bridgwater but none the less interesting. Humphrey Blake (left his will in 1558) is buried in Over Stowey, Somerset and said to be the progenitor of the Blake family in Somerset and descendant of the Calne Blake family has not yet been clearly assigned to parents - many have given him a tree but the actual factual information linking him to his parents has not yet been found. His birth precedes the institution of Registration of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in the Church of England (1538 although later in some parishes) thus making it more difficult to pinpoint his parentage.
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